So...You Want to Be a Screenwriter—Snap out of It!

I am a screenwriter.  I started writing professionally as a screenwriter.  I will always be a screenwriter because it's fun and I'm hooked and I'm good at it.  But, I say this with all sincerity and compassion—do yourself a favor and start writing novels and self-publish.

I say this because there is no market for screenplays.  I say this because so many screenwriters think a sale a year will make them rich (NOT!).  I say this because, as the wonderful John August (Big Fish, Go, Charlie's Angles) says, " ... you’re never as broke [as a newly employed screenwriter] as when you first start making money."  There is no real outlet for screenwriters to be writers and find an audience as writers. Just consider the Writers Guild of America's (WGA) statistics from its 2011 Annual Report (2012 report for 2011 isn't out yet):

Out of roughly 10,500 members, in 2010:

• 4,244 reported income overall (@4%)
• 1,615 reported income from features (@2%)
• 3,142 reported income in television (@3%)
  (Deadline Hollywood, Nikki Finke 2011)

So, even screenwriters who have "made it" and join the WGA number under 5% annually.  Of these, even a smaller percentage make "big money."  What about all the other screenwriters?  All the many thousands who are not in the WGA, but who think it's only a matter of time before their lottery ticket gets hit by lightning on their birthday on a leap year?  They beat their heads against the gatekeepers walls and doors and write their fingers to the bone and make NO money—ever.  This is the vast majority of screenwriters.  This is the reality of the movie and TV business.  It's called "the business" and not "the art" for a reason.  But, "the business" is stacked against you (us).  It is siloed and a closed shop.  It is designed to keep you out, not to invite you in.  Everything about Hollywood is designed to make it as hard as possible to "break in."  None of this reality check will not stop anyone who wants in, however.  Once bitten by the bug it is impossible to talk reason into the smitten (I know of what I speak, I'm one of them).

And so this missive.  If you have to write screenplays, fine.  Go for it.  Just know there is no market for them.  Everyone is competing for the same, few potential buyers (and I mean few), and there are already 10-thousand professionals who are inside the walls and have preferential access due to their WGA status.  Sorry, it doesn't matter that you have the best story ever written—no one will ever read it, due to the closed system. So, where do you sell your script?  The indie film market?  Most producers will ask you to write for free or pay you a couple thousand and promise to pay Guild minimum when they make a sale.  Good luck with that.

So, where else will you sell your great American screenplay?  Nowhere is where.  If you can't get a studio to buy, or a production company, or a legitimate indie producer, there is no other outlet.  Like I said, there is NO market for screenplays outside of these few and restricted points of sale.

But, there is hope. You are a writer. You don't have to beat your head against Hollywood's door.  You can write something else, you can write somewhere else!  The world of writing has changed forever, and is changing as I write this.  Writers can actually make money, find readers, and find satisfaction in their work through the wonderful world of self-publishing and e-books. But, you've heard about all this.  You know about e-books.  "That's fine," you lament, "but, I'm a screenwriter."  So, drop the "screen" part and just be the other part (hint: starts with a "w" and ends with an "r").  You can do this, honest. 

Writers, nowadays, can ill afford to specialize if they want to make a living doing what they love; and for the first time in publishing history it is actually possible for a writer to make a living writing.  Writers have to diversify with their work: short stories, plays, novels, novellas, screenplays, etc.  Most of these can be put up on the Internet and generate readers and money.  I know screenwriters who have put up old short stories (20 years old!) and people buy them.  And they are feeling like real writers for the first time in their lives.  They have fans, they have market share (small as it is) and they are making some money.  Not with their screenplays—nobody wants those, nobody will read those, nobody cares.  But, e-books and short stories and novellas—you bet.

If you are a screenwriter who must write screenplays, knock yourself out.  But, do yourself a favor and learn how to write prose fiction.  Self-publish and discover a world that has been custom built for you as a writer.  In this new world, people won't rewrite what you write, people won't tell you to turn all your characters into robots, people won't hire other writers to completely fuck up your story and you will actually be appreciated and thanked (imagine that) for doing what you do. You may not get rich, but you will make some money—guaranteed more than you will screenwriting! 


So, consider my words.  Consider what is waiting for you on the Internet right now.  Consider actually writing for readers and not for trust-fund-baby, wannabe-writers playing movie producer (because that's who most of us screenwriters end up writing for—not Paramount!). Just consider ...

Now go be brilliant.

(Note: Some have said to me that this post makes self-publishing sound like it's easy and a bonanza for money. NO, NO, NO... none of this is easy.  My point here is that screenwriting will get you basically nowhere.  Self-publishing will at least get you somewhere... not a panacea, but a real outlet for your work.  No such possibility exists with screenwriting.)

