Ask the Author: Kim Kavin
Answered Questions (6)
Kim Kavin
During the marketing tour for my last book, "Little Boy Blue," which was the story of how an army of people rescued my dog from a high-kill shelter. Blue and I would be at book signings, and people would look at the book, look at him, look back at the book, look at me and say, "I can't read these kinds of books. The dog always dies at the end."
Blue was about 2 at the time, still very puppy-like and crazy friendly, doing full-butt wiggles, and I'd say to the people, "This is Blue! Alive and well! Lives all the way to the last page and then some. Would you like to give him a treat? Look, he's wagging his tail, he's so happy to meet you!"
And they'd pet him and give him a treat and say, "Thanks anyway, but I know the dog will die at the end. I can't handle these stories. I just can't read books like this."
This happened to me so many times that I stopped counting, and I realized how insurmountable this perception has become, that if anyone involved with any kind of media is talking about serious issues regarding dogs, then the story is going to be sad. So I started thinking about how to create a new framework for having the conversation about what's happening to all kinds of dogs nowadays, on the breeding and rescuing sides alike, that won't scare people away from actually reading the story.
I sat back and thought about it for the better part of a year, and I came up with the idea of following the money, trying to write the first-ever business book about dogs that shows us the huge global industry we're all buying into with every dog we bring home. Its title is "The Dog Merchants," and it will publish on May 2, 2016, as the lead spring title for Pegasus Books.
One of my biggest inspirations for "The Dog Merchants" was Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma," because it changed the way I spend my money when shopping for food. He didn't write a book that said, "I'm a vegan, and if you ever eat a chicken sandwich, you belong in Hell right next to Adolf Hitler." Instead, he wrote a book whose message was, "Look, you're built to be an omnivore, and it's okay to want a chicken sandwich once in a while, but can we please stop giving money to people who treat the chickens badly? Let's pay an extra $1 for the chicken sandwich to support the farmer who lets the birds exist in sunshine and fresh air, instead of eight to a cage."
It's a message of conscious consumerism, of knowing what you're buying into on a bigger level, and of spending your money in a way that makes the whole industry change if they want to keep your business. That's what I'm trying to achieve with "The Dog Merchants" too. I'm trying to show people that dogs are a far bigger business than we all think, that we're immersed in marketing messages that we don't even realize are business-driven on a multibillion-dollar scale, and that we really can stop a lot of the worst practices on the breeding and rescue sides alike if we become more conscious consumers.
Blue was about 2 at the time, still very puppy-like and crazy friendly, doing full-butt wiggles, and I'd say to the people, "This is Blue! Alive and well! Lives all the way to the last page and then some. Would you like to give him a treat? Look, he's wagging his tail, he's so happy to meet you!"
And they'd pet him and give him a treat and say, "Thanks anyway, but I know the dog will die at the end. I can't handle these stories. I just can't read books like this."
This happened to me so many times that I stopped counting, and I realized how insurmountable this perception has become, that if anyone involved with any kind of media is talking about serious issues regarding dogs, then the story is going to be sad. So I started thinking about how to create a new framework for having the conversation about what's happening to all kinds of dogs nowadays, on the breeding and rescuing sides alike, that won't scare people away from actually reading the story.
I sat back and thought about it for the better part of a year, and I came up with the idea of following the money, trying to write the first-ever business book about dogs that shows us the huge global industry we're all buying into with every dog we bring home. Its title is "The Dog Merchants," and it will publish on May 2, 2016, as the lead spring title for Pegasus Books.
One of my biggest inspirations for "The Dog Merchants" was Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma," because it changed the way I spend my money when shopping for food. He didn't write a book that said, "I'm a vegan, and if you ever eat a chicken sandwich, you belong in Hell right next to Adolf Hitler." Instead, he wrote a book whose message was, "Look, you're built to be an omnivore, and it's okay to want a chicken sandwich once in a while, but can we please stop giving money to people who treat the chickens badly? Let's pay an extra $1 for the chicken sandwich to support the farmer who lets the birds exist in sunshine and fresh air, instead of eight to a cage."
It's a message of conscious consumerism, of knowing what you're buying into on a bigger level, and of spending your money in a way that makes the whole industry change if they want to keep your business. That's what I'm trying to achieve with "The Dog Merchants" too. I'm trying to show people that dogs are a far bigger business than we all think, that we're immersed in marketing messages that we don't even realize are business-driven on a multibillion-dollar scale, and that we really can stop a lot of the worst practices on the breeding and rescue sides alike if we become more conscious consumers.
Kim Kavin
I've never understood writers who say they lack inspiration. I have about a thousand ideas a day for things I want to write. My problem is figuring out which ideas to execute, and which to let slide.
Kim Kavin
Marketing! My new book "The Dog Merchants: Inside the Big Business of Breeders, Pet Stores, and Rescuers" will publish May 2, 2016. That's about six months from now, which means the publisher and I are starting the advance marketing.
Most writers don't realize that marketing a book can be just as much work as writing it. That's the way it goes if you're doing the job well.
Most writers don't realize that marketing a book can be just as much work as writing it. That's the way it goes if you're doing the job well.
Kim Kavin
I'm stealing this from the great Rick Reilly, who said it to me when I was in college: Never write a sentence you've already read.
Kim Kavin
People pay me money to research and learn all kinds of new things, to travel and explore the world, and to express myself creatively. What could be better than that?
Kim Kavin
Writer's block usually hits me mid-afternoon, so I take a long walk in the park with my dogs. By the time we get back, after a few miles, everything is clear again.
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