By Ericka McIntyre
Novelist and screenwriter Abdi Nazemian’s 2019 YA novel, Like a Love Story, has made the Panorama Picks list twice in 2020, in two different regions—Hawaii in Q1, and the Midwest in Q2. This story of a young gay Iranian boy and his friends in 1980s New York published by HarperCollins imprint Balzer & Bray was a Summer 2019 IndieNext pick, 2020 Stonewall Honor award winner, and a 2020–2021 Project Lit Book Club selection.
Ericka McIntyre recently spoke with Nazemian for the Panorama Project about his book, and what its popularity among library patrons might mean for other authors, booksellers, and publishers.
Abdi Nazemian's Like a Love Story—2020 Stonewall Honor award winner and Panorama Picks
Panorama Project: Like a Love Story was released last year; did you get to do a book tour?
Abdi Nazemian: I did; it was a book tour along with a group of other authors who all had queer books, which was really fun because it created discussions about queer life that were fascinating.
PP: How do you think public libraries might be able to help authors who had the misfortune of releasing their books this year, during the pandemic, and booksellers who are trying to hold on now?
Nazemian: The book business is…very tough. And a lot of it really is [conducted] person to person. Libraries play a pivotal role right now because their communities are coming to them and authors need to be connected to those communities. Libraries can help in curating and organizing [virtual] events that will help their community discover new books. That’s the biggest hurdle—how do you get readers to be aware of your book? Whatever libraries can do to build that awareness for new authors is very welcome.
For authors out there who may be nervous about launching their books: Realize that books sometimes take word of mouth to grow. If people respond to a book, then little by little, the book starts to gain steam. There's life for books past that first month. And a lot of that is thanks to libraries and booksellers and library organizations because they're curators.
PP: Why do you think your book is getting attention in libraries in these particular regions? Did its marketing strategy have anything to do with it, or do you think it’s something else?
Nazemian: Project Lit’s support toward the beginning of quarantine probably went a long way. When they chose it, it put it at the front of people's minds. And I gave a speech when I accepted my Stonewall Honor; that probably helped a lot.
And maybe…obviously, there are massive differences between what happened with the AIDS epidemic and the current COVID pandemic, but there are also lots of similarities. Unfortunately, we are battling another virus and another government that doesn't know how to protect their citizens or better yet, doesn't care. Which is exactly what happened with Reagan and which is so much of what my book is about. In my author's note, I say one of the reasons I wrote it is because people, when they talk about history repeating itself, they mean the worst of history. But, I wrote the book because I wanted to give people a guide for repeating the best in history…. Maybe people are turning to the book for guidance. It's a hopeful book, about the power of love and community and friendship, even when things look pretty bleak.
Who knows why people turn to certain things? But I think those are some factors.
PP: Where do libraries fit in your overall platform? Have you actively pursued readings in them?
Nazemian: I very much actively work with my local libraries. I've done a lot of discussions at libraries. A lot of the librarians now at this point know me, so they'll email me. There's a library very close to me and the librarian and I have gotten very friendly; we'll do events together, whether it's in person or, during quarantine, on Instagram. I think it's great for the library because it helps them feel vital to their audience, but it's even better for the authors, because it's just very hard to get books in front of people. So if libraries and booksellers aren't doing it, there aren't a lot of other avenues to get those books out. I find libraries to be hugely important.
PP: When you’re working directly with librarians, how involved is your publisher in the process? Are they getting any formal feedback or data from libraries on how your events and book are doing to understand their impact?
Nazemian: My publisher is very involved in outreach to libraries and to schools, and I'm sure they have their own process of understanding the impact the book is having. When I speak directly to a librarian about an event, I’ll make sure to let my publisher know so they can be aware. But I don’t see any formal data myself, and honestly I don’t need to. I personally feel like being too involved in that part of the business can be a little toxic for my creativity.
PP: What insights do you think the popularity of your book in libraries offers to publishers, authors, and booksellers about libraries’ impact on discovery of books and their retail sales?
Nazemian: My publishers have just been so incredibly supportive of this book. I know that the school and libraries [marketing] team really did an effective job of getting it out there. So that’s the first step: the publisher’s schools and library team getting the book to librarians. Then if the librarians support it, their job is to put it in front of their community of readers. And then if the readers support it, they put it on social media or write reviews, which helps get it on the radar of others. It’s the same kind of domino effect with booksellers; the [publisher’s] bookstore team gets it on the radar of bookstores. And if you’re lucky, like in my case, it’s an IndieNext pick, which means bookstores put it on a more prominent display and it's in their newsletters. There were so many kinds of points of contact and points of entry at different stages of the book, and you really need passionate supporters everywhere; that starts at the publisher.
PP: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Nazemian: If there's a lot of people at libraries requesting this book first of all, it warms my heart. Because it's in a time where I have very little human contact; knowing that people are having a relationship with these characters feels like human contact to me because through the story, I feel like I have a relationship with the readers. I would also say that if you're interested in queer history, if the reason you're going to this book is because of that interest, there is a wealth of other material out there as well to be read and to be studied…don't limit yourself, read tons of queer books, read tons of history, and get all the different perspectives.
Abdi Nazemian spent his childhood in a series of exciting locations (Tehran, Paris, Toronto, New York), but could usually be found in his bedroom watching old movies and reading. His first novel, The Walk-In Closet, was awarded Best Debut at the Lambda Literary Awards. He has written two young adult novels, both published by Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins: The Authentics (2017) and Like A Love Story (2019), an Indie Next Pick, Junior Library Guild Selection, Stonewall Honor book, and a best book of the year from EW, Audible, Buzzfeed, YALSA, NYPL and more. Abdi lives in Los Angeles with his two children and husband, and holds dual citizenship between the United States and Canada. Learn more about him at abdaddy.com.
Ericka McIntyre is a freelance editor and writer with more than twenty years of experience working in media and publishing, for a wide array of employers and clients. She is also Editor-at-Large of Writer’s Digest, a 100-year-old brand serving the writing community. In her current work, she focuses on writing for a handful of regular clients, with a heavy emphasis on book coaching for independent authors. She works as a development editor, copyeditor, and proofreader on both fiction and nonfiction, across multiple genres. Learn more about her and her work at ErickaMcIntyre.com.
Panorama Picks provides local booksellers with quarterly lists of popular fiction, nonfiction, and young adult titles that are in demand at public libraries—optimized for local interest via regional groupings aligned with the American Booksellers Association’s (ABA) regional associations. This unique program uses aggregated, anonymized hold list data from public libraries across the United States to identify recently published titles beyond the biggest bestsellers that have long wait times for local library patrons—unmet demand that can help activate inventory, and identify opportunities for author events.