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Self-Published Creation Set to Become "Stuart Little" for the New Millennium

Oregon author turns homegrown book into bestseller through innovation, creativity, and a little help from indie booksellers

By Jim Barnes

Great things often start out very small. Some of the biggest success stories in self-publishing were fraught with early missteps that often found their heroes teetering on the brink of failure. Without the kind of utter perseverance and heroism displayed by the characters in a fantasy novel, some independent publishing successes might not have happened at all.

"I got laughed at and yelled at by quite a few booksellers in the beginning," admits author Michael Hoeye. "I knew absolutely nothing about publishing and bookselling when I sent the first copies of my book to stores. When I think back, it's a miracle it got off the ground at all. I owe everything to some really brave booksellers who believed in the book."

So began what is now one of the most eagerly anticipated children's book launch since Harry You-Know-Who. Time Stops For No Mouse: "A Hermux Tantamoq Adventure(tm)" will be released by Penguin Putnam on January 28, 2002, the first volume in a series the publisher hopes will become a phenomenon to rival E.B. White's Stuart Little. P&P reportedly outbid Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Harcourt in a heated auction that reached seven figures for three books in hardcover and paperback.

Time Stops For No Mouse takes readers to the imaginary world of Pinchester, where our hero Hermux Tantamoq is not only a mouse, but he's a watchmaker by trade, and lives with his pet ladybug, Terfle. A dashing aviatrix named Linka Perflinger enters his quiet life, turning it into a swirling adventure filled with eccentric characters, environmental and cultural subplots, and more twists and turns than a laboratory maze.

Hoeye originally created Hermux Tantamoq during an impromptu game of Anagrams, and while his wife was traveling abroad, instead of reporting on the usual fare like the weather, he wrote about Hermux. She asked about what happened next, and thus began a series of daily e-mails that would eventually become Time Stops for No Mouse. Hoeye self-published and promoted the book to his local booksellers, schools, and libraries in the Pacific Northwest. Stores like Annie Bloom's and Powell's in Portland and University BookStores in Seattle began hand-selling the book and creating a groundswell of interest that eventually made it a BookSense 76 Top-Ten bestseller.

Hoeye may not have known much about publishing, but he did know how to intrigue his readers -- he conjures an imaginary world and makes it come alive, immediately establishing a likeable character in Hermux and making his life story irresistible. Hoeye was also masterful at intriguing prospective booksellers. His first publicity package, sent out prior to the books, contained a mysterious-looking shipping invoice and an old, battered key, purportedly for opening a soon-to-arrive trunk of goods from the land of Pinchester.

"The idea was for the mailing to be from someone you'd never heard of, from a place you'd never heard of," says Hoeye. He antiqued the keys by boxing them with gravel and spinning them in his clothes dryer, and made the attached tag look old with tea stains, a Chinese stamp, and repeated folding. "What I tried to do was match the tone of the book with my marketing. I find so much of today's marketing methods so abrupt, and I was after something subtle and magical."

Michael Hoeye's previous day job had been developing and teaching "Management of Creativity," a graduate seminar for the M.B.A. program at Marylhurst University in Portland, where he lives with his wife Martha and their cat, Lionel. His approach to marketing stresses the relationship between art and commerce, and encourages innovation and creativity. "It's about learning to break the rules," Hoeye says.

"In my class I taught the importance of taking responsibility for new ideas. With this book project I decided to test my premise by going out and doing it myself. Obviously I had a lot to learn about the book business, but with each step I took, I got a clue toward the next step. I reviewed the core material of each step, keeping what worked and throwing out the mistakes. There's no real secret formula -- just be authentic."

Through his grass-root efforts, the book began selling in small numbers, in spite of its hand-made appearance and spiral binding. He began studying seriously how to make "real" books, and came close to ordering a 5000-copy printing from an overseas firm. "The proofs that came back were horrifying, with all kinds of mistakes and problems. I realized I would have to find a local printer, one that I could communicate and work closely with." He also realized he couldn't do the expensive and labor-intensive trunk-key mailing on a large scale, so he decided to make contacts by renting booth space at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association trade show. He fashioned an elaborate canvas-walled, furnished room, and served coffee and chocolates. Those booksellers who weren't completely intimidated by the booth got a free book, and a real taste of Michael Hoeye's world. The show led to his inclusion on the BookSense 76 list, and to securing distribution with Publishers Group West.

