“CODA” stars Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur Reveal The Process behind Their Award-Winning Film

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Interviews

Published on Tuesday, 22 March 2022 13:49

Written by Brad Balfour

“CODA”
Writer/director: Sian Heder
Cast: Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin, Eugenio Derbez, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Amy Forsyth, Kevin Chapman

In a major triumph for deaf representation in cinema, the ensemble of “CODA” (Children of Deaf Adults) clinched the top prize at the 2022 Screen Actors Guild Awards winning the coveted prize for Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. The acclaimed feature stars newcomer Emilia Jones as a hearing teen raised by a deaf mother (Marlee Matlin), father (Troy Kotsur) and older brother (Daniel Durant).

Taking place in Gloucester, Massachusetts, daughter Ruby Rossi is the only hearing member of her family; parents Frank and Jackie and older brother Leo are all deaf. She assists with the family fishing business and plans to join it full-time after finishing high school. But then she joins the Choir where she discovers she has a beautiful singing voice. This changes her life's trajectory.

Written and directed by Sian Heder, “CODA” is an English-language remake of the French-language film “La Famille Bélier,” which was released in 2014 and was a French box office success. Philippe Rousselet — one of the original film's producers — had the rights to do a remake. He and producer Patrick Wachsberger approached Heder to direct a remake for a United States audience. Heder said, "They were interested in adapting the film, but they wanted someone to make it unique and take the premise from the original and, also, reinvent it.

For playing Sarah Norman in the romantic drama "Children of a Lesser God," Matlin's 1987 Best Actress Oscar win made history as the only deaf performer to win an Academy Award as well as the youngest winner in the Best Actress category.

Additionally, Kotsur made further history on Sunday, February 27th, 2022, as the first deaf actor ever to receive an individual SAG Award for his supporting performance. As tender-hearted fisherman Frank Rossi, prevailing over hearing actors Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Jared Leto and Kodi Smit-McPhee. And on Sunday, March 6th, at the 37th Independent Spirit Awards, Kotsur also won the Best Supporting Male Actor award for "CODA" and is the first deaf actor to win a Spirit Award.

The film has had further wins at BAFTA, Critics Choice Awards, PGA Best Picture and WGA Best Adapted Screenplay. CODA is streaming on Apple TV+.

This Q&A was held after a recent screening of the film just before the SAG Awards night.

Q: Marlee, when you read director Sian Heder’s screenplay, how did Jackie speak to you? What was the sense of her that you got about the character?

MM: When I first read the script, I went “Hel-looo”. This isn’t something that I typically get to read. So I looked at the script. It was as if I had experienced it myself.

My character Jackie, and I … One thing that perhaps we are the same about is that we’re deaf. Other than that, there’s so many things in this script that I found challenging. It really, really, really thrilled me to pieces. I knew that when I read about Frank, I thought of Troy immediately. It really was a script that I knew I wanted to do. And I went after it.

Q: Troy, when you read the script by Sian Heder and saw Frank on the page. What connected you to him and what keys to him did you find in the script?

TK: Well, so many reasons. I had so many connections with Frank. First of all, I told myself that “it’s about f***ing time.” Finally you all get to see Volker ASL (American Sign Language) on the big screen.

I had been waiting for so long. The two of us have already seen all of your movies, where we see the subtitles with all your swear words, and we’re like “Okay. But in sign language? Are you all ready?” Imagine what happened at the MPAA. They decided to give us an “R” rating at first. We were like, “Wow, we have to go back and forth and really fight with them with our whole team to get them to reduce their rating to PG‑13.”

And that’s a part of deaf culture: to us, we feel like that vulgar sign language is just a part of our culture. But are you hearing people ready? That’s why it was so cool. It’s fascinating to see that in the script, first of all.

Secondly, I was thrilled that CODAs, Children of Deaf Adults, have a relation to music. Really, the children of deaf adults do, but it has a double meaning. “Coda” has a meaning in music as a word, and also in deaf culture. I wasn’t aware of the music side but I was aware of the CODA side, and was happy to portray that onscreen.

