Author

Janice

Janice has 16 articles published.

Masquerade

by Janice Leagra

(This story was first published in Paper and Ink Lit Zine, Issue #13: Tales From The Bar Side)

All heads turned as we stepped into Fisher’s, the dive bar on the boulevard. The stench of spilled beer and cigarette smoke enveloped us. We spotted two free stools, ignoring the eyes masked with lust that were already following us to our seats. We were within a few feet of the band, who were about to play a set. You were already scanning the crowd. Your eyes were alight with flirtation, inviting free drinks, maybe a locked bathroom fuck. I saw a few painted clowns hanging on the shoulders of older drunk and drowning men and felt sad. For you, it was a lark.

The owner was working the bar. He approached with your usual and looked to me with interest. I was new. Told him I’d have the same. The band was tuning up. The street door opened and a couple of guys you knew from high school stepped in. You called their names. They greeted you with broad, knowing grins. You introduced me, fresh blood. They were already assessing my potential. My body didn’t send the same signals as yours. There were no empty stools, so they stood behind us and made small talk.

You were making them both believe that either one of them could have you. That was your gift, your magic, your flaw. I was friendly but quiet and much harder to read. I was a mystery, a challenge. Together we offered a lush realm of possibilities. The sharp swell of music filled the room as the band started up. The guys used that as an excuse to step closer to be able to hear us talk. The friend facing me positioned his body between my stool and the one occupied by a raucous drunk on my other side. He extended his arm, resting his hand on the bar, creating a barrier between me and the man. He wore too much cologne and I found it hard to breathe. The friend facing you was lighting your cigarette. You laughed at something he said and tossed your hair back as you blew smoke out of the side of your mouth. You showed him how you could blow smoke rings and eyed him seductively.

They bought us drinks. You drank quickly, hoping to get as much as you could for free. I alternated light beer that tasted like piss with glasses of water. I knew I’d either be driving myself or both of us home. You got up to dance, pulling me with you, thrusting yourself over and over into the air between us. You hugged me, slurred your words. The guys watched us with excited, glassy eyes. I pulled away to use the bathroom, shrinking from dozens of hungry stares as I walked by. The muffled beats of the music pounded through the lavatory walls, giving me a headache. I washed my hands and looked at myself in the mirror. I caught a glimpse of the woman who was already half-way home.

The Long and Winding Road to Success (Part 3): Lenie Colacino, Musician

MostExcellentOrder of Sir Paul.Lenie.Joe_resized

Here is the third and final installment of my three-part interview with musician and voice-over actor, Lenie Colacino, of The Most Excellent Order of Sir Paul – The Ultimate McCartney Concert Experience and an alumnus of Broadway’s Beatlemania!

You can find part one of Lenie’s interview HERE and part two may be found HERE.

*If you have any questions or comments for Lenie or for me, please type it in the box that reads ‘Leave Reply’ at the bottom of this page.*

Starring as Paul in Broadway’s, BEATLEMANIA!, Lenie Colacino is a musician and actor who has toured the world, from New York to New Zealand, and from Brazil to B.B. King’s, in many national and international tours of the Broadway show.

He is the founder of The Cast of Beatlemania, a completely live show that has delighted audiences in the US and Canada, South America, Austria, and Japan. It has been performed for members of the British Royal Family and for US presidents.

He’s also sung and voiced dozens of national ads, including those for Hershey’s, Tropicana, the US Army, as well as for Nickelodeon’s Emmy Award-winning animated series, The Wonder Pets. 

Lenie is also the founder of The Most Excellent Order of Sir Paul, a show completely dedicated to the music of Paul McCartney, rock’s greatest living legend. 

A true left-handed player, Lenie plays a vintage left-handed Hofner violin bass and is an endorsed artist by Hofner.

Over the years, Lenie has shared the stage with such greats as Dion, Billy J. Kramer, Pete Best, Laurence Juber, and many more.  

A recognized expert on the Beach Boys, Lenie contributed to Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Brian Wilson and the Making of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds by Charles L. Granata. 

Colacino lives with his wife and their dog, Trooper, in Montclair, New Jersey. His interests include vintage guitars, film, and the New York Yankees.

How do you define success? Do you feel successful?

I think a lot of people see the kind of life that I lead and they think it’s the most glorious thing. I could tell them, “Well, if you’re a dentist, maybe I envy you because you have a steady income. You’re not worrying where your next paycheck is coming from.” I would define success as being happy in your work. Maybe it’s not the most money you’ve ever made. I’ve made a lot more money in my life than I’m making now, but I would define success as being happy in your work. Love what you do. If you don’t, do something else. It’s my mantra, basically, and a lesson I learned many years ago.

And if you take a job, and you have no kick coming, don’t complain. I was into the Dale Carnegie courses and one of the tenets of that philosophy is the three Cs: 1) Don’t criticize, 2) Don’t complain, and 3) Don’t condemn. No one wants to hear criticism. No one. Even if it’s exactly well-placed. Don’t criticize anybody, ever. That’s a tough thing to not do. I try to live by that. And if I have a job, something I live by is give service to the song.

To what do you most attribute your success? You didn’t get the big encouragement at home, growing up. Was it something just within you or something else external?

I credit my [current] wife with giving me a lot of that because I’d stuffed down…the little games you play in your own head…the self-speak, like, “Yeah, you really should get a real job. Look, you have a wife and kids now. You can’t pursue this high school dream anymore.” Once [my ex-wife and I] were divorced and our kids were grown, and I met my eventual second wife, is when I came out of that way of thinking. There is a way you can do what you love and still have a home life and still have balance and be happy.

I think if I chose to give up the musical life for the more secure paycheck kind of life, I’d be miserable. And I was. I know what that feels like. On the other hand, I don’t want to be one of those guys who’s out on the road forever, without any stabilizing home life, which I treasure. I have three beautiful children and four beautiful grandchildren. I don’t want to miss anything in their lives, so I don’t.

So what’s been the biggest career challenge for you, then? Has it been the being away so much and trying to balance the personal and professional? Or has it been something else?

That’s a tough question and I want to answer it as honestly as possible. I think, for me, it depends on what point in my life I’m at. Right now, the biggest challenge is booking as many gigs as I can for my own act. That’s been a real challenge because I want to do that myself. I don’t want to go through the agents and managers because I’ve had bad experiences there.

Earlier, it would’ve been, “Okay, I’ve got 10 weeks at this money,” but I’m looking at my five-year-old children and going, “Ugh.” That’s a tough call. “I’m gonna be where??” I did a tour of New Zealand in 1983. I’ll never forget this because we take it for granted now that communication is very easy. Back then, no internet. The only contact I had with anybody back home, including my parents, my wife, my children, was a phone. It was ridiculously expensive. It was like $20 a minute to call from New Zealand. Their television went off at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. There were no American newspapers. Information was completely at a trickle there. So that was very tough, saying “yes” to that. I remember getting home, finally, after two and a half months of being away. The kids didn’t know who I was. Yeah, I want to avoid that feeling.

Moving on, when I left that band, Ralph, that was a tough thing for me to do because we were very socialistic. We were like Band of Brothers. There were 10 of us. We were like, “We’re more than a band. We’re a community here. No one leaves.” It was very much like a cult, you know? (laughing) When I decided to go, ooh wow, that was a tough decision to make. Moving on…I think…I’m a person who likes to stay. I’m a homebody, but I think you have to shift in order to be successful. You have to adapt. You have to accept that change. You have to embrace it. And sometimes that, to me, is the toughest thing in life.

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So if you had the chance to do your career over again, would you do anything differently?

Oh sure, I’d do a million things differently, but I’ve learned that the worst thing would be to regret anything you’ve done. I have to accept the poor decisions I’ve made, the things I wish I had done differently. I can’t change that. All I can do is learn from it and move on and I think anybody, hopefully, would tell you the same thing. When you’re 20 years old, you’re in no position, I was in no position, to make life-altering decisions for myself. Maybe I didn’t get the best advice. Maybe I made the wrong choices, or followed my heart, or I followed my libido, (laughing), rather than doing the right thing.

What do you see for the future of the music industry? Can a young person now follow your exact path and be successful or do you think they have to go about things very differently?

They have to do things very differently. I think anybody would tell you that. When I was young the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was the record deal. That has completely disappeared. I mean, that was the way you made money. You wrote songs, you sold your records, and touring was part of what you did. Now, it’s nearly the opposite in that the only real money people make in this business is by performing, by getting your fees, and maybe, if you’re lucky, to sell a few CDs at your gigs or online. The money is way skewed to only performing. Even veteran acts, people I have a tremendous amount of respect for, who’ve been artists for 30, 40 years, are playing the same venues I’m playing with my Beatles band or my solo act. They’re out there doing it and that’s the only way they’re getting by in life or making any money.

For young people coming up, by all means, I certainly would encourage you to follow your talent. If you’re a songwriter, if you’re a singer, then write and sing and do the best you can. I would say avoid managers. (laughing) The two-word phrase is “music business.” Make sure you understand the second word. If you go in naively, which, when I was young it was easier to do because it seemed like an easier path to success. “All I have to do is sing and some manager will come and take care of me and I’ll be rich and beloved. I don’t need to worry about anything.” Well, you do. You need to know what’s going on in every aspect of what you’re doing.

I admire people like Taylor Swift because, apparently, she got that at an early age. Although I don’t own any of her music, I will tell you that I admire her from a business standpoint. She has built this empire and she’s one of the few who makes a living selling records. Very few people do anymore because of the way things have changed — Spotify, and all the downloading, and the free music. You know, right now, I can find anything I want to listen to on YouTube, just about any song I ever wanted to hear, or dreamt of, or it just popped into my head. I don’t need to do much more than click a button somewhere and “boom,” there it is. When I was a kid, if an album was coming out and the release date was this day, I waited in line at the record store with a bunch of other teenagers, then got it and put it on my parents’ record player. I’d wonder what the lyrics were. I couldn’t go online and find them. Things are way, way different, but I would encourage anybody to follow what’s in their heart, because like I said, regret is a terrible thing if you’ve wasted your talent. I think it’s harder now than ever, unfortunately.

