Birds of a Feather welcomes Karen McCann to the Nest
I knew I was going to enjoy Karen’s non-fiction author interview because when I visited her “Favourite Blogs and Websites” page the tag line is:
“THE JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH AN ONLINE SEARCH”.
I don’t go anywhere without extensive armchair travel research and I find the trip planning process as enjoyable as the trip itself. I’m currently enjoying reading Karen’s “Adventures of a Railway Nomad”. In it, Rich is in charge or the (equally extensive) travel planning process, and Karen writes eloquently about their adventures as they zig-zag across Europe via rail. It’s obvious from their process that they both enjoy living abroad.
Author Interview: Karen McCann
How would you describe the type of books/genre you write?
I’m a travel writer. My husband and I share a long-standing case of wanderlust that has taken us to more than 60 countries, including many post-war and developing nations where we have volunteered as consultants to struggling microenterprises.
I have written two travel memoirs plus short guides about packing (“Pack Light: Quick and Easy Tips for Traveling Everywhere with Exactly the Right Stuff”) and moving abroad (“101 Ways to Enjoy Living Abroad: Essential Tips for Easing the Transition to Expat Life”).
My weekly blog, Enjoy Living Abroad, provides information and advice about travel and expat living to help my readers plan their own adventures.
What motivated you to start writing?
Writing has been a big part of my life ever since I can remember; it was always my favorite subject in school. I love reading fiction but never had the knack for writing it. I found my niche in non-fiction, which I try to make as engaging and exciting as a good novel. During my writing career I’ve worked as a journalist, food critic, health editor, marketing director, and consultant. But it all comes down to exploring the fascinating things I find around me and sharing my thoughts about them with people who might find the information interesting and useful.
Tell us the journey you went on to get your books published (e.g. self-published, assisted-publishing, traditional publisher).
My first book, written during my days as a magazine health editor back in the nineties, was published by a traditional, old-school New York publishing house. Signing the contract was thrilling, although the amount of the advance was not. Once the book was written, I spent a year struggling with the publishing company’s nineteenth century production process, editors who never actually read my manuscript, and an art department that created a cover design so ghastly I seriously considered refusing to let the book be published, although in the end it was redone more or less to my satisfaction. The publisher provided no marketing support. As this was back in the dark days before social media and Amazon, I spent a ridiculous amount of time and money promoting the book during its brief shelf life.
As you can imagine, I wasn’t keen to repeat the experience.
When I decided to write Dancing in the Fountain, my memoir about moving to Seville, Spain, I began researching self-publishing options and read an interview with an author who described herself as “professionally self-published,” hiring experienced pros for critical tasks such as marketing and editing. “I won’t need to do that,” I thought. “I’m a professional editor!” Then I took a webinar with Joel Friedlander, The Book Designer, and Joel said that the best money you can spend is hiring a good editor. He was so right. Through his resources, I found a great one, and under her guidance, I transformed my book from a collection of amusing anecdotes into a real story with a narrative arc and depth of feeling. She edited both my memoirs, which went on to become Amazon bestsellers in their Kindle categories.
What publishing elements do you most enjoy and most like to avoid, and why? (e.g. design, marketing, formatting etc.)
Researching travel books is tremendous fun, but for me, the most satisfying part is the actual writing. In those rare moments when I manage to convey something significant in language that captures the subtleties and sings off the page — that’s a fabulous feeling.
Designing the book comes naturally to me, as I made my living as a graphic designer for many years, although the formatting part can get a bit tedious. Having published the old fashioned way, I know it’s worth the effort to do it myself so that the finished product is consistent with my vision for the work. To say nothing of getting it published in a matter of weeks instead of a year. And it’s great to know that if I want to make a change — adding a fresh quote or best seller badge to the cover, for instance — I can do it any time.
With the hindsight of being a published author, anything you would have done differently?
Not really. There have been a few technical hiccups and glitches in getting my books out there, but overall I’m quite satisfied with the results.
What tips or advice would you give an aspiring indie author who is looking to self-publish?
As I mentioned above, hire an editor. Otherwise, you risk having your book appear amateurish due to all the typos, grammatical errors, and sloppy narrative. If you’re just publishing to entertain your family and friends, I suppose you might feel it doesn’t matter. But if you want to be taken seriously as a writer, do you really want to risk losing readers because they get fed up with stumbling over awkward wording and wincing at painfully obvious errors?
What marketing or promotional tools or techniques do you use to reach your readers?
First, I defined my target audience: people who like to travel and don’t want to settle for cookie-cutter experiences. I’m a baby boomer, and I reach out to this demographic most directly, although I’m amazed and gratified at the number of young people who are now following me. I post frequently on social media, especially Facebook, and write a weekly travel blog; this draws readers to my website, where I offer tons more travel information and, of course, promote my books.
What impact do you want your books to have on your readers?
I want my readers to realize the world is a friendlier, more interesting place than you see on TV, and that travel can be tremendously revitalizing at any age. I hope to inspire them to go out there and have their own adventures.
What is your latest book about?
One August morning, I walked out of my Seville home taking nothing but a small, roll-aboard bag, a Eurail pass, and my husband. I wanted to travel with no fixed time limit, no reservations, and only a loose itinerary.
My goal was to see if I could still have the kind of spontaneous adventures I’d enjoyed in my youth. I spent three months on trains, mostly in Eastern Europe, and the results – often hilarious, occasionally harrowing, definitely life-changing – formed the basis of my newest book, Adventures of a Railway Nomad: How Our Journeys Guide Us Home.
What’s next on your writing journey?
When LA Times travel editor Catharine Hamm interviewed me, she ended the piece by saying,
“Travel requires you to be braver than you think you are, whether it’s for a week or a year, and involves the joy of finding a better, smarter, stronger self that lasts well past the day you put away your suitcase if, indeed, that day ever comes.”
That’s the theme of my next book.
What does your journey start with? @EnjoyLvngAbroad #TravelThursday #AuthorInterview Click To Tweet
Author Bio
Author of two bestselling travel memoirs, Karen McCann is an American writer who moved to Seville, Spain in 2004 “for a year” and has been living there ever since. Her travel tips and adventure stories have appeared in Huffington Post, International Living Magazine, New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, and Lonely Planet, as well as on her own website and her Enjoy Living Abroad blog.
She’s visited more than 60 countries including developing and post-war nations where she and her husband volunteered as consultants to struggling microenterprises. “Living abroad,” she says, “is the best opportunity to reinvent yourself outside of the witness protection program. You get to hit the reset button on your life.”
Connect with Karen McCann
- Enjoy Living Abroad Blog: www.enjoylivingabroad.com/my-blog
- Facebook: @enjoylivingabroad
- Twitter: @EnjoyLvngAbroad
- Pinterest: karenmccannnews/quirky-seville-spain/