There’s been a long history, as Marlee mentioned, 35 years. Typically, though, there will just be one deaf character’s appearance in a film. In this film we have an ensemble: there’s three characters, including our son, Leo, played by Daniel Durant. So that was incredible.

So thank you. I wish Daniel was here. He’s always here with us, right? History was made with this film, with three deaf actors authentically carrying the film. And I have to admit, I would not be here today without Marlee. And Sian, our director. I just give them all the credit. For Marlee’s 35 years representing the deaf community, she kept me inspired. Until now.

Q: Troy, you mentioned Daniel [applause]. This is an amazing family. And speaking of family, you guys filmed up in Massachusetts. Obviously, the bond between the actors on a film like this must be extraordinary. What was it like filming the four of you in an actual house the production found that they converted into the house they needed for the film? What were the close-quarters like in terms of bonding an ensemble as you have done here?

MM: Absolutely perfect. The house was ready to fall apart, actually. The furniture was here and there. It was amongst all these beautiful coastal houses, and then the Rossi family house is just sitting there in the middle of it all.

Actually, only a few of the crew and actors were able to be in the house at one time because structurally, it was not able to hold [everybody]. But it really was authentic. the house itself had character, personality. It was in Gloucester. The location manager found it.

The family was one among other hard-working people who did their best to earn a living and mind their own business. They were very supportive of each other. This movie chronicles the levels of all the things that happen in their family throughout the film. The journey that they go through.

There’s so much that this movie that entails changes. Like the fact that we as parents learn about our daughter and her dreams, desires and aspirations, which completely go in a different direction than we had ever anticipated for her in our world. She wants to go into music. We learn as parents to adapt to her dreams, to her desire to be in the music life. I fortunately had no involvement with any of the fishing things. But he can tell you about that.

Q: Troy, you guys on the boat — Daniel and Emilia — in some ways could have become commercial fishermen. You loved being on that boat.

TK: I had never seen a whale before. Where I grew up in Arizona since birth, there are just some lakes. You have very soft, rippling waves — not like out on the ocean bumping up and down in this fishing boat. I was not used to it, so I had to get my sea legs.

We got up at two o’clock in the morning because that’s one of the best times to catch fish. That’s a time of high activity where they’re feeding, and is a great time to get them in your fishing net. You hold them all up when the sun is rising and then you have to divide them. You have the lobsters, the squid, the monkfish with a little light -– they can really snap at you. And you have to sort them out.

It was a bit awkward for me at first, but our two weeks of training out on the fishing boat really helped me to become Frank Rossi as a character. There were a few things out on the boat where we improvised with a signs that would really fit that fishing culture or fishing sign language.

We had to wear really heavy rubber boots and clothing, heavy rubber gloves, and that affected my sign language. I had to adapt to it. It was a bit more like gesturing with the gloves on and that influenced my characterization of Frank Rossi.

Daniel really struggled with tying a fishing knot. It’s like a kid who can’t tie their shoe laces. So imagine untangling this fishing net -- he was really struggling. At home -– we were roommates -– and I watched him practicing these knots over and over again. The next day, he went out and he was still failing to tie these knots.

We learned so much about going through that experience being out on the fishing boat. These actual fishermen were being surrounded by Popeyes. The way that they walked and talked and behaved. So after they would finish work, they’d go to the bar in the morning – it was like 10 o’clock in the morning. That was their nighttime — their drink after work. That was their fisherman culture and it really began to immerse me into the character of Frank. So it was extremely fun for me to go on that journey.

MM: The cast had to learn a whole new set of experiences that they never really had. They weren’t interested in fishing. Or Emilia, who had to sign, she had to learn how to interpret, she had to learn how to be an artist, she had to learn to fish, she had to learn to sing. Daniel had to learn how to fish. Daniel had to learn so much — this is Daniel’s first movie.

There was so much learning going on in this set and we worked so hard as a cast, collaborating with everyone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any cast work as hard as this one.

TK: We were really passionate and motivated to tell this story. It’s not often deaf actors have the opportunity that we saw in the script, and that’s why we really wanted to grab it, especially with Marlee Matlin there. It was such a blessing. It was just a matter of time. I still have to keep the faith and keep pursuing the craft of acting on my journey.