The Writer’s Dream: An Agent and a Deal—Part II

In part one of our adventure, I shared that I was inches away from realizing “the dream.” Lit agent lined up and fired up, publishers in the wings as likely buyers, visions of deals and bookstores and midnight book launches with lines around the block. Okay, the last one not so much, but the other two were solid. Then, the news: my author platform was weak.

For those who don't know what this is, there are many wonderful posts on the Internet by authors who have written on the subject, not to mention numerous consultants who will help you set up a platform for a fee. In a nutshell, an author’s platform is your marketing web presence and social media infrastructure. These two things combine to help you sell your books to readers. A typical platform has the following pieces: author website, online store, author blog, video-book trailer, per click advertising, social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), podcasting, e-newsletter, e-article marketing, and other inbound marketing partnerships that link your platform to other platforms, etc.

The agent told me that I had a great product and it was salable, but I was not salable due to my shaky platform. I had the infrastructure, but my numbers were bad. Traditional publishers, these days, have reduced budgets for marketing and promotion of their authors; consequently a first-timer is not likely to get any marketing help from a publisher. Pubs prefer to make deals with writers who have their platforms in place, and strong, before they publish the book. Big-name authors still get the old treatment (media support, public relations, book tours, etc.), but not the average Joe-Jane writer. Those days are over.

“Okay, fine,” I told my agent. “What kind of numbers do I need to have to be ‘salable’?” Her response was, “To put it bluntly, you need more zeros.” Sigh. I know writers with great platforms. They have thousands of followers, thousands of subscribers, thousands of fans and friends. They took years of working the Internet and publishing multiple books to build up their followings. My puny hundreds just didn’t stack up—too few zeros. It was sounding like I was suffering from the cart-before-the-horse syndrome. Before I could sell anything, I needed the people ready to buy, but before I could get them to want to buy, I needed something to sell. Yes, if your head is about to explode, join my club.

The agent wanted to go for it and spin-doctor my proposal to make me more attractive. I suspect, if I had agreed to jump on board, she would have pulled it off and gotten me a publishing deal. But, the business facts weren’t adding up for the way of the dream. If I took a traditional publishing deal, I was looking at these facts:

• It would take me at least eight months to write the book.
• If I went with a traditional publisher, it would be at least a year, after delivery, before there was a book in a bookstore.
• Between the writing and the publishing cycle, it would be almost two years before I’d have a book to sell.
• I needed product now to support my growing writing seminar business; I couldn’t wait two years to have products to sell attendees.
• It would take me at least a solid year of self-marketing to build up my platform to respectable numbers.
• If I signed a traditional deal, I would get less than 8% royalties for print books and around 25% for digital rights.
• With a traditional publisher, the book could go out of print in a year and there’s nothing I could do about that.
• There would be agent fees.
• Bookstores would take my book and I would not have the headaches of returns.
• I could get real reviews for the book.
• If I wanted my book in bookstores I'd need a publishing deal.
  
• I would lose rights, especially digital rights—for years.
• There would be little or no support for promotion, marketing and sales.
• I would have to do all the heavy lifting to create the market for my book.

If I self-published, the following facts were present:

• I would have to do all the heavy lifting to create the market for my book.
• I would have to do the sales and marketing, even after there was a market.
• I would have no agent fees.
• I could get paid reviews for the book, but mostly these are useless.
• I would retain all rights, especially digital rights.
• Bookstores would not take the book, unless I entered into a wholesale deal with them large enough to support returns, which I would have to manage.
• I could end up with 65–70% royalties on the digital side vs. less than 25% in a traditional deal.
• Penguin, Houghton Mifflin and other pubs are moving into the self-publishing space, or distributing books from Amazon.
• The number of online venues available to market and sell my book have grown exponentially in the last 12 months, and will grow exponentially more in the next 12 months.
  
• I could have product to support my workshops in less than a year (actually just a couple of months).
• I could do just fine without a bookstore presence. The biggest bookstore in the world is online.
  
• I could possibly leverage any success for my book and land a traditional deal later down the road, if I wanted.
• If I wanted hard copy of my book I could use the Espresso Book Machine, or work directly with a print-on-demand company like Lightning Source.
  

The conclusion came fairly quickly:

Authors with established readerships who opt-out of traditional deals (Barry Eisler, JA Konrath) can do so because they have a built-in market for sales, i.e., their established readers. Writers like me are starting from scratch (in that sense), so marketing is a much harder thing to pull off. This is why a traditional publishing deal is still the brass ring for first-time writers. There may be no financial backend, but the price of entry is worth it for the legitimacy of being published. Novelists, especially, find this road a godsend. Nonfiction writers, however, have to think twice before stepping onto that road. How-to and self-help are easier to sell and can find a readership more easily than fiction, and nonfiction is what keeps most publishing houses financially solvent.

