Author Interview - Phil Nadeau

Author Interview - Phil Nadeau of “The Unlikeliness of it All”

I had the pleasure of working with Phil Nadeau who has just published his first book: “The Unlikeliness of it All, Part 1: An Insider's Perspective: A Small Maine Town's History of Resilience, Transformation, Collaboration, Immigration, and its Global Singularity.”  

It was my privilege to edit this manuscript, helping it take its final form. It’s a really unique and insightful book, spanning almost 200 years of Maine history, and offers a really interesting perspective on the issue of immigration, as well as a behind-the-scenes view of the inner workings of city governance and how major shifts come to pass.

Jules Fox (JF): Phil, thank you for taking the time to stop by my blog. As a first-time author, how much time do you estimate that it took you to complete this manuscript? (Full disclosure, the book covers a lot of history and weighs in at about 170k words – none of them wasted).

Phil Nadeau (PN): I was fortunate to have written on the subject before, and that provided me a head start on the research for the book. Between March 2020 and March 2021, effectively the first year of the pandemic, there were very few days where I did not work on the book (as a retiree, I was also blessed to have this unanticipated surge of available time during three different shelter-in-place episodes during the pandemic). I was either doing research, interviewing, writing, editing or doing the administrative work that was required. In my case, much of the administrative work required attending to all who were interviewed who needed to sign a release form. I conducted over 30 interviews. I made the mistake of not requiring that they sign the form before the interview and did my share of chasing people down for the release form (I will not make that mistake again). I also needed to obtain copyright permissions from many newspapers, magazines, journals, books and websites. In many instances, this also required securing the permission of both the author and the publisher. There was also work associated with being a first-time user of Amazon’s KDP service and IngramSpark (for my hardcover) and the work that you and I did to get the formatting of the manuscript and cover correct for printing. In total, I would estimate that I worked on average approximately 5 to 7 hours per day for an average of about 6 days per week for a year. That would put the number of hours invested at no less than 2000 hours.

JF: What are some of the holdups or speedbumps that you weren’t expecting when you first started out the monumental process of authoring a book?

PN: I thought I had done a fair amount of research on what to expect as a first-time author and self-publisher. I’m glad that I “lived” the experience as it is difficult to capture in one short answer, but I will try. Amazon KDP, it turns out, is actually not all that difficult to use. It requires that you set aside any anxiety that you have about navigating unfamiliar software and understand that KDP will help you navigate the process of setting up your book. Two very basic things are helpful to know in advance: Your manuscript drives everything else involved in the self-publishing process. Also, plan what you want for a cover. If pictures are involved, ensure that you own the rights to the picture and that there are no legal issues associated with it (example: a picture you took of someone will still require their permission for a commercially published book and your picture will need to be a high-resolution picture suitable for printing). Your manuscript will control how to size your Amazon print “paperback” cover (in my case it was a 6 X 9 softcover book—Amazon does not print hardcovers... yet) and if you decide to print a hardcover book, the same will dictate what you do with a company like IngramSpark (more on that later). If you do an eBook, and you should (at a minimum, both an eBook and a print book) your manuscript is simply a normally set up Word document using standard margins, line spacing, 12 font, and a simple font such as Times Roman. KDP likes it simple (things like add space or section breaks but not lots of unnecessary shift or tab spaces). There are videos available on KDP to guide you through the process for the eBook and for the print book. Ensure that you are using the templates that are available for the print book size that you are looking for. 6 X 9 is considered “standard” so you want to start out with the KDP 6 X 9 template (unless you want something else). It will pay to do a bit of research in advance (the number of pages will impact your “gutter” adjustment---KDP will explain what it is and why it is important for a print book). Lastly, a great cover will help with sales. A small investment with someone who has expertise in that field will help. So will an editor who can provide you with another set of eyes. How much you want to spend will depend on how much work you want them to do.

JF: Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

PN: It would never be so bold as to offer anyone “tips” on writing fiction. That’s an entirely different skill set when it comes to writing and what sells. Also, there are a large number of videos that provide instruction on what sells and how to make writing profitable. Please do the research. Bottom line, if you are writing for yourself and not preoccupied with doing it often, it will be easier to just do what is most available to you—Facebook, creating a large email list, sending out press releases to local and state newspapers, starting a blog, etc. Also, if you are interested in dealing with both KDP and IngramSpark (for your hardcover), you will be prohibited by IngramSpark to register for KDPs “Select” program as it will conflict with IngramSpark’s worldwide distribution of your book (again, do the research and go to IngramSpark’s website for more info).

When it comes to non-fiction, there are two basic approaches that the author would need to choose: one that elects to provide specific attribution for its sources through footnotes or endnotes, and one that will provide attribution through the story and/or the acknowledgment section of the book if it is required (a first-hand accounting of an event or experience may simply require a disclaimer that the entire book is based on something such as recorded interviews with the subject of the book). Once the election is made, how the narrative is structured will also dictate how it is written. In my case, it was a narrative history of my hometown. I elected to import many personal stories that were weaved into some of the city’s most notable historic moments. Some involved members of my family, and some of them were my own personal experiences. It becomes a stylistic question for the author and nothing more. In my case, I was writing a book both to ensure that my book is considered as a serious accounting of the city’s history, and a way to preserve some of my own family history (my father was involved in city government and much of the information was unknown or forgotten before my book was written).

