This week’s featured author is Ruben Soto. He currently resides in San Antonio, Texas. Ruben is the author of three books and has also been published in several newspapers across the United States. Read our interview with Ruben Soto to see what inspired him to become a writer.
Can you tell us about yourself; where you grew up, where you currently reside?
I was born in Cuba but immigrated to the United States at age seven and my family lived for a short time thereafter in Miami and later in New Orleans. But I was mostly raised in Texas and we first lived in Pearsall and then we moved to Laredo where I went to school from fifth grade all the way to my first year in college. My father was a Methodist minister and he was assigned to pastor the Hispanic congregations of these two cities.
I also have lived in Austin and most recently again in Miami, which I consider my second home, and I currently live in beautiful San Antonio, Texas.
Did you always want to write or was this something that developed later on in life?
Interestingly it is something that developed later on in life and more specifically when I was a TV Reporter in Laredo and after I did a human interest story that drew a lot of attention. For some reason that story influenced me to start writing short stories and to eventually publish a book. My father was also a writer and he would take me with him to the bookstores but I would usually just read the comic books. He wrote for the Rio Grande Conference Methodist newspaper and he would ask me to help him translate some things from English to Spanish. So he was a huge influence in getting me interested in writing and reading books.
After I left the TV Reporter job I started writing short stories and poems and it led to the publishing of my first book “Fiesta for the Hispanic Soul”.
You wrote three books, “Fiesta for the Hispanic Soul,” “La Princesa Maria: Princess Maria,” and “Univision Un hogar legos del hogar,” yet they are all very different. One is a composite of short stories and poems, the other is a children’s book, and more recently you wrote a book that is non-fiction. Can you elaborate as to why you went from writing fiction to non-fiction?
Yes, as I mentioned previously my first book was a composite of the short stories and poems that I had already written. And writing that book also led me to eventually found the Society of Latino/Hispanic Writers of San Antonio. The reason for that is when I was writing the stories I attended several writer groups in the city and to my surprise I was usually the only Hispanic person and that was shocking to me. This was especially surprising since San Antonio is a city with a Hispanic population of over 60% and I couldn’t believe there was no group for writers of Hispanic descent.
Then as the years progressed and the writers group was gaining new members and respect nationwide we kept hearing in the news how now we were the largest minority and that publishers were looking for stories with Hispanic characters and themes. That’s when I decided to then venture into children’s literature and I started writing “La Princesa Maria” since Disney didn’t have one. I was rather disappointed that the book didn’t sell as well as I thought even after Univision online ran a story on it.
In 2006 I moved back to Miami for a job promotion and I enrolled at the University of Miami in a special certificate program for those journalists who wanted to work in the Spanish broadcasting industry. Most of my professors either worked or had worked at the main studios of Univision and Telemundo. We got to tour the Univision headquarters and I saw where the national newscast was produced, where “Sabado Gigante” was taped, and also where shows like “El Gordo y la Flaca” and “Primer Impacto” were produced. That’s when I realized that no one had ever written a book on the story of Univision or of how Spanish television was created in the United States. And that’s how I wrote the book about Univision and I donated a copy to the director of the university program to keep as a reference. It is also the only book I wrote entirely in Spanish.
In Miami I also founded the Miami Writers Association and we were featured in the Miami International Book Fair in the “Write Out Loud” event for two years in a row.
Which do you feel is more difficult to write – fiction or non-fiction?
In my personal experience it is non-fiction because of the amount of research that has to be done in order to get facts correctly. When I was writing the book on Univision I spent many hours researching information at the library, specifically the Coral Gable Library in Miami and I was disappointed as to how little information there was about this topic. I had to resort to interviews with people who worked at the network and to the internet since it contained much more information about it.
When I am writing fiction it is a world that I am creating with characters, events, and scenes straight out of my imagination. So I get to determine how the story flows without having to worry about getting the facts correctly. I think that’s why I enjoy writing fiction much more since I have a wild and crazy imagination and I can write in different genres from science fiction to romance.
What impact do you want to make with your writing? What do you want your writing legacy to be?
Currently I am focusing on writing for two markets – the Christian market and the Hispanic/Latino market. I feel the Christian market is still too conservative in its fiction segment and needs to allow more true-to-life stories to be published. There are too many novels with Amish and historical themes and they tend to stay away from current themes with characters that readers can identify with that may be struggling with drugs, sex, and/or their faith.
On another note, it is disappointing to see that the English language Hispanic/Latino genre has not reached its potential yet. There are so many talented Hispanic writers yet as a whole we haven’t been able to get to the level that other writers have attained. I partially blame the media for not promoting our works to the general audience but I also blame our own Latino media (both English and Spanish) for not promoting our authors and books enough.
So with that said, I want to be remembered as a writer who wanted a radical change in the Christian genre where more openness about different topics has to be allowed. Foremost I want to be remembered as a visionary who helped promote Hispanic writers, their books and other writings so that our culture and traditions will not get lost in the assimilation process. And also to be an advocate so that our Hispanic authors can attain prominence in an industry that is so very difficult to break into.
What are some of the hurdles, publishing and marketing, that you’ve faced in your writing career?
