Hello Carolyn,

 

So, you and I became writing buddies after I read your book, Heart In The Right Place and I wrote you a  gushy fan mail letter. That is one of my top ten favorite books ever.  EVER.  I just gobbled that thing up. It’s your own personal story. Tell everyone about that book.

 

I was Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works when my mother had a heart attack and I was asked to come home and fill in for her on her job for a couple of days. My father was a family doctor in a very rural area near the Smoky Mountains. Momma was his sidekick, receptionist, bookkeeper, nurse, and lab technician.

I did not want to leave my glamorous, fast lane job, but I did, under pressure. What was supposed to be a couple of days turned into four years. I never went back to Washington.

Daddy treated a lot of his patients for free and if he’d had to pay someone to do Momma’s job, he’d have to start charging people who couldn’t afford to pay. The book is about adjusting to public service as an unpaid receptionist and living in my parent’s basement rather than public service Washington, DC style, from a Lear Jet.

 

2) You are really smart, smart, smart. Tell me about those degrees of yours again and your career path.

I was always good at math, so the easiest degree for me to get in college happened to be in biomedical engineering. Unfortunately, I could never even get an interview for a job as an engineer because it was too early for men to even consider hiring women. So, I went to law school. I was supposed to be a doctor, but I’m horribly squeamish and prone to hysteria, so that was out of the question. I did really well as a lawyer, but hated it because the system is totally broken. Getting forced out of law was a blessing in disguise.

 

3) I just finished reading your self published, mystery e-book, Out On A Limb and I loved it. I loved the truthful, quirky characters, the suspense, the medical information, and the stunning picture you gave of the Smoky Mountains. I loved that a woman climbed as high as she could in trees.

You said that twelve publishing houses rejected it and your agent told you to “quit writing.” What a dumb agent.  Was he sober? When did you decide to to be a daredevil and self publish and what does self publishing with Amazon involve?

Everything I wrote for 7 years after my first book was rejected, even though my first book was a big national success and got on lots of lists of best books of the year. My own agent told me I should quit writing. It was horrible. I genuinely thought the subsequent books were great, but no “professionals” agreed with me. So I was screwed. Traditional publishing had a lock on the industry until very recently.

But then I lost my job as Webmaster for the non-profit with Great Smoky Mountains National Park and in a burst of hysteria immediately self-published the book “Medicine Men,” a collection of the most memorable moments from a dozen elderly rural Appalachian doctors. I did it through Amazon’s KDP Select Program and in 24 hours it went to #1 on Amazon. Duh. I hadn’t even proofread it properly. I was genuinely panicked about how to make a living and just published it because it was free to try and because I thought I understood social media after being a Webmaster for years and creating a huge Facebook presence for the Park with no money.

The big insight here is that 80% of book buyers are women, most of whom are middle-aged, and that’s also similar to the demographic of who is on Facebook. Older women are running social media and are not recognized for it (what’s new). But those are my peeps, so I figured if I honestly liked my books, they would too.

I offered the book for free for 2 days and after the first day it was #1 in the Kindle free book store!! Since then it’s been a bestseller and one of the highest-rated indie published Memoir/Biographies.

 

And then….

Two months later I self-published my first work of fiction, a mystery called “Out on a Limb,” the same way. That book had been rejected by 3 agents and 14 publishers. And it went to #9 in the entire Kindle free book store in 24 hours. Double duh.

 

4) Excellent news.  I bet those agents and publishers are pounding their heads against their desks now, sneaking sips of scotch and wondering if they should become plumbers. 

This is very cheery, too, for others who want to self – publish. You must be absolutely delighted, down to your Tennessee toes, that you took this route. What are the pros and cons?

Self-publishing has been a revelation. There are no cons, really.

5) What are you working on now? Do you think you’ll continue to self publish in the future?

I am finishing a hilarious and touching memoir for a wildlife ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and will self-publish it the same way as the first two books.

6) On my list. I cannot wait to read it.

I have loved learning about the Smoky Mountains in your book. I want to come and hang with you and have dinner on your deck after we go hiking in the Smokies. I do not want to see growly bears, though, unless they are a long ways away because I don’t want to get eaten and I also don’t want to converse with those wild, snuffly pigs you talked about in your book. Make sure you hammer up a notice on a tree to those animals to keep their distance on my visitation days. I’m sure they’ll read it.

What advice for people do you have about self publishing?

You have to have a great title and cover and a really good descriptive blurb. If the cover looks less than professional, that will really hurt.

In my spare time, I daydream and guzzle too much coffee. What do you do in your spare time? 

Medicinal herb gardening.

Aha. Maybe a topic for a new book, then?  If I get sick, I’ll call you.  I will not eat flowers, though. Heads up on that. And I will not eat anything with the word “wart” in it. I’m game otherwise. Sort of. 

Thanks for your time. You rock as a writer, Carolyn, my friend. You do.