So, knowing all this, I had to think hard about the facts bulleted above. No matter which way I went, I’d have to do all the heavy lifting in order to build up my platform and find my audience. And then, even after it was created, I’d have to do all the footwork necessary to sell my book. I could not afford to wait two years to have a book in hand; I needed product sooner than that to grow my business. In addition, I knew that digital self-publishing was finally coming of age and the stigma of self-publishing was quickly diminishing. I knew that the financial terms would benefit me on the digital side of the process both in the short and long runs. If I was publishing a novel, probably not, but I had a strong how-to book, one that credible people were telling me would pretty much sell itself.

My road was clear: self-publish.

I won’t (and can’t) claim that my process here is right for you or your book, especially if you write strong genre fare (crime, YA vampire/werewolf romance, etc.). But if you have a strong how-to or self-help book, you might want to think strongly along these lines. What is critical to realize here is that once a traditional publishing deal was a matter of professional life and death for ambitious writers. This is no longer the case. Traditional publishing is now just one more option a writer has available. Traditional publishing is one choice, in a long line of business choices, that we as entrepreneurs must weigh and consider as we build our brands and our businesses. Because that’s what we are doing, we are business people engaged in start-up activity. Even if this idea of being an entrepreneur is frightening to you, or overwhelming, or you just can't make that leap—no problem. You still have the choice to leap or not. A few years ago, that was not the case; you had no choice. Now you do!

As someone has already said, the publishing problem has been solved. And we are all the better for it.

Now, go be brilliant.

The Writer’s Dream: An Agent and a Deal—Part I

The dream of every writer has always been: get a New York lit agent and then get a publishing deal through that agent. The city matters; a lit agent in Kansas City just doesn’t have the same gravitas as a New York City lit agent—sorry. Anyway, this is the brass ring. Getting an agent and a publishing deal makes you an author, not just a writer. I have always held this dream for myself; like anyone, like everyone, who writes.

Would you be surprised if I told you I had both pieces of this dream in the palm of my hand … and then walked away? Would you be shocked and appalled if I told you I found a great agent who told me she loved my book proposal, thought I was brilliant, and felt super-confident she could sell my book—fast—and I still walked away? I can only tell you that you would be no more surprised, shocked and appalled than me, because I walked; I walked.

How the walking happened; the process by which I came to this crazy-ass decision (which I am very pleased with now, by the way) is a process worth sharing. It is worth sharing because I think thousands of writers are facing the same circumstances which were offered to me, and that my case is now more the rule than the exception. A year ago there would have been no debate, I would have gone the way of the dream. What a difference a year makes.

So, I asked a friend, who is a New York Times bestselling author, for an intro to an agent, or at least a recommendation for agents that might be interested in my book proposal, How Not to Write Your Self-Published Novel: The Missing Manual for Writers & Storytellers. My friend was Johnny-on-the-spot and referred me to her husband’s agent; a wonderful New York agent with a small but energetic lit agency.

I submitted my e-query; I followed all the detailed requirements for the submission process; I was sure to mention in the first line of the query email that I knew my friend and her husband. I hit “send” and waited with baited breath.

In short order I got a reply: the agent saw my friend’s referral in the first line of the email and decided she should read it. Normally, she told me, they just deleted queries from the queue, there’s just not enough time to read them. But, because I was smart and dropped some names in the first line, I made the cut and she read my email. And, she loved the idea of the book.

We began talking immediately and she enthusiastically asked for my proposal. She even told me that she knew several publishers that might be interested in my project. One, in fact, had contacted her an hour before we talked describing to her the kind of project he was looking for, and what he was describing was essentially my book. What luck! He also described the kind of author platform any prospective author might need to have in place in order to strike a deal with his company. The platform was critical. The platform was key. The platform, as I came to discover, was more important than the book! My very experienced friend told me that all this was a great sign; agents don’t engage a writer in this way unless they are strongly considering making a deal. Yay for me!

As I waited for a response on the proposal, I chewed on the idea that the only reason I was even talking to an agent was that I had name-dropped and had a network. If I hadn’t written that my e-query was a referral, I would have been deleted and consigned to email oblivion. How crazy was that? What a crap-shoot this process really ends up being. Nevertheless, in about two weeks, the agent responded back and reported that she liked the proposal, thought I was brilliant and was excited about the idea of the book and its prospects. There were just a few cosmetic changes she wanted to make to the proposal to make it attractive to editors. Whew, so far so good.

