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While Pittsburgh is home to many published novelists, relatively few make their living solely from fiction. Most also teach or have other day jobs.
One local novelist who’s experienced a bit of commercial success is Zoje Stage, whose latest, “Mothered,” is new on Amazon imprint Thomas & Mercer.
Stage, who visits Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures’ Made Local series Thu., March 16, has been writing fiction full-time for five years now. But the gig is more tenuous than a casual observer might imagine.
Stage grew up in Squirrel Hill. She was 49 when her first published novel, “Baby Teeth,” came out, in 2018. (Here’s my interview with her about that book.) The psychological horror thriller described the twisted relationship between a woman and her — not to put too fine a point on it — sociopathic 7-year-old daughter.
When she wrote “Baby Teeth,” Stage was living in Rochester, N.Y., surviving on federal disability checks and a part-time library job. She placed the manuscript with a literary agent who sold it to the venerable St. Martin’s Press, and secured Stage an advance of $125,000.
Needless to say, the sum changed her life. She moved back to Pittsburgh and watched as effusive reviews poured in from outlets ranging from The New York Times Book Review to People magazine. Strong sales followed, and those proceeds quickly covered Stage’s advance – meaning she started earning royalties she’s still receiving today. That, plus the advances on her subsequent three novels, pays the bills.
“This is my job now,” she said. “This is how I make a living. I never saw that coming!”
Still, the road hasn’t been totally smooth. She wrote a second novel, but St. Martin’s wasn’t interested, so she had to find a new publisher. Both 2020’s “Wonderland” and 2021’s “Getaway” landed with Mulholland Books.
Now comes “Mothered.” But even an author with a best-selling first novel, and three more under her belt, isn’t quite living the dream. That first, $125,000 advance, for instance, remains a career high. “My advances have gone steadily down,” Stage said. “The publishing business is a much harder, much more complicated business than most people understand it to be.”
You’ve probably heard the pandemic boosted book sales — and indeed, even last year, more books were sold in the U.S. than in 2019. But, as Stage notes, the pandemic spike disproportionately aided back catalogs and well-established authors. Relative newcomers like herself didn’t necessarily get a bump.
Stage’s business model also plays a role. In a move that might seem counterintuitive, she has turned down multi-book deals. “I have fought pretty hard to have one-book deals,” she said. The trouble with multi-book deals is tight timelines: The second book might be due 12 months after the first. “I don’t know if I could write that way,” she said. “It would really be so much pressure.”
“Mothered” is a psychological horror story about a woman whose mother comes to live with her during a pandemic. “The ghosts and the skeletons in the closet … come out while they’re living together,” Stage said.
Advance reviewers seemed pleased. “Stage thrusts dread upon readers from her book’s first sentences and continues to escalate the tension with every page,” wrote Library Journal.
Stage is hopeful, but with a wary eye on the future. “There’s always a precarious element” in a writing career like hers, she said.
The book she completed in 2022 didn’t sell, for example. Past advances and current royalties only go so far. “[In] 2023, if I don’t sell a book, I’m going to be in big trouble,” she said. “That’s just the reality of the situation.”
On March 16, Stage visits the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall for an onstage conversation with Grace Doyle, an associate publisher at Amazon Publishing. More information about the event is here.
WESA's Weekend Picks
- Point Park’s Conservatory Theatre Company stages the Pittsburgh premiere of acclaimed playwright Jacklyn Backhaus’ “Men on Boats,” inspired by an 1869 river expedition through the Grand Canyon. There are six performances at the Pittsburgh Playhouse’s Highmark Theatre, Wed., March 15-Sun., March 19.
- A new classically inspired work highlights “Rediscover,” an evening-length program by Texture Contemporary Ballet that also features a live-music collaboration with Pittsburgh’s Cello Fury. There are three performances at the New Hazlett Theater, Fri., March 17-Sun., March 19.
- Faces of Change, the Carnegie Mellon 2023 International Film Festival, returns with 12 recent award-winning feature films from countries including Poland, Pakistan, Taiwan, and France, all Pittsburgh premieres. The fest runs Thu., March 16-April 2, with screenings at CMU’s McConomy Auditorium, the Harris Theater, and the August Wilson Center.
- Manfred Honeck conducts Mozart’s Requiem — the composer’s final completed work —in a special program featuring narration by famed actor F. Murray Abraham. The concert, also including a new commissioned work by James MacMillan, gets three performances at Heinz Hall, Fri., March 17-Sun., March 19.
- It’s the final week for “Intensional Particle” and “Mold 1 Installation,” a pair of immersive video installations by avant-garde Japanese choreographer and artist Hiroaki Umeda, on display at Wood Street Galleries through Sun., March 19.
