Terra Trevor discussed her transition from short form articles to publishing her first book on her motherhood journey, as well as the fortunate circumstances that led to the publication of her niche genre book on transracial adoption. She also reflected on the impact of conducting book group meetings on Zoom during the pandemic, which increased readership.
Key Points
- Terra explains how she transitioned from writing short form articles to publishing her first book about her motherhood journey, leveraging her existing connections.
- Shares how she found her publisher for her niche genre book on transracial adoption, detailing the fortunate circumstances that led to its publication.
- Reflects on the shift to primarily conducting book group meetings on Zoom during the pandemic, highlighting the impact of increased engagement during that time.
- Explains the schedule for the creative nonfiction workshop at the Santa Barbara Writers conference, alternating teaching days with Andrea Weir Estrada.
- Discusses the challenges of combining fiction techniques with nonfiction writing, specifically incorporating dialogue into scenes.
Emphasizes the importance of marketing books through word of mouth and personal connections. - Talks about receiving deeply personal questions during book group presentations, where attendees focus on the author’s motivations rather than the content of the book.
I am here today with Terra Trevor, a memoirist and essayist. Welcome, Tara.
Terra: Thank you for inviting me, Lisa. Yeah.
Lisa: You started out with feature articles and columns and essays, short form. When did you know you wanted to do a book?
Terra: I knew I wanted to do a book when my readers were saying, when are you going to do a memoir? And I was like, oh, my goodness, I’d never even thought about it. So I began writing. It took me about eleven years to write my first book. It was a story about my motherhood journey. And I already had readers from my columns. I had a lot of readers who were ready to buy the book. And I also spoke at a yearly conference. So I was luckier than most authors when I started out. I already had readers and I already had a way to promote my book. And so that grew from there, doing book groups. And after book groups would read the book, then they would invite me to come and be their guest speaker. And it was fun. I traveled all over the United States to different book groups. And this was in, the first book was published in 2006, and it had a good, strong ten year run.
Lisa: How did you find your publisher?
Terra: Well, my publisher, it was a niche genre. It was about transracial adoption. I had a child adopted from Korea, and so I was looking for a publisher. And before I wanted to make sure that I had a good, strong manuscript, so I sent it to someone. It was friends from the Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network. And I sent it to the founder and I had her read it and I said, what do you think? And she wrote back and she said, I love it. And interestingly, we’re just getting ready to start a new publishing group and we’re going to publish two books this year, and I want yours to be one of them. So again, I got luckier than you usually are. And so it was published. And that’s how I started out with my first book. But then my second book, which just came out last year, way different story. I had to do all the whole traditional search, querying many, many, many different publishers, and the University of Nebraska Press said yes. So that was my second book just came out. It’s We Who Walk the Seven Ways, and it’s also a memoir. So for the past year, I’ve been doing book groups for this new book.
Lisa: How do you go about finding the book groups who want to read your book?
Terra: Well, this time, it wasn’t near as easy as with my first book because I didn’t have that built in readership, so I had to do it word of mouth. And what I’ve discovered is if you just tell a few people, they tell many people, we always have this idea that there’s some magical link that you can get on book groups, and now they’re, you know, book clubs are going to want to buy your book, and it’ll be easy, but it’s not ever, ever, ever easy. University of Nebraska Press has a catalog of native studies memoirs, so I have the opportunity to do readership of anyone who’s interested in reading books about native American journeys and also memoir. So those are pretty much my readers. I’ve gone to Unitarian Universalists. They have book groups, and all the unitarian churches have book groups, and they like books on spirituality. So that’s been a good avenue.
Lisa: That’s a good market to tap into. Yeah.
Terra: So I have the faith based communities that I can go into, but again, it’s just contacting lots of different people and, you know, and hearing a lot, just not hearing anything back at all. And then every now and then you get a yes, and then that one yes leads to another one. And then another thing that I’ve been doing is if I speak to a book group and I know of another author, that they would really also enjoy their book, I’ll recommend them. And so, in turn, that happens to me.
Lisa: So you’re doing all this footwork yourself of finding these groups. You don’t have a service or something that you’ve subscribed to?
Terra: No, I don’t. So far, I haven’t been able to be hooked up to it. I think I have the same dream that all authors have, is that one day something will lead to that link where you have a service or some kind of connection.
Lisa: So how’s the process go? When you find a group and you book to speak? With them. How does it happen?
