and an Interview with
Author Melanie Faith
Multi-talented author Melanie Faith has three reference books being published this year, one which was released in February, one being published this week, and a third coming out next month. They cover everything from teaching online courses to creating a reference book of your own to getting published. Melanie was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions about her books and upcoming classes (if you haven’t taken a class from Melanie, I highly suggest doing it!)
Hi Melanie! Three books in four months--you are busy!
Hello! Thanks for this wonderful chance to say hello to you and your readers. Yes, it’s been a very motivated time for me. I love to work on several projects and manuscripts at once. It took me over two years collectively to write and edit my three books that are being published in a four-month period this year.
Let’s start with your book, Writing It Real: Creating an Online Course for Fun and Profit, which was released in February by Vine Leaves Press.
Who can benefit from this book?
Anyone who wants to teach online can benefit from this book, although I’d say that readers who specifically teach already or who want to teach creative writing in the near future are my target audience. Also, readers who might not have taught for a long time or have taught in in-person classrooms but want to make the leap to becoming online instructors will also glean the most out of my book.
That said, there are sections of the book that discuss how anyone—even without formal teaching experiences—can launch classes via their own platforms or websites, and there are some chapters about the writing craft that I believe any reader would glean tips from for their own writing practice and/or to share with their writing groups or workshops.
Why do you like teaching online courses for writers?
I love so many aspects of teaching online: it’s flexible, has a great nonexistent commute!, it’s creative (I teach a wide range of classes, from numerous genres—flash, poetry, essays, photography, and various fiction topics—to a class at a university about publishing and marketing), and it’s a way to give back what I know to make others’ writing and publishing careers easier if I can.
I also truly enjoy sharing time with my writing students of all ages from all across the country and across the world. Each student brings an important and unique set of goals, hopes, questions, and talents to the class that contributes to the whole. I’m routinely inspired by my fellow writers and their writing journeys; they keep me motivated.
This isn’t a question, but I want to mention I love the “Self-Quest Survey” you devised and included in the book for someone to figure out what they might like to teach.
Thanks so much! I’m a big proponent of personalization and I want each reader to glean something they can apply to their own goals and teaching practices. It doesn’t matter if there are other classes covering your genre or theme—focus on what skills, advice, and talents only you can bring to your students that will assist them on their writing journeys.
My intention is for readers to come into contact with the class topic that will bring out their natural enthusiasm for a subject that will motivate their students as well.
Plus, it was a fun survey to daydream into being. I took the survey for a spin myself and it pointed me in the direction of a new class I created and will teach this fall about writing time-travel stories and historical fiction, two genres that I’ve long liked to read and write.
I see where online educating can be fun, but can it really be profitable?
This is such a great question, too! My definition of profitable includes monetary gains as well as emotional and creative motivation as well. Many of us may agree that for all that teachers, writers, and artists provide in value, time, and inspiration, we are chronically underpaid in our society. If one’s definition of “profitable” includes increasing investment portfolios or upgrading to a bigger house, then this isn’t that. On the other hand and on a far happier note, can you make a good supplemental income doing something you’ll find fulfilling with a great flexible schedule and/or find that your class networking leads to even more opportunities for teaching and/or your writing life? Is it a vocation that will feed you emotionally and creatively as well as help add to your bank account balance at the same time? Happily, yes and yes, absolutely.
Your next release, Writing It Real: Crafting a Reference Book that Sells comes out April 5.
I love that you are willing to share your secrets!
Thank you! I’m super excited about it. Reference books can sometimes get overlooked, but they are an exciting genre because of the wide variety of nonfiction they encompass. There’s so much creative innovation and enthusiasm for subject matter within reference books as a genre that inspire readers and make it a genre that deserves to be in the spotlight far more.
You’re obviously a pro at writing popular reference and craft books for writers. What’s your biggest tip for crafting a reference book that sells?
