Author Interview ~ Tracey Bateman

Tracey Bateman has sold more than 450,000 books since her first novel in 2001, including her more recent anthologies, A Stitch in Time and Kansas Home (which has sold over 120,000 copies). Her novels have been presented with such honors as three 2004 American Christian Writer’s Awards, two 2002 American Christian Writer’s Awards, and several Heartsong Present Reader Awards. In 2004, an anthology Bateman coauthored occupied the CBA bestseller list for several months. She is currently the President of American Christian Fiction Writers. Bateman, along with her husband and four children, makes her home in Missouri.





What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

So many books so little space…

My second Claire Everett book was just released June 15. My second Penbrook Diaries book will be out with Barbour in December Called THE FREEDOM OF THE SOUL, and the (and this is so sad) last of the Claire books I LOVE CLAIRE will be released in January.

Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

I started writing as a kid like most of us do, and just stopped. When I was 26 I went back to college, because with three kids at home I needed to get out of the house for sanity’s sake, and getting a real job was out of the question. So I took this writing class—the one all college Freshes have to take, and fell in love with writing.

My first long paper turned out to be a “short” story that my ten-year-old grad student teacher gave me two grades for and let me forego my next paper since this one was twice the length the paper was supposed to be.

I only got a B on it but I was HOOKED on storytelling. I ended up dropping out my junior year when I got pregnancy (yes, number four was on the way—I failed biology), induced migraines. But between headaches and throwing up, I found some online information, critique groups, etc. And started learning to write.

I targeted Heartsong (so there, Chip MacGregor!!) and did everything I could to fit their line. It eventually worked and after about a year I submitted my first thing, got a nice rejection from Tracie Peterson, quickly submitted book number two, and eighteen months later At about 6 pm, I got the CALL from Becky Germany that they loved the book(okay, I embellished that one—I don’t think they ever actually said “love”) , wanted to publish it and rush it into publication to fill a hole in their schedule.

The thought that went through my mind was…holy crap, she called the wrong number. Second thing was, how quick can I get off this phone so I can go celebrate eat—if it had been a rejection I would have mourn ate. Pizza—the food for all occasions.

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

Oh man. All the time. I still can’t believe anyone would be dumb enough to pay me for the crap I write. OUCH. Okay. So my publisher doesn’t kill me for saying that… I think as writers we have this love/hate relationships with ourselves. We are ultra critical but know we have what it takes, because if we didn’t, we never would have stuck it out this long—if we could just find that right storyline, the right words, and really, what does Francine have that I don’t (besides a few million adoring fans? ).

Self doubt creeps in and makes me cringe, cry, study, work harder, cover my head and dream of quitting, and lastly but the most important, during particularly rough times, it sends me to the couch to watch—yes I do—lifetime movies. I’ve finally adopted Joyce Meyers’ philosophy regarding this business….do it afraid. Do it when you don’t feel like you can, Do it when it stinks, do it when you’re tired, arms ache, kids are yelling, etc. Self-doubt can and will paralyze you.

So my advice to anyone experiencing the sudden urge to pack it in and forget the whole thing (and I won’t mention any names that start with a T and end with a N), take a couple of days to regroup and then get your BE-hind back in the chair and knock out your wordcount for the day.

What mistakes have you made while seeking publication?

None when it came to the business side…on the PERSONAL side, I’ve spent too much time in the chair and not enough time playing with the kids—now they’re big kids and I missed out on a lot of fun with them. I missed church to meet deadlines (still do but I’m determined to STOP IT).

I’ve dropped all of my service to my local church because I’m too busy to stay committed to it. So there is a definite price to pay when those contracts start coming in. I need to learn better balance.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

From Bodie Thoene’s book about writing (and I can’t remember the title it was AGES ago), she introduced me to The Writer’s Market Guide and said find the publisher who takes at least 25% of their books from new authors and target them. So that’s why I went with Heartsong when my dream was to write for Bethany (who rejects me on a regular basis I might add—but I’m not bitter).

Sometimes God gives you what you need instead of what you want. Six years after I first started writing for Heartsong, I’m still partnering with the Barbour company in addition to a couple of others.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve heard?

Anyone can get published if they work hard enough. It’s just not true. You have to pursue this business with intelligence and do it right. There are only so many slots available. Sometimes you can look at certain writers and just KNOW they’re going to make it big—Camy Tang comes to mind.

Others might get one or two small books published and it’s easy to see that’s all that will ever come of it. Work hard, yes. But work smart. Get to know people, and work your behind off getting better. Find a niche no one else fills or fill the same one better than the ones filling it at present.

What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

I was pretty methodic in my approach, so I think I had a real natural progression. I wrote for Heartsong until I felt it was time to try for an agent. With fifteen books and a couple of great recommendations, I got my agent, (Steve Laube—yes I’m a name dropper), the best in the business as far as I’m concerned. And sidebar…I think it’s a HUGE mistake to find an agent when you don’t need one. If you are only writing sweet romances for a company with a standard contract, why would you share your dough?

Wait until you’re ready to branch out into the broader market THEN it’ll be worth their time and your money for the good agents to take you on. After Steve made me sweat it out for FOUR freakin’ months, he agreed to represent me and has placed everything we’ve submitted over the last three years with the exception of one proposal that could have been revised or sent elsewhere, but I decided to submit something else and that one sold.

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

The one setback I had was more of a retreat. The summer of 1999, God spoke to me that I had been striving for something that He was going to bring to me anyway and that he wanted me to enter a season of rest and let him work. So He instructed me to stay offline and stop writing for an undisclosed amount of time. I was just to trust. It was HARD. But God was clear and the one thing I can say I’m good at is obedience. I spent the summer and first part of the fall relearning to clean house and reconnecting with my family.

