KidLit Alert!
Welcome readers, bloggers, bookish people, and of course, my fellow KidLit writers! I am excited to introduce my next guest - Jason R. Lady or Mr. Lady to you. Just a joke. I'm sure I'm not the first one to make it.
Jason and I met on Instagram, and I'm so glad he reached out for an interview. He's funny, talented, and exceptionally kind. I hope you enjoy his interview, and please connect with him on Instagram and via his website.
Hi Jason,
Your website is professional and easy to use. Did you create it yourself, or did you use a service?
Thank you for your kind words about my website! When I got my first publishing contract, I was freaked out because I would have to build an author website, and I had zero experience doing that. A friend of mine who works in the tech industry suggested I use Wix, which I found intuitive and easy to use.
Part of what makes it easy is that there are templates you can pick from, so you’re not designing it all from scratch. It’s reasonably priced, too. I recommend taking a look at other authors' websites to get ideas for content and how to organize the website.
You moved around a lot as a child, did books or their characters help you feel at home sooner at each new place? In other words, how did books help you feel better when your life was shaken up?
This is a great question. You’re right. When you move to a new place, with a new house, school, and people, you can feel very isolated and disrupted.
I would say books were a source of comfort for my whole family.
I remember as a kid unpacking my stuff, and it was comforting to put my books on their shelves (and my posters on the walls of my room and place out all my knickknacks!). No matter where I lived, I could look at those same books on the shelves, and it helped make the new place into a new home.
Also, growing up, my dad and I had a shared hobby of collecting comic books. In each new place, we moved to, he and I would go out and find the local comic book store. We followed several series like X-Men, Justice League, and Captain America. Even though we were in a new place, the adventures of our beloved comic book characters continued and helped make the new place feel like a new home.
What is the oddest or funniest thing that has happened in your day job as a Human Resources guy?
When I worked as a project manager and corporate trainer for a telecommunications company, I worked with businesses of all sizes and all industries and definitely saw the entire gamut of the working world. I remember one business where we replaced their phone system, and their fax machine stopped working. One of the managers came to our team very angry, insisting we broke their fax machine and that we needed to fix it immediately. Our technician inspected it and found it was merely out of paper. Nothing to do with us.
When did you become an SCBWI member, and why did you do that? What has been the best thing about being an SCBWI member?
I became an SCBWI member probably around 2004-2005 or so, at the recommendation of a friend who is a children’s illustrator.
SCBWI has been great to meet other folks who are doing the same thing I am, and to get mutual support and encouragement. It’s great to meet other writers who are further along in the process. They are living proof you can achieve your goals; they are invaluable for advice and wisdom.
I also didn’t know anything about the publishing business or how books got published, so the SCBWI workshops and conferences were very helpful.
Probably the biggest benefit is getting critique partners!
I’m in a small critique group that is all writers I met through SCBWI. We’re all writing for young readers, and we’re all serious about what we’re doing.
SCBWI is a great place to get assistance, no matter what stage of the process you are in: starting your first manuscript, finishing a manuscript and looking for advice, in the query phase and looking for help…really any stage.
You’re interested in 1980s music - give us three of your favorite songs and your favorite lyric.
Where the Streets Have No Name by U2 (also my favorite band)
Africa by Toto
The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News
My favorite lyric is from Where the Streets Have No Name-
I want to run, I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside
I want to reach out and touch the flame
Where the streets have no name
You’re a Marvel movie fan: If you could be a superhero - what would you be called, and what would be your superpowers?
Practical answer: I’d have the ability to teleport myself and other people to anywhere in the world. That would save money and time on travel!
But if I was going to be a superhero, I’ve made up a couple for myself over the years (I used to draw my own comics when I was a kid, and I would star myself and my friends as the characters, with codenames, costumes, powers, the whole nine yards) so I will pick one of those:
The Zapster.
He can shoot and absorb energy. I always thought superheroes like that (Cyclops, Havok, Green Lantern, etc.) not only looked cool, but I liked how they could fight bad guys and not get their hands dirty at all.
When you were a kid - what was your biggest fear, and what made it better?
I remember being scared of going to middle school.
I laid awake the night before the first day, dreading it because, for some reason, I imagined the schoolwork being too hard, and I would spend all my time doing homework and studying and not have fun anymore.
I have a sister who is five years older than me, so she was reassuring—basically, if I did it, you can do it, too.
The main character in my third book, Time Problems, has this exact fear, and her way of tackling it is a bit more unique than what I did. Middle school was hard, as it is for most kids—you’re not a grade school kid, you’re not a teenager, you’re something in between that can feel very awkward sometimes. Another thing that helped was finding friends—it took a while, but I eventually found my crew of buddies, and together we got through 6th-8th grade.
I am from Pittsburgh - and so am a Steelers fan - what do you have to say about that being from Cleveland, Ohio?
I don’t follow the NFL, so the fact you’re a Steelers fan doesn’t bother me at all. Now, on the other hand, if you were a Pirates fan…
(Oh - I forgot to say, Mr. Lady, that my grandfather was the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher in the 1930s - mic drop. Boom!)
Your books have been published by Black Rose Writing - is this a self-publishing house, or did you have to submit and be accepted? What should other writers know about this publisher to help them out?