Of course we had a great director in Sian Heder. She stood up for us, she showed her big heart. In the Rossi family house, which Marlee mentioned earlier, Sian had to set everything up. It was the way that a hearing family would set their furniture up in a house. If you’re hearing, you can just talk back and forth, without looking and making eye contact, and that’s normal for you all.

But for deaf people, we have to make eye contact to communicate. And that is a deaf person’s setup of furniture. Our director realized that and they had to make the set more deaf-friendly — with an environment of sitting opposite each other.

I don’t care about my ears, I care about my eyes. I don’t want to become too exhausted. Right now, I’m sitting opposite the interpreter and I’m comfortable watching her as she’s interpreting, rather than, “Oh, I have to turn my head," “Oh, I didn’t know there’s an interpreter here” — that type of thing.

So they actually had to reframe the entire shoot with all the cameras to fit that cultural sensitivity and Sian’s respect for the culture was beautiful.

MM: When we walked in the house for the first time,  we screamed “This isn’t right! This isn’t the way we set up the furniture.” They were like “What did we do wrong?” So we had to school them to set up the house for deaf people. They learned fast, though.

Q: You both bring up the levels of performance seen this year. There’s the scene where you’re out in the truck with Emilia, and Frank asks Ruby to sing for him. there’s so much going on in Frank’s face in his reaction. The acting there is so subtle and beautiful. You’re acting with your hands on her throat and Frank can hear it and then with your face and all the extraordinary reactions going on.

MM: Tell them what happened that night.

TK: Once I read that scene in the script, I knew it was one of the freshest moments that we had between father and daughter. I knew that when the schedule was getting closer and closer, I had that in the back of my mind.

I had to keep in mind that Ruby was singing as the family’s watching her recital. We’re seeing the emotional reactions of hearing audience members to the music. So if I saw someone as Frank Rossi looking at their phone or falling asleep during the recital, it would have meant that Ruby sucked at singing, and I’d have been embarrassed as a father.

But that was not the case. All of these hearing people were overflowing with emotion and joy which impacted Frank and led to the next scene. So as we sit next to each other -- maybe just a foot apart, on the back of the flatbed pickup truck -- Frank asks Ruby to sing. He gets even closer and still couldn’t hear her, even with that proximity. But he saw the emotion in her face.

What Frank saw was different facial expressions than he was used to seeing when Ruby was normally speaking. He was fascinated by the expressions in her face, which led Frank to want to know what her singing feels like. In the vocal cords it was a bit softer, so Frank asks her to increase the volume. He tries to disconnect from everything else and to really understand his daughter’s passion with his eyes closed.

When the vibration stops, he recognizes that has to look at himself and know that he’s missing something. He had forgotten about this part of life. He’d taken something about his daughter for granted, wanting her to help with his business and ignoring her talent. Suddenly that really strikes Frank.  He realizes he’s been a bit selfish and now struggles to let go of his daughter.

it’s an extremely tough moment for him. Bit when there was eye contact -- no dialogue and no signs -- I let the energy of the eyes speak for themselves. I can let you as an audience make your own interpretation and feel those emotions. So of course, it was such a beautiful moment.

MM: That night we only had an hour left to shoot the scene and it was really hectic. The director decided to tell the DP to shoot with two cameras at once. The DP wasn’t a fan of shooting that way, at night in particular, without any lights: just to shoot two cameras at one time. They had only an hour to shoot it before needing to pull the plug on the scene. And they did it.

TK: When I read this script, there was a line in there that after Ruby finishes singing, Frank says “Thank you.” My gut feeling was that, deep down in deaf culture, we have emotional strength in our facial expressions. That sign “thank you” is more like spoon-feeding an audience who probably already know that sign.

I wanted to throw that thank you aside and focus on feeling those emotions. Instead, I kiss her on the forehead, which is equal to “thank you” – and I hope you’re smart enough to recognize that. Less is more, is what I believe.

