Interview with Ben Zackheim, author of our BOTM for April

[Jemima]

So, over on this thread we're talking about our BOTM for April, The Camelot Kids: Volume One. That's an author-free zone (although he's welcome to lurk!)

On this one we have an interview with Ben, and opportunities for you to discuss the book with questions he may or may not answer!

Here's the 8-question interview with Ben.

1 How long did it take to write the Camelot Kids?
​Nine years! But that's a little deceptive. I came up with the idea and sat on it for eight years. I was a New York City job-hopper. I'd worked for Sony, ESPN, Viacom and AOL, along with various freelance jobs in the games industry. The AOL gig was definitely winding down. My department (Games.com) was in the cross-hairs and I was getting heavy hints from management that I needed to make a move within the company or find another job. So I had some thinking to do. I grew up in a family of authors and artists so I lived with a persistent hum under my life. Like a beck-and-call that I had to ignore if I wanted to make a living. When I took an honest look at what i wanted to do I realized that my dream of telling stories could be found in a pile of paper in deep storage and miscellaneous files on several aging computers. That was devastating. It felt like the side of me that needed to be the loudest and strongest was actually the meekest.

So I quit. My wife and I sold our apartment in NYC and moved to western Massachusetts with my son and we haven't regretted it for a single moment.

I'd spent one Nanowrimo hammering out a draft of The Camelot Kids before we moved. I loved the fact that I hated it when the month was over. I think it was because I'd finally written the book, as bad as it was, and I had the privilege to like it or not like it. That was liberating.

Over the next year, I developed the story with some readers and an editor who I will always work with forever and ever, amen. They helped me get The Camelot Kids to a point where I was proud of it.

2 What was your initial inspiration for the book?
​Two things got me excited about the idea. I'd always wondered why the Camelot myth was so ignored by modern audiences. I mean, it's the backbone of the modern Fantasy genre! My hypothesis was that the lore had been handled like a 1950s Disney production. Pointy steeples, pointy hats and damsels in distress. I don't mean to disrespect any of that. But Camelot to me was always a lot like, well, Harry Potter!

Harry Potter was as much about magic coming into our world as it was about Harry Potter and his friends. As a kid, I loved the idea of that kind of story but didn't actually take to much of it. I remember the Master of the Universe movie coming out and I was so excited that it had these amazing, magical characters coming into our world! Of course, it was awful. But once Harry Potter hit, it paved the way for storytellers to dare bring magic to our world. We didn't have to go through a portal to another world to find magic. We just had to be born wizards and witches. It was a wonderful, seamless tool to let reality and fantasy mix.

As the Harry Potter series wound down, The Camelot Kids grew in importance to me. It was my story that would let me express my world of magic in my way.

So in the end, The Camelot Kids came about because of my love for Camelot and my belief that it was neglected as a world of magic that modern audiences could enjoy. And the book was propelled to completion by a dead-end job and JK Rowling's brilliant story coming to an end.

Potent mix!

3 What are your favorite sources for Arthurian legend?
​I know I slammed Disney in my previous answer but I loved Sword in the Stone! I also loved Peter David's multiple takes on the myth, especially Knight's Life. ​I also have the classics by my side, my favorite being Howard Pyle's take, The Story of King Arthur and his Knights.

4 Who is your favorite character in your books?
​I think the lead character Simon Sharp would agree with me when I say Maille Rose. Maille (pronounced Molly) is Simon's "Old Man" in the mythical sense. She comes into his life and, as gently as she can, sweeps him into her reality. "As gently as she can" is not at all gently because she's Maille. But she does try. And it's that contradiction in her character that I love. She's grumpy but loving and loyal. And she can read people like a four thousand year old, which just so happens to be the age of her boss (no spoilers!) I have a lot of tales to tell about Maille, including why she uses a bat as a wand, and what made the crack near its tip. Sounds like a small detail but it's huge. And her character has that drama about her. Put her in a scene and you never know what will happen but it'll probably have big consequences.

5 As an indie author, what has been the most successful method of promoting your books?
Persistence. Unless you win the lottery of self-publishing, no marketing plan can succeed without persistence. With my series Shirley Link I can't let the promotion go for a single day without seeing a drop in sales and interest.

I rely heavily on Shirley Link & The Safe Case being permafree. It drives a lot of readers to the rest of the series. I've been fortunate enough to be in the Top 5 Kids Mystery list on Amazon for a few years now. Most of the sales come from softcover across different channels which is just a part of being in the MG market.

Twitter has been a great tool for contests and giveaways for me. Just ping me @zackheim and I can share tips with you, if you'd like.

6 Any tips of things to do or avoid?

I've learned so much by the things I did wrong! The Camelot Kids hasn't been as successful as Shirley, but that's because I did a number of things wrong. First of which was confusing my readers! I released the book in four parts in an attempt to understand the serial market. Big mistake. While the story of Book One is indeed four distinct parts I found that my readers want their books to feel like a complete story, serialized or not. They also got confused by the fact that each of the "parts" didn't have their own distinct name. They were just titled Parts 1-4. Never again! From here on, I'm just going to unleash my 500 page tomes upon the world!

I'm developing a marketing tool just for authors called ReaderLinks. It's my attempt to get a handle on all the moving parts of marketing a book. I'm working with author John P. Logsdon. The dream was to make a tool that addressed all of our pain points as authors trying to make a living writing. So far, so good! It's been a lot of fun.


7 What more is in store for the Camelot Kids?
​Book Two! Or may lightning strike me down! [cringes]

I can't wait to get the next book out to the world. Lots of twists and turns to come that I hope will surprise fans of the first book. I think fans will be happy with it but I'll definitely make some people mad. But, hey, you have to go where the story takes you!

I'm also working with Ian Greenlee on the cover for a second edition, mass market version Book One now. He's the interior illustrator for Book One. I LOVE his work. Wait until you see the cover he has in store. ​I know a lot of artists and he's at the top of my list.

8 Have you any new books coming out in the next few months you’d like to tell us about?​

I've been working on a Sci-Fi book titled Atticus, which will come out after TCK Book Two. It asks the questions, "What if science IS magic? And what will happen when we reach that point in time when magic wants to have its turn in the limelight?"

Thanks, Ben.
Now over to you....

[Ben]

Thanks so much for the chance to chat with your audience, Jemima! I'm here to answer any questions about The Camelot Kids, except how it ends ;-) I hope you all enjoy Simon's story. By the way, "Maille" Rose is pronounced "Molly" Rose. That's one of the first questions I get asked...

[Rebecca]

Thanks for clearing that up about how to pronounce "Maille," Ben. I was wondering. And wondering if you might want to weave something into the story that would get the idea across. I don't know about others, but I am always bothered by a name I don't know how to pronounce.

[Ben]

Rebecca wrote: "Thanks for clearing that up about how to pronounce "Maille," Ben. I was wondering. And wondering if you might want to weave something into the story that would get the idea across. I don't know abo..."

Yeah, that's a good idea Rebecca. I'll find a place to drop something in.

[Laurel]

Fun interview! Thanks Jemima and Ben!
Laurel

[Ben]

Laurel wrote: "Fun interview! Thanks Jemima and Ben!
Laurel"

Thanks for reading, Laurel!