You’re very kind; I appreciate the vote of confidence! I’m a lifelong book nerd and information-seeker. One of my biggest tips, actually, is something that I also mention in the book: you don’t have to be already recognized as a national or international authority on a certain subject or be a speaker or have a doctorate in a subject before writing a great, salable reference book. Curiosity and passion will carry a writer a long way into writing a page-turner.
I encourage fellow writers thinking about writing a reference book to sit down and write a list of three or four topics they find fascinating or always wanted to learn more about—this could likely be a topic you’ve long been meaning to read and research if only a busy schedule hadn’t intervened. Keep the list handy and add to it over a week or two period as other topics percolate and drift up into your thoughts. It’s likely that one or more of these topics would make an excellent reference-book topic.
If you have a subject you know a few things about but want to learn even more about or have specific questions about that you’re excited to want to know the answers, basic writing and organizational skills, and a little time to research more deeply and write into the subject, then you can write a reference book that encourages and enlightens other readers who are also passionate about your subject matter. Enthusiasm + time + curiosity/questions to explore= page-turning reference books.
What’s one aspect of creating a reference book that you think an author might overlook?
Organizational methods! Reference books don’t have to be organized alphabetically or chronologically. There are many, many possibilities for how to shake up how bites of information are arranged in a reference book and even how they appear typographically on a page to invite readers further into the subject or to highlight a main takeaway. I wrote a chapter about this topic with several tips.
Your upcoming reference book, From Promising to Published: A Multi-Genre, Insider’s Guide to the Publication Process, is set for publication on May 24, 2022.
What a helpful book that will be! Can you give us a little preview?
Many thanks! I really had a blast writing this book, because I have a passion for helping other writers prepare their writing for submission, navigate through picking markets that are likely good fits for their work, and reach publication or self-publication of their work.
I aim for my book to fairy-godmother and encourage fellow writers that they, too, can become published authors. I want to demystify the submission and publication processes.
I have chapters on real-world topics like jealousy, the myth of needing fancy tools, how to know when and how much of a draft to print, whether a writer should simultaneously submit or not, ways to support fellow writers, what I call “Creative Noodling,” choosing between the various exciting options for publication, celebrating small victories, and how to start making money from one’s writing, to name a few.
Okay, let’s get personal. What’s something about you that might surprise us?
I was a kid during the last years of the Space Race, so other than saying I wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember, I recall saying aloud in first or second grade that I wanted to be an astronaut. Alas, my feeble math skills and the fact that I get carsick quickly showed me the mismatch of that career path for me pretty quickly, and so it was back to writer by third or fourth grade. I’d like to think that my imagination travels just as far and explores just as many realms through my writing and photography as it could have on a real rocket ship.
Can you share any upcoming projects or online courses you’ll be teaching?
I’ve got a lot cooking, happily. I’m super excited about my three craft books that we’ve talked about, all published by my wonderful publisher, Vine Leaves Press. I am also working on writing a novel about two sculptors and adding to two historical poetry collections. I started all three projects during this difficult pandemic period. I’ll be writing a poem a day for National Poetry Month. I’m also super jazzed to be teaching a Food Writing class at Women on Writing, a fantastic and inspiring online creative writing school, that starts on April 8. This summer, I’ll teach a fun flash fiction course and in the fall a course in time-travel and historical fiction writing (both also through the WOW classroom.) I savor variety and the chance to interact with the many inspired fellow writers in my freelance editing, writing and publishing, and teaching lives.
Melanie, thanks so much for sharing these insights!
It’s been my great pleasure. Thanks for asking me.
Melanie Faith is a poet, photographer, prose writer, professor, editor, tutor and mentor. She has taught and teaches online courses at WOW! Women on Writing and in a graduate program for creative writers at an online university. In addition to the three recent books, Melanie is the author of three books on craft and creativity for authors: In a Flash!, Poetry Power, and Photography for Writers. All books available at Vine Leaves Press and signed copies available through WritePathProductions, where you can also find cool things like her creative writing inspiration cards and affirmation cards, as well as her photographs and poetry books.