The 5-Question Interview: Teri Cettina, Jeannette Moninger & Kris Bordessa

Three co-authors unite on different styles, intellectual messiness and the power of “one step at a time.”

This is a first for The Writer’s [Inner] Journey—a collaborative interview with three (three!) authors who collaborated on a book about writing and querying. Jeannette Moninger, Teri Cettina and Kris Bordessa, three freelancers who, between them, have written all things parental for scores of national magazines (the big ones people: Real Simple, Family Circle, Parents, Prevention, Reader’s Digest, for example). If you want to be like them (raking in the assignments), check out their accessible, amazing and innovative ebook, Cash in on Your Kids: Parenting Queries That Worked.

Meredith: How and when did you know in your gut(s) that the idea was viable? Was there a single telling moment for all of you—or each of you? Did one of you have the idea and seek out the others? Tell, tell, tell! [Since Teri originally had the idea, she took this one.]
TERI: While I was interviewing “real” parents for my articles, the moms and dads invariably asked “How did you get into this kind of writing?” It occurred to me that 1) There was a market specifically for “how to get into parenting writing” advice (not just freelance writing in general) and that 2) It would be smart for me as a writer to start looking at projects—like an ebook—that could be sold multiple times. I was looking for an additional income stream, and doing something for new parenting writers made a lot of sense.

I liked the idea of offering actual queries–I bought packets of queries myself in my early days as a magazine writer. I learned more from a few of them than from entire books of writing advice! I didn’t want to offer up just MY queries. Enter Jeannette and Kris. We all knew each other by email only from a small, online writers’ group. (It was a query-writing team that formed during a FreelanceSuccess contest and stayed together because we “clicked” so well.)

The three of us, all of whom focus on parenting writing, had the chance to meet in person at a conference in 2008. That’s when I was SURE these were the gals with whom I wanted to work on this project. I mentioned the query packet idea to them, and it was an automatic “Yes!” We started compiling our queries a few months later, then decided we also wanted to add some introductory material about parenting writing. So instead of being just a packet of queries, it morphed into an ebook.

Meredith: What did beginning feel like? Look like?
JEANNETTE: If you’re asking about the process of creating the concept, it was kind of intellectually messy at first. A totally open field. [This-is-normal alert:] It’s like starting an article query and not being sure what information you’re going to include, how long it’s going to be, and whether it’s even a good idea. We didn’t even have agendas for our first few phone calls together. We were making things up as we went along.

At the same time, we were excited. We felt the idea had legs, and we just had to shape it. Little by little, we chipped away at it. First, we knew we wanted to include a bunch of queries. So we asked: Can everyone start by unearthing a half dozen of your successful queries—all from different publications? Can we find some short article queries as well as some features? Then we looked at them all as a group and were able to see some structure. We also saw some overlap (too many from one publication) and some holes. So we searched our files for a few more queries to round out the group.

We decided we wanted to write some commentary about each query, to put it in context. How did we come up with each idea? How did we decide what sources to include in the query? Was there anything unusual about our process? Why do we think the editor bought this particular query? As we answered those questions, we realized we needed room for more discussion about many of those points. So we opted to add introductory information and tips. Then we thought, “Why not offer the email codes for each publication? New writers won’t have those and may find them valuable.”

We built the book a step at a time. It was quite fun to be driving the whole project without an editor for once! The only people we needed to “sell” on the idea were ourselves. And we were already on board!

Meredith:  Did you write a chapter at a time? Skip around? Start with a table of contents? What was the process? Were you into outlines? Why? Why not?
KRIS: I wouldn’t say we really followed an organized outline, though we discussed a general plan. We knew that the queries themselves would make up the bulk of the book, and those were already written. The hardest part was deciding which queries to include and maintaining a variety. After assembling those, we sorted through them – via email – and added an intro to each, indicating how the query had come about and why the author thought it sold. And of course, we added details about the sale: pay rate, word count, publication.

With the query section completed, we developed the concept further. We brainstormed about what we had to learn as new freelancers and compiled questions that new writers would likely have. We divvied up the questions, answered them, and then came back to the group for editing. We decided to organize these into two sections. Hot Tips includes ideas for developing ideas, how to find and contact editors, and even an email format “cheat sheet.” Crafting Your Query details just what a query is, and what should be included.

Meredith: As writers with many projects in motion, many platforms at work and many works in the public eye, how did each of you balance the left-brain activity of promotion with the right-brain activity of creation?
TERI: I had to separate them completely. It’s exactly the way I work on an article. First, I write the article and get the flow of information the way I like it. Then I go back and do my fine-line editing, fact-checking and footnotes. I just can’t create and see the big picture and all the finishing details at the same time.

