Welcome to this site featuring the work of award-winning nonfiction author Karen Blumenthal. Here you will find information about her nonfiction books for young people, including a digital trailer for promoting her book, Bootleg, a video clip of the author speaking to an audience at the Dallas Public Library, and articles Blumenthal has published about her research and writing process. You also have access to an in-depth Question-and-Answer dialogue between teachers and librarians and the author herself.
Special thanks to Karen Blumenthal for sharing so generously of her time and herself in her thoughtful responses. You'll find her postings highlighted in purple text for quick access. Thanks also to the graduate students (teachers and librarians) who read Blumenthal's books and offered such insightful questions and comments.
Enjoy!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Karen speaks
Karen Blumenthal spoke at the Dallas Public Library about her writing of nonfiction for young people. Here's just a short clip.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Steve Jobs
Audrey, you ask why I wanted to do a biography of Steve Jobs. I’ve asked myself that question a few times in recent weeks!
In this case, I was actually asked to do it. The publisher called my agent and he recommended me. Because I’ve been a business journalist almost all my adult life, I felt like I could bring some unique understanding to his story, which is incredibly interesting! Also, my biography of Sam Walton just came out this year, and there were a lot of similarities in their business successes. In addition, I had actually worked on a chapter about Jobs and Apple for an adult business book earlier this year, so I was familiar with his history.
Funny that you think he’s more modern. I actually thought Title IX was pretty modern—shows you how old I am!
While I would like to continue to write about historical events, I also would like to carve a niche as the writer that publishers go-to for nonfiction that touches on business or economic issues.
Hope that answers your question!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
Karen
In this case, I was actually asked to do it. The publisher called my agent and he recommended me. Because I’ve been a business journalist almost all my adult life, I felt like I could bring some unique understanding to his story, which is incredibly interesting! Also, my biography of Sam Walton just came out this year, and there were a lot of similarities in their business successes. In addition, I had actually worked on a chapter about Jobs and Apple for an adult business book earlier this year, so I was familiar with his history.
Funny that you think he’s more modern. I actually thought Title IX was pretty modern—shows you how old I am!
While I would like to continue to write about historical events, I also would like to carve a niche as the writer that publishers go-to for nonfiction that touches on business or economic issues.
Hope that answers your question!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
Karen
Ebooks and photos
Wendy asks about e-books. (Glad to know Bootleg is now an ebook—that has only happened recently!)
As a writer first, I want people to read my books. So any way they can do that is fine with me. I am worried, however, about what the e-reader revolution means for nonfiction as it’s published now. As several of you have noted, the photos, cartoons, charts and other images are part of the story, part of bringing the history alive. But those won’t show up well on the Kindle, for instance, and in the past, my books haven’t been designed with e-readers in mind.
To be honest, I don’t know where this is going—but I expect to have this conversation with editors on the next book I plan to propose. Personally, I think the iPad is a game changer and we can’t look at books the same way anymore. (Or newspapers. But that’s another, really complicated conversation!)
As for royalties, the price of an ebook is less, but I get a slightly higher percentage. I think I calculated that I make about 15 cents less on an ebook than on a hardcover. Of course, authors make a smaller percentage of a smaller price on paperbacks.
Laurie asked about photos for Let Me Play. I made a real effort to find photos that truly matched the text, so I didn’t want random images of female athletes. I spent hours upon hours tracking down the cover photo (which I had seen in a 1970s book). I called up the writer of Tank McNamara to get those comic strips. And I searched all kinds of archives for other photos. Altogether, I submitted about 85 images, thinking the publisher would use half that. But she and the designer liked the images so much, they used more than 70 of them. When I had to go back and get permissions for all of them, I regretted submitting so many!
With Bootleg, there were an overwhelming number of great images. It was truly hard to choose what to submit, and I’m afraid I probably drove the designer crazy with possibilities. But it was fun for me!
Best,
Karen
As a writer first, I want people to read my books. So any way they can do that is fine with me. I am worried, however, about what the e-reader revolution means for nonfiction as it’s published now. As several of you have noted, the photos, cartoons, charts and other images are part of the story, part of bringing the history alive. But those won’t show up well on the Kindle, for instance, and in the past, my books haven’t been designed with e-readers in mind.
To be honest, I don’t know where this is going—but I expect to have this conversation with editors on the next book I plan to propose. Personally, I think the iPad is a game changer and we can’t look at books the same way anymore. (Or newspapers. But that’s another, really complicated conversation!)
As for royalties, the price of an ebook is less, but I get a slightly higher percentage. I think I calculated that I make about 15 cents less on an ebook than on a hardcover. Of course, authors make a smaller percentage of a smaller price on paperbacks.
Laurie asked about photos for Let Me Play. I made a real effort to find photos that truly matched the text, so I didn’t want random images of female athletes. I spent hours upon hours tracking down the cover photo (which I had seen in a 1970s book). I called up the writer of Tank McNamara to get those comic strips. And I searched all kinds of archives for other photos. Altogether, I submitted about 85 images, thinking the publisher would use half that. But she and the designer liked the images so much, they used more than 70 of them. When I had to go back and get permissions for all of them, I regretted submitting so many!
With Bootleg, there were an overwhelming number of great images. It was truly hard to choose what to submit, and I’m afraid I probably drove the designer crazy with possibilities. But it was fun for me!
Best,
Karen
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