Q: Marlee, the scene where Jackie goes to Ruby’s bedroom and there’s that conversation about what she was hoping for when Ruby was born, a sort of mother-and-daughter connection. Talk to us about what that scene meant to you, and about getting the scene right with Emilia.

MM: That’s probably the scene that, when I first read the script, I had no idea what it was like as Marlee to be able to talk to my daughter about that. For me, it meant that I had to imagine and delve into Jackie’s frame of mind. What was it that she felt? What was it that she was afraid of? What was it in her background that colored who she was and made her so terrified?

You have to understand, all four of my kids are hearing. None of my kids, to my knowledge, have ever asked me if I had wished that they were born deaf. They might have thought of it, but they never actually vocalized it to me.

So I had to jump into Jackie to express what was written on the page. I had to sit and talk with Sian: what was it that Jackie wanted to do? She said, “What do you think Jackie needs to feel?” All the things that actors do when they are getting into a character.

Emilia Jones, blooming as she is as an actress, allowed me to just do it. Any fear I might feel as an actor went out the window because of her: I just went with the scene. It’s easy if you experienced it, but Jackie struggled with that. I just had to trust myself in the end.

The other scene that I should point to is where we’re at breakfast and she says, “I want to be a singer.”  And I say, “Oh? A singer? Fame - for selfish reasons.” That’s very early in the script: “for selfish reasons”. She says “Well, if we were blind, would you want to be a painter?” I just cringed when I read that. No, how dare Jackie say that. At the same time, that’s Jackie Rossi’s perception. Clearly, her journey took her to that place. But you could see at the end that she had transformed. Obviously.

TK: I’d like to add that it was fascinating for me to watch Jackie as a mother come in with that red dress to give to her daughter. For me as a deaf person, that red is extremely strong for my eyes. It actually makes me think that Jackie cares for her daughter as a mother. That line about how would you feel if I was born deaf? Or did you want me to be born deaf? The red evaporates that.

The focus of the camera approaches the conversation closer and closer, and it builds in intensity. It’s such a beautiful moment, from my perspective, when I see the angles that the camera is moving in, without words. Actually, that’s one of my favorite scenes, too.

The camera work, also the sound work, is extraordinary. It’s lots of space but the sounds that go along with ASL and how beautiful those are as well. So in that aspect, the film is just extraordinary.

Q: Actors build up backstories for their characters. Did you work on something that Jackie and Frank had -- an aspect of their relationship that we didn’t hear about? We see them fight, we see them in love with each other, in all sorts of parenting situations and all sorts of husband-and-wife situations. As you were building the characters, was there something that you found as connecting points, grace notes, that you had in the performances that maybe never shows?

MM: I envisioned Jackie caring for her family. We know she grew up where she was the only deaf person in her family. Mainly what I tried to do was envision what her parents did with her, and the fact that the only thing they told her was she was pretty. It was something that they attempted to do to make her feel good. You know, “you’re pretty” “you’re pretty” “you’re pretty” – and thinking that was enough, that was love.

TK: She’s still beautiful, by the way.

MM: I used that as an imprint on Jackie, knowing that there was not a lot of communication having to do with her family’s love. So maybe she went to a school for the deaf, and maybe she went home on weekends and lived at the school on weekdays. But her home was the school because that was her world. That’s where she was able to communicate with deaf friends and deaf teachers. It’s where she felt she belonged.

Naturally, she finished school, and then maybe [to TK] we might have met, maybe at a bowling tournament, and fell in love….

TK: And when she bent over to pick up the bowling ball [laughter].

MM: Anyway, that’s why there’s this idea of having hearing children imprinted on Jackie. Because she didn’t want to disappoint the hearing child or the people around her who would judge her as a deaf mom. But again, as you saw in the journey, she finally got rid of that feeling.

Q: How would you answer Troy?

TK: After our director offered me the role, she said, “Don’t shave or cut your hair for five months.” She sent me photos of fishing boats. There was a fishing captain named Paul Lee. I saw how they would chop up the fish and so on. That led to the future.

