{"id":20988,"date":"2017-04-24T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=20988"},"modified":"2017-04-24T08:00:58","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T12:00:58","slug":"417-or-425-int-with-joanne-osullivan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=20988","title":{"rendered":"Between Two Skies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Over the last couple of years, I’ve had the pleasure of a front row seat as long-time Spellbound customer Joanne O’Sullivan made the journey from submitting a manuscript to celebrating the publication of her debut young adult novel. We’ve had a lot of conversations about the joys and frustrations of the whole process.
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\nA few years ago we were chatting outside a local radio station, where her son Finn had just reviewed a book for Spellbound’s weekly kidlit radio spot, when Joanne told me that she had a manuscript ready to submit and was really nervous about it. \"\"<\/a>Months later, Joanne’s daughter Maeve was attending a poetry workshop for teens at the bookstore when I\u00a0heard the fabulous news that her book had been bought by Candlewick Press. And all along the way we’ve chatted about the learning curve for a first-time author, from getting used to waiting (a lot) to pulling together an author platform to market yourself and your book. But all the work\u2014and all the waiting\u2014have paid off, and now Joanne’s debut novel Between Two Skies<\/em> hits the shelves this week.
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Fun Fact: You get a pin and a certificate when your book is chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection!<\/p><\/div>
\nNot only that, it’s hitting those shelves with a resounding bang thanks to starred reviews from Kirkus\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Booklist\u00a0<\/em>and designation as an Okra Pick by SIBA, our regional booksellers association. Oh, and it’s also a Junior Library Guild selection, which I know from my school librarian customers is not only a big honor, it’s also a huge influencer on library sales.
\nBetween Two Skies<\/em> is the story of a 16-year-old girl living with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Not just the physical aftermath, but the emotional and even sociopolitical aftermath of the storm. The sense of place is captured beautifully. Joanne lived in New Orleans for several years and\u00a0returns to the area frequently.
\nSince moving to Asheville, Joanne\u00a0has been an important part of the local book scene as a journalist covering the literary beat. I asked her recently about whether her\u00a0work covering authors and book events for the newspaper prepared her in any way for her\u00a0experience as a debut author.<\/p>\n

I feel like I\u2019ve gotten a little bit of a do-it-yourself MFA from all the authors I\u2019ve gotten to interview in the past five years. Almost universally, authors are wonderful and generous people. In my questions about their books and processes, I often find myself inserting questions that relate back to my own writing and the conversation sways in that direction. I\u2019ve had breakthroughs as a result of authors I\u2019ve interviewed. Stephanie Perkins [Anna and the French Kiss]<\/em>\u00a0was so generous with her time, for example. Daniel Wallace [Big Fish]<\/em>, who is also a creative writing teacher, unintentionally dropped some profound writing wisdom on me. The amazing Kate DiCamillo spent a lot of our interview asking about me and my book. It felt like the community of authors was welcoming me in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do you keep up with a peer group of fellow 2017 debut authors?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am part of two groups: one that\u2019s now called the Class of 2k17<\/a> and one that\u2019s now called 2017 Debuts. It\u2019s been invaluable in terms of learning about marketing and promotions as well as issues in the YA community. But more than that, it\u2019s been so wonderful to connect with other authors all around the world and share the experience. It\u2019s been a little like being in graduate school with a class you\u2019ve never met: we are approaching the same milestones together, commiserating and learning from each other. It\u2019s been a wonderful fellowship.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What’s the most surprising (or funny or infuriating) thing that people say to you when they learn you’re an author? A YA author in particular?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Universally, the first comment is \u201cOh, you\u2019re going to be the next J.K. Rowling!\u201d Where to start with that statement? I think there are a lot of people whose only experience with children\u2019s books is Harry Potter and those who\u2019ve heard of YA only within the context of The Hunger Games<\/em> and Twilight<\/em>. I hope that people discover that there\u2019s a very wide and rich range of books in YA, from humor and social commentary to magical realism and yes, even literary!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Does having one published book under your belt increase or decrease the pressure on your next work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, it absolutely increases the pressure! There are some people in my group who are on their third books already! I\u2019ve heard it said that it takes your whole life to write the first book and you shouldn\u2019t expect that the second one will come quickly. But I\u2019ve also heard a lot of other advice about staying on track and trying to produce your second book as quickly as possible. I know a lot more now than I did when I wrote Between Two Skies<\/em>, but sometimes I think that\u2019s more of a curse than a blessing. There\u2019s a certain sense of experimentation and na\u00efvet\u00e9 with a first novel that I think is helpful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Who do you see as the primary audience for Between Two Skies<\/em>?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been told it\u2019s YA, but skews toward the younger side because it doesn\u2019t get into \u2018edgy\u2019 topics. I\u2019d say it\u2019s for anyone who likes a coming-of-age story with a sweet romance, more on the literary side.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How much did research play into your writing process?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I research SO much! My background in journalism probably plays into that, but I also just really enjoy it. In the case of Between Two Skies, <\/em>I read probably hundreds of Katrina narratives, dug through post-Katrina message boards, and read nonfiction books and essays on the event to immerse myself in the event so I could create realistic characters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You’ve received some wonderful reviews and honors. Did you find out about any of them ahead of time? Is there one that was especially meaningful to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I did know from my Candlewick publicist Anna Gjesteby (who is awesome) about the Okra Pick honor and I was really over the moon about it. Independent booksellers are some of the best people in the world (especially the Southern ones), so that support means a lot to me!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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I hear your book received another, uniquely\u00a0adorable, honor…<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

My friend Jen, who writes as J.C. Davis (author of Cheesus Was Here, a wonderful book which came out this month) takes pictures of friends\/debut author group classmates with her hedgehog Rose, who is clearly the cutest pet on the planet and loves books. This is a great example of authors supporting each other in marketing!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 
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Rose the hedgehog approves!<\/p><\/div>
\nBest of luck to Joanne and all the authors out there on the crazy thrill ride called being a debut author. May starred reviews and hedgehog endorsements be in your future, one and all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interview with local writer and debut author Joanne O’Sullivan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}