Terra: Well, with my first book, I just put out the word. And so I never asked to be invited. And with my first book, I never would charge anything because I always thought that if they buy the book, that’s payment enough for me, but then they would give me an honorarium, and so that’s what I’m doing at this time, and I’m just open. I don’t say anything. And sometimes they decide to give you an honorarium, and sometimes they don’t. You know, if you have the luxury to have a book that’s a bestseller or you’re a bestselling author, but I’m just thankful to have the opportunity to have written this book for the University of Nebraska Press to publish it and for readers to buy the book and want to read it. So sometimes I go, if it’s easy to travel, I’ll travel and meet with the book group in person. But I do lots of books group meetings on Zoom.
Lisa: Is that primarily how you do it these days?
Terra: Primarily, it is. And it started during the pandemic. My book was published in 2006, and it actually sold out during the pandemic because there were so many people reading, and one word of mouth would lead to another. And I did lots and lots of Zoom book groups during the pandemic.
Lisa: Which one do you prefer? Do you prefer to go in person, or do you prefer the online version?
Terra: I love being able to go in person when I can. That’s the best. We just sit around and it’s usually hosted in a very relaxed atmosphere. Sometimes people’s living rooms, sometimes out in the backyard. If it’s a large group, it’ll be in their meeting space, like unitarian churches. They always have really nice lounges that we meet in, but it’s just you sit around and you have a conversation, very candid, and I love it.
Lisa: Do you ever find that you go, and there are people who haven’t read the book?
Terra: Often. And then I’ve had some of the readers come back and say they read part of the book, and they’re not even very strong readers, but they actually read it. Then I’ve actually had one person said she wasn’t sure that she was going to enjoy the book, but she said I wasn’t happy in the middle. She goes, but then I was very, very happy when I got to the end, and I thought that might be the best comment of all because she pushed through to the end to read it. In both of my books there are deaths, and some people can’t handle sad stories, so I understand.
Lisa: Do you find that by going to these groups it helps you get reviews?
Terra: No, it doesn’t help. Forget reviews. Sometimes if they ask me, I will say, oh, it would be so helpful if you would go on Goodreads and rate the book, say, well, you know, that would, that’s, how do you want to be thanked? And I said, well, if you like the book enough to go give it a rating, I’d be very thankful for that. No, but it’s the joy of having written a book, being able to share it with others who’ve enjoyed it.
Lisa: So they contact you and they say, we’re going to read your book and we want you to come speak to this in person or through the computer. And how long usually is it that between somebody asking you to present and you actually doing the event?
Terra: It depends on what their schedule is and mine. Sometimes it can be just if I don’t have anything going on, and neither do they. It could be very soon. Other times we book quite a bit in advance, and if travel is involved, then we always in advance. Well in advance. And I have a link up on my website that says I’d be delighted to talk with your book group. And mostly that’s how I’m contacted.
Lisa: Do you have a list of questions you send them that they can discuss?
Terra: Sometimes we do. It depends on what their topic of their book group is, if it’s spirituality. I’ve actually talked to memoir classes. They’ve contacted me and said that we’re writing memoir and we loved yours and we’d like to talk about that. So it’s always tailored different depending on which group is reading it, what their special interest is.
So you teach memoir workshops?
Terra: Yeah. I didn’t plan on teaching memoir workshops, but I’ve had two groups contact me recently and ask if I’d talk about writing memoir. So I’ve done that, and that was a lot of fun also.
Lisa: Well, that’s great. So I guess that’s probably what you’ll have to put into your bag of tricks. Now, I know you’re going to teach a nonfiction writing class at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. Why don’t you tell me a little bit more about that?
Terra: Andrea Weir Estrada and I are both going to teach the creative nonfiction workshop, which combines fiction techniques with nonfiction writing. And Andrea is going to lead the workshop on Monday. Let’s see, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday afternoons from 1:00 to 3:30. And then I’m going to lead it on Wednesday and Thursday. And the reason I’m leading it less days is because I’m no longer living in Santa Barbara. I’m in Santa Cruz now. So those are the two days I’m able to get there. Then Andrea was kind enough to say she’d do three days. So we’re looking forward to that.
Lisa: What do you find is people’s challenges when they go to try to do creative nonfiction? What do you think people find is the hardest part?
Terra: Probably when you have to take scenes and have dialogue and work it in. So, I try to help them understand. You have your manuscript, you have everything, and then we pick out which is better told as a scene rather than narrative, where in your nonfiction, it’s strict narrative, and that’s easy. But if you want to combine it, you have to put that dialogue in there in realistic. That for me, as an early writer, that was my biggest challenge.
Did you have any mentors that helped you with that?
Terra: I did. I started out, Bill Downey was one of my mentors. I’m from way back from those days, early days in the eighties, the Writers Conference, Shelley Lowenkopf and Barnaby. I hail from the way aarly Writers Conference. So those are my mentors. Grace Rachow everyone from way back. And most of, many of us are, you know, are continuing on.