"Our sales rep Harry Kirchner perused a copy of Time Stops For No Mouse right there at the show, and was immediately impressed with the book, with Hoeye, and with his inventive booth design at the show," recalls PGW Marketing Manager Heather Cameron. "Kirchner suggested that Hoeye rush a few copies for me to bring to the acquisitions committee, and we were all taken with the book as well. When conversations with Hoeye about distribution began in earnest, it was also apparent that he had ingenious marketing ideas (which he followed through on when we started shipping the books). Hoeye was eager to meet any and all of PGW's marketing, sales and other deadlines and requirements. And last but not least, Hoeye's intelligence, creative sense, and self-effacing humor added a nice element to the business relationship as well."

Will Hoeye miss the excitement of self-publishing and self-promoting? Yes and no... "I had a wonderful time doing it, but it was like being in a whirling tornado. There are always twelve things that should have been done yesterday, and a hundred more things before you go home for the day. Besides writing and designing my books, my favorite part was the people. In hindsight, I'm even more impressed with those booksellers that gave my book a chance. They are brave and gutsy people."

"I have such deep respect for booksellers as a profession. They play a critical role in society that seems to get overlooked. Giving new voices a chance. Rediscovering forgotten work. Keeping the classics alive. They are serious about writing and about ideas. And they usually have great senses of humor! It has been really fun to visit bookstores, exchange emails and phone calls. It has taught me a lot about the business of books and the challenges of selling them."

The booksellers are sure to miss Michael Hoeye and his independent spirit as well. Luckily, and thanks in part to their own efforts, they will soon have lots of Hermux Tantamoq products to remember him by.

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KIDS! GET CREATIVE:
Michael Hoeye offers these suggestions on how kids can tap into their creativity.

PLAY
Play outside. Play in the grass. Play in the mud. Play in the park. Play with dolls. Play with puppets. Play with your dog. Play with little cars. Play make-believe. Play dress-up. Play hide and seek. Video games don't count. A simple rule of thumb for playing: if you get a score for doing it, it's not play. It's a kind of work. Play is something you do just for the fun of it. You don't earn a number. There aren't any winners, and there aren't any losers. If there are winners and losers, you're talking about work. And there's nothing wrong with work. But you'll have plenty of time for work when you grow up. Now is the time to play.

MAKE SOMETHING
Make all kinds of things. Make a mess, but remember to clean it up. Make something useful. Make something for your Mom or Dad. Make something for yourself. Make something silly. Make something out of clay. Out of wood. Out of paper. Make something green. Make something blue. Make something to give to your best friend. Make a trophy for your favorite Teacher. Make a hat for your cat, but make sure he wants to wear it before you put it on.

ASK QUESTIONS
Find out how things work. Find out where things come from. Find out what they're used for. Find out what people do for a living. Ask them what they do for fun. Ask grownups what they enjoyed doing when they were little. Ask them what they do when they're bored.

PAY ATTENTION
Notice what's going on around you. What does the sky look like today? What's happening across the street? What does that squirrel have in his mouth? Where would he get a walnut in your neighborhood? What kind of bugs are flying around? Where are they going anyway?

FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITY
Go to the library. Go to the museum. Look at a picture. Look at a magazine. Read the newspaper. Open a book. Get out the encyclopedia. Go see a play. Put on a play yourself. Listen to some music. Dance around the living room. Stay off the couch and don't knock over the lamp.

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Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers signed a three-book deal with Michael Hoeye that includes hardcover and paperback rights to Time Stops for No Mouse: "A Hermux Tantamoq Adventure(tm)" ISBN 0-399-23878-6 (Jan 2002); The Sands of Time: "A Hermux Tantamoq Adventure(tm)" , and Hoeye's third book in the series, as yet untitled. The hardcover launch of Time Stops for No Mouse will be supported by a substantial promotional campaign that will include national publicity and a 10-city author tour.

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