Many people dream of writing a book and working as an author. Self-publishing also opens up many new ways to market yourself. However, Julia Kröhn, one of the most successful authors of recent decades, knows how to convince the big publishing houses and make a career as an author in the book trade. The bestselling author and qualified secondary school teacher has already published 41 books. It is also remarkable that she writes under various pseudonyms, such as Sophia Cronberg, Leah Cohn; Carla Federico; Katharina Till; Kiera Brennan; Kristin Adler; Catherine Aurel; and also Klara Jahn. The reason for this, as she explains in an exclusive interview, is not only creative experimentation but also marketing reasons when working with publishing houses.

In this interview, you can find out how she made it to the top, but she also gives valuable advice and a look behind the scenes.

Julia Kröhn's latest book "Papierkinder" is about the historic children's rights movement. During the coronavirus pandemic, the author felt that the needs of children and young people had been neglected. She discovered historical women who campaigned for children's educational opportunities in the 19th century.

4. January 2023

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IN FOCUS

Name: Julia Kröhn

Occupation: Author

Education: Grammar school teacher. She studied history, philosophy, theology and religious education.

"During the coronavirus period, I often had the feeling that the interests and needs of children and young people

were being overlooked."

Your latest novel "Papierkinder" is about the historic children's rights movement. You interweave this historical story with a dramatic family history. What inspired you to write this book?

During the coronavirus period, I often had the feeling that the interests and needs of children and young people were being overlooked. That's when I first became deeply involved with the children's rights movement: Since the 19th century, it had been campaigning for the protection, loving treatment and educational opportunities of all children. I quickly came across three impressive historical women about whom, in my opinion, far too little is known and to whom I really wanted to erect a monument: Emma Döltz was a convinced socialist who set up the first child protection commissions to restrict child labour. Clara Grunwald was an ardent reformist educator who familiarised Germans with the ideas of Maria Montessori. And Eglantyne Jebb not only made a name for herself as the founder of Save the Children - the first international organisation to campaign exclusively for children in need. She was also the driving force behind the Geneva Declaration of 1924, when universal children's rights were proclaimed for the first time. My novel aims to honour these three women - but it is dedicated to all those who continue to stand up for children and their rights today.

"You stand for certain values, for the passing on of valuable knowledge and education."

In your interview with HR, you said: "The book is more than a commodity". Can you describe this again for the readers?

For me, a commodity is a product that is produced and sold not least in order to earn as much money as possible. And although publishers naturally also want to be in the black and authors live from their income from book sales, in my opinion a book should always be a cultural asset with an ideal value. In other words, saleability should only be one of many criteria applied to the success of books. Because with every book you also take a (moral) stance, you stand for certain values, for the passing on of valuable knowledge and education. When I look back on my many publications, I am not most proud of those that have achieved the best sales figures, but those that best reflect my convictions. And I would also like to see the same value from publishers: Anyone who only has sales and profits in mind and only pats themselves on the back when a book storms up the bestseller lists is better off selling tights.

At what age did you start writing? Did you always know you wanted to be an author?

Even as a very young child, I was a bookworm - but just devouring books wasn't enough for me. I knew early on that I would be a writer one day - simply because I always had so many ideas. Incidentally, my enthusiasm for storytelling is at least as old as my passion for history - I have always been magically drawn to ruins.  From the age of 12, I filled entire exercise books with - still rather bumbling - texts; I put my first "attempt at a novel" on paper at the age of fourteen thanks to a mechanical typewriter. It was so loud that you could hear it all over the house (I'm afraid that during my stays at my grandparents' house, I deprived them of their afternoon nap). What was great from the start was my discipline - I consistently wrote two pages every day during the summer holidays - but not necessarily my ability. In order to professionalise writing and learn the necessary craft, which is inevitably part of any talent, important impulses were necessary, which came from training and my day job.

"But you have to realise in this industry that you've never really "arrived"."

What was it like when you wrote your first novel or found your first publisher? When was your breakthrough moment?

There were various milestones in my career as an author: the first book contract, the first bestseller placement, book prizes, particularly enjoyable readings or press appearances. But you have to realise in this industry that you've never really "arrived". Yesterday's laurels can wither tomorrow, which means you have to prove yourself time and time again, constantly conquering and defending your place on the book market. But that's also a good thing, because it gives you the incentive to throw yourself into novel projects with renewed passion and energy. The nice thing about my work is that it never feels like a tiresome routine, but always like a great adventure.

You have a few alter egos. Can you explain what they are all about?

There are people who change their hair colour every two or three months. That's alien to me - I've been wearing more or less the same hairstyle for many years. In creative terms, however, I'm more willing to experiment. Just catering to one sub-genre would simply be too monotonous for me - I regularly need the challenge of trying something new, of leaving my artistic comfort zone.

The fact that my books are published under different names also has marketing reasons. Publishers want each (brand) name to be associated with a certain type of book. For example, if a reader has enthusiastically devoured a Carla Federico novel, they should be able to expect the next book published under this name to be an exotic women's saga - not a martial war epic like the one I wrote as Kiera Brennan. Otherwise it would be like inviting someone on a trip to Venice and then taking them to the harsh Orkney Islands. Even if he has nothing against the Orkney Islands, he will be disappointed. And my books, I maintain, are sometimes as different as Venice and the Orkney Islands.

"You have to be incredibly patient."

What challenges do young authors face in this day and age? Can you give any advice to young authors?

As a budding author, you have to seriously consider whether writing is actually your greatest passion. Some people think you can just write a book on the side and earn big money, but that's not how a career as an author works. It takes a lot of time and commitment over many years, during which success is usually a long time coming. What you should definitely bear in mind: To be a successful author, you not only need a high degree of creativity and imagination, narrative talent and a feel for language - but also other important qualities: For one thing, you have to be a person who is good at being alone with yourself. Because writing is a lonely job and it often takes months to get feedback. And secondly: You have to be incredibly patient. If you want to have a sense of achievement day after day, it will take too long to work on a book for months, maybe even years, especially as you rarely achieve great success with your first attempt at a novel. Many works disappear into a drawer for the time being until you have enough routine to really deliver a marketable manuscript. 

However, if you have the right attitude, resilience and pragmatism and see the greatest satisfaction in writing itself, not in fame or book fair parties, there is hardly anything more beautiful and fulfilling than being a writer in my eyes.

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