Shoplandia: An Interview with Author Jim Breslin

 
Jim Breslin is a writer, storyteller and a former television producer who spent seventeen years with QVC, the world's largest home shopping network.  His first collection of short stories, Elephant, includes a short story that was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Next, he published the anthology Chester County Fiction that presented short fiction from thirteen Southeast Pennsylvania authors (including the author of this blog). 

Jim Breslin’s latest book is his first novel, Shoplandia.  It was inspired by his years as a producer at a home shopping network.

1)  Jim, I see that you’ve been accepting invitations from book clubs to talk about Shoplandia.  I’m sure that I speak for many authors when I say that the idea of talking to a book club in someone’s home is daunting (or even terrifying).  How has your book club visits gone, and do you find them worthwhile?

Actually I have found book clubs to be really fun, particularly since the wine is usually flowing! Seriously though, I love hearing from book club readers what they enjoyed about the books and what they didn't like. Sometimes those in the book club will start debating a character or what they took away from a scene and I just sit back and soak it all in. I often hear the same themes and it's helpful to hear that feedback. Everyone has been very cordial and asked insightful questions. Of course, they want to know if any of the scenes in Shoplandia really happened at QVC!

2)  You recently attended the HippoCamp Creative Non-Fiction Writer’s Conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  How important is it for writers to go to conventions?  What do you get out of it?

HippoCamp is a great conference geared towards writing creative nonfiction. While most of my writing is fiction, the stories I tell at Story Slams are creative nonfiction so it was fun to teach our storytelling workshop at HippoCamp. Writing is such as a solitary craft that it's important for writers to seek out community with writers conferences, retreats, writers groups, or critique groups. The classes and workshops are always insightful, but some of the most memorable moments are meeting amazing people who are working on really cool stories. I had lunch and dinner with some people who have amazing personal stories they are working on and I can't wait to see their stories in print.

  

3)  I’ve noticed on your website that two of the stories from Elephant are available separately for download.  That’s an interesting marketing technique.  Has it been successful?

I just put those two stories up and tested giving them away for free for a certain period of time. Of course, they were downloaded thousands of times for free. I have found that offering stuff for free will get an author downloads but it doesn't translate to sales. It would work better if it was the first chapter of a novel with a suspenseful ending but these were just two short stories.

4)  You’ve also collected stories from your Story Slams.  What’s a Story Slam and how did you come to be involved with them?

I was a fan of The Moth podcast so I tweeted out one day, in the summer of 2009, I love The Moth. Is there anything like that around West Chester? People tweeted back, joking no but that I should start something. So I started West Chester Story Slam in my living room. We had so much fun I moved it to a pub in West Chester and we're now in our seventh year. It's been really gratifying to hear people tell incredible stories. People can check out wcstoryslam.com to learn more, watch videos of stories, listen to the podcast, or buy tickets for an upcoming event. We sell out of tickets every month. Beer and stories go together.

5)  Finally, what are you working on now?  Short stories or a new novel?

Both! I have a wild pre-apocalyptic novel I'm working on. Imagine if Quentin Tarantino directed a Hardy Boys movie. It's different than anything else I've writtern and I may publish it under a pen name. I also have some short stories and flash fiction I've been diligently working on. I need to get a few stories over the finish line so I can send them out to journals. It's been over a year since I've published any short fiction.

Thank you.  You can follow Jim Breslin on his website, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

You can purchase his novel, Shoplandia, and the collections Elephant and Chester County Fiction at Amazon.  

Interview with the Publisher of "Unclaimed Baggage"

To celebrate the publication of the anthology "Unclaimed: Voices of the Main Line Writers Group," I interviewed the book's publisher, Gary Zenker, who brought it out under his White Lightning imprint.  It is also available as an ebook from Amazon.

Gary, “Unclaimed Baggage” is a project of the Main Line Writers Group. You're the founder and leader of that group. How long has it been in existence?

The Main Line Writers Group has been around for five years now. It’s one of the most successful groups in the area. I attribute that to the writers themselves. They are really engaged and excited about welcoming new members. 

In most writers' groups, writers (and potential writers) meet, talk about writing, exchange tips, and/or do writing exercises. How did the Main Line Writers Group end up producing their own anthology?

In one word, talent, The writers that make up the Main Line Writers Group are extremely talented. We’ve all read each others’ work. I am in awe of the stories and story telling skills they have. Many of the writers have been published in a variety of publications: print collections, online collections, some have even published novels.