JF: What’s the main reason you think someone should read this book?

PN: Much of my research on writing this book was riddled with warnings about the profitability of writing non-fiction history books. History books typically do not make money unless the story they are telling is a compelling, character-driven story with historical importance. One example of that is Mark Bowden’s book “Black Hawk Down.” Bowden’s book turned what initially appeared as a story about a small, military operation in East Africa into a global success both as a book and a film. There are elements of my book that are, I believe, compelling because it does include character-driven and historically accurate stories (this book is not an Oliver Stone “JFK” movie with unsubstantiated theories). Yes, there are some facts, numbers, and details that may not be of interest to every reader, but much of the city’s history is provided so that the reader understands how this small Maine town suddenly found itself in the national spotlight with a new Somali refugee population and a white supremacist group that both generated global interest in our small city. The story of how the city responded is directly tied to the people who were front and center and were part of the city’s response. Hopefully, that is where the prior history of the city will enable the reader to understand the dynamics of what transpired during the years of the Somali arrivals in 2001 and 2002. That is also why this book is now part of a series. There is more to tell about how a heightened sense of community engagement is now driving much of what the city is doing to improve the lives of all its residents today.

JF: What was your process like in working with an editor?

PN: It begins with doing your research on what kind of editor you are looking for. A site like “Upwork” guides you on how to submit your job posting and what it is that you are seeking for assistance. That then generates proposals which you get to review. Through that process, you will learn about the kind of experience each of the respondents brings to your project. Then Upwork will also guide you through the contract process with your editor (if that is what you are looking for—it could also be something else like marketing): Do you want to set a fixed price for your project or simply have them pay by the hour. I was fortunate to find someone that I immediately connected with. I set a fixed price that he agreed to along with a timeline. In speaking with Jules, I learned that he would give me the flexibility of time as I was still wrapping up my draft manuscript. The process involved swapping a number of drafts that we either discussed through the Upwork message center or through phone calls. That relationship remained in place until I submitted the final documents for my hardcover book in April (that also included a second contract for the hardcover manuscript that was not part of the first contract). Bottom line, spend some time on how the respondents can meet your needs and your budget.

JF: I love the cover design – it’s really striking. How did you go about choosing the right cover for this work?

PN: I had been looking at numerous pictures for months as I tried to develop an idea of what might work for the book. Most of the pictures involved long shots of people walking in our downtown or in the park. When I learned that it was possible that people who could be identified in those images could require me to seek their permission to use their image, I elected to start searching for urban landscape shots of the city. I was working with two local photographers who connected me with a number of their high-resolution pictures that could work for the cover and was also searching internet sites that had images that could be sold with the requisite commercial licensing (like iStock photos owned by Getty images). KDP has some info on quality specifications that are required for a cover photo. I settled on a photo for the front cover that was both a great night shot, met the requisite picture specs, and really did showcase the downtown area and the newly renovated mill structures. I then used a local photographer’s drone shot for the back cover which provided the reader another perspective of the mill on the front cover. All of the advance research work helped me to visualize what would finally work in the end but it was my editor’s suggestion to put “something” on the back cover that triggered the idea that made it all work together.

JF: Would you like to give us one juice detail that readers can find in the book?

PN: It is likely the relationship that began between me and one of the major characters in the book Mayor Larry Raymond. Though we knew each other, we never had a personal relationship. Larry’s first meeting behind closed doors with the city council resulted in he and I exchanging words about his violation of our state’s “sunshine” law. The statute required that any business conducted behind closed doors by the city council be declared publicly before it is discussed. That episode between us set the stage for another moment in which he wrote his infamous “letter” to the Somali refugee community nine months after our verbal exchange. This letter produced a national and international news media and public reaction, a letter that the mayor asked me to review and edit if needed. Not something I expected him to do given what happened months earlier. In the end, he accepted two paragraphs that I believe were included in the final letter. This was not something I shared with many people until the publication of the book. He decided to have the letter delivered to Somali leaders and to the local newspaper. I shared in the book that our disagreement months earlier had influenced how I might have handled his desire to write the letter and to make it public. I had never shared that fact or my involvement with editing the letter publicly before this book. A copy of the letter can be found through the link in the endnotes.

JF: Thank you so much for your time, Phil! I’m already looking forward to “The Unlikeliness of it All, Part 2!”

You can get the book “The Unlikeliness of it All, Part 1” on Amazon (affiliate link). It’s a very detailed and interesting read.

Our featured guest Phil Nadeau has been featured in the Dominic Pulera book Sharing the Dream, interviewed by authors Elizabeth Strout, Cynthia Anderson, Amy Bass, and by Heather McGhee for her new book “The Sum of Us.” He also has been interviewed by the national and international news media; has spoken nationally; has been published by the Southern Maine Review and the National Civic League; and was a contributing essayist in the book “Somalis in Maine: Crossing Cultural Currents.” Phil can be contacted at phil@philnadeau.com if you have any questions or comments.

Jules Fox is a proud Amazon Associate member. Many links in this post are affiliate links.