Sian told me that the character Frank was a dropout who never finished high school. The reason why was because he was running his father’s fishing business, and his father passed away. Frank had to keep it going for quite a while. That’s how he and the business survived, even when they were struggling.

So I looked up to Frank. I thought Frank was a hero. He was a hard-working man who wanted to protect his family, and was frustrated with those ignorant hearing people out there. He had to live with that. So I’m tired of being patient with hearing people. I want to turn the tables. Can you be patient with us?

Sondheim's "Anyone Can Whistle" at Carnegie Hall—Ted Sperling Interview

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Interviews

Published on Tuesday, 08 March 2022 21:24

Written by Kevin Filipski

Ted Sperling and Vanessa Williams rehearsing Anyone Can Whistle (photo: Carrington Spires)

 

So it’s no surprise that the Carnegie Hall performance is equally starry, with several Broadway veterans taking the lead roles: Vanessa Williams—who has appeared on Broadway in Kiss of the Spider Woman and Sondheim’s Into the Woods—and other big musical names like Santino Fontana, Elizabeth Stanley, Joanna Gleason, Douglas Sills and Eddie Cooper.

 

Conducting and directing Anyone Can Whistle is Ted Sperling, MasterVoices’ artistic director, who is also a Sondheim veteran going back decades. Sperling took time out from his busy rehearsal schedule for the cast to master the challenging Sondheim score to discuss Anyone Can Whistle, Vanessa Williams and Stephen Sondheim’s legacy.

 

Vanessa Williams and dancers in rehearsal (photo: Jason Brouillard)

Kevin Filipski: You announced Anyone Can Whistle long before Stephen Sondheim died in November. How do you decide which shows MasterVoices will present and perform?

Ted Sperling: Part of MasterVoices’ mission is to rediscover shows that don’t get seen or heard often in New York. Before this, we did (Kurt Weill’s) Lady in the Dark and (George and Ira Gershwin’s) Let ‘Em Eat Cake, two shows you never get to see. And in Anyone Can Whistle, there’s also a substantial contribution from the chorus. I try to schedule pieces that have a story that’s particularly relevant—and this is a show that literally divides its characters into two groups and is very clearly about political corruption, greed and concentrating wealth among a select group of people. Also, this show was written in a period of great upheaval and turmoil (the early 1960s), amid a national conversation about conformity and the upheaval of norms. And I think we’re definitely at a similar inflection point now. The culture wars are still raging and being politicized.

 

Vanessa Williams in Kiss of the Spider Woman on Broadway, 1994

 

KF: Vanessa Williams plays the lead role, the corrupt politician Cora Hoover Hooper. She has done so much in the entertainment world over the past three decades, from singing number-one pop hits to starring in television sitcoms to singing and dancing in many roles on and off-Broadway, including several Sondheim shows. What are her special qualities as an artist?

TS: She has a lot of natural warmth, which helps make Cora a well-rounded character just by her natural essence—we were discussing yesterday at rehearsal what a complicated person the lead in Anyone Can Whistle is, but she can handle all that. She’s a wonderful singer and can sing over an enormous range. This score has its jazzy and classical elements as well, and she can handle those easily. I’ve worked on a couple of memorable projects with her in the past. I did Kiss of the Spider Woman (her first Broadway show, in 1994) with her: I was the conductor at the time and, since she was replacing Chita Rivera, we had to make adjustments, and it was fun to explore those with her. Then we did Show Boat with the New York Philharmonic several years later, and she was wonderful in that too. 

 

Donna Murphy in Anyone Can Whistle at Encores, 2010

KF: What do you consider Stephen Sondheim’s legacy?

TS: I would say specifically that he had a big influence on my life. My first professional production was playing in (the original production of) Sunday in the Park with George, and that was due to his involvement. I was involved in many of his productions over the years, including his last show, Road Show, which was called Wise Guys originally when I was involved. We all admire him for pushing the art form forward, for always doing something different. He never repeated himself: every score is different. He tackled various subjects, he was always trying to stretch and see what’s possible in a musical. He wrote so well for his characters, they were such complex characters. There are endless amounts to discover in his shows. 