Since the group’s primary goal is to help the writers grow in all areas, we figured a collection of their work would be a great way to add to their portfolio and learn the details of producing a book.

And by book, you mean both a print version and an e-book, correct?

Absolutely. I have no doubt we will distribute ten times as many ebooks as print books. The printed book isn’t dead yet…some people prefer it. But ebooks are a necessity for almost any one publishing today.

“Unclaimed Baggage” has a pretty low price, almost half what someone would expect for an anthology. Why is that?

This is a non-profit venture. We wanted to showcase the writers and give people exposure to them. As a group, we decided to cut out any profit from the sales. All of the authors agreed to this.

But most books are not group projects.

That’s right. There’s a huge value to the writers learning all of the steps and roles in the creation of a book. Over the next few years, many of them will complete enough work to create a book. And the entire publishing industry is changing so quickly. They need to understand ALL of the steps and options they have to make the smartest choice for bringing their completed works to market.

Whose idea was it to create a book?

I remember it being a group idea sparked by  by another book. A local writer, Jim Breslin, created a book called “Chester County Fiction.” It was his personal project, not but directly tied to the writing group he attends. I thought it would be interesting to do a book for our writers group and the members jumped all over that. A couple of conversations later and we had a basic plan for producing the book.

Where did the title, “Unclaimed Baggage,” come from?

We didn’t set a theme that the submitted stories needed to follow. We were just going to use the title Voice of the Main Line Writers. But we started to rethink the theme as we were creating the cover graphics, looking for a visual presentation. We found this image and realized that most stories involve some kind of baggage, figurative or literal, that people are carrying. Sometimes it’s the core of the plot and sometimes it’s just the backstory. But it seemed to work, the image and the title.

Finally, what's next? Will the Main Line Writers Group come out with another anthology?

Well, it would be a shame not to leverage all this knowledge and experience we gained. But it really depends on the group.

One last question: if someone in the Philadelphia area wanted to join the Main Line Writers Group, how would they contact you or find out when the meeting are held?

The Main Line Writers Group meets in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, on the third Wednesday of each month (unless that conflicts with a holiday). The best way to contact us is through Meetup.com. Sign up (it's free) - you'll get information about meetings, you can RSVP, and you'll get email reminders. And I'm excited to say that we have a new website! It's still being developed, but, unlike the Meetup site, it will promote the individual members of the group.

Authors at Chester County Book & Music Co

My plans for the evening have changed, so I'm free to put in an appearance at the "Authors Say Thank You to Chester County Book & Music Company" event, tonight from 6 pm to 9 pm.

The Chester County Book & Music Company is one of the largest independent bookstores east of the Mississippi.  After 30 years, rising rent and declining sales have led the owner to announce its closing.  Author Kathye Fetsko Petrie has arranged this author get-together to thank the bookstore for all they've done for local authors.

Authors scheduled to show up include:

Jim Breslin

Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban

Beth Kephart

Elizabeth Letts

Jonathan McGoran

Jan Mulligan

Kathye Fetsko Petrie

Chris Shaughness

Lisa Scottoline

Francesca Serritella

Kelly Simmons

Walt Trizna

Jack Waldron

K.M. Walton

plus

Jessica Dimuzio and her Papilion/canine co-author Johnny Angel

If you're nearby, come out and meet us!  The bookstore is located at 975 Paoli Pike in the West Goshen Center, West Chester, Pennsylvania, 19380 USA.  The bookstore's phone is (610) 696-1661.

Book Launch of the CHESTER COUNTY FICTION Anthology

Yesterday we had the book launch of the anthology Chester County Fiction at the iconic (and appropriately musty) Baldwin's Book Barn in West Chester, PA. We jammed the back room with guests (luckily, the local fire marshal isn't a bibliophile) and sold half of our initial print run! Kudos to publisher Jim Breslin for arranging such a successful event.

Everyone who attended seemed to have a good time, with the possible exception of the hapless guest who got peed on by owner Tom Baldwin's dog.

I've autographed plenty of books in the past, but yesterday I learned that signing a paperback while standing up in a crowd requires a different skill set. (That's assuming you want to write legibly.) Thankfully, I already know how to avoid incontinent dogs.

Now I'm looking forward to the next group signing, to be held from 1 to 3 pm on Saturday, October 22nd, at the Chester County Book and Music Company. Hope you can join us!