| Interview with Cari Gelber |
First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My
name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
Growing up I’ve always loved to keep journals- especially documenting all of my travels around the world.
When I started to work with bands, they would tell me the craziest stories about their road trips and I just
started to write them all down. One day, just out of the blue I said I should write a book about this…so I did!
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
It’s definitely been an interesting one. This has been a two year process. First I did research on literary
agents. There were thousands , I didn’t know where to start. I started to weed through the ones that would
accept unsolicited query letters. I found an agent last August, who I worked closely with for about half a
year. We reach out to a handle of publishers and did many revisions of the book – but there was always
something inside my head saying to just go for it and self-publish. I have many outlets to get it out and with
the Internet today- and so many great websites (like yours!) to help spread the word, I decided to do just
that. I created a website, a MySpace page, I have a publicist and a network of bands to help get this out.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
Rising Star is a story for every young adult that’s always dreamed of being in a band, or working in the
music industry. It gives the reader a behind-the-scenes look of how the music industry works!
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
I have been managing a band out of Cincinnati, OH called Oval Opus (http://www.ovalopus.com) for the
past 5 years. Every weekend there is another story, about a fan, concert venue or college show. My own
experiences of being a young, female in the business (since I was fourteen) has also found it’s way into the
novel.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My mom would read each chapter and completely destroy it. I would get upset and then would go back and
read it and realize she was right. My cousin is an English teacher so she had a great time going through the
manuscript with a red pen and on any given day, my father can be found walking around NYC with the book
under his arm.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Hmm…guilty pleasure- Kraft Mac & Cheese and Sushi (not together though!) I can eat sushi every day of
the week.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Brush my teeth, take a sip of diet coke (guilty pleasure) and turn on my computer to start my day.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
I have a section in my closet full of art supplies- scrapbook paper, boxes of mosaics, beads…or…maybe my
collection of Fleer Basketball cards from Junior High school- yeah that one would probably surprise you
more!
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
I’d have to say Turquoise – it’s always been my favorite color. It’s so vibrant and reminds me of the ocean.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
Oh that’s an easy one- my favorite is “Cathy” because my mom’s name is Cathy, and she has the same dry
sense of humor as the cartoon. Which cartoon character is most like me…I was always a “Betty” from Archie
comics. They were my favorite!
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!"), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
Am I allowed to go into the future? If yes, then I would love to see where technology is in 50 years from now.
It seems like every day there is a new product coming out that is more advanced then the next and I can’t
wait to see what’s next. If I did have to go back in time, maybe the 1960’s because music was such a
prominent part of life then, and some incredible artists came out of that time.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I really love all types of music, live hip hop, pop, rock, alternative, punk- a little bit of everything. My favorite
artist of the moment is Matisyahu- other staple artists for me are Train, Counting Crows, The Roots,
Matchbox 20, Green Day. I also love more independent bands, there are so many amazing emerging artists
out- Citizen Cope, Mat Kearney, Marc Broussard, Oval Opus (my band!), Zox…I can keep going. I can’t
listen to music while I write. I get really distracted and had often found myself writing the lyrics instead of my
book!
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
My favorite TV shows are Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, American Idol, Six Feet Under (r.i.p.!),
and I have some guilty pleasures that I am OK with admitting too- like Real World and Laguna Beach. I’m
not big with watching a movie more then once. I actually just was at the movies last night- the Tribeca Film
Festival is here in New York City this week and next and I went to a premiere of short films that were
incredible.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Keep on reading! I think it’s so great that reading in teens has definitely grown over the years. With
teenagers forming book clubs, and blogs about their favorite YA book- I see an interest in reading that I
have never seen before. So keep on discovering new artists and continue to share your favorite books with
your friends.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
Hmm….well I JUST published this book (like last week) so I am going to focus my efforts on getting this one
out right now. Although, I wrote a screenplay with a friend of mine last year that we have started to talk
about turning into a book that might actually be able to be the sequel to Rising Star. So you never know! As
long as I stay in the music industry and work with bands, I guarantee I will have no shortage of stories to
write about.