Red Penguin Publisher Stephanie Larkin Offers Options To Traditional Book Publishing Models

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Interviews

Published on Thursday, 24 February 2022 15:38

Written by Brad Balfour

Even while electronic media gushes over the impact of… Electronic Media, millions of people over the world still love an antiquated notion called books. And though many mainstream book publishers have been consolidated into a few major imprints, there are still hundreds of small publishers and publishing services out there. One recently came to my attention as I researched publishing options for a friend’s memoir. I decided to transform my discussion into a conversation with Red Penguin Books and Web Solutions’ publisher Stephanie Larkin, whose latest book, "Shared Wisdom," will be out at the beginning of March, 2022.

As its founder and president, Larkin has led the company for over 15 years, working with books of all genres and helping people to “unleash their inner author” through book publishing. She publishes over 100 books a year of all types and genres. They range from business to fiction, memoirs to mysteries, children’s books, textbooks, and more. The authors hail from six different continents around the world, along with most of the United States.

Larkin has also authored “Write That Book!”, “365 Reasons to Celebrate!” and “Score with Social Media,” in addition to many ghostwritten publications. She speaks before groups such as professional organizations and chambers, artists and authors on topics ranging from small business strategies to leveraging the “power of the pen.”

In addition to spearheading Red Penguin Classes — the educational wing of Red Penguin Books which offers online classes in writing and book marketing — Larkin teaches courses. Her topics range from small business management to sales and advertising in the Marketing Department at Nassau Community College, where she works with future entrepreneurs and marketing professionals.

She also hosts “The Author Corner” — a chance to meet authors you want to read — airing on Verizon, Optimum and QPTV.  These dialogues are also featured on “Between the Covers,” a web show for readers, writers and lovers of books as well as on the “Once and Future Authors” podcast. Stephanie will be hosting a new show, sponsored by the Ahmedabad Book Club in India, which will feature writers and book lovers from around the globe. It will be released this spring.

Q: You run a company that does print-on-demand publishing but it's more than just that...

SL: I run an independent small press publishing company. We publish about 120 titles annually in print, digital and audiobook formats. Yes, authors who are not interested in the added expense of bulk printing generally opt for print-on-demand. Nowadays, the quality of the two is nearly indistinguishable, as is the price differential, so it makes sense to set up books for POD rather than print thousands in advance and have the added expense/issue of fulfilling orders.

Q: How do you find your clients?

SL: My clients find me. Most come through referrals, or through one of our anthologies, literary journals, media events, or other exposure to our company. We’re fortunate to have quite a bit of public/social exposure.

If the question is "what type of clients do we attract" -- well, we publish everything from children's books to paranormal romance, educational books to personal memoirs. Some people come to us for business-type books that will help increase their exposure and credibility in a particular field. Others have a wonderful trilogy of fiction books. Still others have a family history or passion project. We publish all sorts of books.

Q: How do you determine your price points?

SL: We have various packages and pricing models, depending on a number of factors, most especially the condition of the manuscript. Some authors have a finished manuscript, others are seeking guidance in working on their manuscript, and still others come to us to ghostwrite their book — thus at very different price points. Over the years, we’ve worked with hundreds of small businesses, professionals and organizations, as well as authors on their websites and ebooks.

Q: Where did the name come from?

SL: We were originally a web company — Red Penguin Web Solutions, and our motto was "STAND OUT with Red Penguin!" Our first logo/website looked like an iceberg filled with penguins, and just one of them was red. That one stood out!

I had a vision — when forming the company — of a lot of things that looked the same, but where one stood out from the rest. I considered the Crimson Cow, the Lavender leaf, etc. — but I liked the color red (it is a bold, powerful color.) Penguins were "in" (think "Happy Feet"!) and I was broke, so it was easy for me to print in black and white, then take a red sharpie and simply color one penguin red. That's how we got the name!

On May 21, 2007, Red Penguin Web Solutions was incorporated. I started the company out of a desire to assist small businesses, professionals and organizations with their websites, digital marketing, etc. There is a crazy sordid story involving embezzlement and intrigue that led to this decision but that’s a tale for another day!

