An Interview with Caleb Stephens, author of FEEDERS

We talk about his recent novels, agent representation, and alternative paths to publishing

Caleb Stephens is the author of the two recent novels, Feeders and The Girls in the Cabin. These books were a couple of my favorite reads last year. They are both page-turning, high-octane thrill rides with great writing and heart. Caleb was nice enough to answer a few questions I had about these two novels and his publishing journey.

Feeders takes place in the greater southwest and the Rocky Mountains. Your previous novel, The Girls in the Cabin, Flat Tops wilderness area. From Stephen King’s Maine to Steinbeck’s Salinas Valley, I think some of the best writers dig into a strong sense of place, inevitably an area from which they hail from and thus are very familiar with. Do you agree with this assessment? Do you anticipate digging into your home turf and further exploring this region in future works? 

I absolutely agree. I think as writers, and as people in general, we are all shaped by where we grow up and who we grow up with—our family and friends and the broader community we interact with in general. A strong sense of place informs who we are, and we can speak to that experience, that place, like no one else can. I think the best tales employ the setting as another character, and those are some of my favorite books. Take Nathan Ballingrud for example. His short story collections, especially North American Lake Monsters, ooze with a sense of place, and I love that.

In regard to the second question, I do plan to set more of my writing in Colorado and the broader southwest, but I also want to explore new and varied settings, which I’m doing with my current novel WIP, which takes place at sea.

There is a specific number of steps that lots of writers follow to become successfully published. First, you finish your book. Second, you query an agent. Third, your agent sells that book to a major publisher and you get all the things you dreamed about: copies of your book at an airport, book signings, movie adaptations. 

However, one can slip and fall on these stairs at any point during the journey, something that you’re well aware of. Can you share your experience with us?

I believe I read that less than 1% of authors who attempt to secure literary representation succeed. I’m not sure as to the validity of that statistic, but I do know the odds are stacked against writers. Agents receive an insane number of queries for representation every year—somewhere in the thousands. So, yes, when I landed one with Feeders, I thought all of the things you mentioned above were coming my way. Unfortunately, my agent was unable to sell either Feeders or The Girls in the Cabin over a period of a couple of years, so we mutually agreed to part ways. When that happened, I was truly at a low place in my writing career, self-confidence-wise. It hurt a lot.

That said, I honestly appreciate my former agent taking a shot on me and believing in my work. It’s hard for even the most seasoned authors to succeed in traditional publishing at times. So many factors go into landing a traditional book deal from a big publisher, so many odds are stacked against you: Is your book in line with current market trends? Has said publisher just signed a similar novel, and therefore can’t take on yours? Does the particular editor reviewing your book jive with your style? Does the editor feel like they’ll be able to champion your book to the rest of the acquisition team, and get it across the finish line? What’s their current publishing schedule looking like? Scoring a traditional deal is a crap shoot in a lot of ways. But I do believe that things tend to work out as they should so long as you keep putting in the work and showing up, keep believing in yourself and your dream.

In my case, I sold both of those completed books to publishers within two months of splitting with my agent, and both have gone on to do quite well with readers.

Addiction and the opioid epidemic features heavily in your recently released post-apocalyptic novel, Feeders. It is a problem that has heavily affected certain areas of the US, particularly smaller rural areas like where you grew up. What prompted you to include this in the book? What challenges did you face?

The opioid epidemic has ruined so many lives. You can literally see it as you drive through some of the smaller towns in Colorado and throughout the southwest. It’s etched into the faces of the people there and the surrounding areas. Places that were once quaint and picturesque are now riddled with poverty and hopelessness. As you mention, I saw it take root where I grew up, saw what it did to people, and how it hollowed them out in many ways. But I also think it’s important to remember that addiction comes in many forms and that the opioid epidemic is just one of them. Whether you can see it or not, people all around us are struggling with something; some are just better at hiding it than others.