Well then, you have shows like American Idol where people think, “I’ll stand in line and do my best and hopefully I’ll get picked and I’ll be on TV and it’ll be great.”

I have to tell you, I have a very big problem with shows like that and never watched a minute of them. To me, they’re for the glorification and pocket-lining of the producers of the shows. If people became stars, they were basically owned by the Simon Cowells of the world, who are the ones that got wealthy, not the singers. I’m sure some of those guys or gals who were on any of those shows are singing in a casino somewhere tonight. I’m sure those people felt, “This is my big break.” It is, but at whose expense? You’re lining the pockets of the people who are producing these shows, not your own. That’s gonna come later if you’re lucky enough to have a career. Or maybe 15 years down the line you’ll decide you want to be a chef. That happens, too.

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What advice do you have for someone, keeping in mind the music and business aspect of things, who wants to break into the industry?

One thing I would say, and I don’t want to seem like I’m pontificating about anything is, if you’re a writer or a singer, find your own place. Find your own style. I know that I suffered from this in the 70s when our manager was putting pressure on us. “You’ve gotta write songs that are popular now. Do you guys know any disco songs?” This was our manager. We wanted to be more like Peter Gabriel and he wanted us to be more like KC and the Sunshine Band. Rather than saying, “Go to hell. I’m gonna write what’s in my heart,” I said, “Yeah, okay. Let’s write a disco song.” That’s a recipe for disaster. Period. Follow what your passion is about. It may be a difficult road, and you may have to do “vocational playing,” but be true to yourself. It may not work out. You may fail, but you won’t have any regrets. You gave it your best shot, what was in your heart to do.

And if you have no ambitions to be a writer, if you just want to be a singer and interpret other people’s songs, well, that’s great, too. Do that. If you take a false step and do something just for the money, I think you’re doing yourself a big disservice and it will just come back to bite you in the ass later on.

What’s next for you? Where do you see yourself in five years?

Well, God bless McCartney. I hope he lives forever, but it’s tough to do this Beatles gig at my age and do it convincingly. (laughing) You’re trying to play someone in their mid-20s, it gets a little harder as you get older. I want to continue with the McCartney thing as long as I can, but as long as he’s alive, he’s at least 10 years older than I am. That’s a big help.

I just want to play. I want to sing. I want to have fun with my friends. The most rewarding thing I’ve done has been this McCartney thing, in that I’ve got a lot of people around me whom I adore. I’ve got Larry Hochman, who is an orchestrator for The Book of Mormon, Something Rotten!, and She Loves Me. He’s a fantastic musician I met through the Wonder Pets episodes. As successful as he is as an orchestrator (his job is sitting there with a pencil in his teeth, looking at 16 bars of music and trying to make it sound good for The Book of Mormon), he loves doing this with me and he loves the aspect of playing live music, because it’s something he doesn’t get to do often. And there’s Joe Pecorino, who was in Beatlemania! with me. He was the original John in the show. He’s since gone on to do other off-Broadway stuff like Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He was the music director for that. He’s a fantastically talented guy. My guitarist, Monroe Quinn, has worked with Billy Preston, Micky Dolenz of The Monkees, and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits. My drummer, Vinny Grauso, has done work with Beatlestock, The Cast of Beatlemania, and The Alan Quin Orchestra. We all have a great relationship. We’re all good friends. We love playing and have such a good time on stage.

After 40 years of playing in front of audiences, this is the most fun I’ve ever had. It’s because I’ve found the right combination of people who share my common goal, which is just to have fun. When I give them their paychecks at the end of the night they say, “You don’t have to pay me for this. This is fun.” My answer is always, “I can never pay you what you’re worth to me.” I wish everybody could have that experience. That’s what I hope to continue to do. It’s a great feeling to not only have success through booking gigs and have audiences liking what you’re doing, but you happen to be playing with guys you love and respect and they show it right back to you.

The Long and Winding Road to Success (Part 2): Lenie Colacino, Musician

Lenie Colacino, Order of Sir Paul

Here is part two of my three-part interview with musician and voice-over actor, Lenie Colacino, of The Most Excellent Order of Sir Paul – The Ultimate McCartney Concert Experience and an alumnus of Broadway’s Beatlemania!

You can find part one of Lenie’s interview HERE.

*Please check back in or subscribe to my blog to be notified when part three is posted. If you have any questions or comments for Lenie or for me, please type it in the box that reads ‘Leave Reply’ at the bottom of this page.*

Starring as Paul in Broadway’s, BEATLEMANIA!, Lenie Colacino is a musician and actor who has toured the world, from New York to New Zealand, and from Brazil to B.B. King’s, in many national and international tours of the Broadway show.

He is the founder of The Cast of Beatlemania, a completely live show that has delighted audiences in the US and Canada, South America, Austria, and Japan. It has been performed for members of the British Royal Family and for US presidents.

He’s also sung and voiced dozens of national ads, including those for Hershey’s, Tropicana, the US Army, as well as for Nickelodeon’s Emmy Award-winning animated series, The Wonder Pets. 

Lenie is also the founder of The Most Excellent Order of Sir Paul, a show completely dedicated to the music of Paul McCartney, rock’s greatest living legend. 

A true left-handed player, Lenie plays a vintage left-handed Hofner violin bass and is an endorsed artist by Hofner.

Over the years, Lenie has shared the stage with such greats as Dion, Billy J. Kramer, Pete Best, Laurence Juber, and many more.  

A recognized expert on the Beach Boys, Lenie contributed to Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Brian Wilson and the Making of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds by Charles L. Granata. 

Colacino lives with his wife and their dog, Trooper, in Montclair, New Jersey. His interests include vintage guitars, film, and the New York Yankees.

How do you feel overall about how your career choice has impacted your life? I’m getting that you feel it’s been mostly positive.

Absolutely. I think if I’d gone the other way and not listened to my true, inner heart on these things, I’d be a very unhappy person. I think I’m one of the happiest people around because I have this. For me, it’s an anchor. Whenever I’m down or feeling that things aren’t going well, I’m very grateful for the fact that I can sit at the piano and play a couple of songs and feel better about things. Music is the best medicine. It allows an outlet for everything — if it’s going wrong or if you’re happy or sad. No matter what mood you’re in, music is always your companion. It’s a tough thing for me to [articulate]. I think other musicians know what I’m talking about. It’s always there. My guitar is always hanging on the wall, within reach.

I think Neil Young put it really well when he said after you get to a certain age, “My guitars don’t belong to me. I’m just using them until the next guy comes along.” That’s kind of the way I feel now. My collection of basses and guitars is going to outlive me, but my obligation to them is to play them. I know a lot of musicians or musician-wannabes who collect instruments and they hang on a wall. If they don’t get played, I think that’s a crime against nature. It’s there for you to play. Whatever gifts you have, you’d better use them. There’s no greater waste than a waste of talent. A lot of my friends are that way. They have a tremendous talent and they just don’t care because maybe their lives are different now or they don’t need the money. To me, I’m grateful that I still depend on this for a living because it spurs me on to keep playing, to keep my music chops up. I think if you let them atrophy, you’re really committing a crime against God. I don’t want to sound too heavy, but God gave you whatever he gave you and it’s your obligation to use those gifts the best you can. It may not be a fantastic gift, but whatever talent you’ve got, I think you’ve got to use it. Regret might be the worst thing you could ever feel.

I think it can give other people so much joy. You got that talent for free. You own it. It helps to give it away because it can make so many other people happy, too. 

I agree 100%. I think all performers or all talented people are basically narcissistic. They want that adulation from the audience. If you ever experience it, it’s something you get very addicted to. It’s like, “Yeah, I want you to love me. I want you to think that everything that comes out of my mouth is fantastic. I think that gives you a certain obligation to your audience in that, “I want this to be great. I’m going to make sure I warm up and do my exercises and make sure I’m not just mailing in my performance.” Every performance you give, you’re giving it your all. Every song you sing, you’d better do justice to, not just breeze through. I think that’s the true essence of it.

Joe Pecorino (left) and Lenie Colacino (right) of The Most Excellent Order of Sir Paul

How did you go about finding a manager? What makes a good manager?

It’s kind of two different things. Sometimes, managers will find you. I’ve gone through four or five managers and I’ve got to say, my managerial experience has not been good.

My first manager was in that early band, Ralph. He was trying to steer us toward a record deal at his company. He basically split the band up. He encouraged me, and believe me, I’m not saying it was a bad thing, to go for that audition in New York for Beatlemania!, and when I left the band it did cause quite a ripple. Although I didn’t think I was an essential member (there were other guys who were more involved in it), when I left it was not under very good circumstances. They were not happy that I left the band. It took me years to repair my relationships with those guys, some of which are still, to this point, very touchy. He also sort of interfered in the Broadway show. He was demanding from the producers that I do this, or I be that. They were very upset with him and me. I had to get rid of him.

I had agents, which are different from managers. They’re supposed to get you work, such as jingles and voice-over work. I had agents that would send me on auditions and I wouldn’t get paid for some of these things. I was hired to do the voice work on the remake of Yellow Submarine. Most people don’t know this was even going on. The director, Robert Zemeckis, was remaking Yellow Submarine. It got squashed in mid-production. I was doing voice-over for the ‘Paul’ character and I was very, very happy about that, that I was going to be the voice of my idol, McCartney. My agent at the time was making it very difficult. Every session I did for these voice-over things he would say, “Where’s my money?” He wanted his 20% of what I was getting paid. It was like, “Can you relax? I’m gonna send you the money.” He made things difficult as far as the chain of command of talking to the directors. I just wanted to do my job. I didn’t want all of this nonsense going on, but eventually the project got scrubbed anyway. It was all about his percentage. He stopped getting me work. Then I stopped doing voice-over work about, I don’t know, five or six years ago. It got very tedious.

So my experience with managers has not been good. Maybe there are advantages out there, but I think you’ll hear the same story from a lot of people. They’re not looking after your best interests, but that’s their schtick, that’s what they say anyway.