Over time, I was doing a lot more work for writers and the National Writer's Union. It was at a conference of the National Writers Union where I was a speaker that I had an epiphany moment — watching the speaker before me, I suddenly realized "I should do that! I should offer book publication to our clients, since I so often send them away to fend for themselves after I’ve worked on their ebooks, websites, etc."

Thus, Red Penguin Books was conceived in 2017. Our first publications were launched on December 31, 2017. There’s a lovely story about how I decided which book would be published first -- perhaps for another interview someday! I’m glad to say that our publishing division has grown exponentially each year.

We’re now an independent hybrid press with several different imprints, publishing over 100 books each year. Our first book was my beloved step-father's memoir which was handwritten and passed down to me. We published several books by Alberto Zuppi, an international lawyer responsible for extraditing Nazi war criminals and former Minister of Justice of Argentina.

We’ve published many books whose proceeds go to various non-profits, including mental health issues, military families, suicide prevention, drunk driving prevention, sexual assault, etc.

In fact we’ve published works from authors around the world and six different continents (everything but Antarctica) and have won dozens of book awards and Amazon #1 New releases among our authors each year. I’ve had multiple awards for my cable television shows "The Author Corner" and "Technically Speaking". Most of all, I feel pride and joy from helping people change their lives and make their dreams come true through their publication.

Q: As to publishing vs self-publishing?
 
SL: Technically, self-publishing does not involve a publisher. The author does the editing, formatting, cover design, etc., and then "publishes" the book themselves. They use either a self-publishing portal (like Amazon/KDP - formerly known as Create Space), Book Baby, etc.
 
A publisher does much the same thing but since there actually is a publisher, the person isn't "self-publishing.” I could equate it to hiring a contractor to do your kitchen, or doing it yourself. In both cases, you end up with a kitchen. It’s a matter of who does what (plus, since the contractor presumably knows their stuff, you'll end up with a better kitchen!) The contractor (like a publisher) probably doesn't accept all jobs — only those he wants to do.
 
We have our books available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo (which, along with being the largest retailer in Canada also feeds into WalMart.) Also IngramSpark (which feeds into Baker & Taylor, the database/book repository for retail book stores and libraries) plus a host of smaller establishments.

In addition, we have our books available for wholesale/bulk printing on order. A number of these books go to schools, corporate shipments, etc.
 
While in my view, self-publishing is the opposite of publishing, I guess the same people who think that they want to be self-published in actuality want to come to me (or another small press publisher) to do all of the work, get the distribution, handle the marketing, etc. Clients who say they want to be "self-published" probably don't want that at all since they haven't the foggiest idea what to do. I generally advise writers that, if they haven’t self-published before, they’re probably looking at about 100+ hours of work — after the book is written.
 
My honest answer to the question "Why do so many people want to self-publish?" is "Do they really know what they are getting into?"  But if the question is really, "Why do so many people want to BE published?" -- well, that is so true! Everywhere I go, people want to write books. I can't walk into a room without meeting people like that.

Q: And as to your life outside of Red Penguin...

SL: Before Red Penguin (heck, before the internet!) I was a musician and a high school music teacher. I’m still a musician. I play the piano, organ, guitar, violin, flute, sing, compose, direct choirs, etc.

I also love to travel and have been to all 50 states and 23 countries so far (adding 6 more this summer.) I’ve been married for 25 years and am the mother of three amazing kids -- a 24-year-old daughter who is an Air Force Intel officer, a 22-year-old son who runs our global and non-profit divisions and just returned from saving elephants in Sri Lanka, and an 18-year-old son about to graduate from high school.  (My kids travel far more than I do!) I also love animals, nature, wineries, theater, good food and, of course, books!

For everything Red Penguin go to:

Facebook @RedPenguinBooks and @theredpenguincollection

Instagram @redpenguinbooks_ and @theredpenguincollection

Youtube Channel, Red Penguin Books
RedPenguinBooks.com
BetweenTheCoversTV.com
TheAuthorCorner.com
RedPenguinProductions.com