Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathryn Sullivan.
Hi Kathryn, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started writing when I was 14. The science fiction and fantasy I was reading of that time had very few female main characters and I wanted more stories with characters I could identify with. So I hauled out my dad’s manual typewriter and started writing. And sending out manuscripts and collecting rejections. And sending them out again. When I was in my late twenties, my stories began to be published in small magazines and fanzines. And then later in anthologies by small press.
By that time I had moved to Minnesota and was working at Winona State University as a university librarian. I had to alternate scholarly writing and fiction writing, but it wasn’t hard to keep the two separated.
I got my first book contract because an e-zine which had published some of my short stories wanted to branch out into e-books and asked if I had any novel-length stories. I did, and THE CRYSTAL THRONE was published shortly after. And tied for an award for best fantasy novel.
A collection of my short stories, AGENTS AND ADEPTS, was published shortly after, but I had a disagreement with that publisher and moved those two books and a sequel, TALKING TO TREES, to a different publisher. That publisher, Amber Quill Press, sadly, closed in March 2016. Zumaya Publications published AGENTS, ADEPTS AND APPRENTICES (some stories from the previous collection and some new ones), reprinted THE CRYSTAL THRONE and is in the process of reprinting TALKING TO TREES. A children’s picture book is also in the process of being reprinted by Fox Pointe Publishing.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Definitely hasn’t been easy. And I’ve made more than a few mistakes. At 14, I read enough books on writing and submissions to know how to send out manuscripts, but not what the standard manuscript really looked like. After the single spaced, double-sided manuscript was rejected, I learned quickly. And nowadays submitting electronically is so much easier.
Timing was everything. When I first started writing, there were a limited amount of publishers. Then it got to the point where very few publishers accepted un-agented submissions. I tried finding an agent, with no luck. When e-book publishers started up, they were willing to look at un-agented submissions. And that’s how I got my first book contract.
I would say to any new writer, be persistent. Keep writing, keep finishing stories and keep sending them out.
What do you like and dislike?
Likes: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Doctor Who, birds, reading
Dislikes: Country music, ice storms (even though I was supposedly born during one.)
Pricing:
- Ebooks $1-7
- Trade paper $16.99
Contact Info:
- Email: mcgyver6@hotmail.com
- Website: http://kathrynsullivan.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KathrynSullivan.author
