Bloggasm

Eugie foster calls home a mildly-haunted, fey-infested house in Metro Atlanta that she shares with her husband, Matthew, and her pet skunk, Hobkin. She is an active member of the SFWA, winner of the Phobos Award, Managing Editor of Tangent, and Submissions Editor for The Town Drunk. Her fiction has been translated into Greek, Hungarian, Polish, and French, and her publication credits include stories in Realms of Fantasy, The Third Alternative, Paradox, Cricket, Cicada, and anthologies Hitting the Skids in Pixeltown, edited by Orson Scott Card; Sages & Swords, edited by Daniel E. Blackston; and Writers for Relief, edited by Davey Beauchamp–a charity anthology to benefit the survivors of Hurricane Katrina with contributions from Brian W. Aldiss, Gardner Dozois, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, and Larry Niven.

Visit her online at www.eugiefoster.com and read her blog at www.livejournal.com/~eugie.

Simon Owens: As a short story writer, you’ve had experience with chapbook publications of your individual work. What has this taught you about self-promotion and do you think this will be in any way similar to when you publish your first novel?

Eugie Foster: Actually, while there was self-promotion involved with my Scrybe Press chapbooks, Nathan Barker, the editor, also did a large amount of promotion on my behalf–soliciting reviews and sending out review copies to a slew of places. On the self-promotion front, a chapbook is the perfect size and price to take to a convention. People seem more inclined to try out a writer unknown to them for under $5 than to invest in a trade paperback for double and triple that cost.

I honestly don’t know how promotion will be with a novel–although I’m keeping my fingers (and toes and eyes) crossed that my agent will find a home for my middle-grade novel soon. I’ll be ecstatic to get the chance to find out what novel promotion will be like. I do expect the publisher to take on the lion’s share of that area, because isn’t that their job? But I also fully expect to continue lugging my basket of goodies around with me to conventions and doing what signings and plugs I can. And, of course, posting and plugging on my blog and website. Honestly, I don’t really consider myself very savvy when it comes to any of the marketing ins and outs of publishing. I write what I write, and then try to find someone who likes it enough to buy it.

SO: You’ve been published in both the large and small press. What are your opinions about the small press and do you think it has helped you grow as a writer?

EF: One of the virtues of being published by smaller presses is they often go out of their way to promote and publicize their authors. For example, Jason Sizemore, the editor of Apex Digest, published an interview with me in one of his issues (#2), encourages me routinely to submit to him, and nominated my story appearing in #4 of Apex, “Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me,” for a Pushcart. And likewise, Aberrant Dreams invited me to do a book signing to promote my story “The Son that Pain Made” and their interview with me in their January issue. Now that’s personal care and attention!

The virtue of large presses, of course, is their circulation and name recognition, and that the Best Of anthologies tend to select works almost exclusively from them. Generally speaking, for a writer who is where I’m at, career-wise, I’m delighted to be published by both large and small presses. The combination seems to work especially well in tandem to increase name recognition and form a readership.

SO: You’re someone who believes in writing a little everyday. Do you think this hinders or helps your creative process?

EF: Oh, no question, it helps. When I write on a nearly daily basis, it keeps the creative juices percolating and the language centers lubricated. For me, writing is a skill that requires practice to stay adept at. Like a muscle, if it’s not exercised, it becomes flabby, and there’s nothing more frustrating for a writer (this writer, at least) than having a fat and lazy writing muscle. I sit at my keyboard and find the inspired story and scintillating prose that’s been clamoring for release has been reduced to “Larry see scary monster. Run, Larry, run!”

Also, it makes me feel like a grown-up writer if I work consistently at it.

SO: What are the five blogs everyone should be reading (besides your own)?

EF: I don’t know about should, but here are five that I’m especially fond of, and that I hit on a daily or near-daily basis:

Tangent - Although not technically a blog, it’s your one-stop click for SF short fiction reviews, laid out in a blog-familiar style. A must-read for anyone in the SF short fiction biz. Plus, I’m the managing editor, which of course does not make the recommendation biased in any way. Nope, uh-uh.

Americablog - Funny AND insightful. Although also oftentimes depressing.

Baaaaabyanimals - “The Pyramid Scheme of Cuteness with a twisty ending.” After reading Americablog, this LiveJournal community is a refreshing break.

Fosteronfilm - My husband, Matthew’s, film criticism and ponderings.

Escape Pod – I guess this isn’t technically a blog either, but it’s a podcast, which is close ’nuff isn’t it? It’s run by Stephen Eley, and it’s full of short SF stories and related commentaries. I love kicking back and listening to one of the excellent selections Escape Pod offers.