Interview: Claudia Graziano

What made you decide to go the self-publishing route?
I originally sent my book Meerkat’s Safari out to a handful of publishers and agents, but just didn’t have the stomach for rejection. I was briefly picked up by an agent at LitWest Group but nothing ever came of the relationship (read: she did f-all for me). I was impatient to see my book in print, and after being told by this particular agent that “rhyme wasn’t selling,” I decided to publish it myself.

And what made you choose vanity—ah, I mean print-on-demand—press?
The plan was never to make money—in the beginning I really just wanted to see my book in print and maybe dabble in what I considered a nice tax-deductible hobby. I really didn’t have the money to invest in an offset print run, so digital/ print-on-demand (a.k.a. vanity press) seemed the way to go. It wasn’t until after I actually started selling the book and getting some positive feedback that I really decided to take this self-publishing thing seriously and dump the vanity press.

How have you gone about marketing the book since then?
Well, after the thrill of actually seeing the book in print wore off and I had exhausted all the potential sales in my immediate circle of friends and family, I decided to try and get the book into a few bookstores. Because of the book’s high per-unit cost (vanity presses charge you a pretty penny to print your books—as an author, your discount is negligible) I quickly realized that this would be impossible. Bookstores wanted 60% off the cover price. Even I couldn’t buy it for that. But because I was a local author, a few shops in Noe Valley felt sorry enough for me to take a few copies off my hands. And then a funny thing happened—the book started selling. Just for Fun on 24th sold 30 copies in 30 days, for example.

What is the biggest lesson your experience as a self-published author has taught you?
To believe in my own work. That a few rejection letters does not mean your book is not marketable. In fact, it’s very likely that had I really been persistent that I would have eventually had my book published through traditional channels. But I also don’t regret publishing it myself—I’m kind of a nerd that way. I like having numerous projects in various stages of development, as they say in the ‘biz. The one thing I would do differently, though, is avoiding the vanity press printing altogether. It’s generally a rip off for authors, in my experience.

Why publish a children's book?
I don’t know, it just seemed my speed. I wrote a very early draft of Meerkat’s Safari ten years ago in a post-college burst of creative energy. I then resurrected the project during my under-employed days as a freelance writer.

Why a book that stars a meerkat,besides the fact that meerkats are so lovable?
Basically, I needed a narrator/guide to lead readers on a virtual safari, and I didn’t want any humans involved. The meerkat got the job after I learned more about them. They’re very social creatures, and are natural teachers. They actually baby-sit each other’s young in the wild.

Next steps? And if this is going to be a trilogy, does it mean that make the meerkat "the one"? Will he make amends with his father before sacrificing himself on the steps of Mount Doom?
Yes, I’ve got two more books planned in the Meerkat’s Adventures series, but I’m not ruling out any future collaboration with George Lucas. In fact, Meerkats in Space is not a bad idea .

SFist Interview Questions:
Name
Claudia Graziano

Introduce yourself in one sentence
This is exactly the kind of pigeon-holing I try to avoid…

Age and Occupation
37 Writer/Editor

Home Town
We moved around a lot—its kind of a blur

How long have you lived in the Bay Area and Where (city, neighborhood etc.) and WHY?
Lived in the Bay Area (up and down the peninsula) since I was 4. Lived in SF since 1994—It’s really the place I’ve “grown up.”

Favorite place to spend time online (website/blog/RSS feeds)
Lately I’ve become a housing bubble news junky—my favorite blog of the moment is Patrick.net

I’m also pretty wrapped up in the Baghdad Burning blog:

I’d love to see SF become an affordable city again for people who don’t make six-figure salaries.

Favorite local business
Just for Fun on 24th St/Noe

What I'm currently Reading
The Parrots of Telegraph Hill, by Mark Bittner

Best Deal in San Francisco
You may pay a lot for personal care in this town, but face it—mani-pedis here are dirt cheap.

Favorite mode of transportation
Before I had a car I walked everywhere, or took BART or MUNI. But I secretly dreamed of motoring around town on a vespa—I just didn’t have the guts (or the health insurance) to actually buy one.

Best Band or Musician to come out of the Bay Area
Sorry, can’t think of a single one.

Favorite Bay Area Stereotype, and whether or not you buy into it
That SF is a dangerous place to live. Call me paranoid, but I think the creepiest people tend to hide out in the suburbs.

Favorite local hangout
Samovar’s Tea House on 18th/Church

SF has the BEST
Hills

You've never lived in SF until
You’ve had your car towed.

Favorite Bay area politician of past or present
Harvey Milk

Now that Mayor Gavin is single, who are you going to set him up with?
I can’t say I know Gavin well enough to set him up with anyone, although we did happen to go to school together. I didn’t know Gavin personally then (or now), but I distinctly remember him submitting a really horrible “artsy” photo to the university literary magazine. I was a staffer on the magazine, and I remember griping about why we accepted his photo—a picture of Gavin taking a picture of himself in a mirror. I guess even then the guy had connections, because we ran the thing.

You can tell someone is a local here IF
They make passing references to Army St.

SF would be soooo much better if only
It were about 10 degrees warmer on any given day.

Best Burrito
Burritos are the fast food of SF—only the crappy places stand out.

Best Restaurant
I think Minako on Mission is the best-kept sushi secret in town

Best movie scene filmed in or about SF
So I Married an Axe Murderer—filmed in and around SF. The back scratching scene is the best…

Favorite artist to come out of the bay area
Pretty much everyone I know in SF is an artist of one sort or another

Favorite author to come out of the bay area
John Steinbeck

Place you always tell visitors to check out
GG Park on Sundays when JFK Drive is closed to traffic. Excellent people-watching and car-free rollerblading.

Favorite Bridge in the area
None—I like to keep my bridge crossings to a minimum.

You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in SF, what are you going to do?
See whatever’s playing at the Castro Theatre. Love it when the organist plays “San Francisco, open your golden gates…”

I have found/sold/bought the following on craigslist
Found: everything from tennis partners to boudoir photographers, plus generic stuff like jobs and apartments (my best friend met her husband on craigslist) Bought/Sold: concert tix, furniture, computer stuff, my own freelance writing skills

I want all the SFists out there to know
Just say no to vanity press. If you’ve got something to publish, go out and do it right.

Tell us a San Francisco Story
When I was a kid my dad worked as a typewriter repairman for IBM in San Francisco. If we were home sick from school we sometimes got to ride with my dad while he made his service calls. We’d zip all over the city, from one typewriter service call to the next, stopping for lunch or coffee at places like the Tic Tock on Embarcadero and Tommy’s Joint on Van Ness. I loved making stops in the Castro because I loved rainbows, bubbles and dress-up. It was (and still is) my favorite ‘hood.

Question you'd ask if you were doing this interview
When you get frustrated with City Life, what ultimately keeps you here?