Lisa: Yeah, that was really fun back at the Miramar. And it’s still pretty fun.
Terra: It’s still fun. Yeah, yeah. I learned from Fannie Flagg when I was learning how to you write a book and she said she had a clothesline in her house and she would hang up her pages on her clothesline. And so when I was doing my first, even in my second book, I don’t have a clothesline. So I’d line all my pages up and down the hallway from one room to another to know and rearrange chapters.
Lisa: Yes, that’s, that is a, that’s a great, a great method. And a lot of people do that, too, with writing on index cards and rearranging those. Which scene goes where. Yeah, that’s it. That’s a great method. I like that one. Do you do anything else to try to market your books?
Terra: Yes, constantly. I say writing your book is the fun part for me, but for marketing, and that’s huge because what good is it if you have a book that nobody’s reading? Social media constantly. But I don’t really find that works as well as word of mouth, again, just depending on who you’re friends with. And, gosh, recently a friend told me that she walks everyday and she always sees a woman in her neighborhood and they wave and they’ve been seeing each other for the longest time. But recently they got into a conversation and they started talking about books. And she said, oh, I’ve just read a book you might like. So she went over and loaned my book to her and then that person shared it with someone else. So you never know how it’s going to turn out. But I really think it’s a matter of who you know and who you might meet and who they might tell. And, you know, you just, and also faith. Just a lot of faith.
Lisa: Yes, definitely. So going back to book groups, what’s the hardest part about presenting to a book group?
Terra: Well, presenting isn’t a bit hard. It’s hardest to find the groups again, sending out lots and lots of emails saying that you’re the author of this book. And see if they have a book club, book group, and if they do, please consider my book. That’s the hard part for me. But once you get a book group and you’re sitting down talking, it flows. You never know which direction it’s going to flow in, but, you know, it does.
Do you get hard questions?
Terra: Sometimes I do. And I get deeply personal questions because oftentimes they don’t want to talk about the book. They want to talk about what I wrote in the book, which caused them to wonder, what if? And did I also do something else and what led me to what I did?
Lisa: But you’re pretty well practiced. And what do you do to prepare? Because I know it must be when people have to go up on stage and speak or the whole actors kind of preparation and stuff. Do you find it hard to prepare yourself emotionally?
Terra: Not anymore. Used to. I’ve been speaking, being a panelist, and I’ve led workshops at a number of different conferences since my first book was published in 2006. So I’ve had a lot of practice, but at first, yes, I was nervous, and I actually love being on panels where there’s three, four of us and we tackle a topic together. That’s one of my favorites.
Lisa: So it’s mainly the practice, and just the more you do it, the more comfortable you are?
Terra: I think so.
Lisa: Do you have any advice to people who have, say, a memoir out and they’re looking to speak to book groups?
Terra: Don’t give up. Continue searching. If you just send out your emails, continue doing your social media, talk to everyone who you think is interested, and just realize that if you don’t hear anything at all, it doesn’t mean that something’s not happening behind the scenes. Just hold on to faith and keep pushing on.
Lisa: Sounds like you have a couple of different niches, you’ve got the faith and the Native American and the several different niches. Do you think that helps?
Terra: Very, very much so. I can’t even imagine how you would do it if your book, if you just had a novel like that. It would depend on what your niche is for a novel. But I only know what particular genres that I’ve been writing, but I think it would translate for whatever someone has, whichever book, it would just search your subjects and in the beginning of the book, how they catalog it. That also gives you a lot of ideas of how, where to begin, like looking for, for your book group readers.
Lisa: Well, that’s great. Do you have any groups coming up in the near future?
Terra: One, but it’s a friend’s. Oh, that’s another good important thing. Thank you for bringing this up. Sometimes it’s just a friend’s readers group, a group of people, maybe six women that are all get together and read the same book. It doesn’t have to be an organized group. So I do. I have a local group coming up soon. We’re going to do that. And that’s just sitting around the backyard drinking lemonade, talking about the book, and it’s fun.
Lisa: I hope other authors will get into finding these little groups. And do you ever give, like, a book discount to the group?
Terra: I don’t have any way to do that. I don’t sell them the books University of Nebraska often does sell book. There’s so many books sold, they will do a discount. And then also, it just depends on where. I always encourage my readers to go to their favorite local bookstore first, and my book is in most bookstores, and it can also be ordered, and it’s also in many libraries. And I’m just as happy if somebody wants to get my book from a library as well. In fact, that’s a great honor.
Lisa: That’s true. And as we’re speaking, it’s National Library Week, so it’s great to encourage getting things from the library anytime of the year. Well, I thank you very much, and I look forward to your workshop at the Santa Barbara Writers conference.
Terra: Thank you. I’m looking forward as well.