Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Stephen Clarke on French history, Paris bookshops and Paul West's debt to DSK

Stephen Clarke will be signing his latest book September 25 at WH Smith in Paris!

 

For Paris writers, Stephen Clarke needs no introduction. The author of the bestselling “Merde” series (A Year in the Merde, Merde Actually, Merde Happens, etc), he is the icon of success for self-published authors and a witty presence on the Paris literary scene. I contacted him after admiring the striking presentation of God Save Ze Président on amazon.fr.

Transcripts of a conversation with Stephen Clarke, over coffee, opposite the Paris Opera.

 Laurel Zuckerman:The Amazon Kindle ebook promotion for God Save Ze Président was remarkable. Who does your ebooks? They are much better distributed than most in France.

Stephen Clarke: The French eBook promotion was done by my agent Susanna Lea. A company named Versilio in Susanna Lea’s office makes French eBooks. There’s a battle over royalties with publishers on eBooks.

 

What are your experiences with French publishers as opposed to American or British publishers?

Susanna Lea, when she sells to UK publishers, sells all rights separately.

A Thousand Years Of Annoying The French was the number one best seller in the UK. But for America there’s a problem: for seven hundred years, Americans aren’t even in the book! The US doesn’t have a paperback, just an eBook. In the US, they sell the Canadian and British paperbacks. US publishers only wanted to do hardback.

 Are you on social media?

 No I don’t really do social media. No Facebook.  I tweet a little, only if I see something funny, I follow comedian, who come out every ten days with a good joke, not the “This is what I’m doing right now”. I don’t tweet about what I’m writing, just funny things I see.

 Do you get distracted by the internet?

 I’m not distracted by the Internet. I use it a lot when writing a novel, for research. For example, I wanted to say that an event was the biggest "what if" since ... and I found something great to fill the gap.

 What was it?

 You have to read the book.

 I don’t see how social media will help. I want to earn my living by writing books. I want people to read my books. I don’t want them to know what my favorite pasta sauce is. I’m not trying to be their friend. I believe a lot in relationships between authors and readers. I like doing readings and answering questions. And when someone writes to me, I always reply.

Susanna Lea has slogs for her authors.
 

What’s a “slog”?

A Susanna Lea Blog!

 Who are your favorite French authors?

 Camus, novels that take you somewhere. Living and experiencing vividly what’s going on. The French are not very good at the kind of novel where style disappears and narrative and characters take over like in L’Etranger. Also, Jean Giono’s great novel Regain.

 And your favorite living English language authors?

 William Boyd and Robert Harris. Incredibly well researched novels Enigma, Imperius and Pompei.

 The Village Voice has announced that it will close and the Red Wheelbarrow is for sale.  Your thoughts?

 It’s sad when little English bookshops go. When I first started out with A Year In The Merde, I delivered books by hand to the Abbey Bookshop, Shakespeare’s, Brentano’s, WH Smith, and Red Wheelbarrow. Once I took ten books over to the Red Wheelbarrow on a Saturday morning. Just after lunch, Penelope rang me up “Can you bring me more? Someone bought one, read it, came back and bought all the rest for his friends.”

Abbey Books was the first place anywhere to buy or sell A Year in the Merde. I was going around Paris with 200 copies. Finally went in the Abbey Bookshop. Bryan said “It looks fun!” He turned to a client, held out the book and said “Would you buy this book?” The client said yes so Brian took copies. 

 I wrote the book as Paul West, a character who’s much younger than I am. At my first reading ever at Abbey Books, I pretended to be him. I told them “I lied about my age but everything else is true.”

 

 Do you have any ideas on how to save bookstores?

 Maybe a walk-in eBook download? People can browse paper copies then buy the eBook at the store. Or a policy of lots of readings, diversify, have coffee, browse and buy.

 Have you been pirated?

Not yet, touch wood.

 If you were a young author just starting out today, what would you do?

 I’d self-publish an eBook probably. When I did it, the reason I did it was that it had been turned downed by agents and publishers. I just wanted to get it out there. I’d still try to get a book out and sell it from door to door!

 What are you working on now?

