5 Qs with My Favorite Authors: Erin Carlson, film buff & journalist

A journalist and USA Bestselling non-fiction author, Erin writes about the iconic--people like Nora Ephron and movies like A League of Their Own

Hello, lovelies,

For those of you who requested an art print of The Hundred Loves of Juliet, they are in the mail now! If your print does not arrive within a week (give it a little longer if you’re outside the U.S.), please email me at evelynskyebooks@gmail.com and I’ll send you another.

Authors Erin Carlson and Evelyn Skye at Telegraph Hills Books, San Francisco, California

5 Questions with My Favorite Authors

When I started my 5 Questions with My Favorite Authors interview series, I set out with the goal of introducing you to some of the wonderful writers I’ve met during my career so that you might find new authors to read. While many of my writer friends are novelists, today’s guest is a journalist-turned-non-fiction author.

Erin Carlson writes deeply researched books about the iconic—she has a book about Nora Ephron, another about Meryl Streep, and her latest called No Crying in Baseball, the Hollywood inside story of A League of Their Own (a USA Today Bestseller!)

She also writes a witty and funny newsletter called

You've Got Mail

which analyzes everything from why Pedro Pascal should be a romcom lead to all the women who claimed to be the real-life inspiration behind “Holly Golightly” in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

I met Erin during my book tour last year for The Hundred Loves of Juliet. Telegraph Hill Books in San Francisco had asked my publicist if I might do an intimate literary event in the city, and the bookstore owner asked Erin to be the host/my conversation partner.

Before the event, we grabbed dinner (with Tom, who had driven me to the city because the hills and innumerable one-way streets of San Francisco stress me out). Erin, Tom, and I twirled pasta and shared chocolate cake at the legendary North Beach Restaurant (unbeknownst to us, we would be some of their last diners before they shut their doors after 50 years). Afterward, we headed over to Telegraph Hill Books where, true to journalistic form, Erin interviewed me in front of an audience of readers and writers about, well, books and writing.

And now it’s my turn to do the same, with our roles reversed!

WORDPLAY is a merry band of readers and writers who love stories that are deeply human—that make us laugh and cry, pause and think a little harder, and connect with one another in an otherwise too-fast, anonymous world.

(1) Welcome to WORDPLAY, Erin! You’re the first journalist I’ve had on my newsletter. I’m curious how you went from journalism to writing books. Was that always your goal?

When I started my career as a journalist, I could never, ever have predicted my future as an author. I wasn't interested in writing books at all. I worked on the arts and entertainment desk at The Associated Press, where we were required to write stories at a breakneck speed. By the time the weekend rolled around, I just wanted to chill and hang out with my friends. On Sundays in New York City, I led a walking tour of locations from Nora Ephron's iconic romantic comedies. I also produced a comedy show downtown called Le Chuckle Hut. (Seriously!)

After a while, I was doing way too many things at once, and I got really burned out. I wanted to be able to slow down and focus on my writing without having to worry about keeping up with the pace of breaking news. I thought, "If I were to write a book, what would it be about?" Ephron and her rom-coms — When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail — immediately came to mind.

So I sold my first book, I'll Have What She's Having, about the making of those films, and researched and wrote it over the span of a year. I interviewed nearly 150 people, including Tom Hanks, and tried to write this rich, overlooked slice of film history like a fact-based novel — though it is a work of journalism. My original manuscript was 500 pages long! I had to cut it in half. I definitely overdid it. I've written two other books since, but I have an extra-special place in my heart for my eldest book-child.

(2) I’ve written historical fiction that required some research, but nothing like what I imagine goes into nonfiction. Tell us a little about your research process—How do get access to the people you need to interview? I mean, can you just call up Meryl Streep and say, “I’m a reporter, so I need you to spill your secrets to me?”

I'm not gonna lie: Researching the nonfiction that I write is grueling. On top of interviewing people, it involves copious amounts of library research and reading stacks and stacks of books on a particular subject. (I joke that after writing No Crying in Baseball, about the making of A League of Their Own, I am now the "greatest living expert on women's baseball.")

