7 Random Questions with Author Joan Holub

We are starting a new segment on this blog. We are asking authors 7 random questions about reading, writing, and life. I'm thrilled that Joan Holub is our first participant.

 

 

 

Joan Holub has written and/or illustrated over 130 children's books. Check out her titles at http://www.joanholub.com/index.html 

 

Seven Random Questions With Author Joan Holub

 

1-What’s the last book you bought?

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. I'm writing a children's book about Thanksgiving and this is a great resource.

2-If you had to dedicate your book to a thing (and not a person), what would that thing be?

What a unique question! Dedication: To my newly-recovered chair. Thank you for hugging me in your uncritical arms and letting me sit in you while I've brainstormed many a new book idea.

3-What’s an interesting tidbit readers might not know about you or your books?

My co-author (Suzanne Williams) and I didn't know how we were going to write the Goddess Girls series together. We sent the proposal and 5 chapters out, and figured we'd work out how to write as a team if the series got published. We're on our 12th one now, and it has been mega-fun!

4-If you could have any career, what would it be? (And it can’t be “author”.)

Ballet teacher for little kids.

5-Do you prefer the sunrise or the sunset?

Sunset. I'm a night person.

6-What is the name of the protagonist in your work-in-progress?

Persephone.

7-What’s your favorite word?

Yes. (Especially when spoken by an editor.)

Why buy picture books?

A: Hours and hours of entertainment.

Last week I wrote about the entertainment value of novels. After my extensive research I proved that an average novel costs about $1.50 per hour of entertainment. Sounds good. But what about picture books?

On the 7th of August, we bought When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach and illustrated by David Small. I love this book and totally relate to the mom (and that's it for my review of this title). We paid $13.13 for the book but it lists for $17.99. My son and I can read this book in about 5 minutes.

And now the math...

$3.60 - Each minute of entertainment cost us $3.60 (assuming retail). Yikes!

I'll admit, I wish hard cover picture books cost four dollars. (And the author and illustrator split seventy-five percent of that list price.) I can't even begin to understand the costs of creating a picture book. But the difference is, of course, that a good picture book will be read dozens of time and a great picture book will be read thousands of times. And how do you know if a picture book is good or great? You read it in the store before you buy. The newest picture books only have around 500 words. Can't do that with a novel.

In our home, we have picture books that have been memorized by parent and child. These books are well worn and a few are on their second copy (like Monster at the End of This Book and Good Night Moon). When my children outgrow these, I will not be able to sell them--and not just because they look like they've survived an animal attack. They are links to magical times.

Unfortunately, too many parents are skipping over this magic. The moment a baby is born we are told 1-breastfeed and 2-read to your child. And good new mommies and daddies read Sanda Boynton and Doctor Seuss to their little bundles until the baby turns three or four, then they jump into chapter books, trying to give their kids a leg up (on other three and four years old). SLOW DOWN. Judy Moody and Captain Underpants can wait a bit for their moment to shine. Picture books are expensive. You need to read them to your child for a few years to get your moneys worth.

Personal Plug:
Dear Santasaurus by me (Stacy McAnulty) and illustrated by Jef Kaminsky will be available in Fall 2013.

Books

Q: Why Buy Books?

A: Hours and hours of entertainment.

Let's take a look. Fifty Shade of Grey by E.L. James is the number one on the New York Times Best Sellers list for fiction. (Surprise!) How long would it take an average reader to consume this book?

We go inside the numbers.
528 - number of pages in the paperback (according to Amazon)
306 - number of words on page 4 (I counted these using the "Click to Look Inside" function on Amazon. I may be the only middle-aged Mommy that doesn't own this trilogy.)
200-250 - number of words the average reader plows through in a minute (according to http://mindbluff.com/askread2.htm You can also test your words/minute on this site.)
$15.95 - the list price for the paperback

Therefore it would take 10.7 hours to read Fifty Shades of Grey and cost you $1.49 per hour. And that's buying the book at list price, which is crazy. The book is available everywhere from Costco to Target to Amazon for much cheaper.

The audio book of Fifty Shade of Grey runs 19 hours and 47 minutes. If you read that slowly, you are only paying $1.24 per hour.

I am not going to mention the hours (or minutes) of entertainment that may accompany this book post-read. It's too hard to calculate.

Now let's look at movies and their value. The last movie I watched in a theater was Total Recall. I was not a fan. The best part of the experience was the Axe commercial starring Kiefer Sutherland--that was clever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX5PsV2uMVg

Total Recall is 1 hour and 49 minutes long. I paid $9.50 (my hubby also attended but I'll only count my experience). That's $5.22 per hour of movie going fun just for me. I'm overlooking some huge differences between books and movies. TR costs a lot more to create than 50 Shades, no doubt. I only want to consider the price paid by the consumer. And a good book wins every time.

One final thought, who is the better leading men? I have not read 50 Shades, but I hear that Christian Grey is it. And if you don't like the way James describes the 27 year-old billionaire, you can picture your husband or Matt Damon. It's much harder to watch Total Recall and imagine anyone other than Colin Farrell--well, maybe Arnold, but that takes a lot more work.