 My new novel is coming out in September. To promote it, the publisher wants 5-10,000 words to sell as a 99 cent eBook. It’s called The Merde Factor. It’s the latest installment of Paul West in Paris. But now it’s the credit crunch, chambre de bonne, mad neighbors, trying to get a job, going to work with French functionaries.

 You’re not going to make fun of French functionaries are you? That would be terrible!

Yes.

I wanted to explore a character who gets sexually harassed by someone powerful. This was really a problem- until DSK.

Before DSK, she would get fired and humiliated, anything else was not credible. DSK helped make the plot credible. The climate has changed if someone important does that now. He (DSK) actually helped me out! (note: Stephen wrote article about DSK in the New York Times)

 ***

Bestselling humorist Stephen Clarke has been published in (last count) twenty countries. His books are widely available in bookstores around the world and, of course, on Amazon and other online retailers. For more on Stephen Clarke, visit his website here. 

Graphic designer Lydia D'moch on creating an original book cover

Lydia D’moch, winner of the Best Paris Stories book cover design competition, is a California-based graphic designer. She specialized in book design for the adult and children’s trade markets as well as general publication and editorial design. Having worked in-house for several major publishers, she has been freelancing since 2009. We had the good fortune to discover this talented designer during the cover contest for Best Paris Stories. Her lovely design won the contest and has received so many compliments - for both paperback and ebook - that we wanted to learn more about her process.  Interview

 

How did you get into book design?

I graduated from Scripps College, which has a rich humanities curriculum and a great art program. I anticipated an illustration career, but I also like to write, so I was rather unfocused as to what I wanted to do when I got out into the world. I was 24 and showing my illustration portfolio in San Francisco when an art director at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich casually mentioned a job opening for a junior book designer—and voilà, a twenty-five year publishing career was born. It was a perfect match since it combined so many of my interests and things I loved doing.

Can you tell us something about the book design process?

Book design involves organizing and designing content while understanding the specific technical requirements of good bookmaking. The design should support and enhance—but not overshadow—the author’s words and images. I think it helps to have a strong editorial sensibility in addition to solid design skills; I greatly enjoy working with editors and authors, as well as the whole process of transitioning a work from its manuscript stage. I’m always aware that my job is to create a visual identity that brings a book to life.

How did you come across the contest and decide to enter?

I found the call-for-entries while browsing Paris-related websites, only a few weeks before the deadline. A couple of ideas suggested themselves to me immediately, which doesn’t always happen—but of course, what better subject than literary Paris to run wild with creatively? I ultimately submitted two different ideas. It was great to design a cover for the pure pleasure of it, about a place that I love, without the usual pressures that accompany the cover development process, and I think that was very freeing—not to mention fun!

 

 How did you come up with the idea for the cover?

 I had a very clear concept from the start. The vintage photo was the catalyst—something that seemed perfect for this anthology. My husband’s a photographer who shares my interest in collecting old photos and ephemera. He purchased the original Kodachrome transparency years ago at a garage sale—it was a real gem among a cache of ordinary tourist slides that looked to be from around 1965. It depicts a still-postwar Paris on a wintry morning, and its mood and period details pull you in, suggesting stories to be told. I felt it was important to include all the authors’ names on the cover, but overprinting them was a problem, hence the blue and red bands. Although the contest objective was the front cover design, I completed the full cover so that I could fully integrate the components across the back and spine. And I was also asked to design a variation of the cover for the Amazon Kindle singles.

 

Any technical obstacles you overcame?

 The original transparency was in remarkable condition considering its age, but it was quite dark, and heavy on the blue. I wanted to enhance the lovely monochromatic palette. After digitizing it, we did a great deal of color and contrast work on it, and added a warming filter to bring out the spectrum of grays in the wet pavement and cobblestones a bit more. I also did some Photoshop work to remove a couple of distracting color details that would have affected type readability.

 What is your personal connection to Paris?