The season ended the night Rebecca Germany called me about buying my first Heartsong.

What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

Tisha, Gone with the Wind, A Tale of Two Cities, Little Pilgrim’s Progress (because the big one makes my eyes cross), newer books: All three of the Mark of the Lion books by Francine Rivers. I think they’re better than Redeeming Love even. I read them at least once, usually twice a year. Anything by Lisa Samson.

What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

The Color of the Soul—the first of the Penbrook Diaries with Barbour. Because it delves into race issues and women’s issues and Barbour allowed me to be honest. It was so challenging to write and having finished it, even though it’s not the biggest seller out there, I feel a sense of accomplishment. It’s a book that could make a difference.


Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

I think my biggest pet peeve is that the people who win the awards like the Christys don’t sell books!!! Come on people. BUY books that say something. Books that are written with a deft hand and mega talent like Athol Dickson’s River Rising, or ANYTHING by Lisa Samson who is, in my opinion, THE best writer in the CBA.

We are going to lose these major talents to the ABA if we don’t start giving them their due. When I read their books, I read for two reasons…first because the story won’t let me go. Next for the purpose of studying the craft. Books on craft bore me, but if I can read a well-written novel, I can learn scads. And I do from writers like this. But these writers will either jump ship to the ABA or compromise the very qualities that make them so unique and start writing what is selling (and who needs more of that?) if the reading public doesn’t start flocking to stores and buying their books. GO BUY A BOOK BY LISA SAMSON. (and no, I don’t hang out with her nor is she paying me for advertisement. ) Oh yeah, buy CLAIRE KNOWS BEST too.

How many books on average do you write a year?

Four or five. They range from 70 to 85K words. I’m just a hot commodity right now and trying to find a good place to settle in. I’m busy with three publishers. I have a heart love for one, a sense of feeling like a celebrity with one, and an optimistic feeling that one will be where I land and stay and build my career, but that remains to be seen. I’d like to slow down, write for one publisher and build my career within that company. I know which one *I* want, but I have to pay the bills, so it’s not an option at the moment. In a couple of years….Please God?

How do you accomplish that? Extensive plotting? Long hours? Forgoing the bathroom and food?

Forego food? What are you on? Procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate,….Oh my gosh!!! Two weeks to deadline…MOM will you keep the kids this week??????? WRITE WRITE WRITE. That’s my world.
Can you give us a view into a typical day of your writing life?

I just did. Seriously, I don’t have a set schedule. Schedules make my ears bleed. I have a certain word count I would LIKE to get done each day. I like to sleep, so during the summer I sleep in and stay up late. If I can’t concentrate to write during the day, I take a nap and work after everyone’s in bed. Most days I’d rather watch TV. I learned from Debbi Bedford that twenty minutes of walking is for my mind, forty for my body. So if I’m feeling really sluggish, I’ll think about walking and four hours later, if I actually go do it, I DO feel more alert. I live a life of organized chaos.

If you could choose to have one strength of another writer, what would it be and from whom?

From Susan May Warren (writer extraordinaire with Tyndale and Steeple Hill Café). I would adopt her brilliant mind for plotting. It is so hard for me and comes so naturally to her. I hate brainstorming with her when I’m stumped on my books because our conversations go something like this:

Susie: What’s this character’s GOALS you have to know what she’s working for before you can figure out how to get her there.

Tracey: Goals Shmoals--How should I know what her goals are? I hoped You’d tell ME. If you’re not going to plot my book for me, I’m hanging up.
Seriously, I’ve never been strong on plotting. But I’m even worse now that I’ve been writing mom lit and chicklit. You can have a basic idea and then let the characters run away with the story and it’s GREAT. Susie plots her shopping list. I’d love to think more that way. I take a shopping list to the store and never look at it. That’s sort of how I plot. Write a few things down, and never look at it again.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

I want to write to women’s hearts. And eventually have a speaking ministry to go along with it. I have endured and overcome a lot of junk in my life. And learned tons along the way. Surely God has a reason for not taking me out early on when I deserved it. If I can serve Him by serving his precious jewels, I would love to do that.

I’d also like to be an agent some day (Don’t Laugh Steve—I’m eyeing a few of your clients!)

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

Not really. There have been times I wished for some time off. But I haven’t reached the point where I’m willing to sacrifice financially in order to take a break.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

Favorite…on the lowest, most shallow level…getting paid and not having to work outside my home (I’m really lazy but I gotta feed and clothe my kids).

But on a higher plane, my favorite part is being in a position to be a voice in a world where it’s hard to rise above the other voices out there. If three people get the takeaway message from my book, then I’ve done my job. God has blessed me so much, I won’t take that for granted.
My least favorite part of the job is (sorry Jeane) radio interviews. I just feel like such a social bottom dweller and get really nervous about talking interviews. I don’t think fast on my feet unless I’m kidding around.


How much marketing do you do? Any advice in this area?

I think utilizing the power of the internet is going to be key. I was talking to my publisher about this during CBA, and he said to get it figured out. So I’m trying. But I’m not very good at it. I don’t do a lot of marketing personally unless someone makes me because I just don’t know what I’m doing. That’s why I work for houses that have strong marketing departments.

I’m going to start working on better blog habits and doing online interviews etc. I’m revamping my website and plan to start a newsletter this summer. That’s the best I can do for now.


Parting words?

Boy I’m trying to be wise, but I got nothing.