Post #91 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Business – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir Writers, Take Notice
This past weekend, I picked up a copy of The Register-Guard, an Oregon newspaper. While in the process of getting ink on my hands (yes, the paper version), I spotted the headline “A Lifetime of Writing” on the front page of the Oregon Life Lifestyle section. Under the large photo of a silver-haired, spry-looking woman, posed in front of a wall of books, were words that captured my attention: “Eugene writer Kate Wilhelm, 83…”
I’ve been a fan of Barbara Holloway mystery stories every since I discovered that they were written by Kate Wilhelm, a Eugene author. I knew I would be moving to Oregon and thought it would be great fun to read a local author. Thanks to the newspaper article, I now know more about her. She has been writing for 56 years and has 48 published novels. But don’t think she is slowing down. At the age of 83, she reports that her most recent book (Death of an Artist) reached bookstores a month ago, another book (Whisper Her Name) will be out in July, and the next Barbara Holloway story will be available in the fall. If you don’t know this series, I’d definitely recommend you try one. You’re in for a real treat.
That means she has at least three new books coming out this year.
And the Publishing/Marketing News?
Buried in the newspaper article was a real shocker. Wilhelm has been published by the big six publishing houses for most of her career. Her first novel, for example, was published by Simon & Schuster. She has continued to receive contracts from major publishers across all these years.
But that is changing. She has started a publishing company, Infinity-Box Press, that she will run with her son and daughter-in-law who live in Portland and her son who lives next door in Eugene.
Why the change? Why ignore major publishers who want to produce her novels? This is her response in the newspaper:
Her previous publishers “know damn well why I’m doing this, Wilhelm said. “The last contract they offered me wanted electronic control over my work past, present and future, regardless of what kind of technology comes along. They would own my work forever — I told my agent I just couldn’t sign that. It wasn’t about the money, it was about rights. It was the worst contract I ever saw.”
Once the issue of rights came to light, she found that some of her earlier novels had reverted to her and that others soon will. This gave her a body of work for her new family-owned publishing company. Wilhelm went on:
“Many of my books are out of print, so we’re going to republish all of them as e-books and print-on-deman and the publish the rest as they come out or as rights revert,” she said. “My agent will continue to represent the books for which the publishers own the rights.”
Memoir Writers Can Embrace New Technology and New Challenges
Kate Wilhelm has 13 years on me and is my new role model. I love to conjure with the concept of publishing multiple books per year and starting a new publishing venture when I have the wisdom accumulated in the next 13 years.
Sure your circumstances are different. Sure, you may not have been publishing for the past 56 years. But you can still take on new challenges and find the right path for you to complete your memoir and to publish it if that is what you want.