 I’ve been to Paris numerous times, with my most recent visit in 2007. As a designer, Paris is of course a huge source of inspiration, but I’ve been drawn to it since childhood. Maybe the seed was planted by the French nuns that taught me in grade school. Later, when my family lived in Spain for several years, my older sister graduated from the American College in Paris (now AUP), and her experiences living and studying there really seized my imagination. I first visited when I turned 21—just the place for a memorable coming-of-age. Every visit is different, but I always return home exhausted, exhilarated, and ready to go back immediately.

 

About Lydia D’moch

Lydia D’moch’s design awards include Bookbuilders West Book Show, the AIGA 50 Covers/50 Books Competition of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the New York Book Show. In addition, two books she recently designed are finalists in the upcoming Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards, as well as the IBPA [Independent Book Publishers Association] Benjamin Franklin Awards.  She also designed a children's book (Smoky Night) which won the Caldecott Medal, the highest honor given by the American Library Association (ALA) for children's book illustration (the illustrator was David Diaz).

http://www.coroflot.com/ldmoch  

http://www.creativehotlist.com/profile/ldmoch/portfolio/group1

 

 

Fiction workshops July - August at La Porte Peinte Centre Pour les Arts in Noyers sur Serein

August 6 -10, 2012 American writer Ann Tachi Slater will be in France this August teaching a fiction workshop focusing on the short story, in Noyers sur Serein. The cost is 750 €

For more information, please see  A Few Well-Chosen Words: Writing Flash Fiction, Ann Tashi Slater

 ***

This personal recommendation just in from Paris writer/teacher Jeffrey Greene! 

Dear Writers & Friends,

Here's a wonderful opportunity!  See below.

Jon Lee Anderson is one of the very best and most intrepid journalists I know.  Anyone who gets The New Yorker will see his work.  His book on Che Guevera is iconic.  For anyone interested in important journalism, here is an amazing, rare opportunity to work with the master.  There are only a few spots left.

Ann Tashi Slater, lovely writer and teacher, is providing a special workshop on the "flash fiction."  It's something I've been working with and it fascinates me.  This is going to an excellent course.  

La Porte Peinte is a beautiful art center, gallery, and residency in gorgeous village in north Burgundy, not far from Paris.  I was there recently and love Michelle.  The center is starting its writing workshops with to very special writers.  

Please pass this information on to anyone whom it might benefit.

Thank you, Jeff

THERE ARE STILL SOME PLACES LEFT! SEE WWW.LAPORTEPEINTE.COM FOR HOW TO APPLY. LIMITED FINANCIAL AID AVAILABLE.

WRITING WORKSHOPS & MASTERCLASSES AT LA PORTE PEINTE CENTRE POUR LES ARTS IN BURGUNDY, FRANCE

30 July – 3 August
Capturing the Story
Jon Lee Anderson
What do Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez have in common? What was Saddam Hussein afraid of? What lies in the heart of a dictator? What does a dictator keep on his nightstand? Does a terrorist feel guilt? How does one tell the story of a war? Every good story begins by asking the right questions. In  bearing witness, do you offer a forensic examination of what fills your senses or do you just recount the plain truth of what you see, hear and smell? These are some of the issues we will address in this intensive masterclass. Whether you write on war, travel, or in some other genre, long-form journalism relies on knowing how to perceive a moment and convey its truth in an honest and deliberate way, just as a photographer does in a snapshot. We’ll look at how to locate the telling detail and how to construct a story structure, dissecting some of my own pieces to see how they are built, discerning the details selected and the structural decisions taken to reach the final form. During the workshop you will be asked to go out, locate a single moment, and report it, situating it in space and time and conveying its significance. In addition to the group work, in the course of the five days each participant will have a private session with me. You should come away from the week with new tools at your command, a strengthened sense of your aims and abilities, increased confidence in your ability to tell a story, and a sense of shared purpose and enduring friendship with your fellow participants. Fee: 750 €.

Jon Lee Anderson is an investigative journalist who writes for The New Yorker.  He has also written forThe New York Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, El País, Harper’s and Time. His books include Guerrillas: Journeys In the Insurgent World, Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, The Lion’s Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan, The Fall of Baghdad, and the recent El dictador, los demonios y otras crónicas, a collection of articles on Latin American and Spanish politics. 