But it’s not possible to do things on your own. You pretty much have to have an agent or manager, right?

Well, not at this point. I do a McCartney show now and I still work in The Cast of Beatlemania. We do have agents, but I don’t deal with them.

My own show, The Order of Sir Paul, we do that ourselves. My wife and I book it. We take care of everything, which is a lot of work. If you’re not an agent or someone who’s had experience booking, you can find the going a little tough because venues may only want to work with established managers and agents. I find it much more rewarding to do that ourselves because then we don’t get screwed around.

In my band, The Cast of Beatlemania, which we’ve been doing for a long time, we do work with various agents and management companies, but I’m always the last one to know. What I like about being what they call a ‘sideman’ is, “Okay, here’s the gig. Here’s how much it pays. Can you do it?” I can either say yes or no. If I say ‘yes,’ then I have no kick coming about what I’m being paid or the circumstances of the gig, because I agreed to it. My attitude is, “Okay, that’s the gig. That’s what I’m going to do. Thank you very much. I’ll do my best.” I don’t have all the headaches of arranging the rooms, of arranging the equipment rentals, and everything else that goes into making your own gig work. Do I have enough PA for this venue? How are tickets going? Have I done enough promotion? I understand how that works and I’m on both sides of it.

 

What is a typical day like for you now? How different is it from what it was 10 or 15 years ago?

When I’m working a day job, and I’ve been doing that on and off as well, a typical day would be like today, although I’m talking to you. I’m going to take my dog for a walk. I try to get in at least an hour of playing if I’m not gigging. I have to take care of myself. I try to run every day. I try to eat healthy. Being physical, taking care of myself, warming up. I’ve been a bit lax about this, too, but I have these various vocal exercises I try to do. Sometimes you need to take a few days off from doing it because gigs can wear your voice out. I have to say it isn’t easier as I get older to sing the high parts that came a little easier in my 20s. You really have to take care of the instrument.

If I am working, that’s a whole preparation thing. Usually, if I’m getting on a plane, or I have a gig I’m driving to, that day starts really early. If it’s an 8:00 p.m. performance, usually I have to be on site by two or three in the afternoon. There are long sound checks. We have costumes, wigs, if I’m doing a Beatles gig, makeup, all these preparations that go into [it]. Then, finally, the gig happens. After the gig, usually you have this nice spent feeling if the gig goes well. Maybe you’re at the bar with the fellas for a drink or two, then you’re in a hotel room. Then you’re waking up and driving someplace else. The day starts over again, depending upon how many gigs you have that week. Sometimes you’re on a ferry. Sometimes you’re in an airplane. It varies, which is part of the thing that I think is attractive. You don’t want it to be a routine.

I still like the adventure. When I was younger, I wanted to see the world. “I want to see what Michigan looks like.” Okay, now that you’ve done that, the wanderlust feeling gets satisfied. For me it did, anyway. Some people I know are still out there doing it, like “I can’t wait to get to North Dakota.” I’ll say, “Well, I’ve been there, done that. I don’t need to go again.” That’s my own feeling on that. I’m atypical that way. I’m not like the average guys, who are living the teenage life still, in their 60s. I know a bunch of guys like that. I won’t mention any names. They’re dear friends of mine. I’m like, “Ok, good for you. I’m gonna be home as much as I can.”

As far as balancing your professional life and your private life, I imagine you find it easier now than when you were first starting out. And you mentioned a day job — that’s not the Beatlemania or Sir Paul thing?

Right. I had worked for the various cable companies for 20+ years on and off, currently off, but my main gig had been as an instructor. Because of my theatrical background, I found it kind of easy to get up in front of people and talk to them about what their jobs are going to be like, sort of like a motivational speaker. My wife tells me I should do that for a living, rather than music, but it’s not my passion, for sure. I found that an easy thing to do and as I worked for companies, if I needed to take time off I would do that and do gigs. I’ve found a pretty good balance there. I was lucky. If I did five or six gigs a month that was enough. It still is enough for me. I don’t want to be full-time, on the road.

There’s a Beatles band called Rain, which some of my friends are still in. Those guys are out there maybe six weeks at a time and then they’re off two months. I can’t do that. I’ve got to be around the northeast. I can’t take a week in British Columbia and then go on to northern Canada, then Saskatoon. I can’t do that and I won’t, even if the money was unbelievable, which it isn’t. I think a lot of these guys are playing because they love to do it or they love the glory aspect of it.

I loved getting up in front of an audience every night, which is very addictive, I gotta tell you. Even if it’s a little audience of 10 people or 10,000, I’ve been there on both sides of that. I know what that feels like. I don’t want to seem like I’m putting those guys down. It’s just not for me.

The Long and Winding Road to Success (Part 1): Lenie Colacino, Musician

lenie_violinbassI’m happy to be presenting for my readers the first of a three-part interview I had with seasoned musician, Lenie Colacino, of The Most Excellent Order of Sir Paul – The Ultimate McCartney Concert Experience and an alumnus of Broadway’s Beatlemania!

A mutual acquaintance connected me with Lenie via Facebook, where he graciously agreed to grant me an interview. Lenie was very generous with his time and chatted with me by phone to tell me all about his career journey. He talks honestly and humbly of the ups and downs he’s experienced over the past 30+ years. He offers his wisdom and advice to aspiring musicians and provides fascinating insight into the music industry. He shares so much great information, in fact, that I couldn’t fit it all into one or even two blog posts, so this interview will be published in three parts over as many weeks.

*Please check back in or subscribe to my blog to be notified when parts two and three are posted. If you have any questions or comments for Lenie or for me, please type it in the box that reads ‘Leave Reply’ at the bottom of this page.*

Starring as Paul in Broadway’s, BEATLEMANIA!, Lenie Colacino is a musician and actor who has toured the world, from New York to New Zealand, and from Brazil to B.B. King’s, in many national and international tours of the Broadway show.

He is the founder of The Cast of Beatlemania, a completely live show that has delighted audiences in the US and Canada, South America, Austria, and Japan. It has been performed for members of the British Royal Family and for US presidents.

He’s also sung and voiced dozens of national ads, including those for Hershey’s, Tropicana, the US Army, as well as for Nickelodeon’s Emmy Award-winning animated series, The Wonder Pets. 

Lenie is also the founder of The Most Excellent Order of Sir Paul, a show completely dedicated to the music of Paul McCartney, rock’s greatest living legend. 

A true left-handed player, Lenie plays a vintage left-handed Hofner violin bass and is an endorsed artist by Hofner.

Over the years, Lenie has shared the stage with such greats as Dion, Billy J. Kramer, Pete Best, Laurence Juber, and many more.  

A recognized expert on the Beach Boys, Lenie contributed to Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Brian Wilson and the Making of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds by Charles L. Granata. 

Colacino lives with his wife and their dog, Trooper, in Montclair, New Jersey. His interests include vintage guitars, film, and the New York Yankees.

Let’s start with you telling us more about yourself, where you grew up, how you got exposed to music.

The first seven years of my life, I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. Then my mom and dad emigrated out to Long Island in about 1960 or so. Music was always a part of the household. My mom and dad were not musicians themselves, but they loved music. The record player was always going. I think my first inclination to get into that life was the influence of the music they loved to listen to.

I always had a musical ear. My first musical experience was in the sixth grade, because I was selected to play a role in an operetta, HMS Pinafore, by Gilbert and Sullivan. I discovered I had a singing voice at that time. I wasn’t considered a prodigy, but it was considered kind of unusual that I had a pretty good musical ear at an early age. I loved to sing. I sang at all sorts of school functions.

Then I think everything changed, as it did for a lot of people my age, when the Beatles came along. Pop music went from the Frankie Avalons of the world to the more rock and roll type-singing. I caught the bug like millions of other kids my age. That’s what started me on a career in music, actually.

So, from that point was it kind of an epiphany for you, like, “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life?” Or was it just sort of a hobby for you at the time? 

No, it was the former. This is what I want to do with the rest of my life. When you’re that young you…well…I had no idea what it really meant to do that. I think I had the fantasy that, “Well, this is the easiest life anybody could ever imagine. I get to sing for a living? Let me do that. Let me get a guitar and all the girls will love me and I’ll be rich.” You know, that common fantasy that every school boy had, I imagine. It took me many years to discover that’s not exactly how it goes.

I must say, though, the thrill of it, the idea of that lifestyle was very seductive. I think when you’re in with a bunch of friends or you join high school bands, they all have the same sort of feeling about where their lives are going to go. Some, like you said, think, “Well, this is just something I’ll do for a little while before I become a dentist.” There were those guys, but for me it was always, “No. This is what I want to do. This is what I’m going to do, come hell or high water.”

Were your parents encouraging?

No, as a matter of fact, they were very discouraging. Maybe that was a factor in my determination. As a parent and a grandparent myself, I certainly understand where they were [coming from]. They were Italian immigrants and my father was an incredibly hard-working fella. He didn’t want his son to be what I wanted to be. He wanted me to be what he was and more successful. He wanted a better life for me and he thought this was the road to ruin. I don’t blame him. It’s not like I have resentment for that. In fact, I respect it because I understand what he wanted for me was good, but he didn’t really understand the passion in it. I think there are a lot of people who don’t understand that passion, that drive. “Why don’t you get a real job?” is what I always heard from both my parents forever.

[My parents] did have some pride with me. We did many concerts where they lived and my mother would always get all of her elderly friends to come see our shows. She was proud, but not outwardly. It was just her upbringing. They weren’t the gushing, supportive type. They were hard school, grew-up-in-the-Depression Italians.

When was the first time you performed in front of a large, say 500+, audience?

Well, our high school events were really well-attended. There were a bunch of high school bands and we would have these concerts in the gym. They were attended by between 500 and 1,000 people constantly. So my first exposure to an audience that size was in my teens. Those were tough proving grounds. Usually it was one of those battle of the bands type things where you had four or five bands set up in the same gymnasium. You played a few songs, then another band played a few songs, and [the audience] voted.