Over the course of nearly a decade of doing this, getting access — especially to celebrities — has not become easier. With each book, I tend to start from the ground up — like reaching out to a former production assistant who worked on When Harry Met Sally and then working my way upward until someone like Rob Reiner, who directed that movie, agrees to participate because, well, everyone else has!

With my biography of Meryl, I managed to get her blessing early on. I did not interview her for that book — Meryl does not want to talk about how great she is — but I did watch 90-plus of her movies. I can now say with complete certainty that Mamma Mia! is among her greatest works.

(3) The process of getting a nonfiction book deal is a little different, I think, than for fiction. Often, novelists need to write the entire book before their agents can pitch them to editors. But nonfiction is sold on proposal, is that right? How does that work?

Yes! It's part of what I love about writing nonfiction — you don't have to write the whole darn thing before selling your proposal! In the case of nonfiction, proposals act as a business prospectus of sorts: You must lay out, in around 50 pages or so, why your topic is important and how it will fit into the marketplace. Among other sections, you write an overview describing your book, a chapter outline and a sample chapter. It's annoying to put together, but totally possible in manageable chunks, and writing it will really help you focus and decide what you want your book to be.

(4) These days, authors don’t get to just be writers. We also need to be on social media or otherwise connecting to readers. Of course, the publishers often provide some marketing and publicity support. But more and more, authors have to be out there in the public eye. How do you approach needing to be both a writer and your own publicist?

Very gingerly. I love social media as a means to stay connected with friends and readers, but I must admit that I find the growing requirement to put myself out there, book promotion-wise, extremely draining. I notice that when I'm on Instagram all day, promoting myself, that I'm too distracted to get any new work done.

So I've started to be more strategic about social media — instead of posting on the grid every single day, I'll post in my Stories, which don't require me to scroll incessantly. (I'm a human being, not a zombie!) With Instagram, I strongly believe in quality over quantity — one good grid post can reach more people than 10 meh posts. Don't knock yourself out trying to keep up with the Joneses.

(5) I know you’re working on an incredible new project, but we’ll keep it secret for now. Instead, can you give us some insight into how you come up with your ideas? How do you know when something is good enough to dedicate your next few years to?

My books are niche content: They appeal to various pop-culture fanbases, of which there are many. When I come up with ideas, I picture a Venn diagram with two circles: "WHAT I LOVE" and "WHAT READERS LOVE." If they overlap, that means an idea can potentially be sold.

For me, I research the market and keep tabs on what fans are talking about online — what they're loving and meme-ing, even if it's an older work of art. A League of Their Own remains a beloved film and is endlessly quoted in the culture writ large. I sensed there was something there and it turned out that I was right: No Crying in Baseball became a USA Today national bestseller. I did not expect that to happen at all. I'm still scratching my head, like, What?!?

Thank you so much for being here today, Erin. It was a delight to chat with you, as always!

If you’d like to check out more of Erin’s writing, you can find her at

You've Got Mail

, her pop culture & film history newsletter. Or you can buy her books anywhere books are sold!

My Upcoming Events:

Silicon Valley Substack Writer meetup

If you’re in the Bay Area, I’m thrilled to be the host of Substack Writer Meetup: Silicon Valley! Come meet other Substack writers while we enjoy the patio at Cafe Borrone. We'll introduce ourselves and share our experiences and advice on effectively writing newsletters/blogs. Substackers in all fields/topics welcome!

Wednesday, May 29th from 6-8pm

Cafe Borrone, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA

You can RSVP here (it’s free)

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La Jolla, California

My dear friend

Dana Elmendorf

is throwing a launch party for her book, In the Hour of Crows, and I will be her conversation partner for the event. Book signing to follow.

Thursday, June 6th from 7:30 - 9:00pm

Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave, La Jolla, CA

RSVP here - event is free, but you can also pre-order Dana’s book to reserve a seat

The best way to support my writing is buying my books.

Thank you for your love and enthusiasm, and for supporting the arts!

A POPSUGAR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“Cleverly imagines the epilogue Romeo and Juliet didn’t get to have, and how curses can be blessings in disguise.”—JODI PICOULT

Book Description: A writer who craves a real-life happily ever after and a gruff fisherman who doesn’t believe in them find out they’re part of the greatest love story of all time.