Check out the website http://www.risingstarthebook.com.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
Growing up I’ve always loved to keep journals- especially documenting all of my travels around the world.
When I started to work with bands, they would tell me the craziest stories about their road trips and I just
started to write them all down. One day, just out of the blue I said I should write a book about this…so I did!
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
It’s definitely been an interesting one. This has been a two year process. First I did research on literary
agents. There were thousands , I didn’t know where to start. I started to weed through the ones that would
accept unsolicited query letters. I found an agent last August, who I worked closely with for about half a
year. We reach out to a handle of publishers and did many revisions of the book – but there was always
something inside my head saying to just go for it and self-publish. I have many outlets to get it out and with
the Internet today- and so many great websites (like yours!) to help spread the word, I decided to do just
that. I created a website, a MySpace page, I have a publicist and a network of bands to help get this out.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
Rising Star is a story for every young adult that’s always dreamed of being in a band, or working in the
music industry. It gives the reader a behind-the-scenes look of how the music industry works!
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
I have been managing a band out of Cincinnati, OH called Oval Opus (http://www.ovalopus.com) for the
past 5 years. Every weekend there is another story, about a fan, concert venue or college show. My own
experiences of being a young, female in the business (since I was fourteen) has also found it’s way into the
novel.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My mom would read each chapter and completely destroy it. I would get upset and then would go back and
read it and realize she was right. My cousin is an English teacher so she had a great time going through the
manuscript with a red pen and on any given day, my father can be found walking around NYC with the book
under his arm.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Hmm…guilty pleasure- Kraft Mac & Cheese and Sushi (not together though!) I can eat sushi every day of
the week.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Brush my teeth, take a sip of diet coke (guilty pleasure) and turn on my computer to start my day.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
I have a section in my closet full of art supplies- scrapbook paper, boxes of mosaics, beads…or…maybe my
collection of Fleer Basketball cards from Junior High school- yeah that one would probably surprise you
more!
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
I’d have to say Turquoise – it’s always been my favorite color. It’s so vibrant and reminds me of the ocean.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
Oh that’s an easy one- my favorite is “Cathy” because my mom’s name is Cathy, and she has the same dry
sense of humor as the cartoon. Which cartoon character is most like me…I was always a “Betty” from Archie
comics. They were my favorite!
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!"), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
Am I allowed to go into the future? If yes, then I would love to see where technology is in 50 years from now.
It seems like every day there is a new product coming out that is more advanced then the next and I can’t
wait to see what’s next. If I did have to go back in time, maybe the 1960’s because music was such a
prominent part of life then, and some incredible artists came out of that time.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I really love all types of music, live hip hop, pop, rock, alternative, punk- a little bit of everything. My favorite
artist of the moment is Matisyahu- other staple artists for me are Train, Counting Crows, The Roots,
Matchbox 20, Green Day. I also love more independent bands, there are so many amazing emerging artists
out- Citizen Cope, Mat Kearney, Marc Broussard, Oval Opus (my band!), Zox…I can keep going. I can’t
listen to music while I write. I get really distracted and had often found myself writing the lyrics instead of my
book!
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
My favorite TV shows are Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, American Idol, Six Feet Under (r.i.p.!),
and I have some guilty pleasures that I am OK with admitting too- like Real World and Laguna Beach. I’m
not big with watching a movie more then once. I actually just was at the movies last night- the Tribeca Film
Festival is here in New York City this week and next and I went to a premiere of short films that were
incredible.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Keep on reading! I think it’s so great that reading in teens has definitely grown over the years. With
teenagers forming book clubs, and blogs about their favorite YA book- I see an interest in reading that I
have never seen before. So keep on discovering new artists and continue to share your favorite books with
your friends.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
Hmm….well I JUST published this book (like last week) so I am going to focus my efforts on getting this one
out right now. Although, I wrote a screenplay with a friend of mine last year that we have started to talk
about turning into a book that might actually be able to be the sequel to Rising Star. So you never know! As
long as I stay in the music industry and work with bands, I guarantee I will have no shortage of stories to
write about.
Check out the website http://www.risingstarthebook.com.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