 

6-10 August
A Few Well-Chosen Words: Writing Flash Fiction
Ann Tashi Slater
This five-day workshop focuses on the short story, with special attention paid to flash fiction, or stories about 300-1000 words long. How to tell a complete, compelling story in so few words? In addition to reading short shorts by well-known authors, we will experiment with different techniques and approaches through a range of writing exercises. Participants may bring a story with them for critique and revision; we will also make use of prompts inspired by the village of Noyers sur Serein, with the aim of producing a finished flash by the end of the workshop. The group will meet in the mornings, with the afternoons free for writing. Each writer will also be offered one private session with the tutor. Participants should come away from this intensive week with renewed inspiration and some freshly honed writing skills. Fee: 750 €

Ann Tashi Slater’s work has appeared in Shenandoah, Gulf Coast, and Painted Bride Quarterly, as well as in the YA anthologies American Dragons and Tomo. Her translation of a novella by Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas was published in Old Rosa: A Novel in Two Stories. She is Tibetan American, was born in Spain, grew up in California, and has lived and worked in France, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Bali, India, and Tibet. A resident of Tokyo, she teaches American literature at a Japanese university.  www.anntashislater.com

AUP Summer Writing Events 7/3, 7/10, 7/17 Paris

Just this in from Jeffrey Greene of the American University in Paris:

Summer Creative Writing Institute.

All events will be 6 p.m. Grand  Salon, 31 avenue Bosquet, 75007.

The first event with creative writing is tomorrow at 6 p.m. with  Darcey Steinke, our remarkable fiction writing professor who just  arrived.  Poet Cyrus Cassels follows on July 10, a reading and  discussion with poet and translator Ellen Hinsey.  Fiona Sze Lorrain  joins us on July 17 to read from her work and discuss editing,  translating, and much more.

 

Tuesday July 3, 2012 Fiction Reading by Darcey Steinke

Author of the memoir Easter Everywhere (Bloomsbury 2007, New York Times Notable) and the novels, Milk (Bloomsbury 2005), Jesus Saves (Grove/Atlantic, 1997), Suicide Blonde (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1992), and Up Through the Water (Doubleday, 1989, New York Times Notable). With Rick Moody, she edited Joyful Noise: The New Testament Revisited (Little, Brown 1997). Her books have been translated into ten languages. Her novel MILK was translated into French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Nonfiction has appeared, among other places, in The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Review, Vogue, Spin Magazine, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and the Guardian (London). Her web-story "Blindspot" was a part of the 2000 Whitney Biennial. She has been both a Henry Hoyns and a Stegner Fellow and Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, and has taught most recently at Columbia School of the Arts and Barnard.

 

Tuesday July 10, 2012 Poetry Reading by Cyrus Cassells

Cyrus Cassells was born in Dover, Delaware. He grew up in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles, California. He is the author of four acclaimed books of poetry: The Mud Actor, Beautiful Signor, More Than Peace and Cypresses, Soul Make a Path through Shouting, for which he was nominated for the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. His fifth book, The Crossed-Out Swastika, will be released in April 2012 from Copper Canyon Press. Among his many honors are a Lannan Literary Award, a Lambda Literary, the William Carlos Williams Award, two NEA grants, and a 1995 Pushcart Prize. He is a Professor of English and teaches for the MFA writing program at Texas State University-San Marcos.

 

Tuesday July 17, 2012 Reading and Discussion of Translation and Publishing with Fiona Sze Lorrain

Fiona Sze-Lorrain writes and translates in English, French, and Chinese. Her book of poetry, Water the Moon received an Honorable Mention in the 2011 Eric Hoffer Book Award. With Nobel Prize-winner Gao Xingjian, she co-authored Silhouette/Shadow. Besides her numerous translations of contemporary French, Chinese, and American poets, Sze-Lorrain is one of the founding editors of Cerise Press, and she serves as an editor at Vif éditions. She is also a highly accomplished zheng concert performer.

 

Light refreshments will be served

Events will be held in the Grand Salon, at 31 Avenue Bosquet, 75007 Paris