For the ebook, I focused on the concept first and executing my parts really well. Occasionally I’d have ideas or worries about marketing and selling the book while we were still writing it. I kept an ongoing list of those ideas, or saved the emails, and didn’t even look at them until the book was finished. Now we’re going back and asking ourselves the larger questions: How do we get this book to the right audience? What are the best inexpensive ways to get the word out? What can we do to add value to this book? We’re taking it one step at a time.
KRIS: I’m afraid not very well! I have a tendency to try to tackle everything at once, so I found our telephone meetings very helpful. We could discuss all of our ideas, but by the time we were done, we walked away with a to-do list that made sense for each of us. This helped me to maintain focus where it needed to be. We couldn’t very well promote a book that we hadn’t finished writing! Like Teri, I tried to maintain a list of ideas for the future, but it was good to have two other people keeping me on task.

JEANNETTE: Getting the book done was, of course, the top priority, but our conversations often veered off into talks about how best to market the book. Looking back, it seems to me that we had a great plan for pulling together the book, but not such great ideas on how to get the word out about it. It makes sense that writers would focus first and foremost on the act of writing. The marketing campaign for the ebook has kind of grown organically—one of us comes up with an idea of where to promote the book, and another one of us might say, “Oh! And how about this?” We’re learning as we go.

Meredith: I’m wondering if collaboration is really as melodious and harmonious as it sounds. How did you ensure everyone’s voices were heard? Did you run into “two’s company, three’s a crowd” in the process? If so, how did you remedy it? If not—how did you escape it?
TERI: I’m chuckling as I write. Consider that we’re all freelance writers. We generally work alone. We have strong opinions. Fortunately, we all like and respect each other–that helps tremendously. But no, it wasn’t always easy. An example: I tend to be a worrier. I bring up worst-case-scenario situations (“What if an editor sues us for including a query that became an article in their magazine?” or simply “Is this really the best title for the book? Will new writers know what a query is?” And sometimes I don’t worry about these things until the last minute. I raised the question about the book’s title AFTER we had gone through several rounds with a graphic designer and finalized the look of the cover. (What can I say? Sometimes things don’t occur to me until I see them in final form!)

In retrospect, I’m really glad there are an odd number of us– three–because there is always someone who can break the tie! I’ll always consider that when I’m doing any collaborations…I don’t think I would agree to any lengthy collaboration without meeting the other folks first. It’s really important.

KRIS: I think the fact that we are all so different in how we handle situations has been beneficial. With three different views, we were able to assess the book from a lot of angles. At one point or another, I think each of us has made a suggestion that the other two hadn’t event thought of. It was nice to have so many ideas to choose from!

Some of us are very detail oriented, others more casual in our approach, but I think our group of three has worked together very well! We are all comfortable voicing our opinions (maybe TOO comfortable!) with each other, so I think we’ve all been “heard.” If I have a complaint, it’s that we didn’t get to spend any face to face time as we worked on this project. It’s a little sterile working so closely on a project, and yet across state lines!

JEANNETTE: It helped that we spent several years getting to know one another via email before embarking on this endeavor: We definitely had a sense of each other’s personalities already. I think Teri felt that we could work well together as a team—and our face-to-face meeting confirmed that. Teri certainly did more than her share of worrying about the financial and legal aspects of this combined venture, but I was so glad to have someone with her acumen to tackle these important issues. On collaborations like these, it’s important that the i’s are all dotted and t’s are all crossed. I was just having fun putting a book together with two great talented writers. And yeah, I wish I could have met them at a coffee shop and hashed out the details in person. Maybe we’ll do that for our next book!

KRIS writes about travel, arts & crafts, education, and family life for publications like Islands, Parents, Parenting, FamilyFun, and many others. In 2005, Kris packed up her family and moved – with only eight suitcases – to the Big Island of Hawai‘i. Currently back in her native Northern California with her husband and two teenagers, she’s waiting for the phone call that will take her back to the islands. Wait with her at www.krisbordessa.com.

TERI got her first magazine subscription at age 11 and wanted to write for consumer magazines from that moment on. She has written for Parenting, Parents, Real Simple, Woman’s Day, Reader’s Digest, Better Homes and Gardens and many other publications. She and her husband live in Oregon with their two daughters and a small flock of urban chickens. Hang out with her at: www.cettinaworks.com.

Meanwhile, JEANNETTE’S twin 8-year-old sons provide ample fodder for her parenting and children’s health stories, which have been published in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Family Circle, and Prevention. She and her husband recently moved the family from the flat lands of Indiana to the Rocky Mountains of Denver to share their passions—snowboarding, mountain biking and hiking—with their children. Keep up with her at: www.jmoninger.com.

Tagged as: Author Interviews, writer interviews

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