And then the bombshell, and I paraphrase: “I can sell the book, but I can’t sell you.”

The dream was slipping fast. I had to do a quick reality check: she loved the book, she thought I was giving great advice to writers, she felt confident she could find a publisher, but the weak link was the author (ME). Huh?! What was wrong with this picture? Well, what's wrong was that my author’s platform was too weak. I didn’t have the numbers. “But,” she said, “Let’s cobble together what we can and see what I can do.” Meaning, let’s start spinning your bio and platform infrastructure to try to generate some confidence in your ability to market the book and create a readership. The good news was she was still in my corner, willing to work with me and get creative on selling me to the publishers. The bad news was I had to get creative to sell me to the publishers.

So, we hunkered down to give the Emperor some new clothes. And I began wondering about the process: it’s not enough to have a good book; it’s not enough to be qualified to write that book; it’s not enough to have a good agent if you are a first-time author; you better have a platform, and not just any platform, you better have a strong one. But, what does that mean? How does that look? How do you know you’re ready and can dance the dance with a publisher? The dream, it seemed, now had three pieces: an agent, a publisher and an author platform.

It was at this point my thoughts began to move into the unthinkable; and I began dancing with the publishing devil. Oh, what a difference a year makes. Stay tuned for part two and the exciting conclusion!

Now, go be brilliant.

Amazon: Review My Book and I'll Promote You!

Emily Witt from the New York Observer published an interesting tidbit recently about how Amazon has taken to bartering for book reviews. Per her article:

"The Observer has now learned how Amazon is looking to revolutionize the process of getting author blurbs: provide a review for a book on an Amazon imprint and Amazon will give the reviewer — and his or her book — extra promotion as a thank you."
(Emily Witt, New York Observer, 6/28/11)

I read this and frankly found myself torn. On the one hand I admire Amazon for trashing all the conventions of traditional publishing. They are the publishing world's equivalent to Sherman's March through Atlanta (check your Civil War history, it wasn't pretty). Normally, reviews requests are sent out to "independent" and respected reviewers, people with some clout and some cache who, if they like your tome, will give a valued thumbs-up and thus help book sales. Publishers, of course, have their friends who they like to send review copies to, and these friends, in turn, give objective reviews (cough, cough). How much of the traditional review process is really objective? How much "I'll scratch yours if you scratch mine" is really going on under the covers? I'm sure Random House would object to anything tawdry going on, as would the other big six publishers (or any publisher).

But, I found myself wondering, is Amazon really doing anything unethical by asking for reviews and then promising payback if such is given? Aren't they just putting into to cold light of dawn what is going on between publishers and reviewers already? This is perhaps a very traditional move by the nontraditional Amazon! The only downside to this is that reviewers will be more likely to give positive nods if they know they will get positive promotion back by Amazon for their own books. Once again, how different is this from what already happens?

I know, there are people who actually have integrity out there and take objective stands when it comes to their reviews. I have friends who do reviews. I do them for Kirkus Reviews and Kirkus Discoveries (though some might dispute this as book reviewing). The point however, is that the dust this Amazon "offer" is generating is perhaps a bit disingenuous. Mutual back scratching is a part of self-promotion and it is no different in publishing or in used car sales.

Though I wish the publishing industry had the auto sales equivalent of the Car Fax!

What do you think?

Book Trailers: A Critical Part of Your Author Platform

Trailers have been around forever, even for books. But, they have traditionally been reserved for celebrity authors, or trust-fund-baby authors who could spring for them on their own. And, these were usually TV commercials or radio promos. Expensive, effective, and sometimes paid for by publishers in the bygone days when pubs actually promoted author's work.


Now, as the publishing industry morphs into something still unrecognizable and as the Internet continues to level the publishing playing field, the book trailer is coming of age. The ubiquitous author platform (that animal every author needs, but that few author's know they need) now has a new essential component: the book trailer.

If you haven't seen one of these animals, go to Book Trailers, a Blogspot blog. This site lets you view a host of genres and associated book trailers. Novelist Masha Hamilton did her own book trailer for her new novel, "31 Hours," which cost her a pretty penny, but this kind of exposure and advertising is essential now to promote one's work. One of my favorites is a trailer for the New Zealand Book Council, promoting a New Zealand author Maurice Gee's new book "Going West." This is one of the most imaginative and effective trailers I have seen. But, it also illustrates the growing challenge for writers.

No longer can a writer get away with a low-quality, bare-bones marketing campaign. You have to have high production values, which means spending thousand on trailers, websites, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) gurus, and maintenance costs maintaining all these new platforms (gotta pay some techie to make fixes, changes, etc.).