Black Rose Writing and I found each other on a now-defunct online service called authors.me that a writer could create a profile on and mark what publishers using the service they were interested in. Black Rose has been very collaborative and responsive. They have a very clear process to publication that they walk you through. They publish almost all genres, so I’d recommend looking at their website and seeing if your manuscript would be a good fit.
They have a traditional submission process.
The nice thing about a small independent publisher like Black Rose is that you can be like me: an unknown writer from Cleveland, Ohio, with few connections to the traditional publishing world, and you can potentially find a place with them because they are willing to consider the work of writers like me.
What genre are your books considered? Middle-Grade? Chapter Book? Who are your readers, and why do they choose your books?
My Magic Pen Adventure series is written for the middle-grade audience. Probably 4th grade to 7th grade, although younger kids have had the books read to them by their parents, and older folks who are kids at heart can also enjoy them, too!
When I meet middle-grade kids at book events, I see their eyes light up when I describe what my books are about. I think there’s something about imagining you have a magic pen, and everything you draw will become real, that sparks their imaginations and intrigues them.
I love writing for the middle-grade age group because they are old enough to appreciate more sophisticated plots and character development but also aren’t so old they can’t appreciate silliness and humor. I definitely think the humor in my books is a huge draw. I’ve been told I’m a middle school kid at heart, so I infuse the books with as much of that sensibility as I can.
My books also draw upon my own middle school memories and the problems I faced at that time. I think some problems are universal and experienced by everyone at that stage of life, no matter what generation you are from. This gives my books some authenticity that kids pick up on.
Your books have been accepted in the Ohioana Book Festival - what does this mean? How did you get accepted, and has it helped your sales?
The Ohioana Book Festival is an annual book festival put on by the Ohioana Library Association—an actual library that operates in the Columbus, Ohio, area, and supports and celebrates the work of Ohio authors. There is a yearly submission process to get your books into the festival and
I’m excited Monster Problems, and Super Problems were both accepted to the festival. I’d say it helped my sales, and once the festival is back in person (fingers crossed for 2023!) I hope to get even more sales.
Plus, when your books are accepted to anything like that, it definitely gives your work more “street cred” with bookstores, libraries, and readers. My advice to authors is to research book festivals in your region and submit your books to them. What can it hurt? All publicity is good publicity, especially when you’re unknown and just starting out.
Which character is most like you in your books?
All the main characters in my books are like me as a kid to some extent—imaginative kids who draw all the time, who are a little weird and offbeat, and in each case, they experience a problem or a quandary that I faced when I was in middle school.
But I’d say Scott in Super Problems is the most like me. He’s the new kid in town, which I was frequently when I was growing up, and he makes new friends by drawing the kids he meets as superheroes and stars them in his own comic book adventures, which I did in each place I moved to.
Scott and his friends Barry and Joel are based on my little group of middle school friends that I had back then, so this makes Super Problems the book I have the most fondness for so far.
Has social media helped you find readers? What has been the most successful for you in selling your books?
Social media is tricky when you’re a middle-grade author because most kids that age don’t have their own social media accounts. If you’re writing for adults, you can connect with readers directly. When you write for kids, you are one step removed from your readers—you’re connecting with the folks who buy books for the kids: parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.
I would say what has been the most successful way for me to sell books is via my own network—my friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers (who then can tell the people they know about my books)—and also being at book signings and book festivals where there’s a lot of foot traffic.
If there’s a lot of people coming in, and people who have kids who are in the right age range, I can do very well! But these are not people showing up to see me, per se, they are in the bookstore or at the book event, and we happen to meet.
Why do you write? Why should kids write?
I write because it’s a compulsion I’ve had as long as I can remember.
I was never a kid who was very good at sports, math, or science. Writing and creating were the things that came naturally to me. And I’ve always had a fertile imagination.
As a kid, I’d read books or watch movies and get inspired to create my own stories. That compulsion has never left me, even as a high schooler, a college student, and as an adult. I would say kids should give writing a try and see if they like it. It’s a great time of life to try new things and see if it appeals to you. If you have something you want to share or a story to tell, writing can be a great outlet.
It’s also okay to write just for you and have fun with it without the pressure of others reading it. Writing is also a valuable skill in life—I’ve found in the different jobs I’ve had, my writing skills have come in handy as I’ve created presentations, written emails and job aids, and more.
If I gave you a megaphone and the whole world would hear what you had to say - What one sentence would you shout?
“Life is short and will be over before we know it, so stop hating each other and start caring about each other.”
What advice would you give the you who was new to writing and book selling? What would you do differently? Or not do at all?
The advice I would give myself is to keep going. It took 13 years for me to get Monster Problems published, and I was rejected many, many times. I didn’t even bother to keep count of the rejections. If I’d become too discouraged and given up, I would never have gotten published. I’m not sure there’s anything I would have done differently, honestly. My publishing journey is ongoing, and it’s definitely been a learning experience.
And what a great experience this interview has been. Thank you, Jason, for your candid thoughts and offerings to the writer's out there! Thanks for being on the blog. All the best of luck as you continue on your writing and authoring journey.
If you'd like to connect with Jason, please find him here:
Facebook: JasonRLadyAuthor
Twitter: JasonRLady
Instagram: jasonrladyauthor
Until the next blog: Keep writing. Keep reading. Follow your passion.
Write~on
Angie
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