So, after high school you went to university, correct? 

Mm-hmm, yeah. 

Was music your major?

It was. Actually, I was very involved in the college choir at that time [at Oneonta State College – NY]. My first two or three years of college, I didn’t play in any bands. I’d basically given that up, so I dove into music theory. Singing was always my passion and group singing, too. I love the sound of human voices together, so there was a concert choir in college that I was very involved in. It did some very weighty pieces, like Bach’s B Minor Mass, which we rehearsed for the entire semester. I enjoyed all of that without being in a band. At that point in college I said, “I’m going to get my teaching degree to please my parents or to please some notion of normalcy. I’m going to play the game and get a job,” because it’d been drilled into my head that music was no way to make a living.

I left college in my third year. There were some tapes lying around from a band I had recorded with before I left for college, like two years prior. Someone at Gulf and Western picked up the tapes and it became an album. Then suddenly I needed to get a band together to perform the songs on this album. That was one step where I kind of got jolted back. I thought, “Well, I finally got that record deal.” (I was 21 years old.) “Yeah, life’s gonna be great.”

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Singing is your passion and you play bass guitar. Do you play other instruments, as well?

Yeah, I play the piano and the guitar. Bass is my main instrument, but I found that the guitar and especially the piano were terrific in scoring things out and writing songs. Every song I ever wrote was mostly on the piano because it’s all laid out there. The guitar is a bit more of a negotiation. I have a pretty good foundation as far as theory goes, but piano is a little easier.

I was self-taught, for the most part. I took singing lessons. I’ve seen about five vocal coaches in my lifetime, so that I did study a lot. I took guitar lessons for two or three years with various teachers. I think I learned early on to have a good foundation, a good knowledge of your instrument, whether it’s playing an instrument or singing. It’s essential to what you want to do with it. That doesn’t mean you have to sound like Pavarotti. You can use your voice to sound like whatever you want it to sound like, which led to some of my later work in jingles and voice-over work.

What happened after that record deal in college?

It was pretty disastrous. It was the early 70s and I was living in Manhattan. It was very bohemian. We were playing all these gigs and doing pretty well in support of this record. By the end of that year, the band had basically broken up and no one that we had gotten together wanted to be in it anymore. The gigs were sparse. Money was very, very tight. I couldn’t pay for anything. I was having a really bad time making a living.

Then, my record producer at the time, Michael Wright, may he rest in peace, was engineering for Scepter Records in the 60s and 70s. He knew of this band in Scranton, PA, of all places — a band called Ralph, which was a local legendary band that was looking to replace its guitarist and singer.

[Michael] recommended me for the job. Having no prospects at that point, I took the gig and left the only home I’d known, which was Long Island, NY. I moved to Scranton, PA, which was as depressing as it sounds, but the band was great. I worked with that band for four years. It was a 10-piece band, very sophisticated. We were trying to be a progressive rock band in a time when Yes and Genesis were very popular. I did that for four years, and then I got the call for the Beatlemania show.

Tell us more about that gig. How did that all fall into place?

It’s really weird. The band, Ralph, was doing okay. It was very socialistic. I think we were making about $100 each, but living on a communal property at the top of a mountain, rehearsing all day. It was very early 70s.

I would see TV ads with the original Paul for the show, Mitch Weissman, and I would say, “Wow! They got the right guy. That guy looks just like Paul. I could do that, but they don’t need me. They got this guy.” Then I got a phone call from the aforementioned Michael Wright, who was living in Manhattan. He said, “They’re holding auditions for the next Broadway production of this.” The original cast was going to go on tour and open in Los Angeles. They needed another cast for Manhattan. So I said, “Why not? Let’s give it a shot.”

I remember I walked into the audition and saw a bunch of guys who were not very good. They got through maybe five or six lines of a song before they were told, “Thank you.” I got up there and got through my first song. I had four or five songs prepared. I’d always been a Beatles freak anyway. I realized I was doing well when I didn’t get the hook. As soon as my audition was over, they offered me the job on the spot, so I said, “Yes.” It was quite a shock to me.

For the next year, I did the Broadway show, then [for a few more years] I did national and international tours.  I really got to see the world. We went to 17 or 18 different countries, all over the world, playing this music that I loved to play and still play to this day. I had a great time doing that. It was a fantastic experience, but in my youth or naiveté I didn’t realize that, “This will end. You’d better shift. You’d better prepare for what’s next,” which I never did, as a kid or young adult.

So after five or six years, I found myself without work again. My marriage was in terrible shape. I had two young children, twins. They are now in their late 30s. I wasn’t much of a father or husband. I wasn’t around much. So I decided, “That’s it. I’m going to go into the straight world. I’m going to get a job,” which I did, at a cable company. Very soon after that is when everything fell apart. The marriage fell apart. I was completely miserable being in the straight life. I didn’t like my work. There I was in my mid-30s, very unhappy.

Slowly, but surely, I got back into the work I love. I credit my [current] wife, Barbara, with encouraging me with the “do what you love and the money will follow” theory. I got back into music in a different way. I didn’t want to go on the road again. I wanted to get into jingle and voice-over work, which I found a lot of fun, much easier to do. The work was in New York, right across the river. Even if you got an audition that week, or seven auditions that week, they were paid auditions, so it helped pay the bills.

Luckily, through hard work, I was able to get myself onto what they call ‘finals,’ which are jingles that become commercials. I had a really good run there for several years with jingles for the US Army, Hershey’s chocolate, Tropicana, Folgers, a bunch of national ads. You know all those “Be all that you can be” ads from the 80s and 90s? I sang in a bunch of those, which could’ve been the easiest work I ever did, six seconds of singing. I thought, “This is a good way to make a living.”

Eventually, I got more into doing voice work. Sometimes, when doing the jingle work, you would get called to do the voice-over or ‘doughnuts’ they would call them, which is spoken around the singing part. It might be 10 seconds of saying something like, “Try Tropicana. It’s great!” or whatever the script was. Then I got more into character voices, as well. Then I got more into character voices, as well. I hooked up with the show The Wonder Pets, [worked] with some great composers, and did a bunch of voice-over work for that.

The big thing that happened in the jingle business, however, is that the union (Screen Actors Guild), which I had to join, went on strike. This was, I guess, the mid-90s and at that point the jingle business changed from hiring writers and singers to sing these things to going to what they call ‘needle drops,’ which was finding some record that they liked without hiring a composer or singers. The industry kind of got used to us not working.

Even once the strike was over, we found it very difficult to get work. It came full circle. The only way to make a living in music anymore (there was a brilliant article on this in the New York Times a few weeks ago), except for the elite, like the Taylor Swifts of the world, is to go out and play your music live. Selling records is a thing of the past. Everything’s streamed. It’s easy to get for free. Artists can’t make a living composing and recording anymore. “Keep your chops up,” is the mantra now. Sing as long as you can.

Guys I knew who were making six or seven figures a year in the jingle business are now working in bands. I find that there’s no shame in that. I love it. I still love performing. I have a bunch of gigs coming up this year. It’s basically all that’s left to a lot of guys in my position, that is, who had success, who did records, who did work in jingles, whatever. I’ve sung at weddings and funerals. Whatever the work is, I tend to not turn down anything, just to keep singing. I have a great friend in the business who calls it “vocational playing” — it’s work, you’re getting paid, smile, do the best you can, and move on. Some of these guys play for $30 or $40 a night, guys who’d been in touring bands making thousands and thousands of dollars.

If this is what you love to do, do it. It beats the hell out of your day job, which I’ve been doing and not doing for 30 years. I know the difference. I know a lot of guys who are resentful, who say, “I used to do this or that. I used to make this kind of money and I don’t anymore.” I think, “You guys are nuts. Be grateful for every second you have doing anything that’s not digging a ditch.” That became my very humble philosophy after 30 or 40 years in the business.

Part 2 of Lenie’s interview is now available HERE. Subscribe to my blog or visit my Facebook page for an update on when Part 3 is posted. Thanks for reading!

 

Daringly Successful: Pin-Up Photographer Marley Botta

Marley

I connected with Marley Botta on Facebook when a mutual friend told me that Marley shared my love of pin-up art and pin-up photography. I chatted via email recently with the talented photographer. Marley shared with me how she got started in this unconventional line of work, what inspires her, and how others can follow in her footsteps.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? Did you go to school to study photography? Well, I am a wife and mom to three gorgeous girls. I love all things vintage and I became enamored with photography at a young age. I would ask to see old photographs and sit looking at them for hours. They were fascinating to me. I became interested in doing photography [as a career] after I had a retro photo shoot of myself done to give to my husband for a Christmas gift. It was so empowering! I loved it.

It wasn’t until after my car accident in September 2012, subsequent hand surgery, and physical rehab that I set my sights on going to school and doing the work full-time. Those pictures became my touchstone, my light at the end of the tunnel.

2. How long have you been a photographer? Where did the name Daring Dames Photography come from? I picked up a camera professionally in July of 2014. I am still in school and am learning that every photographer needs to keep on learning or risk getting stale. The name ‘Daring Dames,’ believe it or not, came from my Dad. He loves watching old movies. We were watching a movie with Barbara Stanwyck when he said, “That dame is a dish.” I laughed, but it became the seed that would grow into my brand.

3. Why pin-up photography? Well, the golden age of Hollywood: Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable, Vivian Leigh, Jane Mansfield, Mimi Van Dorn, Jean Harlow. These women shaped my childhood. I watched all the old movies, first with my grandmother, then with my dad after he retired 10 years ago. It’s a lost age that marked the beginning of American prosperity. It was both gentle and harsh. I find the old lighting, especially George Hurrell-type lighting, mesmerizing!

4. Why do you think there is a resurgent interest in pin-up photography these days? I don’t think it has ever gone away, but the introduction of digital photography has helped bring it back in vogue…merging the old with the new. It was a romantic time. The movie Pearl Harbor kind of perfectly captures the innocence before the attack, in my opinion.

