Author Interview ~ Karen Ball, Part I

Karen Ball just left a position as the executive editor in charge of the fiction publishing program for Zondervan. She is now a freelance editor and author, and has worked in the Christian publishing industry for more than twenty years. After nearly 12 years with Tyndale House Publishers as senior editor of books, she served as senior editor of fiction for Multnomah Publishers. Karen lives in southern Oregon with her husband, Don, and their "kids", a mischief making Siberian husky named Bo, and an irrepressible blue-eyed Aussie-Terrier mix named Dakota.





Interview with Karen Ball via telephone, April 2006.

Gina Holmes: You have a new book out, Kaleidoscope Eyes which is the story of a woman who has an unusual condition, synesthesia. What gave you the idea?

"Wilderness and Weather Are Easily Overcome. But Betrayal? Annie Justice sees things differently. Her
unconventional condition, synesthesia, helped make her one of the most sought-after stained-glass artists in the country. And teamed with her German
shepherd, she's just as successful in her work with the K-9 Search and Rescue Team, finding people seemingly hidden from others' eyes. But no one knows her expertise for hiding the childhood insecurities that plague her - until Jed Curry comes along. Then the search for a missing child goes awry, and Jed must reveal his true identity. He's prepared for Annie's anger, but not the hurt. And neither of them is prepared for the real trial ahead - something far more
sinister and dangerous than their search. Can Jed and Annie overcome their unknown enemy - and the insecurities and secrets keeping them apart - before it's too late?"


Karen Ball: One day I called my group of Christian women, most of us are writers. This is an incredible group of sisters. We have so much fun together. I guess about six years ago we named ourselves the yada-yada sisters. We were talking about the projects we were working on and one of the gals, was talking about the historical she was working on but she changed the year it was set in because the colors were better. She went on and we all said, “Whoa, hold it.”

She explained that she and her sister both have this condition of synesthesia. It manifests itself differently in both of them. It’s an actual physical condition where perceptions get crossed. It shows itself in so many different ways. There are some people who hear music in color.

Some people can taste colors or shapes. For my friend Lori she sees colors in numbers and letters. For example capital K has a rose color to it. So whenever she thinks of me, she sees me cast in a very light pinkish color.

Gina: I’ve never heard of this condition. It’s fascinating.

Karen: I did a lot of research on this. I was an art student and the idea of seeing colors where nobody else sees them and the idea of hearing music in colors; I just thought that was wonderful. I found a website where a lot of different people talk about this condition. http://web.mit.edu/synesthesia/www/

Gina: Is this condition rare?

Karen: It’s not as rare as you might think.

Gina: Before you wrote your first book you were an editor?

Karen: Well, I’ve been writing since junior high but my first book was published in 1996. I was an editor for a number of years before that. I’ve been in publishing for five or six years prior to that.

Gina: You were an editor at that time?

Karen: I was. I was heading up Tyndale’s fiction line.

Gina: Did you go to school to be an editor?

Karen: I went to school for multiple languages and journalism. My original plan was to write and translate children’s books. I had been an art major. I had wanted to write, translate and illustrate children’s books. I realized I couldn’t handle the criticism in art school. I couldn’t handle that kind of criticism of my art. I can of my writing. I’m much more confident in my writing.

I studied French for twelve years, Spanish for six and Russian for a year.

Gina: What was your first job in publishing?

Karen: I was an assistant editor for a Christian trade magazine. It had a circulation back then of about a hundred thousand. Within three months the editor left and so I was moved into the editor position. I had to learn everything on a monthly magazine. I did everything from the interviews to the writing to the design and layout. The only thing I didn’t do was sell advertising for it. Working on a monthly magazine is extremely stressful. After three years I had an ulcer.

One of the things I instituted while I was there was a review column. And we reviewed every new Christian book that came out. Fiction/non-fiction, it didn’t matter. Books came in back then in manuscript format, they didn’t have arcs. While I was involved with that, I got to be friends with publicists because they would contact me about the books coming out. The publicist from Tyndale knew that I was longing to get out of this ring. And so she told me about two positions that opened up with Tyndale. One was for marketing, the other for editing.

I went to Tyndale and interviewed for both and they offered me both jobs. I prayed about it. I felt God wanted me to go the direction of editing.

Gina: What a crossroad. Your life could have been so different.

Karen: That’s right.

Gina: If someone wanted to be an editor, how do you suggest they do that?

Karen: It’s a difficult career to break into because it’s highly coveted. It’s unusual that one leaves. I’m unusual right now because I left my position with Zondervan. I was offered a promotion to Assosciate Publisher but I couldn’t move. So, I’m going freelance.

Gina: You had done freelance at one point, hadn’t you?

Karen: That’s right. Prior to coming to Zondervan. Then Zondervan came to me and asked if I’d consider heading up their fiction line. It’s been a great experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. If Zondervan wanted to hire me back I’d return in a heart beat.

