Kevin Smokler: On the Virtual Book Tour hotseat

Well, not exactly the hotseat. More like a backyard chaise lounge. Whatever the metaphor, Kevin — who originated the Virtual Book Tour over a year ago — is the editor of a new book, Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times. It’s a collection of articles about how young writers approach their craft.

For more about Kevin’s virtual and real-world book tours, see his website. The book will be in stores nationwide June 1.

I read the book during my trip back East last week and found it rewarding and passionate, particularly in the writers’ zeal for the writing life. Especially strong were Kevin’s introduction and the opening chapters, including “Look the Part” by Pamela Ribon and “Border Lines” by Stephanie Elizondo Griest — two ruminations on race and coming of age — and Howard Hunt’s “The Invisible Narrator,” a must-read for anyone entering profile-based magazine journalism.

Here’s the email Q&A I conducted with Kevin about his new book:

Where did the idea for “Bookmark Now” come from?

I wanted to do a book length assertion that members of my generation still read and read actively. But I didn’t want to write it all myself because I felt it would either sound overly academic or pedantic and droning. An anthology, a discordant collection of voices, seemed like the perfect solution.

How long was it in the making? Is there a backstory here? Trials, tribulations, near-slashing of wrists?

A little under two years. For the 25 contributors we got, I probably asked 75 writers. There were days when I was ready to chuck the whole project, along with myself, in the nearest river, but it helped once I realize that editing an anthology is a slow, stuttering process. Your daily progress depends so much on others. It’s akin to planning a wedding. Or going to war.

Pull back the curtain for us a bit and describe the process involved in assembling this collection. It couldn’t have been easy.

I began with writers I not only knew but whom I had worked with in the past. Then came the long-shot, hail mary, try-again-in-five-years kid list, then writers I just liked and would work with on just about anything and finally those I hadn’t heard of but were referred to me by those already on the project. I had an idea of what I wanted each of them to write and most of them ignored me. I think we have a much better book for it.

Do any of the stories in the book speak to you on a deeper level? Which have a special resonance?

No more one than the other. Sometimes I think I’m more attached to the essays that came in earlier or that got precisely when I was feeling lowest about the project. But if I look hard at the whole book, each one is crucial to the structure of “Bookmark Now.” Favoring one over the other feels like adding an extra wheel to a truck.

How are writers and bloggers different — and alike? We’ve all heard of the solitary writer holed up in his room, while bloggers seem to thrive amid a sea of like-minded individuals. Are we moving toward a new kind of online writer, one more plugged into a community Zeitgeist?

I certainly hope so. I don’t think we are ever going to see writers as a species become as gregarious as say, stand-up comedians, but I do believe there is a class of writers who thrive on interaction and community with their readers on other writers and that exchange is as important to them as their alone time with their muse. I think it’s also a hallmark of creative people of this generation who are coming of age creatively with audiences who talk back and with comrades easily accessible by email.

Would you recommend the writing life for those of us who actually enjoy making a living wage?

Certainly not. But I would recommend parlaying the expertise that comes from writing into a living wage. I consult with other writers, publishers and arts organizations on how to use technology and social media because it was the ass-backwards way I got into publishing. That knowledge is worth something and eases the burden of living on a writers salary. Easier for non-fiction writers, I know, but not impossible for novelists with an entrepreneurial spirit.

What do you say to bloggers and other online denizens who think the notion of a printed book is somehow quaint?

I say, “Isn’t the notion of having coffee with someone quaint when we could be just drinking our own cups of joe on opposite ends of a video conference?” Some things are quaint on purpose because their pleasures aren’t easily replicated or improved by technology.

How are we going to move to a world of electronic books? It seems as if almost nothing positive has happened in the e-books market
in years. For example, none of the stories in this collection will appear online or in e-book form, right?

I don’t believe so, no. The electronic book experiment was such a bungle from the beginning that I wonder how long it will take for publishers to try again.

I’ll say this though: The experiment will go nowhere until we get better readers that don’t cause screen fatigue, until there is a concerted educational effort to showcase the benefits of the technology and until the right titles are chosen for the format. I think technical books and reference titles are the right place to start. The electronic Oprah Pick is not.

Does it matter to you if the book sells well or not? Or is only about the art?

Of course I’d like it to sell well because I feel like “Bookmark Now” has something important to say and I want it its message to be heard by as many people as possible. My role then is to do due diligence, to be as present, as active, as available and accessible as I can be for the next six months. If I do all that and it still doesn’t sell, well then I’ve done what I can and I’ll make peace with the result.

What other writing-related books would you recommend?

“Making a Literary Life” by Carolyn See

“Why I Write and Other Essays” by George Orwell

“Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott

“On Writing” by Stephen King

What book sites have you bookmarked?

Elegant Variation

Book Square

Beatrice.com

The Backlist

Buzz Balls & Hype

Librarian.net

The New York Review of Books

And many others.

JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.