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5. Do you have your own studio or do you shoot at home? Your clients’ homes? Somewhere else? Do you use a make-up artist? Do you have an assistant/second shooter? I shoot anywhere, but I am lucky to have a home studio in my basement. I do use hair and make-up professionals, but they have to really know the era. Most of the professionals I hire live the lifestyle. They dress like that every day. I sometimes have an assistant, but not usually.

6. Tell us more about the equipment you use on a shoot. What type of camera(s) do you shoot with? What is your favorite photography accessory, other than your camera? I’m a Canon Girl. I love Canon! I shoot with the 5D Mark III and I love her. She has a name, Lola, and she is a showgirl! I love using vintage props. A flower in the hair is also a staple.

7. What gives you your ideas and inspires you to create such beautiful photos? How much collaboration is there between you and your client on ideas? The world inspires me: old movies, new movies, big-time inspiration from music, especially electro swing – Boogie Belgique, Smoke Rings Sisters, The Resonant Rogues. If it’s a stylized shoot, i.e. the 20s , 30s, or 40s, I have full control. If a client comes to me with an idea, then it’s a full-on 50/50 collaboration.

8. How do you get your clients to relax? I show them how utterly gorgeous they look by showing them the back of my camera. It changes the confidence level. With models, it makes them work harder. With clients, it shows them how I see them: sexy, empowered, and gorgeous! I always think back to my dad saying, “That dame is a dish!”

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9. Can you briefly describe your photographic workflow after a shoot? After I shoot I do edits. I cull my favorites, the ones that speak to me, and edit them. If it’s a client, I print proofs and do a reveal day. If it’s a professional model, they get them via Dropbox.

10. What is your marketing advice? I am loving Instagram and Facebook for marketing. I also have a word-of-mouth kind of cult following. Women shoot with me, then they tell their friend, and they tell their friends, etc.

11. What do you feel is the most challenging aspect of pin-up photography? And what are you still learning? Lighting. I’m still learning lighting. For me, the era and the integrity of the shot must be respected. I just did a Bettie Page-inspired shoot, with the model “becoming” Bettie. At the end, we took a picture of her with the Bettie Page book we used for inspiration. I always pay homage to those who came before. Finding my creative voice and trying to ignore what other photographers are doing are my personal challenges.

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12. Do you feel successful? What is your definition of success? Do I feel Successful? Some days I feel like I am on top of the world and some days I feel like a failure. It is just the way the creative mind works. My definition of success is being able to do my craft and put out work that resonates with people when they look at it. I’m the only one who can determine my success. It’s not what’s in my bank account, but how I feel and how others feel when they see themselves.

13. Would you ever consider experimenting with male pin-up photography, or even couples’ pin-up photography? Yes. I do retro boudoir and couples’ engagement pin-up. Male pin-up doesn’t really exist, but rockabilly guys definitely love having their picture taken with their classic cars and bikes.

14. What three pieces of advice do you have for someone who wants to pursue pin-up photography? 1) Study photography! Don’t just pick up a camera and start shooting. It’s not that easy. 2) Look at the photography that is out there and find your favorites, your mentors. You will learn what good and bad photography is by looking at the greats. My favorites are Hurrell, Avedon, and Greene. These are the men that shaped the era that I love to shoot. I like Scavullo because he was a risk taker. Terry Richardson is controversial, but super-talented! 3) Finally, I recommend joining AIBP (Association of International Boudoir Photographers). I’m working on my membership submission for it now. It is a great group of teaching photographers.

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15. Besides your website and Facebook page, where else can we see your work? Any new projects or plans we should anticipate? My work is in Calendar Girls magazine’s Summer 2015 issue. I also did some work over the summer with the beautiful Kati Sorensen, pin-up darling and president of Heels for Combat Boots, a non-profit charity run by pin-ups that helps veterans with PTSD get treatment. I recently did a couple of promotional shoots for GirlyGoGarter; one was Halloween-themed and the other was a wedding theme. I also have some work on dollarpanties.com. And I got my first international magazine cover with the Australian publication The Pin-Up Index.

 

Marley Botta is a portrait photographer and the owner of Daring Dames Photography. New York has been her home her entire life. She is a mom to three beautiful daughters and has been married to her husband for nearly 20 years.

When she isn’t shooting, her time is usually spent reading, camping with her family, or vacationing on warm beaches with her husband.

She loves meeting and photographing all types of people, especially women of all ages, all walks of life, who allow her to capture their beauty and tell their stories through her images.

Follow Daring Dames Photography on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Check out Marley’s gallery and contact her through her website at: http://www.daringdamesphotography.com/

Historically Successful: An Interview with Novelist Anne Perry

anne_colourI have been a fan of author Anne Perry for about 20 years now. I have read nearly all of her novels and novellas and would have a hard time choosing a favorite.

About a year and a half ago I reached out to Anne via email to ask her for some resource recommendations for a Victorian-era book I’m working on. I thought there was a decent chance that either I wouldn’t hear back from her at all or she would tell me in a polite way that she had no time for a lowly aspiring author. Imagine my surprise, when not only did I hear back from her (and right away), but she also responded most graciously with some great tips and encouragement.

Fast forward to about a month ago when I reached out to Anne again to tell her how helpful her advice had been. I also asked her if she would grant me the privilege of interviewing her for this blog. I was amazed and thrilled when she said yes, not just because of her status as a writer, but also because she is a very busy woman. At 76 years old she shows no signs of slowing down. Read on to learn more about Anne’s success as a writer and the advice she has for aspiring authors.

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Anne Perry is the international bestselling author of over fifty novels, which have sold over 25 million copies worldwide and have never been out of print. The Times selected her as one of the 20th Century’s “100 Masters of Crime.” In 2015 she was awarded the Premio de Honor Aragón Negro.

Her first series of Victorian crime novels, featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, began with The Cater Street Hangman. The latest of these, The Angel Court Affair, is her most recent of many appearances on the New York Times bestseller list.

In 1990, Anne started a second series of detective novels with The Face of a Stranger. These are set about 35 years before the Pitt series, and feature the private detective William Monk and volatile nurse Hester Latterly. The most recent of these (21st in the series) is Corridors of the Night (April 2015).

Anne won an Edgar award in 2000 with her short story “Heroes.” The main character in the story features in an ambitious five-book series set during the First World War. Her other stand-alone novels include her French Revolution novel The One Thing More, and The Sheen on the Silk, which is set in the dangerous and exotic city of Byzantium.

Moving into a different area, Anne has responded to requests for workshops and teaching by producing her first ‘how to write’ instructional DVD “Put Your Heart On The Page,” which is now available to buy direct from her website. It is also available to US customers on Amazon.com (click HERE) or in audiobook format (click HERE).

Here is a little preview of the DVD:

1) How did your writing career get started? My career began when I wrote my first mystery, instead of just a straight historical adventure, and then I got an agent.

2) What did you do for a living before you became a writer? How did you balance working and writing? Before I got anything published I did a large number of things, some secretarial, some in shops, airline stewardess, ship and shore assistant purser, etc. You write when you can. Weekends, holidays, evenings.

3) Your first book wasn’t published until you were in your late 30s. Was there a time you thought it might never happen? Did it matter? Certainly I feared that I would never be published, and it mattered very much.

4) About how many times did your first manuscript get rejected before it was published? How did you persevere through the rejection? My first manuscript was never published. As soon as you send it off, you start on something else. If you wait for a reply, which may never come, you will waste half your life. The most helpful thing, which you rarely get, is to be told what is wrong with it.

5) You are a prolific writer. I read somewhere that you now work on three novels per year. Is that true? How do you sustain such output? Tell us about your process. I write two novels and one novella, only 150 pages, a year. I outline in considerable detail, probably 15 to 20 pages, single spaced, scene by scene, and then several more pages of character outline and back-story. That way there is never a ‘writer’s block.’ And I keep going, never go back and edit until I am finished, then I do several rewrites as needed to make it the best I can.

6) What is the most helpful piece of career advice you have ever received? Write the sort of thing you like reading. If it bores you, it will probably bore other people, too.

7) What makes a good agent? What should an aspiring writer look for in an agent? What makes a good agent is very hard to define. What makes a bad one is anybody who asks for payment other than the regular percentage (usually about 15) of whatever they sell the book for. Nothing, if they don’t sell it, which is why they cannot afford to take on one they don’t think they can sell.

Useful suggestions about rewrite are gold. However, ones that change what you are trying to say, for example, [add] more violence, more overt sex etc., — get a different agent. It should be your work, your style, just better.

8) What has been one of the biggest career challenges you have faced? That’s hard to say, because there is a need to keep fresh all the time. Each book needs to be different from the last, and a little better, at least in some way.

9) What would you do differently if you could do it all over? I would have read more books about writing much sooner in my career. Good ones are priceless.

10) What three pieces of advice would you give to someone who wants to become a traditionally-published author?

1. Get a good agent and listen to their advice.
2. Never write something you don’t believe. People will sense it and turn off.
3. Be prepared to rewrite, several times if necessary.

11) How do you define success? To what do you most attribute your enormous success? Real success? When strangers write to you and say that your book had meaning for them, and better still, they read it more than once.

12) You travel a lot these days giving talks about your books and the writing process. Apart from the publicity aspect, have you benefitted from these “teaching” experiences in other ways? Have they informed your writing in any way? I benefit enormously from travelling and meeting people. I think nothing teaches you more than trying to teach other people. How much great advice do we give and not always take ourselves?

13) Tell us about what you are working on now. Right now I am finishing up the Christmas novella for 2016. Almost there. I think!

14) If you were conducting this interview, what is one question you would ask? Is there anything else you would rather have done than write? Nothing at all.

You can read more about Anne by visiting her website: http://www.anneperry.co.uk/. You can also find her on Twitter: @AnnePerryWriter.

