1. I've written a children's book. How do I get it published?

My experience getting AlphaOops published was one of those one-in-a-million flukes...but as I get asked this question many many times I've since learned the best answers for it.

1.) There's a book like the Writers Market specifically for Children's books, called the Children's Writers and Illustrators Market. In here's where you'll find the publishers who accept unsolicited submissions (there aren't many), and the agencies to contact in order to get your writing seen by publishers.

2.) Online, there is a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (www.scbwi.org) -- this is a great association to be in, and where you'll make the most contacts. Agents, authors, illustrators AND editors all belong to this association. There are local chapters, and they have conferences all over the nation. There's a lot there to soak up. (This site was also recommended to me by Holly Black and Mary Pope Osbourne.)

I personally love going to conventions and meeting people face-to-face, so #2 would be my first choice.

Getting a book published is one of the hardest things you'll ever do and I won't lie -- getting a children's book published is darned near impossible. Have a thick skin, and prepare yourself for truckloads of rejection and humiliation. But if you're just masochistic and hardheaded enough to never give up, you'll make it happen. (Pretty much just like anything else in this world.)

I wish you the best of luck!

2. How did you get AlphaOops published?

Since I made horrible grades in English class, I grew up writing stories exclusively for my entertainment and that of my friends and family. AlphaOops began no differently…only the friends I have now happen to know quite a few more people in the publishing industry than the ones back then.

Five printer pages made their way from hand to hand to Candlewick Press in Massachusetts. The Art Director there apparently read the story outloud to the entire office (can you imagine?) and had them all laughing hysterically. And since there was nothing on the pages but the title of the story and my name (NEVER give a story to anyone without a little contact information), they had to hunt me down (thankfully much easier to do in the Internet Age than it used to be) to ask me if they could pleasepleaseplease publish it (if this ever happens to you, say YES!).

I said yes.

3. Are you on MySpace?

Yes, I am: http://myspace.com/aletheakontis

And so, apparently, is my garden gnome Seamus: http://myspace.com/sfgnome

4. Where do you get your ideas?

Wait…how do you get ideas? If in your whole life you have never, ever had an idea, then you should really get out more. Wake up, open your eyes, and pay attention when your teachers are talking.

5. Are there other writers in your family?

Before I answer this question, I must first explain to you the difference between "writers" and "storytellers." To most people, these are the same thing. To someone who was raised surrounded by a family full of one or the other, there's a difference. Uncle Remus, the Brothers Grimm, Shakespeare, and Neil Gaiman (you have not read Anansi Boys until you've listened to the Lenny Henry audio) are storytellers. Charles Dickens, Tom Piccirilli, and Jonathan Carroll are all writers.

I am half French and half Greek; both sides of me are steeped in oral tradition. My mother is exceptionally fond of jumping to conclusions. We call that her "making up stories." My father is the family historian. He can talk for hours at the dinner table (Greeks are all about dinner and talking) about all the things his uncles and aunts and mother and father did when they were kids. He's also a consummate teller of jokes -- my little sister is second only to him in that arena. But my little sister is always the one who says, "He tells it wrong. Let me tell it." If you've ever said that, chances are you are a storyteller.

It was a long time before I realized that the reason I didn't get good grades in English class was because I had been raised a storyteller, and not a writer. So since I could tell a story as easily as breathing, I concentrated on writing. I wrote and wrote and wrote until I could write like I spoke, until someone reading my words was able to hear my character's voice in their head. Dialogue was easy. Exposition was hard. "Showing not telling" was virtually impossible. Sometimes it still is.

But I kept reading, and I kept writing. I learned vocabulary -- and different languages -- so that I could have a myriad ways to express myself. I wrote poetry, so I could sum up a situation or a thought or a feeling in as few words as possible. I wrote longhand on legal pads until I learned to write on a computer (I still can't touch type, but I don't mind). I wrote stories and poems and plays and television scripts and book reviews and birthday cards -- I tried my hand at a little bit of everything.

Eventually, all that hard work paid off…a little bit of everywhere.

6. How long have you been writing?

I officially started writing when I was eight years old. (I say "officially" because it's one of those moments that's just frozen in my brain.) I was in a gifted program called ALERT when I was in elementary school, and in the 4th grade we did a unit on poetry where we each had to write our own poem. Mine was called "Friendship":

Sometimes I wonder why
I am who I am
I tell the truth, I never lie
I'm gentle as a lamb
I don't have much to give you
In friendship as in pen
But I'll always need you
For you're my only friend.

(not bad for eight years old, is it?)

I looked at my round handwriting on the paper and the world clicked. I knew then that THAT was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

7. You did some acting when you were younger. Do you still?

Honey, I act every day. :)

Actually, that's not too far from the truth. Acting is possibly even closer to storytelling than writing. You know how to work inflection and intonation and impressions. You know how to manipulate the pregnant pause, how to hold the climax long enough to thrill the listener without making them restless. You learn empathy and passion, and you use them both to your advantage.

But there are obstacles. In writing, you have to learn how to spell. You have to learn vocabulary. You have to know how much you're writing is for you, and how much is for the audience. You have to know how to fill in backstory without making it LOOK like you're filling in backstory.

In acting, you have to know how to be loud, enthusiastic, and brave. I had the first two in spades…it was that last one I had to work on. I still am.

I had a brilliant Music teacher in elementary school, who put on elaborate school-wide musical plays every year. My first part was the role of Marcie in "We're all Stars, Charlie Brown." I was seven. My large-scale theatrical debut was as Kim, the Ravenal's daughter in "Showboat." Shortly after that, I starred in an eight-part PBS educational miniseries called "Pass it Along."

I haven't done any acting since high school -- but I am still a huge fan of my exceptionally talented friends and former classmates, like Patrick Kramer (who can be found acting and directing at the Boiler Room (www.boilerroomtheatre.com) and Paul Pierro (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1123920/). There's also that fantastic low-budget horror flick Blood Oath (www.myspace.com/albatrossfilms) that I helped produce…and a few others I've helped out on…

You never know what tomorrow will bring.

8. How long have you know Sherrilyn Kenyon?

Sherri and I met at a booksigning she had in 2003. (Eep! Are we really that old? Nooooo….)

She and Nicole and I hung out for a couple of hours -- I remember leaving that day and thinking, you know…it's too bad she's all famous and stuff. She would be a really great person to have as a girlfriend.

9. What's it like to work at Ingram Book Company? What does a "buyer" do?

I did an official interview with author Maurice Broaddus for the Horror Writers Association that answers all of those questions HERE.