Write Short Personal Essays to Build an Audience for your Books
October 2, 2023
Dear Writers,
Thank you for signing up for Writing with Hart: News and Opportunities for Writers. I’m so glad you’re here!
First, a shout-out to my former University of Oregon journalism student who recently published Where We Call Home: Essays from the Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest. I ran into her last weekend while on an Oregon Master Naturalist field trip to learn about habitat restoration in the Mid-Willamette Valley. She was on assignment for High Country News, and I was down on my hands and knees in the mud trying to get a decent photo of a Pacific tree frog. So dignified.
Okay, so last month, I taught several workshops for the marvelous Southwestern Washington Writers’ Conference. One of these was a three-hour master class on how to write and publish short personal essays to build an audience for your books. I write a lot about owls because I used to be an environmental educator and owl trainer for my local raptor rehabilitation center. I also write about people with Down syndrome because my younger brother has this genetic condition.
So when Sky Pony Press published my first middle-grade novel, Avenging the Owl, it made sense for me to write both this personal essay about owls and this personal essay about my brother. People who read these essays and liked them could then find me on social media because I’d put my handle (@WildMelissaHart) in my bio at the end of the essays. They could also find my book title in my bio, and thus, I built an audience for Avenging and a platform for my next middle-grade novel and nonfiction book—both of which include people with Down syndrome.
Are you writing a book? Think about what short personal essays you might publish in relation to your story’s topics and themes. What type of article could you write for a general interest magazine? What about a history magazine? How about a travel magazine, a science magazine, a women’s magazine, a magazine for kids, or a pet magazine?
The more you publish personal essays in support of your forthcoming or published novels, the more you’ll build up your fan base and your bank account!
What I’m Publishing
It was great fun to see an essay about my first date with my husband in print for Insider: My Date Invited Me to Pick up 600 Pounds of Frozen Rats (insider.com) I’m hoping readers get inspired to think beyond dinner and a movie!
Muse Magazine—a science/culture magazine for tweens and teens--just published two of my articles in their “Brains” issue. The first is “How Down Syndrome Makes a Brain Beautifully Different” with insights from two young adults who have the genetic condition—Charlotte Woodward and Matthew Schwab.
The other piece is a profile of activist and athlete Abigail Adams (magzter.com) who was the first woman with Down syndrome to complete a sanctioned sprint triathlon. She’s lovely!
I’m finally allowed to share my latest book project which includes all of my interview subjects from Muse; here’s the Publishers Weekly announcement. I turned in the final draft of the manuscript today, and I’m so excited to see it out in the world . . . in 2025.
My new middle-grade novel Daisy Woodworm Changes the World just won a Silver Medal in the 2023 Moonbeam Awards for Pre-Teen Fiction. (It’s the story of a teen who gets an assignment to change the world and decides to help her brother, who has Down syndrome, fulfill his dream of being a YouTube fashion influencer despite their over-protective parents’ ban on social media.)
A Few Cool Resources for Writers
· Every thought about using a pseudonym? This article explains why you might want to publish under a nom de plume.
· I tell my Creative Writing MFA students at Southern New Hampshire University that if they can’t write another word on their thesis novel, it’s perfectly acceptable to take a break and watch a movie or TV show with an eye toward story structure, characterization, plot, and all that good stuff. Sometimes, I direct them to this site: 99 Movies & Shows That Will Change How You See The World - The Good Trade
· I’m always intrigued when an author writes an article about “The Best Books on Writing.” To this author’s list, I’d add Dinty W. Moore’s Crafting the Personal Essay and Lisa Cron’s Story Genius: How to use brain science to go beyond outlining and write a riveting novel.
· Love mythology? Love language? Then you’ll love Mythos by English actor Stephen Fry!
· Y’all have looked up your name on this database to see if your books have aided and abetted AI, right? These 183,000 Books Are Fueling the Biggest Fight in Publishing and Tech - The Atlantic
Conferences, Residencies, and Calls for Submissions
· If you’ve got a witty, thought-provoking essay about entertainment (particularly streaming TV), Dirt wants you! Digital culture and entertainment insights daily: How to pitch Dirt newsletter
· Naureen Kahn at Cosmopolitan is looking for essays about women’s sex lives after 60…the editor is particularly interested in POC and queer perspectives. Pitch at naureen.khan@hearst.com . $400+
· Hanna Raskin wants stories about food culture in the American South—think new, relevant, and surprising instead of same ol’-same ol’. $1 per word. Guidelines here: Through outsiders' eyes - by Mark Blankenship (substack.com)
· And these $1000 microgrants are just . . . well, awesome. The Awesome Foundation
· If you’re from an underrepresented demographic, and you’re working on a first novel, you’ll want to check out this opportunity from Simon and Schuster’s imprint Atria Books! Atria First Novel | Simon & Schuster (simonandschuster.com)
· Here’s a list of upcoming conference: Writers Conferences 2023: 60 Events Worth Attending (thewritelife.com)
As always, here are some of the writing resources I love to share with my MFA students. I hope they’ll be helpful to you!
Okay, that’s all for now. Let me know if you want me to include any writing resources in my October issue, and I’ll do so!
Much gratitude,
Melissa
P.S. I did manage to capture a halfway decent photo of a Pacific tree frog.
