What Marianna Heusler Knows for Sure
Every month I religiously read
Oprah’s magazine. She always closes with an editorial entitled What I Know for Sure. I’ve been writing
since sixth grade and I’ve been a published writer for over twenty years. So
for what it’s worth - this is what I know for sure
Anyone can be published.
Initially most writers want to
write well enough to be published. They want to see their work appear anywhere.
And today with so many publishing options, from self-publishing, to small
independent presses, it is easier than ever to see your book in print, or as an
e-book.
But without gatekeepers, editors
and agents, it’s hard to distinguish good writers from bad writers. And that’s
makes it hard for all of us.
Once you’re published, your greatest job is to gather readers.
I once asked my third graders what
they thought was the hardest part about being a writer – I got the usual answers
– creating a plot, thinking of a character. constructing a nice cover, and then
a voice came from the back of the room – “The hardest part about being an
author is no one knows that your book exists.”
I couldn’t have said it better
myself.
With so many books hitting the
market place, how do you distinguish your novel from so many others?
Writers are highly imaginative
people, but they don’t necessarily excel at sales.
And yet, in order for your precious
words to be read, in order to make any money at all, we are forced to form a
fan base.
Coming up with a brand, connecting
through Facebook, my space, a website and a blog (such as this one) is one of
the ways to attract readers. Kristin Lamb has a great blog and she has written
a few books that are really helpful in spreading the word digitally.
If you write for kids, it’s harder.
If you write for kids, in actuality
you are selling to two people, the kids and the gatekeepers. The gatekeepers
are the parents and the teachers, because chances are they’re the ones who will
paying for your book. If you can find a way to get your book into the
classroom, you’re very lucky because where else can you sell forty books at one
pop?
I have a new middle grade novel
coming out in the spring and I’m struggling, trying to figure out how to
promote it.
One
Stone Left Unturned is told from
two points of view, two teenage girls, living in different times and different
places leading parallel lives with parallel needs and desires.
At midnight on July 16th, 1918 Tsar Nicholas Romanov and his
family was murdered, thus signifying the end of the Russian empire. Historians
believe that a peasant by the name of Rasputin was instrumental in the downfall
of the dynasty. Because Nicholas thought that Rasputin could cure their son,
Alexis, who was suffering from hemophilia, Rasputin was able to influence the
Imperial Family.
But what if Rasputin’s power did
not come from God as he claimed but from a simple jewel, a tri-colored fifteen
caret tourmaline? And what if that very stone landed in the hands of a lonely
teenager a century later?
The novel follows the final days
before the Romanov massacre from the eyes of their daughter, Tatiana. Banished
from the palace, the Romanovs are first exiled to Siberia,
were they remain for over a year, uncertain of their fate. Terrified of being
penniless, they had smuggled the crown’s jewels by sewing them into their
clothing. Tatiana soon discovers a fifteen caret tourmaline, which once
belonged to Rasputin. She soon realizes that the stone possess healing powers
and no harm will come to the one who is holding it. Tatiana uses the stone to
save Alexis’ life on several occasions.
The second point of view is of
Augusta Ashford, a teenager who now possesses the stone a hundred years later.
Her grandmother finds the jewel in an old crumbling church, slated for
demolition. Augusta’s
grandmother suffers from dementia, and Augusta
discovers the stone’s power and she uses it to keep her grandmother well. But
someone else knows about the tourmaline and is determined to take it from Augusta. Even if that
means murder.
I have always been fascinated by
the Tsar Nicholas and his family. A crazy monk, a sickly heir, a country
revolting, all resulting in murder makes for an amazing story. I spent a year
researching the Russian royal family, trying to keep the details were as
accurate as possible.
Now I have the hardest job of all –
to answer a question one of my third graders asked – “How will anyone know that
your book even exists?”
BIO
Marianna Heusler is an Edgar
nominated author of seven novels and over one hundred published short stories.
Her middle grade novel One Stone Left Unturned
is coming out in the spring. She is currently teaching third grade at an all
girls’ school on the upper east side of Manhattan.
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