Recently, I (Joanne C. Hillhouse of Antigua and Barbuda) reached out to three female Caribbean writers (Diana McCaulay of Jamaica, Lisa Allen-Agostini of Trinidad and Tobago, and Shakirah Bourne of Barbados) with whom I have in common the distinction of being a finalist for the Burt Award for Teen/Young Adult Caribbean Literature (Diana with Daylight Come in 2019 and Gone to Drift in 2015; Shakirah with My Fishy Stepmom in 2018; and Lisa with Home Home in 2017; my own Musical Youth was a 2014 finalist).
The three writers interviewed for this series have further distinguished themselves by selling rights to U.S. editions of their Burt books (McCaulay’s Gone to Drift released in the US market with Harper Collins in 2016; Lisa’s Home Home’s US edition landing in 2020 with Delacorte Press; and Shakirah’s book forthcoming in 2021 with Scholastic). I want to thank them for making the time because I believe their experiences, different though they are, are an education on publishing, especially if you’re a Caribbean Writer. The conversation is serialized due to length (so read the start of the series here) – there are 5 questions.
Q. 4. What opportunities have opened up for you as a direct result of being published in different markets? Do you have other editions by region of the Burt or any other books pending?
Lisa during a stop on her Burt/Bocas book tour, San Juan North Secondary School. Photo by teacher Karen Sankar.
Lisa:I’ve had good reviews for Home Home’s Delacorte edition from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and Booklist; I’d never been reviewed by any of them before. [Edited to add: Trinidad Noir which Lisa co-edited was reviewed by Booklist in 2009]. Schools and libraries have expressed interest in it. Though the book’s Papillote edition has Caribbean fans, it hasn’t been warmly welcomed by schools and libraries here because it contains LGBTQ themes, a no-no in the Caribbean. I’m glad to give new, more liberal markets a shot. I have no other books pending but if you know anybody who wants to buy a contemporary domestic noir manuscript of 71,000 words…
Diana: Being published by Harper Collins got me the Kirkus star I mentioned and the better sales numbers, and also access to a call for proposals for Caribbean writers to write children’s stories for Collins Big Cat in the UK. I pitched a children’s booklet for schools and it was accepted – will come out this year.
I was a finalist for Burt twice – last year I placed third for my forthcoming novel, Daylight Come. I wrote it as a young adult novel, but I kept thinking about it and realized I wanted the story of an adult character to be explored in the book. So after Peepal Tree Press and Papillote Press expressed interest, I rewrote Daylight Come substantially as an adult novel, which will be published this year by Peepal Tree Press in September, Covid-19 allowing. Both Peepal Tree and Papillote offered me a contract – that was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. Boy, did I ever wish I had an agent then!
Shakirah on a panel at the Edinburgh International Literary Festival.
Shakirah: The US edition of my book is coming out in Summer 2021, and I’ve just moved on to the copyediting stage so it’s still very early. However, I was included in my agency’s foreign rights catalogue and my book was to be pitched at international book fairs, but those were cancelled due to COVID-19. Still, fingers crossed that there will be news of new editions in the near future.
I have written other children’s books since then which will be pitched to my publisher so we shall see …
All images are courtesy of the authors and interview was conducted and published by Joanne C. Hillhouse. You can excerpt and share with link-back/credit but do not republish without permission.
Over time, Wadadli Pen has added a fair amount of writing and publishing information – from interviews with authors and publishers, to the reading rooms, to the opportunities pages (technically posts not pages). This post-not-page is something slightly different, though there’ll probably be a bit of overlap. Like the reading room, and opportunities and opportunities too page/post with pending deadlines (which you can use the search box to find if the links don’t work), it will be updated from time to time; its purpose is to gather and share information related to publishing that writers need to know – information that too many of us have to learn the hard way. Hope you find it useful on your writing and publishing journey. Also visit the Writer’s Toolbox. Disclaimer: We don’t take responsibility for the information provided on any of the linked sites. Remember, do your own due diligence and seek the advice of an agent and/or lawyer if you can.
The ABCs of School Visits with an Independent Bookstore Some good tips here but worth remembering that we live in the Caribbean where the gumption of an author asking to be paid for school visits (in any form) is often met by a … huh? (and likely some behind-the-back grumbling about the author lacking community spirit). These posts are however a reminder to value what you do (give what time you can and/or choose to, of course, but don’t let anyone shame you for valuing what you do or for not giving what you cannot or can no longer afford to give). Shift the paradigm.
