Nonfiction Writer Conference Publishing Success Story: Edward Carpenter

Name: Edward Carpenter

Book Title: Blue Helmet: My Year as a UN Peacekeeper in South Sudan

NFAA: Tell our members a bit about your experience at last year’s Nonfiction Writers Conference, held in May. Was it your first NFWC conference? What were some of the most helpful or interesting aspects of it?

EC: So, my first experience with the Nonfiction Writer’s Conference was in 2022 – I was really excited by the prospect of learning from experts in the field and meeting with agents and editors – and I wasn’t disappointed! My VIP status was so worth it – I’ve encouraged my wife to attend this year’s NFWC with me, and I’m hoping that she’ll have the same great experience pitching her debut non-fiction book this year that I had in 2022!

NFAA: How did you approach the pitch-the-agents session? Did you research the agents or prepare in any particular way for your pitches?

EC: I didn’t specifically research the agents themselves – instead, I used the two days between when I found out that I’d been selected and the session itself to polish the pitch that I’d designed in one of my Harvard writing classes during the Fall 2021 semester. This let me deliver the pitch smoothly and with confidence, getting the essential elements of the hook, synopsis, and “three why’s” in well under the time limit. That gave the agents time to ask questions – which, again, I was well-prepared for.

NFAA: Spoiler alert: Your book was picked up by a publisher and it’s coming out in 2025. Congratulations! Tell us about your book, and about the process of working with your publisher to get your book to publication.

EC: Well, the book is Blue Helmet: My Year as a UN Peacekeeper in South Sudan, which was released on March first, and quickly achieved Amazon ‘Top New Release’ and ‘#1 Bestseller’ status in the US and overseas. It’s a memoir which gives an account of a country, a conflict, and the institution of peacekeeping – a book about good intentions, broken systems, and the people working to safeguard civilians in one of the world’s most dangerous places. Which proves easier said than done. In fiction, the author must create strife – but in this story, as with so many memoirs, the conflicts are all too real.

So, that is a bit about the book! As for the traditional publishing experience, I found it to be an eye-opening experience, and getting an agent was just the first step! My agent helped me to refine my book proposal and to get it in front of a lot of big publishing houses and a few smaller ones – and in October, it was picked up by Potomac Books. That was a great fit, as Potomac had printed some of my favorite military memoirs, including Guy Sajer’s The Forgotten Soldier and Teresa Fazio’s Fidelis. Unfortunately, my agent had a family medical crisis and had to withdraw from the process at that point – so I got to learn how to negotiate a book contract by doing it myself! Fortunately, the team at Potomac is great and the road to publication was relatively straightforward. I had a year to deliver the first draft, one round of reviews and revisions, then copy-editing, proofing, and indexing. I have to say, working with a professional copyeditor is a truly amazing and humbling experience – my hat is off to Vicki Chamlee for her outstanding job on Blue Helmet!

NFAA: Were there any surprises along the writing or publishing journey for you?

EC: I was surprised by how hard it is to squeeze a year’s worth of memoir into 90,000 words – and how many great vignettes ended up on the cutting room floor. And the amount of work that goes into indexing was a bit of a revelation – I think I might outsource that important part of my next non-fiction book!

NFAA: What’s next for you as an author?

EC: Well, I have a biography of a Victorian-era power couple, Lady Florentia Sale and her husband, Major General Robert “Fighting Bob” Sale that I’ll be pitching, along with the audiobook release of my back catalog of short fiction. I also have a completed historical fiction novel which I’m planning to release via Kindle Vella, and a lot of work to do on the translation, audiobook, and foreign rights for Blue Helmet – so, yes – kind of a lot on right now!

NFAA: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

EC: Regarding the book itself, I’m donating all of my royalties to “World Without War” – a non-profit organization focused on the abolition of armed conflict through transparency, advocacy, and education. I chose to do this because I didn’t feel right making a personal profit from a story that owed so much to the misfortunes of others.

Regarding the profession of a non-fiction author, you need to plan on devoting a certain percentage of your time to building and maintaining your platform – even if you’re in the process of writing your first book. I published a few journal articles while I was writing Blue Helmet, but I wish I had been more prolific and worked harder to get some book excerpts released in advance. Writing is hard – marketing is even harder. Start early and be prepared to spend some time learning about advertising and promotion, and then to spend some money on both. A traditional press will have a marketing department and will probably assign you a publicist – but my advice is to “hope for the best, but plan for the worst.” Your publisher’s marketing and publicity folks may get you reviews in a big outlet, a competitive pricing scheme on Amazon, attention from social media influencers and a book tour with author talks and signings – but I wouldn’t count on it. So, have a plan to make these things happen on your own – even if it means hiring a PR firm to help!

Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Helmet-Peacekeeper-South-Sudan/dp/164012599X/

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/blue-helmet-my-year-as-a-un-peacekeeper-in-south-sudan-edward-h-carpenter/21434763

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blue-helmet-edward-h-carpenter/1145436967

Publisher: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/search-results-grid/?imprint=potomac-books

Websites:
https://ehcarpenter.com/
https://worldwithout.org/

Social media:

Amazon Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Edward-Carpenter/author/B0055WH3TE

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-carpenter-723b38/

Twitter / X: https://x.com/e_h_carpenter

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5332934.Edward_H_Carpenter

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100047641015852