BY KATHI KAMEN GOLDMARK AND SAM BARRY

The Author Enablers are here to answer your questions about writing and publishing. Together, Kathi and Sam have more than 25 years of experience in book publishing. Kathi is an author, radio producer and former publicist; Sam is a marketing manager at a major publishing company and a freelance editor. They are also proud members of the Rock Bottom Remainders, the all-author rock band founded by Kathi in 1992.

School admissions

Dear Author Enablers,

I want to write a book which requires access to the inner workings of a public school. I have received the consent of faculty members but have not yet approached the administrative personnel. I want to be prepared to address their concerns over privacy issues and would appreciate any guidance you can offer.

Laura Distelheim
Chicago, Illinois

For help in answering your question, we turned to Edward Humes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who spent a year at a California public high school to research his acclaimed book School of Dreams. Humes offers this advice:

"When School of Dreams was still in the ohmygod-am-I-ever-going-to-get-this-off-the-ground phase, I approached three schools as possible settings. School #1's principal wouldn't meet with me—the word 'liability' figured prominently in her terse e-mail. School #2 didn't even bother to reply (turns out my request arrived shortly before one of the teachers was arrested for sexual assault, sending me into no-comment land). School #3's principal said: The idea sounds fabulous, come meet the faculty and student leaders, and by the way, can I put you to work teaching writing workshops? He had this crazy idea that letting a journalist poke around could be positive for his school (and a source of free labor, too).

"So rule number one to make such a project work: Find an administration that thinks having you there is a Good Thing. Because then the seemingly insurmountable problems turn out to be quite surmountable:

Student Privacy: No minor student will be identified by name or described in an identifiable fashion without a release from the student and the student's parents.

Privacy of Faculty and Staff: Signed releases for them, too, if they are identifiable. (Make it clear, however, that public actions by school staff are fair game.)

The Girl Who Gets Pregnant: Handle sensitively, using the same standards news organizations employ to avoid damaging the lives of children and victims.

Requests to Read the Book in Advance of Publication: Tell anyone who asks that you're contractually barred from distributing your manuscript but committed to fair and accurate portrayals of individuals and events."

Humes (whose next book, Over Here: How the G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream, will be published in October) is clearly a pro at dealing with academia, and we hope you can put his recommendations to good use.

Dear Author Enablers,

My book is coming out in paperback soon. With the hardcover, there was a serious misconception that it is "true crime" because it is about my father's murder. This is not a whodunit or a cry for justice—it's about the emotional aftermath of the murder and was well-received as a literary memoir. But the hardcover was shelved at the chain stores as true crime, and now it looks like the paperback will be filed that way, too. I've asked my publisher for help, but I'm told that nothing can be done. Any advice as to how I could convince the big chains that this book is memoir, not true crime?

Rachel Howard, author of The Lost Night
San Francisco

This is a problem for many authors, and not much solace comes from the fact that you are in great company. (We once saw Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine in the self-help section.) The sales director of a major publisher had this to say about your dilemma:

"The first stop in assigning or correcting the category is with the publisher. What BISAC (Book Industry Standards And Communications) code has been assigned to the book and what category is on the book jacket? Those designations will find their way into the catalog and in turn inform the sales rep.

"In the case of The Lost Night, a quick search of reviews supports the author's point. Nearly every review, including the one in The New York Times, says flat out that this is a memoir, not a true crime book. It might help to assemble these reviews and send them with a note to the agent, who can make the case with the publisher."

We'll add that, on a grassroots level, you (and your friends and family) might want to grab a few copies and move them to the right section whenever you are in a chain store and no one is looking!

Thanks for writing,
THE AUTHOR ENABLERS