What We Bought

I was hoping to take a picture of our purchases but my children left their books at Nana's. I will have to try next week.

Here's the non-visual list.

For me (via Kindle) - THE AGE OF MIRACLES by Karen Thompson Walker
For hubby - 11/22/63 by Stephen King
For 10 year old - ARTEMIS THE BRAVE (GODDESS GIRL) by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
For 8 year old - STONE FOX by John Reynolds Gardiner and Greg Hargreaves (illustrator)
For 4 year old -  WHEN DINOSAURS CAME WITH EVERYTHING by Elise Broach and David Small (illustrator) 

What did you buy?

Today is the Day

Happy National Book Buying Day to You and Yours.

Why the 7th???

I have declared the 7th of each month National Book Buying Day. I'm not certain if I have the power to declare a national day of anything. Does it take a presidential decree or an act of congress? Maybe. I'll look into at another time.

So you may be wondering why I selected the 7th. Here are some great reasons. Some good reasons. Some fair reasons. And some ludicrous reasons. (I will not label them as such and allow you to decide for yourself.)

1. Charles Dickens' birthday is February 7th, 1812. I'm currently reading Great Expectations. My first Dickens novel and while I struggle, I am impressed. The man was funny. Side note: I read an abbreviated version of G.E. in high school. I was in remedial English. My numerous grammatical errors and spelling mistakes still plague me today.

2. Stacy McAnulty's (that's me!) birthday is in the 7th month of the year.  My favorite number was 4 until a few years ago when it became 12 (if you are a Packer's fan this will completely make sense) but my lucky number has always been 7. I can't tell you how many cake walks I have won on the number 7.

3. Thanksgiving will never fall on the 7th. Neither will New Year's nor Christmas. As for Federal Holidays, we won't have an issue until Labor Day 2015.

4. Seven is a prime number. I have a thing for prime numbers. They are loners and travel through this life without depending on others.

5. Seven is perfectly positioned in the month. Any sooner and the date is likely to sneak up on me. Is it the 5th already? And I think anything after the twentieth is too close to the end of the month. Then you're saying, where did the month go?

6. Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday is February 7, 1867. I just learned this fact in a desperate search to find another "good" reason for selecting the seventh. This reason is dedicated to my sister and her girls, who love, love, love Little House.

7. There are 7 Harry Potter books, 7 wonders of the ancient world, and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. So I think WE WILL BUY BOOKS is in very good company.

The Rules

Even the simplest plans need rules or clarification. Here are mine.

1. Buy a new book on the 7th of the month.
2. Buy a new book for your child on the 7th. We must keep the authors, agents, and editors of kids books employed too.
3. It must be a new book. Sure, this rule is implied in 1 and 2, but I thought it deserved another mention. You can pick up books from used bookstores, libraries, garage sales, and friends on another day.
4. Shop anywhere. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Little Book Shop on Main, Walmart, Costco, Target, Scholastic Book Fairs. In the airport, grocery store, museum gift shops, toy store, restaurants. Anywhere new books can be purchased.
5. All formats are acceptable. Hand cover, paperback, e-books, and audio books. Video books don't count because they don't exist. You are thinking of movies and that industry doesn't need saving right now.
6. Enjoy any kind of book. Pick up a mystery novel or a cookbook. Try self-help or a dystopian YA (I wonder which there are more of???).  Help yourself to poetry, a short story collection, or a sports memoir. The only no-no is magazines. Let's skip magazines. We'll even say comic books are OK.
7. You are making no commitment beyond the purchase. No one is going to check if you actually read the book. Though that seems like a waste not to. There is no essay to write or quiz. Just enjoy your new purchase in your own way and at your pace.
8. Yes, you should buy books on other days too! This is important. It's not a diet. You aren't limited to purchasing books on the 7th. You should buy as many books as you can afford and as often as your heart desires. But even if you just bought a book on the 6th, go out and get another on the 7th. Your support could be keeping an author writing.

Dozens of Rejection Letters Lead to Movement (a very small movement)

As an author, rejection letters are part of the process. And I have found that most rejection letters contain the following two lines.

"Thank you for your e-mail but..." and "in this tough literary market..."

So for years I have been working at my craft, trying to write fascinating books that will capture the interest of an agent, them an editor, and finally readers. I'm not there yet.

(Pause for shameless self-promotion: I am almost there. My picture book, Dear Santasaurus will be available from Boyd Mills Press in Fall of 2012.)

But what about the other end of the problem? This tough literary market. How can we fix that? My writer buddies joke that there are more people trying to write novels than actually read novels. I have friends who brag that they haven't read a novel since high school.

People need to buy more books. You, my dear blog read, need to buy more books. Honestly, I don't care if you read them but that does seem like a waste of money. So take the pledge with me and help save an industry.

Raise your right hand:

I, (insert name), will BUY a new book on the 7th of the month. Paperback, hardcover, e-book, or audio, it doesn't matter. Purchased in a bookstore (independent or conglomerate), online, at the grocery store, in an airport, at a big box store, it doesn't matter. Fiction, nonfiction, it doesn't matter. And if I am a parent (which hopefully I know if I am) I will buy a book for my child as well.

Thank you for helping change the literary world. (Results not guaranteed.)