5 Q's with Amber Madison

Amber Madison is a recent college grad like I am and the author of a non-fiction book called Hooking Up: A Girl's All-Out Guide to Sex and Sexuality . I heard Amber speak at a book reading several months back and was impressed by her maturity and candid ability to bring humor to some uncomfortable topics. Here’s Amber’s story…
Urban Muse: How did you balance being a college student and writing a book?
Amber: I started writing my book the summer after my junior year, and then put it down for most of senior year (until winter break when I worked like crazy on it). I didn't work on it again until after graduating, so really, it was more about the balance of being a cocktail waitress and a writer. Really, I just cared about the book so much that it wasn't difficult to make that a priority. Of course, I procrastinated as much as possible, but when I had to put the pedal to the metal I did.
UM: Tell us about finding an agent and a publisher for your book.
A: I wrote a sex column for my college paper for two years before I started writing my book. My mom would send that column to a whole group of her friends. One of her friends called me up one day to tell me that I just had to write a book, and gave me the name of the agent that her husband used just in case. Once I had enough of my book written I sent it out to agent my mothers friend had given me, and I was lucky to have her accept me as a client. Getting published was tough because I'm not a doctor, and I wrote a book about sex for teen girls (shock and horror). I know that many publishers were scared to publish it because they though it wasn't marketable (parents don't want to admit that their teen daughter might have sex, so will never buy it). I was SO happy that I had an agent to send the manuscript out for me in the face of so many rejections. I would absolutely tell anyone thinking of publishing to try to find an agent first, especially since many houses won't even look at material that comes in from anyone besides an agent.
UM: I particularly enjoyed hearing your humorous story about a yeast infection at the book reading. For the stories that aren't from your own life, where did you find interview subjects and how did you get them to open up about such personal topics?
A: When I was writing my book, I felt really strongly about always keeping it personal so that it didn't feel like dry information. So when I was writing about issues that I have not directly experienced, I thought it was important to get the voice of someone who had. It wasn't too difficult to find women who wanted to write about most of the topics (having an abortion, being a teen mother, realizing one is a lesbian, and being a victim of rape), and the girls were either friends, acquaintances, or friends of friends. I found that the women I approached seemed eager to put their difficult experiences in writing in hopes that it would help other girls. I did, however, have a ton of trouble finding someone who had an STD and was willing to write about it, as you might imagine. That girl was very concerned about her anonymity, and wanted to see chapters of the book before she was willing to commit.
UM: There were some *interesting* characters at the reading. Do you ever get stage fright?
A: I always get nervous before giving talks, doing book readings, or doing TV interviews... REALLY NERVOUS. I mean, sweating, racing heart, you name it. Then I started to realize that only I could tell that I was scared stupid, and that helped me a lot. Really after the first few minutes it goes away. I guess you just get immune to all the people being there, and then it's really fun.
UM: You've already published a book and appeared on The Today Show - what's next for Amber Madison?
A: I've been keeping busy going around to colleges and giving talks to students about sex and sexuality. I am also collaborating with a production company in LA and a web TV company in Boston to start up an Internet TV channel for girls about sex, and that will be up by the beginning of June. (The URL is: www.ambermadison.tv) And, against my better judgement, I'm thinking about writing another book for boys... god knows it's needed. For any more information, you can go to my website .Thanks, Amber. Next week we’ll hear from the fabulous and talented Allison Winn Scotch about her debut novel.