Publishing Paid Me – the #PublishingPaidMe hashtag trended on twitter in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter uprising as what many people of colour (and, as a Caribbean writer, people otherwise off the map) hoped would be a moment of reckoning in the publishing industry related to disparities vis-a-vis access, advances, and everything else (see publicity/promotion etc). Has there been significant shift? Jury’s out. Meantime, we have a databse of advances received by different groups (broken down by race, gender, and sexual orientation) which can at minimum save as a guide re the kind of advances being paid out by the publishing industry and who’s profiting. Here’s a link and here’s a pdf:
“One thing to keep in mind: Once you’ve been published …, it is almost always worth sending them more ideas, even if they don’t ask for them. You’ve already started the relationship with them, and they know you as a writer, so they are more likely to give your queries consideration.” – How to Write and Get Paid: 11 Cases of Freelance Writing Success edited by Jacob Jans (don’t have a link but worth sharing)
7 Things You Must Do To Survive A Recession As A Freelancer including 1. Prioritize adding income over cutting expenses Your first reaction to a big drop in income may be to cut back your expenses. That’s not wrong, but it’s more important to focus on bringing in more work. If you already live frugally, as many freelancers do, there’s only so much you can eliminate from your budget. Earn more and you won’t have to cut as much. When you have a good month—and you will, even in a downturn—save as much as you can to improve your cash flow for the next month. We could devote an entire article to getting more work. But a few ways to expand your roster of clients is to ask your current editors to connect you with their colleagues, update your online portfolios and social media pages, scour freelance job boards, and keep an eye on social media for calls for pitches.
“The time you spend working for clients who underpay or don’t appreciate you is better spent seeking great clients who love you, understand your value, and pay appropriately.” – Carol Tice
Editing Tests (I’m not a fan of these but they can be part of the hustle – this article debates the value and cost of editing tests)
“Find your minimum…and charge no less than that. If someone comes to you and says ‘…can you go lower?’ just say no… If you’re getting a lot of low paying work, you just need to learn to say ‘no’ more…You are worth a certain rate as a writer and when you go below that you are undervaluing yourself and as a result that paints the wrong picture of you to your clients.” Very good webinar on navigating the freelancing life.
“As a writer, you set the bar for acceptable pay. Don’t settle for less than you deserve and look for opportunities to upsell your services.” – Five Ways to Upsell Your Writing Services
‘While coaching me and my almost exclusively female classmates, Brodesser-Akner declared the following: “Always ask for more money!” It was a habit she’d developed after noticing that men did it all the time, without thinking twice about it. People respect you more for knowing what you’re worth, she told us.’ – How to negotiate your rate like a pro
“If you’re still a little unsure of your abilities, keep telling yourself that you have skills and experience that people are prepared to pay for. You’ve been invited to a meeting for a reason. You’ve won their approval thus far; you now just need to bring home the business by impressing them face-to-face.” – Learning how to sell yourself: how to win over a new client during a pitch by Katy Cowan
“Most freelancers spend about 30 percent of their time completing non-billable work like pitching, researching, interviewing, responding to emails, marketing, networking, and invoicing…That means an eight-hour workday only leaves you with about five billable hours. So when finding your own rate, be realistic with what you can charge and how many hours in the week you can work.” – Rates
Rates (a sample of some freelance publication rates)
“So be bold. Go after the writing you want, keep yourself at the forefront of editors’ minds, ask for fair compensation, and see what happens!” – Reminder to Be Bold when pitching
Carly Watters – Literary Agent Blog – I’m sharing this here because I don’t really have an agents’ blog on this site but I find, just perusing her comments section that she’s quite responsive and has some insights about the industry that might be useful, whichever agent you pitch.
Caribbean Books Foundation has launched (as of summer 2021) a monthly book launch list for Caribbean writers. “On the 15th of every month we will release a list of to-be published works, both self-published and traditional, from Caribbean writers and authors that will be launching the next month. This list will be promoted on our platforms and allow readers and reviewers who wish to view or purchase these works a chance to do so.” Details of how you can get your book listed here.
“Consider the topic being more than about the book’s release, and instead more about the impact of the book, a strange intriguing fact about how the book came about, how the book meets an urgent need, how a famous/semi-famous person reviewed your book and what they thought. In other words, the book isn’t the news…something else amazing related to the book is.” – Press Releases: a Blast from the Past by Greta Burroughs
Classes, Services (Writing and Publishing) – short sample limited to people who have had some connection with Antigua and Barbuda and especially Wadadli Pen
Dominican writer Lisa Latouche talks about the road to the MFA programme in one, two parts (inspiration)
About your e-signature and how to utilize it as a marketing tool
Guidance Sheet re Recording and Sharing Author Archives – Guidance sheet recordkeeping and transferring archives – “Authors should take time to ensure that they make the right choice of archive service for donation or deposit, and this may require a period of negotiation and discussion. It is important that there is sympathy and synergy between the author’s collection and the archival institution which will be responsible for its care and promotion. Seeking to change archive service once the process is underway can be a difficult process.”
How to Hire a Skilled Editor and What You’ll Pay (because some writers really do need to consider what’s involved before pushing back on the rates – negotiating is fine, disrespect and derision is not) – rates and reasons vary but this isn’t a bad guide
How to lose a third of a million dollars without really trying – a lot of this may feel like another world (every author isn’t getting advances of this size, for one) but posting just as a cautionary tale for any writer trying to navigate the publishing world (because it can be very confusing)
As with all content on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, and Oh Gad!). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my page on Amazon, WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen, my books, and my freelance writing-editing-coaching-workshop services. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
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