Have I got a story for you!
That’s a common refrain authors often hear at cocktail parties and book events from folks who insist they should be the subject of the writer’s next book. On the one hand, I do believe everyone has a story to tell. On the other, it’s pretty presumptuous to assume one’s life story is so riveting that a professional writer should shelve their work-in-progress to devote their time and talent to it.
But that’s just what Atlanta-based writer Jennie Miller Helderman did. Granted, her subject didn’t ask for it; it was Helderman’s idea. She first met Ginger McNeil in 2005 while working on a magazine article about poverty in Alabama. McNeil had turned her life around by then and was working as a counselor for a women’s shelter, but she’d escaped an abusive marriage and an untenable domestic situation raising a family in a 500-square-foot cabin with no electricity or phone. The more Helderman learned, the more she realized a 1,500-word article was not adequate to tell McNeil’s story. She had to write a book.
So, she began the arduous process of researching McNeil’s life. She conducted countless interviews with McNeil, as well as McNeil’s former husband and other family members. And she pored over legal documents and family photographs. Five years later, she self-published “As the Sycamore Grows,” a compelling narrative nonfiction account of McNeil’s ordeal that reads like a novel but is painfully true.
The book featured a glowing recommendation from Rick Bragg on the cover and garnered several independent publishing awards. Nevertheless, like many self-published books, it didn’t get a lot of media attention, which limited its reach. But now it has a second chance thanks to Atlanta writer Echo Garrett and her new hybrid publishing company, Lucid House.
“I thought it was such an incredible book,” says Garrett, author of her own self-published book — “My Orange Duffel Bag” — which was later picked up by Random House and re-released.
“She worked on it for five years. The reporting she did alone on that book was mindboggling to me. I thought it deserved wider attention than it had received.”
Lucid House was started in 2019 by Garrett’s son, Connor Judson Garrett, along with Jawad Mazhir, as a platform to self-publish Connor’s own books. Eventually Echo came on as CEO and expanded its scope.
“I decided during the pandemic it was time in my career to do what I wanted to do, which is help get great stories out there and important books,” says Garrett. “I wanted to give (a platform to) authors who might not otherwise have their voices heard … who had great, important stories to tell in all genres … as long as they have a unique voice and something unique and important and valuable to offer.”
By the end of this year Lucid House will have published 10 books, and it already has six in the pipeline for next year.
Because Lucid House is a small operation, it doesn’t accept proposals or pay advances. Its books are sought out by Garrett. Then she pairs the authors with editors and designers who, for a fee, produce the books, which are made available via audio, eBook and print on demand from all the usual booksellers. Authors receive 90% of the royalties. The payoff for Lucid House comes when one of its books is optioned for film or TV, something it actively pursues.
The company’s bestselling book so far is Marilyn Kriete’s memoir “Paradise Road,” the true story of a woman forced to grow up too soon who falls in love and embarks with her partner on a cross-continental bicycle trip to South America that’s tragically derailed. She followed it up earlier this year with a sequel, “The Box Must Be Empty.”
In May, Lucid House re-released an updated version of Helderman’s “As the Sycamore Grows.” It features a striking new, lime-green cover, a lengthy list of resources for victims of domestic violence and a new epilogue that details the work McNeil and Helderman have done speaking to different groups about domestic violence. It also brings readers up to date on McNeil and her family.
And like the cherry on top of a sundae, last month “As the Sycamore Grows” received a starred Kirkus review, a distinction only 10% of the books the magazine reviews receive — further proof the book still has legs.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You can contact her at svanatten@ajc.com.