Artfully Successful: An Interview with Writer Mark Cantrell

Mark Cantrell, Writer

Recently I interviewed freelance writer Mark Cantrell. Mark has over 15 years’ experience as a full-time writer, coming to the profession after an unsatisfying stint in the IT field. Mark is also vice president of Triangle Area Freelancers (TAF), a North Carolina-based networking organization comprised of freelance writers. I met Mark through my membership with TAF, a wonderfully supportive group of professionals. Not only is Mark a super-nice guy, he is sharp and witty and holds an impressively vast knowledge of space and weather-related trivia.

Read on to learn more about Mark, his definition of success, and what it’s like being his own boss. Be sure to check out Mark’s bio at the end of this interview.

1) How did your writing career get started? How long have you been at it?
I worked at a hospital in south Florida for 25 years until it went bankrupt and closed. I briefly worked at an alcohol and drug rehab place after that, which was by far the worst job I ever had. In 1999, I got married and moved to North Carolina, immediately beginning a search for another IT job. Meanwhile, Don Vaughan kept trying to talk me into writing, but I had no experience and was reticent. My wife told me if I wanted to try it she’d support me, so with a great deal of trepidation, I walked off the cliff. It’s been more than 15 years now, and although it doesn’t pay nearly what my computer job did, it’s been very rewarding experientially and educationally.

2) What is your favorite aspect of being a freelance writer? What do you find challenging?
I like working from home. Many people have told me there’s no way they could do it, because they need that human companionship. I grew up as an only child, and for me, having others around has never been so much a need as an option I could avail myself of. (Good thing we can now end sentences in prepositions.) That’s a plus, but I think my favorite thing has been travelling for stories, meeting people I otherwise would never have been able to talk to, and finding that, to a person, the higher someone has risen in life, the nicer and more helpful they are.

For me, the challenge comes built-in, with the transcription process. If I could afford it, I’d hire someone to do all that so I could concentrate on research and writing. Another frustration is when sources don’t return messages or phone calls. In my experience, scientists and researchers are the best at getting back to you; doctors the worst.

3) You also have a background in art. Tell us about that. Have you ever had an opportunity to combine your talents as writer and artist?
My aunt was an artist and started teaching me to paint when I was about five. In high school, Florida wildlife artist Robert Butler took me under his wing and tutored me for a while, but I was a teenager and other things beckoned, like girls and cars. I next started cartooning, and sold several single-panel gag cartoons to various magazines, but it didn’t pay very well. I’ve never written and illustrated anything – yet.

weirdoh     everythingweather     sixteenmins     jun2012mom

4) How do you generate new writing ideas?
I constantly comb the web, more because of a mild case of OCD than anything else, and make a note of anything that might make a good story. But ideas can come from anywhere; an overheard conversation, a chance encounter with an old friend, or from friends and relatives. It’s a matter of keeping your feelers out.

5) What three pieces of advice would you give to someone who wants to become a freelance writer?
Don’t. Do. It.
Kidding! First thing: Don’t quit your day job. I was lucky in that I had a mentor (Don Vaughan) who showed me exactly what to do, and a wife that was willing to wait a while for the money to come in. Trying to go it alone from a standing start will probably not end well.

Second, become a rejection collector. Since rejection is inevitable, try to get as many as you can, because each one brings you closer to a sale, and you’re also inoculating yourself against the disappointment you feel so acutely when you’re starting out. I was no different, but these days, I see it as just another part of the process.

Third, don’t stop. As soon as you’ve penned a proposal, send it off and start on the next one. If you’re a fiction writer, start on the next book as soon as you finish one. There’s no better way to prepare to be a writer than to write, and the more you do it, the sharper your skills get and the more confidence you gain.

Bonus answer: Read. How-to books, lectures and conferences are great, but only reading others’ work will give you a visceral appreciation for how to craft a sentence. I wrote very much like Don when I started, because he was my teacher, but before long I developed my own voice and style.

6) If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Make money.

Seriously, I probably would have pushed a bit harder in the beginning. I used to send off a proposal and then sit back and wait for a response before starting the next one; hence answer three. I would have also tried to branch out into a wider range of markets. Once I got a few regular clients, I didn’t go out and pound the pavement as much as I might have. Of course, it’s never too late.

7) What have been some of your mistakes and what have you learned from them?
Aside from the above, I learned the hard way to never show your entire article to a source. The one time I did that, the person made a number of corrections and then turned them in…to my editor. That was a very awkward phone call. She was nice about it, but did suggest that I show a source only their own quotes, advice I’ve followed since.

Don was trying to turn me into a writer long before I made the leap. Because I collect old model kits and used to read Toy Shop magazine, he suggested I pitch an article about a Miami ad agency that had a toy museum in their offices. It sold, so he and I went down there and I took a lot of pictures of the collection. At one point I turned the camera sideways to capture a vertical shot, and the flash broke off. I was using 100 ISO film and couldn’t shoot without the flash, but fortunately Don had brought his camera and saved the day. Lesson: Bring two of everything to an in-person interview. I now carry my DSLR and my point-and-shoot, along with two digital recorders, when I travel for a story.

8) Tell me about one particularly satisfying or memorable event in your career.
I’m an aviation and space geek, and sold a story to Military Officer magazine about aerial demonstration teams. As it happened, the Blue Angels were coming to an air show at Cherry Point, and I was able to snag a press pass. The day before the show, they took us out to the airstrip and we watched the formation land, then were able to interview the pilots while standing beside their jets. The next day, we had a special press area with bleachers where we could watch the show. Doesn’t get much better than that.

I also interviewed Eileen Collins, the first female Space Shuttle pilot (and later, commander) for a profile. They gave me a number to call at the Johnson Space Center, but no one answered. She finally called me about ten minutes later, explaining that she’d gone to the wrong conference room. We chatted for a few minutes, and then she had another interview, but asked me if I’d like her to call me back afterward. Well, yeah. Without time constraints, we talked for the better part of an hour about all kinds of things, including the time her shuttle lost an engine on the way to orbit and they nearly had to abort the ascent. I was geeking out big-time.

9) How do you define success? To what do you most attribute your success?
Success is being able to do what you want, when you want to do it, and having the resources to make it happen. One of the best things about freelancing is getting to be your own boss, but it comes with a responsibility to get the job done without constant prompting. I had a problem with that in the beginning because I was so used to an office environment, but at this point I would have a serious problem with going back to a regular job.

I have Don, Maryanne [my wife], and my grandmother to thank for whatever success I’ve experienced. My grandma was a former English teacher, and after high school I went to Alabama and lived with her and my grandfather for a couple of years. She corrected me constantly, and although I was often peeved at the time, it turned out to be good preparation for my eventual writing career.

10) Where do you see yourself, career-wise, five years from now?
Is this a job interview? Crap – I should have practiced more. 🙂

One of the things I’ve had on a back burner for a long time is a kids’ book about the weather. I came up with the idea after writing The Everything Weather Book, which was my first book sale. I finally realized I was procrastinating because it was a completely unfamiliar genre, but hearing David Morrell speak at the [Triangle Area Freelancers] conference (“Writers write; it’s as simple as that.”) lit a fire under me. So five years from now, I hope that I’ve completed “Walter Windchill and the Amazing Weather Machine,” and a couple more books to boot.

11) Tell us about what you are working on now.
I’m just starting an article called Eyes in the Sky, about aerial surveillance, so I’ll be talking to the main service branches about how they conduct their missions. I’m also preparing a presentation for WonderFest, a modeling convention in Louisville that Don and I have been going to for years. I’ll be talking about my book “A Weird-Oh World: The Art of Bill Campbell,” and showing illustrations of his work. In the wings I have a piece called The Art of War, about Vietnam-era soldier/artists and their work for the Army Art Program. I’m making notes for the kids’ book as I think of plot points, and planning a few pitches to markets I haven’t sold to yet. Then there’s laundry, cooking…the usual.

12) If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?
Why do you write?

I will even answer it. From what I’ve seen, writing is a vocation that very few retire from. Don has a friend in south Florida from the tabloids who must be pushing 90, but he’s still going like the Energizer bunny. Whatever the impetus is – and I don’t pretend to understand it – it’s a strong one. But the answer seems to be that writers write because they have no other choice. I think David Morrell said something similar last weekend, which only shows I steal from the best.

Mark Cantrell is the author of several books, including The Everything Weather Book for Adams Media, Sixteen Minutes From Home, a study of the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, for AMI Books, and A Weird-Oh World: The Art of Bill Campbell for Schiffer Books. He has been a full-time professional writer since 1999, has written hundreds of articles for publications as diverse as Air & Space Smithsonian and Mad Magazine, and has received three Communicator Awards for various articles. Cantrell lives with his wife and three cats in rural Wake Forest, North Carolina. His hobbies are building models and chasing varmints out of his garden. You can read more about Mark by visiting his website: www.markcantrell.com. You can also follow him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/markcantrell  or on Twitter: @maccanwrite. Connect with him on LinkedIn at: www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-cantrell/0/86a/6b4/.

Journeying Toward Success: Writer, Producer, and Media Consultant, Alison Hill

Alison Hill is an Emmy-nominated current affairs producer, writer, director, and former investigative journalist, with over 16 years’ diverse media experience. She has covered a vast array of political and social issues for US and UK television, from national elections to human trafficking. Originally from Wales, Alison has written and produced hundreds of programs and segments for both commercial and public television, and has directed studio shows and location shoots. She is a regular on-air personality, analyzing US news stories for BBC News, and has hosted several PBS programs including an Emmy-nominated series.

As an investigative journalist for a prime time British television series, she went undercover with a hidden camera. She has interviewed politicians, public officials, celebrities and activists, and has filmed events with such notables as President Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Alison is the author of the workbook for authors: ‘Media Ready, Media Savvy,’ and currently works as a writer for Listosaur.com, is a contract producer/director, and video editor. She is also an aspiring horror novelist.

In 2008 she independently produced and directed an award-winning documentary. Alison has also appeared on Welsh TV shows, including a drama, a comedy, current affairs programs, a documentary, and a BBC special from The Newseum Studios in Washington D.C.

Find her on Twitter (@AlisonMHill) or online at Alison Hill Media. 

1)      You’ve had a very interesting career so far, done and experienced a variety of things. What is the one best descriptor at this stage that describes what you do for a living?