When I published my first book I had no clue as to how the publishing world functioned. It was a learning experience in more ways than one. I learned back then about the difference between vanity publishing (self publishing) versus traditional publishing.
Due to my journalism background I knew about press releases and I sent out numerous press releases (this was in 2003 before Facebook and Twitter). So I had to rely on these two main forms of communication and also through word of mouth and speaking engagements. I was booked as a guest on a local morning TV show, on a local radio talk show, and on the “Nuestra Palabra” radio show that originates in Houston. I also had a story written in the Hispanic section of the local newspaper. This was all great publicity but what it did not generate was sales. Most of the books I sold was to my co-workers and to people I knew who were proud of my achievement.
When promoting both the princess book and the Univision book I followed the same pattern and again to my frustration it was difficult to sell books to others especially if they didn’t know who I was since in the Hispanic community being a celebrity helps.
I tried to get some of my writing to be traditionally published and I sent out query letters and book proposals but received many rejection letters. However, I received a positive rejection letter (if that’s at all possible) from a Hispanic editor at a major publisher and she told me my writing “leaps out from the pages” in some instances and that she saw great potential in me as a writer. She also told me to “throw caution to the wind” and I had to ponder a while at that since I gather she thought I was being conservative in my writing since it was a romance novel that I had sent her. It took me a while but I finally did what she suggested and it did make a difference.
What technical writing advice can you give our readers?
Many people come up to me and tell me they have been thinking about writing a book and they want me to give them advice. I simply tell them to start writing – to put their thoughts on paper and then eventually the story will unfold whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.
Then I tell them that a good writer is also a good reader. I tell them to read several books on the subject they are interested in writing about that way they get to see different styles of writing. And eventually they will develop their own writing style. But I also tell them to read other types of books because they will learn so much about writing just by reading a diversity of books whether it be fiction or non-fiction.
Can you describe what a typical writing day is for you and how do you juggle the writing aspect of your career?
Lately I have been focusing on writing more since my current schedule allows it. I have read where there are authors that write into the wee hours simply because it is a discipline that they have to maintain in order to finish their books. I don’t do that but I have stayed up until midnight working on a book.
For the sake of variety I try to get out of the house and go to either the library, a café with wifi, or a bookstore since being at home for so many hours can get boring. This is also a great way to beat writers block since in most of these places you find many people with their laptops working on either books, students who are doing homework, or others working on projects for their jobs or organizations.
Can you share one of the toughest criticisms you received on one of your books? How did you handle it? How did it impact you?
The toughest one was on my first book where a person reviewing wrote:
“This self published work reminds this reader about the failures in our grammar school system. An editing nightmare. The author entwines his personal story with celebrated Hispanic people and culture; making this read come across with a strong fragrance of self promoting arrogance.”
I was shocked, disappointed, and depressed for a few days after I read it because it was a very strong accusatory statement and it hurt (and especially since it came from another Hispanic person). After I had spent so many hours and days trying to put the book together as a tribute to my Hispanic heritage, that really review was a downer.
However, as time went by I was able to overcome those feelings since I was getting raving reviews from people who knew me and who were even paying me double of what the book cost because they knew I had written it from the heart.
But I learned that criticism will come even if your book is edited to the max and the story is well written. There will always be people who will criticize it and you just have to take it and move on because there will also be more people who will have enjoyed it. That’s just the way it is.
Who are some of your favorite authors that inspired you to write?
My favorite authors are Nicholas Sparks – because I wanted to write stories similar to his but with Hispanic characters; James Patterson – because I love his writing style and his thrillers; Sandra Cisneros – because I met her personally here in San Antonio and she was the first one to start a movement to get Latino authors and their books recognized on a national and international level; and others like Ernest Hemingway, Isabel Allende, and Jhumpa Lahiri. I also read many business, self help and memoirs books.
What is the next project you are working on and what upcoming events can we expect in the near future?
Currently I am taking advantage of the e-book revolution and am focusing on writing several e-books especially since Amazon has a great program for writers to get their books sold worldwide and to help them get recognized too.
When I first started the Society of Latino/Hispanic Writers in 2004 the emphasis was on writing books that would eventually be published traditionally – whether from a small press or one of the big publishers. But within the last year there has been a turn of events in the industry and now e-books are outselling traditional books and I feel this is an excellent time for writers to get their works out there in cyberspace. With one touch anyone around the world can instantly start reading your book and I think that is awesome. I took a whole weekend off to learn how to prepare a book to be converted to an e-book and I have published four e-books and am working on more. So now I am my own publisher as well as my own promoter because thanks to social media I can advertise my books for free on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and so many other sites.
I have adopted the pen name of Ben Brocard for my Christian books (since my full name is Ruben Brocard Soto) since there is a difference in readers of both genres. I will continue to use Ruben Soto for the books that I will publish for the Hispanic/Latino genre.
A huge positive is that a literary agent has agreed to represent me in a non-fiction book project. And that is one of the best news that I have received since I started my writing career. I will share more information once the book proposal gets accepted by a publisher.
So, I encourage everyone who has a dream to continue to pursue it no matter how long it’s going to take for you to reach it. I started my writing career in 2002 and ten years later I am still trying to make writing my full time job and I am not giving up until I get there.
Contact: rubenso99@yahoo.com
