James Ryan Daley is a writer, editor, and
digital designer. After earning an MFA in fiction at the Vermont College of
Fine Arts in 2004, James has spent most of the years since then teaching
writing to college students, creating websites, and editing anthologies of
fiction and political rhetoric. He lives in Newport, RI with his wife and two
daughters.
Purchase his book, Jesus Jackson, on Amazon.
Questionnaire:
Thanks
for letting us interrogate you! Can you
give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to why you wanted to be an author?
Honestly,
I’m still not sure that I even want to be an author. It sounds like a lot of work.
Also, I hear that the pay is terrible. I do have this thing where I really like
to write books, though. Maybe I’ll just be a guy who writes books.
Tell
us (we won’t tell promise!) is it all it’s cracked up to be? I mean what are the perks and what are the
demands?
Perks
of being an author:
1.
You get to write books.
2.
People will read your books.
Demands
of being an author:
1.
You have to write books.
2.
You have to make sure that people will
actually want to read your books.
Which
route did you take – traditional or self-published – and can you give us the
nitty gritty low down on what’s that like?
I
went with the traditional route, and I have to say, it’s been pretty damned
awesome. Jesus Jackson is the third
title out from The Poisoned Pencil, the new Young Adult imprint of Poisoned Pen
Press, and I feel like I won the publisher lottery. Throughout the entire
process, I’ve felt like I was part of a passionate, intelligent, motivated team
of publishing super-ninjas who just wanted to make my book as great as it could
be, and then get into the hands of as many people as possible.
Tell
us for real what your family feels about you spending so much time getting your
book written, polished, edited, formatted, published, what have you?
Well,
they are all incredibly supportive, and quite proud, but I’m sure they wish
that I would emerge from my office more during the weeks leading up to a
deadline…
In
writing your book, how did you deal with the phone ringing, your family needing
dinner or your boss calling you saying you’re late?
I
put my phone in my underwear drawer so I can’t even hear it vibrate. Seriously.
What
was the craziest or insane thing that happened to you in the book publishing
process?
The
first review Jesus Jackson received was a starred review from Kirkus. That was
pretty insane.
How
about the social networks? Which ones do
you believe help and which ones do you wish you could avoid?
I
think they all help to some degree, but I’m a big fan of Twitter and Goodreads.
Facebook is great for sharing news about the book with people I actually know,
but I haven’t really used it for any public outreach. I pretty much only use
Instagram to make sure my 14 year-old daughter is staying out of trouble, but
for that purpose, it’s invaluable.
Book
sales. Don’t you just love them (or lack
of?)? How are you making the sales
happen for you?
Well
the book has only been out for a few days, so it’s a bit hard to say. My
publisher has been awesome about really putting everything they can behind the
book, though, so I’m feeling optimistic.
What
is one thing you’d like to jump on the rooftop and scream about?
I
SPENT LIKE A BILLION FREAKING HOURS MAKING A BOOK
TRAILER SO EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!!!!
(here’s
a link: http://youtu.be/iD3nMqCzjxo)
Okay,
too much sugar for you today! Here’s a
nice cup of Chamomile tea and come on over and sit under the cabana and watch
the waves roll in. Now…can you tell us
what you love about being a published author and how all those things above
doesn’t matter because it’s all part of the whole scheme of things and you
wouldn’t have it any other way?
Okay,
here’s what I love: when people who I’ve never met get really excited about the
book. Hearing about someone who just picked it up at a bookstore, read it in
one feverish sitting, and then can’t wait to talk about it--that’s an awesome
feeling.
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