Oh boy. I write fiction and nonfiction, but I also produce and edit as well, so I‘m still in that multimedia [phase]. I do all of that all of the time. And I do stuff for the BBC as well, which is radio. That’s a good question – maybe writer/producer/editor.

So it’s a slash/slash/slash title, then?

I know, I know. That’s how freelance works, though. You’re multifaceted, unless you just want to do one thing. I like to do several things.

 

2)      How did your media career get started?

I started off as a newspaper reporter in Wales. I had wanted to be a journalist. I married young, right after college, and moved to Columbia, SC with my husband. It was very difficult for me there to find a career job. I did several things – restaurant work, I worked at Dillard’s selling lingerie, and I worked in a library. Obviously, though, that’s not what I wanted to do. So I went back [to Wales]. It took me five or six months to become a full-time, paid journalist.

In the interim I did some acting, I worked with a nonprofit doing its newsletter, and I worked at the newspaper doing some advertising features when people were off sick or on holiday. Less than a year after that I got a job [as an investigative journalist] with one of the most prestigious current affairs programs in Wales, Byd ar Bedwar (The World on Four). We had the same reputation as 60 Minutes.

Is that when you went undercover with the alleged cult? Yes, it is and I did many more stories as well and they were all long-term.

 

3)      Considering the great variety of media you have worked in, do you have a favorite medium?

I do like television.

Why?

It’s just a really good medium to get your message across. With visuals, it’s the best way to tell a story.

 

4)      Has there been any aspect of your work that you have found particularly challenging?

The undercover work was very challenging all the time because I had to pretend to be someone else.

The most challenging thing as a newspaper journalist was knocking on the doors of people who had just lost their children. I did some research on teen suicide and it was very tough talking to the parents. Several times I had to do that, but I think I handled it very well. In Wales it’s a little different [compared] to America. When family members pass, local people come to see you. That’s the tradition, so it’s not unusual for people to call out of the blue. In fact, it’s the norm. That’s how people show their respect. Some bring food and you make tea for them. It helps the people who are mourning, too, because it gets them through those horrible first few weeks. Your time is filled, people are coming to see you, you have to talk and be sociable.  I remember cold-calling on one family who had just lost their son to suicide. It was heartbreaking. It was Christmastime and his presents were all there. It was very sad, but they accepted me and I sat there and talked to them. I was a really good listener and I think that helped me with being an investigative journalist.

I remember listening to five refugees from Kosovo talking about their experiences, which were harrowing and horrific. Also, I was doing a program on domestic violence and it’s very hard not to cry when you’re interviewing someone, but you don’t of course. Some of the stories were just heartbreaking, but that’s part of why you do it—to get these stories out there.  It’s important for the public to know.

And I guess it must be difficult to know how to broach certain subjects and how far to push with your questioning.

Well, we were trained in interviewing. We would sit down and do hour-long one-on-one interviews with people if they were the central figure in the story. They were very in-depth.

 

5)      Tell me more about your training. Are you happy with the training you received?

Yes. In the UK, you do on-the-job training. You don’t need to go to journalism school to become a journalist. Most people there don’t. People in the industry prefer to train you their own way. You can’t learn everything in the classroom. You can’t learn in the classroom how to keep a deadline and juggle five different stories at once.

So you were thrown into it, basically. Are you glad it happened that way?

I think I am. You can get molly-coddled too much. You can’t learn a particular newspaper’s style in the classroom. And they can’t teach you how to write, really. You learn from other people. You ask questions of others in the industry. That’s what they’re there for. You see what they do and emulate that.

 

6)      What’s a typical day like for you? Do you have a typical day?

Right now it’s been erratic—for many years actually. I’ve been in the Raleigh-Durham area for a couple of years and I was in Asheville before that. Prior to that I was in Denver and had a full-time job with PBS as a current affairs producer.

When I first moved to Asheville, NC, I wrote two books–one novel, a sort of memoir. Actually, I wrote three books. One was awful—first ones usually are. Another one needs to be rewritten as well, so I tend to writing for a long time, but I also still do video work.

There’s no typical day, really, because I look for work all the time. I’m involved with Triangle Area Freelancers and did a talk for them. I wrote a nonfiction book, Media Ready, Media Savvy and have developed [related] workshops. I do marketing strategy consulting and media consulting. It’s slow and sporadic. I work on projects–editing and producing–with my friend and colleague, AlishaTV (http://alisha.tv/). I do a lot of stuff with her. Yesterday evening I was filming. I’ll probably be doing a lot of political commentary stuff soon with the BBC. There’s no typical day.

Do you have your own production crew?

No, I don’t. I do a lot of filming myself. I know how to film and edit. I learned how to shoot video when I was an investigative journalist. I learned the principles of editing over a period of five to six years. We were involved in the whole process from pre-production to post-production. I also studio directed and technical directed. When you work on television you do tend to learn a lot of things. It’s good to know, because if you know editing it makes you a better producer and director because you know how many shots you need.

 

7)      You’ve done a lot of human interest and political commentary work. Is there one genre you prefer over all the others or do you thrive on variety?

I like the variety, but I do love the human rights issues. I did a program in Colorado with the real-life hero from Hotel Rwanda, Paul Rusesabagina. It was fascinating for me.

I also got to interview Michael Moore during the premier for Bowling for Columbine in Denver, CO, which was interesting and a great opportunity, and going many years back I interviewed Jason Alexander [regarding young voters].

Alison’s story continues on the next page. Click here.

Speaking of Success: Jenn Mercer, Professional Translator

The field of translation is not one you read or hear about very often–or at least I don’t. It requires great communication skills in more than one language and can lead you down interesting life paths. So I was intrigued when I recently met fellow freelancer and professional French to English translator, Jenn Mercer.  Jenn happily agreed to be interviewed for Vox Laurus and shares her career experience below.

1. What prompted you to start working as a professional French-to-English translator? How did you know you were ready?

There were so many signs that translation would be a good career for me that I cannot believe it took me so long to realize. I enjoy writing in English – which is critical, and I love learning languages.  In addition, I need a job where I can control the time, place, and manner in which I work due to both practical and personality reasons. Don’t get me wrong. I work well with other people and have a broad tolerance for coworker eccentricities. By the same token, I have very little tolerance for arbitrary restrictions.

The immediate impetus was that I was no longer able to pursue my college degree(s) [while working] a full-time job. I tried, I really did, but due to a number of reasons the 24/7 call center I was working with developed a lack of flexibility. At the same time, I was hitting the courses I had put off because they were harder to schedule.  I had only a semester left at the time, so I started my freelance writing and translation career and have been working for myself ever since. While I do still enjoy pure writing (as opposed to the restricted form of writing I do as a translator), this is no longer a major component of my income.

As for how I knew I was ready… I just had to give it a shot. I had taken a translation course in college and then did an Independent Study in which I translated French poetry. My translation professor referred me to one of my first clients, which was a great vote of confidence. However, my real feeling of “readiness” did not come until I had completed a half-dozen projects, dealt with some midnight demons, met my deadlines, and received good feedback. I think you will never really know if you are ready to be a translator without actually doing the work. Taking French classes – and even living in France – do not give you the vocabulary you need to translate complex business documents.

2. What were the major challenges you faced when you first started translating?

I think my main challenge was the same one that most freelancers encounter – getting those first few clients. I was also surprised to learn how much IT work was involved. I have had to deal with corrupted files, backing out software upgrades, converting files, etc. It is much more stressful to deal with computer problems when you have a deadline than when you know you will go home at a certain hour regardless of whether the work is done.

3. Have technological advancements affected your work as a translator at all? If so, how?

Technology has had a strong influence on the entire field of translation. It offers competition in the form of globalization and machine translation, but also helps translators perform their jobs better. It has had a net positive effect. I can work anywhere in the world and I do not have to worry about manipulating and shipping physical documents. I can run errands and respond to client emails on my smartphone. CAT tools (Computer Aided Translation) ensure that I never have to translate the same sentence twice and relieve me of most of the formatting work. Note: CAT tools are not the same as MT (Machine Translation) in which the computer (tries) to translate for you. CAT tools are more of a memory aid than anything else.

I do not know where I would be without being able to research terminology on the Internet. I can verify usage, consult online dictionaries, ask colleagues for help, etc. I have a lovely collection of physical dictionaries, but it is impossible to have enough.

4. What kinds of material do you love translating? What do you dislike?

I enjoy translating documents that hit that sweet spot between being challenging enough to be interesting, but not so challenging that I have to research every word and cannot be sure that I have made the right word choices. I specialize in business, legal, and financial translations so many of the projects are in those fields. However, I am also a curious person with an eclectic range of interests (like many translators) and I love projects that let me learn something new or involve one of my many hobbies.

I also prefer projects which emphasize the translation portion of the work rather than formatting and administration. Sometimes the translation work itself is fairly simple, but the project is composed of dozens of tiny files and I spend more time renaming and saving into the correct folders than I do on the translation itself.  [Further to] the previous question about technology, I have purchased much of the software I use because it relieves me of parts of the work I do not like to do. In this way, I stay happy while meeting the needs of my clients.

5. You’re not just a translator, but also a writer. Have you found that being one has proven beneficial to you with the other? Have you done any creative writing in French?

While the ability to speak a foreign language, French in my case, is seen as the obvious prerequisite to becoming a translator, the ability to express yourself in your native language is much more important. A translated document should be the same as the original, except for the language. Although I do a lot of terminology research, much of the real brain sweat comes from trying to form and rearrange the best English sentences. This last twist is nearly indistinguishable from trying to express an idea in your head into words.

The only creative writing I did in French was in school. It was a helpful exercise to develop my French skills, but not one that is a real creative outlet for me. I may feel differently in another twenty years as the language seeps deeper into my bones.

6. What advice and educational preparation would you recommend for someone who wants to enter and then advance in the field?

