Pump Up Your Book Chats with ‘The Chimp and Me’ Tim Vandehey

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Tim Vandehey is a journalist, ghostwriter and book collaborator who has written more than 35 books since 2004 in the sports, self-help, memoir, spiritual, financial, business, and healthcare genres. His recent published co-authored works include Blindsided (with Jim Cole, St. Martin’s Press, 2010), Running on Faith (with Jason Lester, HarperOne, 2010), Produced by Faith (with DeVon Franklin, Simon & Schuster, 2011), and I’m Here to Win! (with Chris McCormack, Center Street, 2011). Tim lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with his wife and two daughters.

Q: Thank you for this interview, Tim. Can you tell us why you wrote your book?

Because singing it was getting exhausting. No, seriously…I couldn’t not write it. Annie Greer’s stories of her bizarre encounters with animals of all kinds—from hamsters and crazed seagulls to wolves and donut-throwing chimps—were just so hysterical that when I heard them, I said, “I’m writing your book.” I’ve been determined for four-and-a-half years to get this book out.

Q: Which part of the book was the hardest to write?

The writing was very easy. I love the essay form, and it was a piece of cake to listen to Annie talk and turn those interviews into essays. The hardest part was choosing what stories to use, and that’s more of an editorial function. So for this book, I was writer, interviewer, editor, and designer. It was fun.

Q: Does your book have an underlying message that readers should know about?

Laugh. That’s one. Life is funny. But if there’s a deeper message, it’s that exotic entertainment animals like lions and chimps don’t often lead happy lives. They are often abused and mistreated once they are no longer cute performers. Sometimes, idiots with too much money and not enough sense adopt them and keep them in their backyards in horrible conditions. So we try to bring attention to this in the book and make people aware that they should support organizations that ensure these beautiful creatures end up where they should, in zoos or licensed preserves.

Q: What was one of your favorite books as a child?

Like so many kids, The Hobbit. A junior high school buddy introduced me to it when I was eleven, and I was hooked. I still love it to this day, and can’t wait until my oldest daughter is old enough for me to read it to her.

Q: What is your favorite book as an adult?

I love anything by Bill Bryson, especially his earlier travel writing. I took a three-month backpacking trip around Europe back in 1999, and I think I read four of his books on that trip. I remember reading Notes From a Small Island on the Newcastle commuter train and laughing myself to tears, snorting so loudly that people actually got up and moved away from me. I also love David Sedaris’ books, and all sorts of nonfiction, especially history, politics and travel writing.

Q: What are you reading now?

I read about five books at any one time. Right now, I’m working on Dracula: the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker, Invincible by Vince Papale (which is work-related as I’m ghosting his next book), The Accidental Asian by Eric Liu, City of Falling Angels by John Berendt, and Drood by Dan Simmons. That’s two novels, which is unusual for me. I read 90% nonfiction.

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

I’ve always written. I was writing books as far back as third grade summer school. It’s always been a completely natural thing for me. I’ve never struggled with it, and I never get writer’s block, which I guess makes me very lucky.

Q: Besides books, what else do you write? Do you write for publications?

I’ve been a freelancer since 1995. I spent about ten years writing advertising, but these days I’m a professional ghostwriter and co-author. I typically write 6-7 books a year, some self-published, some for publishers. I actually have two books coming out in May 2011, both with my name on them: I’m Here to Win! which I wrote with 2010 Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack and which is being published by Hachette, and Produced By Faith, which I wrote with Sony Pictures executive DeVon Franklin and which is being published by Simon & Schuster. I’m especially excited about I’m Here to Win!, because it’s been picked up by all 6,000 Starbucks stores and has the potential to be a major bestseller.

Q: Do you have a writing tip you’d like to share?

Write everything you can. I see so many wannabe novelists who struggle with their books for years and years, and in many cases it’s because while they dream about being novelists, they just aren’t suited to the fiction form, so the writing is labored and pretty awful. I think that’s a waste. I advise writers to try every form they can—short stories, poetry, journalistic articles, columns, advertising, speechwriting, PR, essays—to see if they have a natural aptitude for something else. Not everybody can be a novelist.

Q: Would you like to tell us about your home life? Where you live? Family? Pets?

I live on Bainbridge Island, Washington, but am in the process of getting ready to move to Kansas City, Missouri. Island life has proved to be too isolated and quiet for me and my wife, and her family is in KC, which is a great town. That’s the beauty of being a writer: we can work anywhere.

I’m married to an incredible lady named Dawn and have two daughters and a beagle, all of whom throw me a ton of attitude. I love being a dad.

Q: Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

On the living room couch, in the center of the action. I have a great ability to tune out the ruckus.

Q: What do you do to get away from it all?

Most of the time, I take the ferry into Seattle and work at a coffeehouse, which feels very urban and sophisticated. That’s what I intend to do in KC, minus the ferry.

Q: What was the first thing you did as far as promoting your book?

We built a really great website that allows us to capture readers’ interest with blogs, video and such, lets them download a sample chapter, buy the book and more.

Q: Are you familiar with the social networks and do you actively participate?

I’m very familiar, but my participation is spotty. I’m just too busy much of the time. I post on Facebook, but I don’t really use Twitter at all. I know I should, but so far it’s been all talk, no tweet. Maybe I’ll hire a ghost-tweeter.

Q: How do you think book promotion has changed over the years?

Well, first, it’s become quite centered on the Internet, and even more so now that Kindle books and other e-book formats are grabbing a huge part of the book sales pie. Social networking, YouTube videos, email, blogging, virtual book tours, promotional websites, online reader chats, mobile apps for books—that’s all central to promoting your book now.

The other way promotion has changed is that publishers do very little anymore. Unless your book is a bestseller out of the gate, your publisher will give you about 30 days of attention and then cut you loose. So authors now need to become very marketing-savvy and have a strategy from day one. I don’t have a problem with authors being asked to become more marketing savvy, but that means they should get a bigger piece of the sales. If they don’t, e-publishing and self-publishing are going to start eating away at big New York publishers’ business…which they should.

Q: What is the most frustrating part of being an author?

Publishers who don’t get it and don’t support their books. Publishers who play politics with promotion and aren’t transparent about book sales. That might be the worst thing. Tell me how many copies my books have sold and pay me in a timely manner. It’s ridiculous that an author has no way to find out how many books he or she has sold.

Q: What is the most rewarding?

In my case, as a ghostwriter and co-author, helping other people tell their stories. I love helping non-writers craft their books and get their wisdom out to the world.

Q: How do you think book publishing has changed over the years?

See above: marketing and promotion. Publishing on the largest scale—the big New York houses—is incredibly tech-ignorant and backward. It’s slow to respond to changes and completely takes for granted that it will always have the pick of the litter of the best books. But that’s false. As Internet and mobile publishing become more and more sophisticated, small presses, entrepreneurial houses and smart self-publishers will begin to capture a bigger and bigger share of important books. And why not? Who wouldn’t want to control their rights, control their marketing and get 60% of the sale price of each book instead of 15%?

Q: If you had one wish, what would that be?

That the human brain would spontaneously and instantly evolve so that we would stop fearing and hating those who aren’t like us or don’t believe what we believe.

Q: If you could be anywhere in the world other than where you are right now, where would that place be?

Edinburgh, Scotland, during the Festival Fringe, the greatest theatre festival on the planet.

Q: Your book has just been awarded a Pulitzer. Who would you thank?

My wife, Dawn, and my parents, Dan and Judy, the three greatest people I’ve ever known.

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Karen-Anne Stewart, ASH TO STEELE

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach