When Patrick Chovanec WG05 started writing Cleared for the Option, about obtaining his pilot’s license during the pandemic, he knew it wouldn’t fit neatly into a genre. Would it go in the transportation section or the leadership section? But he remained steadfast about his purpose — writing the book he wished had existed when he was learning to fly.
The two panelists at this year’s Alumni Authors Salon during Wharton MBA Reunion Weekend both emphasized the importance of staying true to a goal. Russ Laraway WG05, author of When They Win, You Win, reflected on the objective that drove his writing process: to rid the world of bad managers. His book focuses on the “Big 3” elements that Laraway says measurably and predictably lead to more engaged (and happier) employees.
Alumni listen to the panel discussion.
Laraway and Chovanec faced unique challenges when setting out to write the books they envisioned. As they answered questions from alumni in the audience and panel moderator and Wharton Magazine editor in chief Richard Rys, it became clear that their book-writing processes differed in almost every way, starting with the actual writing.
“I write as an economist for a living,” said Chovanec. “But writing an essay is a very, very different thing from writing a book. A book is like climbing a mountain, and I couldn’t even see the peak.” He decided the only way to tackle this daunting task was to do it all at once — to sit down and focus on it full-time over the course of three months.
Laraway spread his writing out more, integrating it into his daily schedule as a dad of three kids and a C-level executive at a pre-IPO company. Tapping into the discipline he acquired in the Marine Corps, he budgeted 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. four days a week for writing.
For both authors, deciding how to publish was critical. Laraway stressed that any aspiring authors in the audience should expect to do some level of self-promotion even when working with a major publisher, as he did. “Publishers add shockingly little value,” he told them. “If you’re President Obama and you leave office, you have 14 publishers lined up with millions of dollars ready for your book deal. When you’re Russ Laraway, you are trying to find an agent who will pick up the phone.” While publishers used to be arbiters of content, he said, now they’re closer to venture capitalists: “They don’t know what’s going to work anymore. They make a lot of light investments. You’ve got to write your book.”
Faced with a genre-defying manuscript, Chovanec opted to self-publish. “You’re going to spend a year trying to pitch somebody. And you can spend your time making a better book, or you can spend your time doing that,” he said, adding that he hired a publishing consultant who knew how to manage the process.
When the floor opened up for questions, one audience member asked about the query process and what agents look for when taking on an author.
Chovanec said he didn’t use the query process but was introduced to agents. “It’s like finding a job,” he explained. “Sure, there’s a job opening. Sure, you can apply for it. But it’s probably going to go to somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody there. So you work your network.” He didn’t have to go far into his network when it came to editing; he asked his wife, Frances Chovanec WG05 — who also attended the panel — for a read.
Laraway shares insights with the MBA Reunion audience as Chovanec and Rys listen.
When asked whether there was any particular advantage to writing a book. the panelists shared their thoughts on other forms of media, such as YouTube and podcasts. Although Laraway’s book is also available in an audio version, he said the print version actually ended up being more popular. “People will often buy an audio book and then tell me they had to get the text because they wanted to take notes in the margins,” he said. “It’s one of the things I’m proud of.”
Choosing a title was easier for one author than the other. “‘Cleared for the option’ means you’re cleared to land, but the runway is yours,” Chovanec explained when asked about his book’s title. “One day, it struck me that that was sort of a metaphor for the whole experience: You have the option to do something that you did not expect to do in life. And in fact, this was not the book that anyone who knows me expected me to write.”
The authors encouraged alumni to seek inspiration from the greats, including Stephen King and George R.R. Martin, paying close attention to how they set scenes. But the most crucial lesson they learned was to let ideas flow and not to edit prematurely. Laraway suggested recording thoughts over the phone while taking a walk around the block. “Don’t try to edit; just write it,” he advised. “Just write, write, write, write.”
Chovanec compared overcoming the instinct to freeze in the cockpit with sitting down at the keyboard. “Writing a book is the same,” he said. “Just say, ‘What little story can I tell today?’ and put it on paper. Figure out later how that fits into the overall mosaic.”
