Influence of Writers in my Internship Experience

For this week’s blog post, I have been asked to write about the role of the writer in my internship, and whether I have had any contact with other writers during my internship. Given that my internship is actually working with an independent writer, I would say that yes, I absolutely have had contact with other writers, both the author, and also with other journalists and book reviewers.

My author/supervisor is Kay Hardy Campbell, author of Caravan of Brides, a Novel of Saudi Arabia. Kay is simply amazing on every level. Caravan of Brides is her first novel, but you would never know it from the work she puts into promoting her book. She is either an incredibly quick study who has learned from others how to promote your book as an indie author, or she has an intuitive sense of what needs to be done to be successful.

One of the reasons why Kay is doing so well with her book is because she was a subject matter expert on life in the Middle East long before she decided to write this excellent book. This has given her an opening that other writers of fiction do not have, because there is a lot happening in Saudi Arabia, and as an expert, she is a natural guest speaker when people want to know about Saudi culture. Using that as the way to open the door, Kay then has the chance to hook her readers into checking out her book, based on the quality of her presentation. This would be impossible for someone like me, because my fiction tends to be more scifi/fantasy, and unless someone needs a speaker on a planet that only exists in my mind, I would be out of luck.

I have written on this subject in other blog posts too, but one of the projects Kay asked me to complete is finding book reviewers to send her book to, and in the process, I connected with a couple very talented people who are also writers. One of these people is Ron Charles, Editor of Book World through the Washington Post. Ron reads and reviews fiction for Book World, and also creates a video series titled The Totally Hip Book Review that is both entertaining and informative. I like them because he also occasionally delves into one of my favorite subjects of politics, which adds to the creativity.

There is another person whom I have contacted through this internship whom I already have known for several years, but what has been valuable is that over that time, she has branched out into different areas of publishing.

For example, when I met Emily Piland, it was in her capacity as a book reviewer. In time, she branched out into book publicity, and was helpful in spreading the word if I had a promotion going on for one of my novels. I also recently learned that she is a talented graphic artist, as that is what her training is in, but the latest twist in her book industry career has her entering the world of book publishing.

Always looking for a new opportunity, Emily has a friend who started a small press named A Writer for Life. Her friend published one book through the press and then decided she did not have the time to devote to the press to make it worthwhile. Her friend approached Emily and offered to give her the rights to the company, which Emily agreed to do.

The first thing Emily did is retain the services of an editor, and that has proven fruitful, because in my most recent communications with Emily, she said she has 3 books ready to be released, and another 8 in other stages of development. She also indicated she may need more help with editing, which is most cool, because I have done a lot of book editing over the years, so there is the possibility of some work there.

Working with Kay has shown me the importance of making public appearances and contacts in this industry. I am not sure if I have changed my approach to writing, but definitely have changed in terms of my approach to book publishing and promotions, which is easily as important for an indie author as writing the book in the first place.