I wanted my protagonist in Feeders Brynn to symbolize a broader battle against addiction—not just opioids. It isn’t until she starts to open up and connect with those around her—her family and friends—that she realizes what’s truly important in her life, and that she isn’t in this battle alone, that she has a reason to live. Addiction can feel incredibly isolating and impossible to overcome, and it’s important to remember that kindness matters, and that people matter. We are so much stronger together.

What can you tell us about other avenues to explore in this day and age with regards to publishing?

Publishing is more accessible than ever. There are so many different ways authors can reach readers, which is both wonderful and daunting at the same time. Want to write a book and get it out there tomorrow? You can. Will many people read it? Probably not.

There’s a reason the traditional publishing model exists. The industry provides a certain amount of quality control. They have the marketing dollars to help books reach the right readers. They’ve made household names out of countless authors. It has its strengths, but it also has its weaknesses. Traditional publishing is an industry riddled with gatekeepers and antiquated business processes. It’s highly inefficient. It often takes a traditional publisher a year or more to publish a book after it’s accepted (this after the author likely put in a year or two writing the thing, and then another year trying to find an agent, not to mention however long it took the agent to sell it to the publisher in the first place).

Enter self-publishing, which can be extremely difficult when done right. You’re now not only the author, but in charge of design, layout, editing, and marketing. It can be exhausting but is a very viable approach for many. Over time, I’ve become a fan of the hybrid approach. Will I go the traditional route if given the chance and it makes sense? Sure, absolutely. I’ll also submit my work to independent publishers and self-publish other projects on my own when it makes sense. I’ll take advantage of as many routes to publication as possible (short stories, podcasts, audiobooks, etc.). I think authors in this day in age need to be flexible. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Spread them around. It makes this writing thing more exciting and you never know where your work might go, where it might take you.

Switching over to The Girls in the Cabin, I’m curious as to how this book came about. It fits more firmly into the so-called thriller category, a very popular genre at the moment. Did you set out to intentionally write a thriller?

After Feeders, I was worn out on the speculative element. Believe it or not, it takes a lot of work to come up with apocalyptic creatures. You have to think through their motivation. You need to do something fresh, something people haven’t seen before. You need to visualize what they look like and how they act. Creating monsters isn’t as easy as people think. For The Girls in the Cabin, I wanted to try writing a story in the real world—something more grounded in relationships. I guess I wanted to try writing something a bit easier, which totally backfired. That book was by far the most difficult book I’ve ever written. It turns out people can be even more difficult to write than monsters.

Did this particular book have any specific inspirations? It also utilizes a somewhat unique format with multiple POVs and third-person interludes.

Interestingly enough, no, not really. It was just this random idea I’d had floating around in my head for a while. What would happen if a family wandered into the home of someone who always wanted a family of their own, and would do anything to make that happen? It was one of those threads I kept coming back to, and it felt like it had enough meat on the bone for a novel. Additionally, I’d always wanted to write a nature survival story, and I thought hey, why not combine that concept with this idea? In the end, it took a hell of a long time to get all of the characters right, to really feel their voices and know who they were and how they would approach a problem. How they should think, act, and speak. One of the characters I wrote using an epistolary (diary) narrative. It didn’t work no matter how many times I tried to force it to, so I decided to rip those chapters out and re-write them in third person as those events actually happened. Once I did that, it felt right; I knew the story worked—at least for me. I wrote and rewrote that damn book about seven times before I felt like I’d nailed it. I’m really proud of how it turned out.

Finally, what are some books, movies, music, or whatever you’ve been enjoying lately that you would like to recommend?

I just finished up Ronald Malfi’s heartbreaking novel, Come With Me, which I thought was a terrific book (Malfi is one hell of a writer), and I’ve got a TBR list about a mile long. There are so many good books out there to read—I just need to find the time. If you can think of a way to invent more hours in the day, let me know, I’d be forever grateful!

You can check out Caleb’s work here.