Well, my translation professor advised me to learn “everything” and it is hard to argue with that advice. You need to have excellent writing skills in your native language, which will be your target language,  and excellent comprehension skills in your source language. It is useful to develop writing skills in your source language as well, both as a way to aid your language skills and to communicate with clients. However, in addition to all of these essential language skills, you also need to be familiar with the fields in which you translate.

The best preparation for a specialized translator is to actually work in an industry for a number of years and then switch over to translation. This is somewhat impractical, especially as many translators have advanced translation degrees as well. How do you plan for such a chaotic career path? Many translators don’t. Instead it is common to fall into translation midway through another career entirely. Like being a good writer, sometimes you need to live a bit before you can really be a good translator.

Oh, and don’t forget you also need to know enough accounting and marketing to run a business…

7. Does translation work typically involve any lifestyle changes, such as frequent travel?

Yes and no. I travel less on a daily basis since I work at home, but as a business owner I attend translation conferences and travel to French-speaking countries to keep up my skills. The main lifestyle change is that I get to work at home, which has been wonderful.

8. Do you think it’s necessary to be immersed in French culture to do the type of translation work you do?

Legal translation can be learned through research and education to a large extent; however every bit of immersion helps. For this reason, I went to Paris last summer to attend a conference located in the Palais de Justice:

Seriously, just look at this.
(Photo credit: Tristan Nitot, Wikimedia Commons)

The experience of sitting in a French courtroom for three days, listening to French legal experts, and talking with other translators and interpreters – for the most part in French, was invaluable. I returned home feeling more comfortable with legal French and more confident in my abilities.

9. How do you find new clients? Do you do a lot of one-term assignments?

I find new clients passively by maintaining a web presence on the ATA and CATI websites, translation portals such as ProZ, and my own website. I also market my services actively by sending out résumés and responding to job opportunities. In addition, I network with colleagues at translation conferences and online.

I strive to keep clients happy enough that assignments are not one-term, but this is often more a function of the type of client and the nature of the work than anything else. An individual who needs a birth certificate translated for immigration is unlikely to need future documents, while a translation agency specializing in legal documents will have a lot of work for me.

10.  What do you need to feel successful in your career? What would you still like to accomplish?

I have income goals, which I assess and update every year. Part of this goal is to make my work-flow more even.  As I gain experience and establish a good reputation, I have had more clients finding me rather than having to seek them out. This is preferable for a number of reasons, not least of which is that this means I spend more time translating and less time prospecting.

In addition to my income goals, I would like to obtain ATA certification. This requires passing a rather difficult certification exam with an 80% failure rate. I have taken it once, and unfortunately I was one of the 80%. At this time, the exam is pen and paper with no online resources allowed. This adds to the difficulty and has no resemblance to how translators have been working for some time. A keyboarded exam is currently being tested and I plan to take this exam again once it is ready.

11. Is there anything else you would like to add or think that people should know about you or a career in translation?

The most important thing to understand about a career in translation is that it requires constant learning. If you get bored easily, you are in the right place. You should also know that translation is a rather solitary career with most translators working at home. Depending on your personality, this will either make you very happy or very sad.

As for me, you should know that I am ridiculously happy to have found translation as a career. Back in the dark days when I worked at an insurance company, we would joke about “going to our happy place” when the latest crazy edict came down from management. This is my happy place.

Jenn is also a poet and writer. She delights in knowing that anything she learns, no matter how esoteric, may somehow come in handy some day. Jenn lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband, daughter, cats, fish, and as many dictionaries as she can fit on her shelves. You can read more about Jenn by visiting her website (link highlighted in red): www.jennmercer.com or follow her on Twitter: @jennmercerFE

Positively Successful: Lisa Hagan, Literary Agent

I first learned of nonfiction literary agent Lisa Hagan through fellow members of a freelance writing organization I belong to, Triangle Area Freelancers. Her name came up at one of our meetings. Everyone there who had met Lisa or had worked with her had nothing but positive things to say. Words and phrases like wonderful, fantastic, amazing, friend to writers, gets results, sweet, and professional were used to describe her. I took note, went home, and searched for her name online and found similar adjectives attributed to her in every search result. So then I started following her on Twitter, where her affirming and positive tweets began to show up in my feed every day. That’s when I knew for sure I wanted to interview her for Vox Laurus.  We chatted back and forth via email and I was very happy when she granted my request. And what do you know — all of those descriptors that I had heard from others were confirmed.

LISA HAGAN LITERARY has a history of anticipating future book trends and creating appropriate projects with its clients — scientists, writers, and innovators from around the world. Lisa Hagan began her literary career with PARAVIEW LITERARY AGENCY in 1993 and purchased it 1999.  The PARAVIEW LITERARY AGENCY was among the first to successfully develop literary properties for a rapidly growing worldwide audience known as cultural creatives. Lisa will continue to follow this path and is excited to announce the new name change to LISA HAGAN LITERARY. The agency handles only nonfiction properties at this time.

Lisa discusses with me how she got her start as a literary agent, how she views the future of the publishing industry, and how she defines success.

1) How and why did you become an agent?

I was working in the documentary film division of Paraview and while we were in between projects I picked up a manuscript from the slush pile and have never looked back. I was hooked by the process of turning a dream into a book.

My love of books started at a young age. We went to the library every Saturday morning. I was allowed 4 books each week from the public library plus the books from the school library. As my best friend since school says, “Lisa is never without something to read.” Which is true. I wasn’t taught that you could do something that you loved to earn a living, but I was in the right place at the right time, it fell into my lap and it was meant to be. Being an agent and helping writers become authors is the best and most rewarding career that I could ever imagine for me.

 

2) Is there a particular reason you handle only nonfiction properties?

The first manuscript that I picked up was a novel. I did not sell that novel; the author and I are still friends though. I represented fiction for a few years in the beginning because I love a good story. I found that the editing process was not one that I enjoyed as much as discovering a new author and the thrill of the sale.

Paraview was famous for non-fiction works in the genre of mind, body, spirit. Sandra Martin, the founder of Paraview, was the first agent to really become successful in this genre back in the ’80s.

I realized that I preferred to sell books that I felt would make a difference in someone’s life, to help them be a better person, to share a story that would empower them. I slowly stopped representing fiction until my focus solely became non-fiction.

 

3) What exactly does an agent’s job entail?

Reading. I read an incredible amount of queries, proposals and manuscripts. Once I find an idea that takes my breath away, I contact the writer to discuss our options and decide whether we would make a great team or not. Then it is on to perfecting the proposal with the author before pitching the editors and then on to negotiating contracts after I make the sale. I assist with navigating the publishing process and PR. Then we start all over with a new book idea.

 

4) My research tells me it’s virtually impossible for someone to become an agent straight out of college or on a whim. What preparation does it take for someone who wants to enter and then advance in the field?

No, I don’t think you have to be with an agency, but I would definitely recommend that you have a mentor to become an agent. It is not an easy business. In fact, it is quite cliquish, just like high school. You have to be willing to pick up the phone and introduce yourself, go to NYC, and make appointments to meet with editors.

You have to have a love of books but you also have to be an aggressive salesperson. I have been told on more than a few occasions that if the proposal was only as good as my pitch…. Becoming an agent requires cold calling, networking and putting yourself out there. The editors need agents to send them material, they rely on us. It is my job to know who the editors are and what they are looking for. I am in constant contact with editors. I know what they want and they know what I represent. Editors come to me with ideas looking for a writer. I call those easy sales. I am known for my authors and I am ecstatic about that.

You have to be able to handle rejection in this business. It takes a lot of no’s to be successful. My motto is, “NEXT!”

 

5) How have e-publishing and self-publishing changed the agent’s current role in the industry? How are they affecting an agent’s future career potential?

At first we were all concerned about e-books, but as we are now seeing, it doesn’t make any difference. People are reading and that is all that matters. As long as writers can write and we can sell and the publishers can publish good works, it’s all good.

I did feel a disruption in the business starting in 2008, but we all weathered the economy storm and publishing is getting back to a better place.  I am still selling terrific proposals and people are still buying books.Whether they are an electronic book or a hard copy, it is still a sale.

Self-publishing has been around longer than I have been an agent. We would not touch a self-published book with a ten foot pole back in the day. Now, it is common place. I’ve represented quite a few self-published works and have sold them to one of the big six. Publishing is not as stuffy as it used to be.

 

6) You have a reputation for being a very positive, affirming professional in a tough industry. What does it take to be a happy literary agent?

I was told early on by an editor that I was too nice to be an agent. Yes, you do have to be tough, demanding and sometimes I do have to yell, but for the most part, I get what I want by being me. I am tenacious and I think that, and knowledge of the business, is all it takes. I don’t give up and I am always thinking about my authors and what will help them to be successful. When I was a kid I used to say, “If I am not reading, I am not breathing.” I love what I do and everything in life can be in a book or pertains to a book. My research for my authors is constant.

 

7) How do you define success? To what do you most attribute your success?

For me, if a book that I have agented helps at least one person, then I am happy. Changing people’s lives through words is my mantra. I just want to leave a positive mark in the world to make a difference. This is the way that I have found I can do that and I am good at it and I am grateful for that.

 

8) What is the most helpful piece of career advice you have ever received?

I’ve said this in every interview. I thank literary agent Jeff Herman. I read an interview with him early on in my career and he said, “If you dread a client’s phone call then let that client go.” Wow. That was some of the best advice I have ever received still to this day. There are a lot of writers out there; I only want to work with the best — writers with integrity and writers that share my goal of changing the world one book at a time. Leave your ego at the door and let’s do this.

 

9) Is there anything else that you think is important for readers to know?

Agents are not scary. We need writers. Editors need discerning agents with excellent writers. If you love to write and have something that you think is worth sharing with the world then keep writing. Don’t give up.

If you would like to learn more about Lisa, click on the following links highlighted in red:

Publishers Marketplace – Here you will find Lisa’s contact information, as well as a listing of her leading clients and best-known projects.

LinkedIn – Lisa’s profile

Shelfari and Goodreads – See what Lisa is reading and which books she has sold.

You can also follow her on Twitter by clicking here (@LisaHagan123).

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