You Oughta Know

Catharine Bramkamp whose motto is, “From newbie to known” is one-half of NewbieWriters.com.  The site which houses her nationally known podcast, Newbie Writers Podcast.  After the lackluster performance of her debut title, The Boy and the Lion Catharine licked her wounds and found a new creative outlet in Newbie Writers.  Since then she has reached an international audience through her podcast, penned several other books which include: Death Revokes the Offer, Woman on the Verge of Wyoming and Don’t Write Like You Talk.  She also helms the site, Your Book Starts Here.  So whether you’re new to writing or perhaps looking to be enlightened keep reading because you oughta know.       

Tanya Yvonne:  NewbieWriters.com why should writers invest the time?
Catharine Bramkamp:  Writers learn all they can about their business and their world.  So we listen to podcasts and classes in the car, we read in our genre, we read out of our genre, we collect writing books, we belong to book clubs, we take classes, and we join writing organizations.  So for a newbie writer, a good introduction to this world would be to listen to Newbie Writers Podcast and sign up for the Newbie Writers Guide blog feed, both the blog and the podcast focuses on making it easier to be a writer today.

TY:  Favorite interviewee?  
CB:  Our favorite interviews are with writers and publishers who are willing to engage in a conversation and are comfortable with going off their script to just talk.
 
TY:  What do you mean by, “going off their script?”
CB:  We want to deliver real people and real information to our listeners and so we are not interested in interviewees who insist on controlling the interview by sticking to a written script and pre-written questions.  We like spontaneity and yes, a little craziness! 

TY:  Which genre is boiling hot and which one is on ice?
CB:  One of the challenges in writing is to resist the latest trend.  Once you’ve reviewed a dozen vampire books, then another dozen business books promising four-hour workweeks, you think, that’s what I should write because it’s hot.  It’s not hot, by the time these books hit the books shelves or the top 100 on Amazon, the subject is over: cold and dead. Our job as creatives is to think of the NEXT hot item, and it’s not fifty shades of anything.  The best thing a writer can do is write what you love, write what you want to bring into the world, write what you want to make sure everyone knows.  And bring that originality to the table.  Certainly follow trends, but don’t try to follow them too closely, you want to be different and new.

TY:  Title of the last book you read? 
CB:  Walt Whitman, A Cultural Biography

TY:  Self-publishing, can I have a pro and a con?
CB:  Pro:  Self-publishing gets your book out quickly for a low cost.  Ebooks should always be self-published, it’s easy and the books will actually earn some money.  Self-publishers earn more money per book.  Amazon and Create Space, along with Smashwords makes the distribution of your books and ebooks fairly trouble free.

Con:  Self-published titles are not easily distributed into bookstores and it is lonely.  A hybrid, boutique or traditional publisher can help find good editors, book coaches and cover artists.  More traditionally minded publishers will feature your book in catalogues and place the book in bookstores.  Self-published books are not promoted by anyone but the writer. Which is the biggest challenge of self-publishing: All the promotion is up to the author -  and if there is one thing authors hate to do, is promotion, followed closely by sales, taxes and death.  Not necessarily in that order.

             Well, now you know.  Happy reading, writing or whatever:!)