Meet Joan Livingston

We recently connected with Joan Livingston and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joan, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I believe I inherited my resilience from my grandmother, Angela. Vovó, as I called her, grew up the youngest of a poor family on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Her parents gave her up to be the live-in companion for the child of a wealthy family, where her older sister, Maria, was a servant. My grandmother was supposed to play with the little girl, carry her books to and from school, and wait in the back of the classroom until it was time to go home.

One day, the teacher discovered my grandmother trying to read, so she approached the wealthy family, who allowed her to go to school. She was literate when so many weren’t. Then when she was 16, she and Maria traveled in a wooden ship to the U.S. and never saw their family in Madeira again. Mid-Atlantic, the ship encountered a large storm that swept people overboard. My grandmother, along with her sister, survived that to settle in the U.S, where she learned English. She and my grandfather had a small farm and both worked in a textile mill.

It’s a remarkable story, and one that continues to inspire me to reach toward a goal despite the odds. Like my grandmother, I was inspired to learn. It amazed me that letters could create words and words could create stories. I read a great deal, but wanted to write my own stories. Teachers encouraged me. And although it was unlikely given my parents’ financial situation, I was the first of my family to graduate from college, attending on scholarship.

Although my writing was put to the side as I had a bit of a wanderlust and then raised six kids, I didn’t give up that goal. I kept at it even when I had a job as editor-in-chief of a newspaper that required me to work 60 hours. I once wrote a novel one-handed after I was hit by a car while crossing the street. I counted on that resilience when my queries to agents and publishers went nowhere and was grateful when they did. I use the same determination to get my books in front of readers’ eyes. I can’t stop myself it seems.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am the author of books for adult and young readers. I write fiction in the genres of mystery, literary, and magical realism. Most of my books are set in the fictional hill towns of Western Massachusetts. I live in one of the real ones. I had a long career in journalism, rising in the ranks from a freelance reporter to editor-in-chief. Although that work is behind me, I am grateful for what it taught me, especially when I was a reporter. In that role, I had to listen to the way people talked and observe how they behaved. I absorbed the hill towns, which has helped to create authentic characters, settings, and plots in my novels.

So far, I have published 17 books. This year, three were published: The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine, The Swanson Shuffle, and Finding the Source, no. 8 in my Isabel Long Mystery Series.

I recently finished The Unfinished Town, a dark mystery, that I’m shopping to publishers. And I’m close to finishing the first draft of a YA book, The Talking Table. As you might guess, I have a strong worth ethic, but then I love what I do. I don’t see my stopping any time in the future.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Three key skills that have been impactful are: imagination, writing, and perseverance.

IMAGINATION: I confess that I’m a daydreamer. Big time. For much of my life, I used those dreams I imagined to fix whatever was going on in my life. Admittedly, that typically didn’t happen. But all that changed when I got serious about my writing and put my daydreaming to much better use in the fiction I create. Author Stephen King put it well when he said writing is telepathic. That came from his book “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft,” and when I read it, I totally agreed that, at least for me, when I sit down at my computer, the words come from somewhere else. I never work by outlines. I don’t plan ahead. I honestly don’t even know “who dunnit” when I start one of my Isabel Long Mysteries. I’m figuring that out with Isabel.

WRITING SKILLS: I knew early on that my path in life would be a creative one, that writing was the best outlet for me. So, I worked on those skills, first in school, then on my own. Reading what others wrote was a great learning experience. I knew what kind of writing I liked reading and what I did not — and why. My preference was those who show instead of tell. But it was not enough to be a solitary writer. I wanted to share what I wrote with readers. And as a published author, it is so gratifying when someone who reads one of my books likewise can envision the characters and setting I created — and so enjoys the experience.

PERSEVERANCE: The I Ching has a phrase: “perseverance furthers” that means determination can lead to success, particularly through challenges. Books don’t magically appear. They take time to write. I have a strong work ethic, probably fueled by my past career as a deadline-drive journalist. I aim for 500 words a day, an amount that advances a story without forcing it. As for publishing, I have no clue how many agents and publishers I queried. But it’s a significant amount. I didn’t let those rejections deter me from my goal. Fortunately, I have found allies who help.

I often tell wannabe authors: Write because you love doing it. Learn because you want to do it well. Stick with your dreams.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

As an author, a person needs to acquire the skills necessary to create a compelling story that will hold a reader’s attention for say 65,00-75,000 words. Okay, so you’ve gotten the words down. Now, you have to get the word out. And that’s my biggest challenge, and I believe it is so many indie authors who are competing with other indie authors, plus those who have signed with a big publisher. Amazon doesn’t release how many authors publish with it, but it is believe to be in the millions.

Yes, there is writing and then there is the business of writing. I prefer the first, but the second is necessary. I so enjoy royalties.

I am a hybrid author, which means I work with a publisher and also self-publish my books. I learned a great deal about the business end from my former publisher, which closed last year. That publisher handled eleven of my books. We were expected to do promotion and even paid promotion.

First, I became far more active on social media. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Goodreads, Blue Sky, plus my favorite, Substack. I also have a website where I publish a blog at least weekly. I am careful not to pester subscribers with that “buy my book” mantra. I do post about my books, but I choose topics, such as the women characters in a book and a real life experience that inspired a plot. I share insights about the writing process, observations, and often feature reviews of the books other authors write.

Then there is paid promotion. For those, I temporarily drop the price of the book’s digital version or even make it free. Then I use paid online resources and social media to spread the word. Giving a book away for free may sound nutty, but maybe it will hook a reader to check out the others I have written. Once on a Bookbub promotion, Chasing the Case, the first in my Isabel Long Mystery Series, was number one in free books in the U.S, U.K. and Canada. Not only did it pay for the promo, I pocketed significant reviews and royalties as people moved onto to the rest of the series.

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Image Credits

Joan Livingston
John Walsh
John Walsh
John Walsh
John Walsh

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