An Interview with Romantic Fiction Author Nelson Pahl

Nelson Pahl is a Bronte Prize-winning and Maurier Award-winning author signed to the independent publishing house, Cafe Reverie Press. He is a former FIS World Cup Freestyle Team member and a graduate of Hammond College. You can visit his website at www.nelsonpahl.com or his blog at www.nelsonpahl.blogspot.com. Welcome to Beyond the Books, Nelson. Can you tell us whether you are published for the first time or multi-published? Can you give us the title(s) of your book(s)? Bee Balms & Burgundy is my debut title, released this past October. My second book, Two for Tuesday, is due for release in December. What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why? Bee Balms & Burgundy. It won this year’s Bronte Prize. For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it? Actually, although I live paycheck to paycheck in the indie realm as a writer, I never had any rejections. Just the opposite, in fact. My plan all along was to establish a strong independent/small press, with authors I loved to read. I knew that today’s indie/small presses were fast-becoming talent boutiques, and I had my eye on a few other writers, people with which we’re currently negotiating or in fact publishing. When I say the opposite happened, I mean that I’ve had three mid-level publishers and major subsidiaries, both in the U.S. and Canada, offer healthy advances to publish Bee Balms & Burgundy. I don’t say this to appear in demand or overtly talented. I say this to denounce a misperception in today’s fiction realm: independent/small presses can offer advantages that the rejection houses (major houses in New York, LA, Toronto, and London) simply cannot offer, such as retaining full ownership of all your content, you have final say and control over any movie rights, you can jump ship and sign with another publisher at any time, your book gets to market much faster, and, oftentimes, you receive larger royalties per unit sold. I’m sorry I don’t have a sad story in regards to rejections. Yet, I do think I offer an inspiring story–especially because I now make my living merely writing books. How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows? My rejections weren’t in regards to publishing, but every time you’re rejected for a review or an article or a radio spot or a bookstore or a signing or an ezine collaboration, and you handle those things mainly by way of your own hand, it hurts and its frustrating. But, I keep in mind that I have a talent not many share in this day and age; I tell myself that some day all the rejecters will be on hands and knees and begging to know me–even if that does sound a little delusional (lol.) When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them? My press, Cafe Reverie Press, published me–for obvious reasons.How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate? Very good. My mother took me out for dinner. What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time? The first thing we did was align with a charity and then write and distribute a few e-news releases/ezine articles; the media loves and needs charity in its news. You find your heartwarming angle and you can sell the news. If I did it again, I’d start in the real world instead of online. If you’re willing to put just a little bit of money into your campaign, you can end up with guaranteed press. There are a lot of ingenious firms and angles out there today. The move I’d most recommend is finding a charitable tie-in, mine is breast cancer, and then create your news angle and approach your local news outlets. Sounds cliché, but if you live in a city of 100k to, say, 600k, they’re dying for people like you. It’s such a manageable size with only so many potential stars. Yet, those cities have to fill newspapers, radio shows, and TV news broadcasts just like their counterparts in larger cities. If you live somewhere more vast, a major metro area, find your section of the metro and begin there. Find a community newspaper or smaller radio show or a local retail outlet or a charitable program that needs an expert in your market/industry/genre, and create the next big thing; make yourself into a hero, into a bona fide HOME-GROWN star. Then, you can take that press nugget and ease into other markets. “Hey, look at what kind of press he gets in Moline? He should be on the cover of the Arts section in Des Moines. Put him there!” Now, that’s a little melodramatic, but you get the point. It’s all image, you know? It’s not like today’s Hollywood is brimming with talent; the town simply sells “image” by the boat-load. Get it? If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published? Not a chance. I love where I am and who I am in this realm. I’d much rather be a Muskie in the neighborhood pond than a minnow in Lake Michigan, you know? I matter here. Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author? My second book, Two for Tuesday, comes out in December. I’ve become even more efficient with my writing. Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up? What kind of mistakes could you have avoided? I don’t know that I have precisely the same issues as most writers trying to get published, but I’d offer this: I’d quit the nit-picking earlier in the process. Oftentimes, that first story is very difficult to give up; you want to make it perfect, hence you perpetually pick at it. My friends and family kept telling me, “You have to let go of it now; you have to start somewhere, and it’s important to leave room to improve.” That was really hard to swallow, but I eventually took their advice. (After much more nit-picking, of course.) What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published? I’ve won several awards, including the Bronte Prize (Bee Balms & Burgundy) and the Maurier Award (Two for Tuesday), beating out some of America’s best-selling major publishing house authors in the process. The little guy does matter, I guess. If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be? Running an international chain of raw vegan markets/boutiques.Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds? No, I wouldn’t quit writing. How do you see yourself in ten years? Still writing…while running that international raw vegan market/boutique chain from its Santo Domingo headquarters. Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day? Stay focused, find your angle, and NEVER quit improving; there’s no point of writing if you’re not going to evolve. Activate EVERYTHING!! Posted by pumpupyourbookpromotion on December 17, 2007 This entry was posted on December 17, 2007 at 5:53 am and is filed under Romantic Fiction. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 2 Responses to “An Interview with Romantic Fiction Author Nelson Pahl” Ccmal Says: December 17, 2007 at 3:16 pm Great interview guys and lots of wonderful advice. Best of luck during the rest of the tour, Nelson. Cheryl Pumpupyourbookpromotion Says: December 17, 2007 at 3:55 pm “I now make my living merely writing books” I don’t think many people can say that! Welcome to Beyond the Books, Nelson!