I contacted Shannon Des Roches Rosa and Jennifer Byde Myers, authors of Can I Sit with You?, to get the inside scoop on their project (see initial post). Although Jennifer wrote the responses for the Q & A, I've been assured that Shannon would add to her comments if she got a chance or felt the need to further clarify.
Blooking Central: I'm particularly interested in how blogs/websites become books (blooks).
What can you tell me about the number of submissions that you sifted through (if you did) to arrive at the ones that made the book? How did you do the sifting?
Jennifer Byde Myers: We were very lucky to have a great selection of stories sent in. Most of them were the appropriate length (we asked for about 1000 words) and required only minor editing. Some submissions were very short, more like anecdotes. On the blog we used these shorter stories as "Sunday Shorts", but chose not to include them in the book itself. We only asked a few people to work out parts of their stories for clarity, and most of those writers sent them back with good changes. We heavily edited a few of them, but we included nearly all of the full length stories from that first month.
Blooking Central: How were they arranged in the book? Did you try to follow some sort of themes or to alternate brave with
funny?
Jennifer Byde Myers: We placed the stories in the book as they appeared chronologically on the blog. We thought carefully about placement throughout each week that we posted (alternating themes and level of pain etc.) so that served us well to only think once.
Blooking Central: Did you contract with your submitters for the rights to their stories or did you go with the implied consent? Several authors have handled this in many different ways!
Jennifer Byde Myers: If you look at our submission guidelines we asked for the rights to use the stories in whatever way we needed, but did not take away any rights from the authors. They may still publish their stories in other places if they choose. During the final process before the book was printed, we emailed each of the authors again and asked them for their full name (not just nom de plume) and their consent once again. We are considering their final email a legal agreement.
Blooking Central: How have sales been? Did the authors whose work was included get freebies? Have you done anything unusual
to promote sale of the book? (web press releases, posts to forums, conferences, etc.) I'm also curious about how your blog has been promoted :-) I realize that I have an inordinate amount of curiosity!
Jennifer Byde Myers: Sales were brisk in the first week, (a couple hundred) and we have sold an average of 8-10 books per day since then. We sent a "freebie" to a just couple of the people who contributed great time and talent, but "freebie" means paid for by Shan and Jen, so we have not given away nearly as many as I think would help sales over all. The authors had to purchase their own copies. Sad eh? But ALL proceeds of this edition are going to our Special Ed PTA, SEPTAR.org So it is a good thing to buy a book! I think it will be a nice steady income for the PTA.
In terms of marketing, we have been slow to do any of the normal routes. I haven't even written a damn press release! We have once again used the power of the Internet, and the exuberance of our friends to share the book. There are links to the book on our personal blogs, on the SEPTAR website, and at the bottom of every email I send. We've placed the book locally in coffee shops and a few local bookstores may carry them in the new year.
Blooking Central: In my post I guessed that there would be sequels. Was I right? What would/will you do differently, if anything?
Jennifer Byde Myers: I think we would like to do a sequel... or two, or three... there are so many stories to be told. Catharsis for all!
Blooking Central: Looking at your project in general terms, what sort of advice would you give to another blogger who hopes to
create a blook? I've looked at lots of blooks that are collections - teenage angst in poetry, confessions and camp stories.
Jennifer Byde Myers: There are a couple of things that have made this project a success. Shannon and I are a great team. It was very nice to have someone be in charge of something at all times. Divide and conquer or something like that, right? We also kept things streamlined by creating a narrow focus. It is much easier to decide what information to include and how to effectively communicate about the project because the guidelines we set up were so clear to each of us from the get go. It also helps, I think, that the proceeds of this edition go directly to support our kids' special ed PTA (http://www.septar.org/); people like to be a part of the greater good.
It has been a very gratifying project. This world can be mean and cold, and yet at every turn we found another friendly face eager to join our little community.
I appreciate Ms. Myers taking the time to share with us. If you are the author of a blook, drop me a line and I'll be happy to help hype your work AND to pick your brain :-)
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