Interview with Mur Lafferty

Podcasting:

An Interview with Mur Lafferty

The world of podcast fiction may currently be small scale, but there are some pretty big names within the genre that everyone should know about. One of those names is Mur Lafferty. Author of Playing for Keeps and the Heaven series, Ms. Lafferty also puts out a podcast show called I Should Be Writing, an incredibly insightful podcast for writers based around her own questions and experiences as a writer. On top of writing, podcasting, collaborating and freelancing, she is also a wife and a mother. Thank you, Ms. Lafferty, for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us.

eMuse: Many authors are podcasting their fiction now, after having difficulty getting attention through traditional publishing channels, only to have the tables turn in their favor once their work starts gaining exposure on the net. Do you think this gives people misconceptions about podcasting one's work and offering it for free?

Mur Lafferty: I honestly don't know what others are thinking. I do know there are over 200 books on podiobooks.com, and fewer than 20 have received book deals. However, we are seeing the people who are dedicated to their own marketing seem to be doing better, so I think every podiobook author needs to learn that to succeed, you need to not only write well and make a listenable product, but let people know it's there.

eMuse: As the number of authors podcasting their work increases, how do you feel this will affect print media and traditional publishing?

ML: On one hand, I think it's telling publishing that new media is not that scary. On the other hand, we are fewer than one thousand authors, while publishing consists of many thousands of authors. So we're such a tiny minority it's going to take more than Sigler getting on the New York Times Bestseller List, or Tracy Hickman getting an out-of-print book reprinted to get on some of the big radars. But I think it'll happen. We're not going away.

eMuse: I know you recently found an agent to represent you, congratulations, by the way. Did your history as a podcast author factor into that in any way?

ML: My podcasting history helped with the networking that got me on this agent's radar. A friend I made via podcasting gave my manuscript to an agent friend of his, who liked it but decided it wasn't for her. She passed it to her friend, also an agent, who ended up wanting to represent it. Podcasting has gotten me listeners/fans, sure, but what I didn't anticipate was that it would make me friends and put me in contact with some amazing authors and editors who have been instrumental in helping out my career.

I know my agent appreciates what I can do online as a marketer, but she choose first and foremost to represent me based on the book that she read. (Which frankly is very gratifying.)

eMuse: Do you think more traditional publishers will jump on the bandwagon and start using the internet as a resource to discover new talent?

ML: I honestly don't know. Publishers and agents don't NEED to go looking for manuscripts; they find them just fine in their huge slush piles. I think when it happens, it's rare, but it doesn't hurt to approach them and say, "Lookit what I got! A shiny book *AND* 75,000 listeners!"

eMuse: On to more personal notes, what are you working currently on and where can our readers find out more about that?

ML: I am working on the wrapping up of the Heaven Series: War, which is being podcasted right now. I'm also collaborating on a fiction/photography project called Her Side with JR Blackwell that's not like anything else I've ever written. I am waiting for my agent to get back to me with edits on Heaven, which I'll be working on in August, I hope. Then I have a finished novel that needs editing I'm calling Project Underground. You can find out about all my projects at murverse.com

eMuse: On top of your podcast projects, writing, freelance work and promotional efforts, you are also a wife and mother. How do you find time to juggle all of your responsibilities and obligations?

ML: I never work on them all. Something is always sliding as I focus on something else, then I play catch-up. Family is first, they have to be, else I would look up from my writing and see nothing waiting for me. But they do support me in my podcasting and writing, so that's very helpful. It's also a matter of prioritizing, which is tough but necessary.

eMuse: If I found your iPod on the subway, what podcast fiction would I find in your playlist?

ML: JC Hutchins’ Sword of Blood novella, Christof Laputka's The Leviathan Chronicles, Cory Doctorow's Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town, Short fiction from James Patrick Kelly and Matt Wallace, Variant Frequencies, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and Goblin Market.

eMuse: If you could collaborate on a writing project with any writer, alive or dead, who would you want to collaborate with and why?

ML: That's so very tough. I'd love to work with China Mieville or Connie Willis. Closer to reality, but still something squee-worthy, I do have plans to work with JC Hutchins and Matt Wallace someday, when all of our schedules permit (hah).

eMuse: What do you enjoy most about being an author?

ML: I make stuff up! And people read it! *boggle*

eMuse: If you could only offer one tip to someone preparing to podcast their fiction, what would you say?

ML: Only one? That's easy. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't. We're flying without a net here. It's exhilarating. It's scary. And sure, there are a million reasons to pause and worry. Or you can just do it.

On a more practical level, invest in a good microphone.

We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to sit with Mur Lafferty. To learn more about Ms. Lafferty, her work, and podcasting, be sure to check out her website, http://murverse.com.

Interview by Jennifer Hudock

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