WordCount Q&A – Suddenly Frugal's Leah Ingram

Leah Ingram takes a no nonsense approach to her freelance writing business. So it comes as no surprise that when the Pennsylvania writer got the contract for her latest book, “Suddenly Frugal: How to Live Happier & Healthier for Less,” she went straight to work. Eight weeks later, Ingram had the book written and delivered – while continuing her regular magazine writing and Suddenly Frugal blog and without neglecting her husband and kids. How’d she do it? Read on.

Briefly describe your background as a freelance writer.
I have been a full-time, freelance writer since 1993. However, I started querying magazines when I was still in high school (about 10 years earlier), and knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a writer. I got a degree in journalism from NYU, then a job working on staff as a magazine editor, and quickly realized that I’d be happier and likely more successful if I was working for myself as a freelancer. I haven’t looked back since going out on my own some 16 years ago. Since going freelance I’ve published 13 books – soon to be 14- and written for many regional, national and custom magazines.

How did your book deal come about?
My agent Adam Chromy of Artists and Artisans pulled for me and promoted the heck out of me, and I continued to feed my Suddenly Frugal blog so that I had the platform and chops to prove that I could turn a blog into a book.

What role did your blog play in getting a book deal?
It was the whole reason for the book deal. I’d proven to Adams Media, my publisher, that I had a sustainable topic to write about, the media chops to promote the book and a built-in audience who would want to read the book. I get about 15,000 unique visitors a month at the blog. Wish it were 15,000 a day but I’m working on that.

How much of a head start did the blog give you in researching and writing the book? What material did you reuse?
I started the blog in May 2007. I got my book deal in January 2009. I’ve written, on average, five posts a week for the past 18 months. That meant I had plenty of material to get started. However, I did not reuse much from the blog. If all I was doing was cutting and pasting blog posts into a book, where’s the incentive to buy the book when readers could get my content for free on the blog? I did revisit a lot of the same topics I’d covered on the blog in new and different ways. For example, most of my blog postings are 400 to 600 words long. But the chapters were about 4,000 words long. So I was able to expand on many topics and bring in new information I hadn’t suggested in blog posts. Probably the only items I reused verbatim were a couple of my Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval award winners, which I’d highlighted in the blog first.

You had 8 weeks after your book proposal was approved to turn in a finished manuscript. That’s amazingly fast. How did you do it?
Discipline, plain and simple. Truth is I’ve written books in six weeks before. I am a very fast writer and hard worker. Right before I got the book deal, I decided to write a young-adult novel. My goal was to bang out a 50,000 words before the month of January was over. To do so, I had to write 1,667 words every day. I ended up with a 58,000-word novel by the end of January.
I applied a similar word-count rule to writing Suddenly Frugal. My book was due to the publisher April 1, and my goal was to finish it by March 15 so I would have plenty of time to proof and edit it. I made all of my goals, including handing the book in on April 1. I just got word that the manuscript was officially accepted. The cover is now up on my blog and I made it my Twitter avatar for the time being.

You continued working on magazine stories while you wrote the book. How did you juggle both?
I have a very regimented work schedule that I adhere to. Though I tend to procrastinate at times like many writers do, I’m actually more productive when I’m juggling multiple assignments. Since I only have five to six hours a day to work – I work when my children are at school – I carve out specific periods of time during my work day and assign different tasks to them. If I’m working on a magazine article or three, plus the book, I’ll assign 30 or 60 minute slots of time devoted to a specific project. When that time is up, I move on to the next task in the time slot. I don’t always finish entire projects in a day, but I’m always making progress. I’ve used this time-block system since I was in college and was juggling a full course load, an internship and a part-time job.

You’re married and have kids. How did you work on a book and freelance work without sacrificing family time – or did you?
Here’s where that regimented work schedule helps me out. Also, I exercise every morning, right after my kids leave for school, and that is my “me” time. I’m up at 6:30, have time in the morning with my husband and two daughters before they all leave at 7:30, then by 7:45 I’m out the door to walk the dog. We walk for an hour, then it’s home to shower, get dressed and be at my desk by 9:30 or 10 . And it’s right to work, with time, of course, in between to email, go on Twitter, work on my blog, etc. In fact, I make working on my blog part of my regimented work day. Though I don’t get paid to write my blog posts, they have become an important part of my work portfolio. So those posts have a priority standing on my to-do list just like paying gigs do.

What advice do you have for other freelancers who’d like to write a book?
These days you really have to develop a specialty that gives you a solid platform. Also, you have to promote yourself constantly and get the media to pick up on what you’re doing so you have those kinds of clips to show publishers that you’re media worthy. If you aren’t already subscribing to HARO that’s a must. It’s thanks to HARO that my family and I ended up as the lead story in a BusinessWeek cover piece on the New Frugality, and I’ve also been able to promote my unique sense of frugality on TV, in newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Christian Science Monitor, and many other places as well. If you’re camera shy or don’t like being the subject of interviews, I’m not sure you can be a successful author.

Given how the economy’s changing traditional freelance markets, is this a good time to market book proposals and other types of work?
If you want to write a book and you don’t have a TV show, I don’t think that you can expect to get a big advance. My advance for Suddenly Frugal was the smallest I’d received for any of my 14 books but that’s OK – I’ve got a feeling that with this down economy, people are going to snap up a book on living more on less. I know publishers are buying fewer books these days so if you want your proposal to stand out, you’ve really got to find a topic that stands out. Originally, back in 2007, we were going to sell Suddenly Frugal with a green bent, because, you know, green is the new black. Although the mainstream media is just jumping on the green bandwagon now, back in 2007 publishers were telling my agent and me we’d totally missed the green gravy train. So we started back at square one, and then when the economy started to tank in mid-2008, we revamped the book proposal to be all frugal, all the time, and that worked for us.

Anything else you’d like to add?
I treat my freelance writing like a business. I know many other writers are amazed at my discipline and work structure. But if I were running any other kind of business that was perhaps more visible and not so virtual, I would be open for business and producing just as much as I am now with my words. I hate to be cliche but you know that old saying ‘Find something you love and you’ll never work another day in your life’? Well, I love what I do, and I can’t imagine doing anything else to earn a living – expect maybe hosting a TV show, I love being on camera. But the bottom line is this: I’ve worked my ass off to get where I am professionally. I do work every day, but that’s OK with me, because I truly love what I’m doing so sometimes it really doesn’t feel like work at all.

Related posts:

• WordCount post included in The New Writer's Handbook 2008
• WordCount Q&A – One freelancer's DIY book publishing success