Gina: Why not stay in the position you’re in?

Karen: My position there was Executive editor. I would have continued on but the Publisher job replaced my current position through restructuring.

Gina: So, I can't apply for your old job?

Karen: [laughs] If my old job becomes available they’ll hire me back.

Gina: [Jokingly] We’ll see about that. So when you’re doing freelance are you going to be working more for publishing houses than for individual authors?

Karen: That’s right. I’ll be doing about half time editing and about half time writing. I pretty much have my editing jobs all lined up.

Gina: Having an excellent editor makes a huge difference for the book I'd assume.

Karen: I sure hope so.

Gina: If I wanted to be an editor, what would you suggest I do?

Karen: There are courses on book editing. You can check that out online. What I’ve discovered is people who come into editing positions come from all kinds of backgrounds. One editor was a history major, some marketing, some English majors.

I’d say learn everything you can about the particular category you’re interested in, whether fiction or non-fiction, then find out about courses that will help you with learning how to edit. There’s a magazine called, The Editorial Eye, http://www.eeicommunications.com/eye/ . They do excellent workshops on copy to substance editing. I suggest you subscribe to their newsletter and go to some of their workshops.

If you want to be an editor at a publishing house, what you’d have to do is start at on the bottom rung. Get on as an editorial assistant or an administrative assistant/secretary. A lot of the people who are in the top positions started out there or as interns from college.

Gina: What is your dream for your writing future?

Karen: There is something in the works I’m very excited about. It's something different for me but I can’t really talk about it. My dream for writing is that it will reach people and touch their hearts. I have people ask me if I could simply write full time, would I do it?

There are a lot of editors out there who would rather be writing. I’m unusual. I love editing. I love the work of editing. My dream is that I would touch reader’s hearts and point them to the Lord and that I would be successful enough that it could supply half of what my family needs financially.

Gina: Speaking of touching hearts, so many of your stories, maybe all, are taken in some part from your own or your friend's lives and deal with difficult circumstances. Do you think a writer really needs to bear their soul to touch readers?

Karen: There’s a great quote out there, “Writing is easy, just cut your vein and bleed on the page.” I think there’s truth in that. Unless you’re going to the depths of your own experiences in your own soul, you might write a great story, but for fiction that stays with people, you have to dig deeper. You can do it with drama or humor as long as you’re showing the whole gamut of the human experience and emotions.
I don’t think you have to write hard drama but I do think you have to delve deep within yourself and those around you.

Gina: Does it make you feel vulnerable to put your soul out there?

Karen: Absolutely. You’ll never meet more uncomfortable or insecure people than those who write fiction. I’m not kidding. We have this incredible confidence when we write something until we put it out there. Then we’re sure it’s the worst thing ever written. You know everyone is going to either hate your story or you. A bad review can cut you to the core and takes time to recover from. In general I don’t read reviews because the negative ones can be too harmful and the positive ones can make you believe your own press.

I really appreciate when people review my books but I try not to read them. I want to be effective in my craft and calling and not be derailed by my insecurities.

Gina: That takes a lot of self-control to not read your reviews.

Karen: And I don’t always succeed because people send them to me. People who know me know not to send them to me. When you all reviewed Kaleidoscope Eyes, Ane sent it to me. I was so honored by what she wrote. (Click here to read Ane's review.) but then again I have to step back and say this is from God. It felt like a little pat on my shoulder saying, keep doing what you’re doing. Stay the course. I’m not walking around saying I’m the bomb.

Gina: Do you have a pet peeve with the publishing business?

Karen: I do. It’s something that is a necessity but also an irritant. That passion has to be balanced with fiscal responsibility. I’ve had manuscripts that I’ve been absolutely mad for. I thought we are going to rock the world.

They’d come in and we’d publish them and not only would they be a huge success for Zondervan but also they would touch people. The two core people you need to believe in a work are marketing and sales and if either one of them can’t catch the vision, you can’t do the product. It was be an exercise in futility.

I had a project I was so exited about but it just wasn’t a category that I could get either marketing interested in. I knew this author’s book would have been amazing and I would have liked to have seen them publish with Zondervan but sometimes you just have to recognize the fit isn’t right for whatever reason and that God is in control and you have to trust Him to get it to the right publishing house for it.

The other pet peeve is that things move so slow in publishing. It takes far more time than I like to make decisions and to work out issues. I understand the necessities and you have to move with an eye toward caution. The good thing about Zondervan is that they have an excellent balance.

I worked with a publisher that believed only in caution and not in taking any risks.

I worked with another publisher that believed in taking risks and weren’t cautious.

Working with Zonderan, they have that balance of caution but are also willing to take risks.

Gina: Speaking of Zondervan, you recently said, I believe at the ACFW conference, that Zondervan was booked up acquisition wise until 2008, but we hear of people getting contracts. What’s the deal?

To be continued tomorrow...