So, herein lies the new challenge: when publishers refuse to spend money promoting authors, and expect the authors to fund this themselves as much as possible, how is a first-time writer expected to compete if h/she doesn't have the marketing budget to set up a website, develop a book trailer, hire SEO experts to get their trailer/site visible on the Web, etc.?

"The publishing problem has been solved," as one publishing luminary has said. But, with more control and power over our work, with the ability to now publish ourselves in a professional and polished way ... the old phrase "with great power comes great responsibility" takes on profound new meaning. Because, with great power and great responsibility also comes great dollar expenditures. I'm not complaining. The new directions and opportunities for self-publishing and the power of the Internet to level the publishing playing field are awesome and exciting. But, the message to writers is loud and clear: we must start seeing our work as a business, as well as an art, and become writer-entrepreneurs. The days of "big daddy publishing" picking up the bills and doing all the work are long gone.

We are now our own publishers—it's a good thing, but gosh it sure gets expensive!

Blogs-to-Books: Cashing in on the Blogosphere

In the race to monetize new media, new strategies are emerging every month (or so it seems). One that is paying off for some writers is to transform their blogs into books. Several well-known blogs have already capitalized on this trend: Julie & Julia, PostSecret, and Stuff White People Like. In the case of Julie & Julia, the author, Julie Powell, has cashed in on a major movie deal with the result being a wonderful studio picture written and directed by Nora Ephron and starring Meryl Streep. Beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, eh Julie?

Since 2005, publishers have been looking to the Internet for new opportunities and grist for the pub mill. What they are finding is that there is a lot of "talent" out there. "Talent" here does not mean we're talking about high literature; what it means is that bloggers are producing high-concept, commercial, and marketable fare that adapt well to traditional formats—voila, profit center. Make no mistake, some of these blogger/authors are writing some fun, entertaining blogs. Julie Powell's is a great example of a personal journey worthy of any literary treatment. Julie's story would have made a great book right from the git-go. But, if you look at the other two blogs mentioned earlier, you'll see instantly how they could adapt to a nonfiction format designed for any coffee table.

It should be noted that when I say blog-to-book I'm not talking about the numerous companies (Blogbinders, Blog Books, Blog2Print, etc.) "out there" who provide fee-based services for you to "transform" your blog into a printed book. These are fine for vanity projects, or folks who want a down-dirty hard copy. NO, I'm talking about a traditional publisher and/or agent making a deal with you to get your blog published in a traditional way.

So, what do you have to do to transform your blog into a book? Or is this some backward step in media evolution? Should authors shun "old" forms like print media and look forward—always forward?

Consider what several bloggers told Mashable: The Social Media Guide regarding their recent blog-to-book deals:

Blogger: Ben Huh

Blog: A collection of photos and videos depicting various kinds of failure. Huh acquired the blog in January of 2008 with his company, Pet Holdings — of I Can Has Cheezburger? fame.

Book: Fail Nation: A Visual Romp Through the World of Epic Fails, released in October 2009 by Harper Paperbacks, is basically the blog in book form — except formatted like a travel guide with landmarks and cultural notes.

Public Reaction: “We’ve helped infect the Internet with cat fever and popularize the word ‘FAIL’ world over.”

Highest traffic point: “Every month, we currently have 220 million page views and more than 12 million people coming to the Cheezburger Network.”

How did the book deal come about?: “We were contacted by several literary agents and we pushed it off for a while until we finally had the time to do it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blogger: Pamela Slim

Blog: Escape From Cubicle Nation shows readers how to do just that — bust out free from those three gray walls and start their own businesses.

Book: Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, released in April 2009 by Portfolio Hardcover, is a guidebook containing Slim’s best material instructing corporate drones how to strike out on their lonesomes.

Highest traffic point: “At it’s highest point, it was about 100,000 page views a month. I have never had a tremendously high traffic blog or large number of subscribers. But I have a lot of really nice readers who happen to be the kind of people who pass on my articles to others.”

How did the book deal come about?: “I got my current book deal when my publisher (Penguin/Portfolio) approached me. I had dabbled in the idea of writing a book before and had met an agent through another author friend, but the effort didn’t really go anywhere. Frustrated by lack of action and no creativity in coming up with a good proposal, I just gave up and went back to blogging. About a year and a half later, I got an e-mail from Penguin saying they were very interested in my writing and wondered if I could put together a proposal. Since they were my number one choice for a publishing house, I moved like lightening. We closed a deal in six weeks.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blogger: Walker Lamond

Blog: A collection fatherly advice on how to be a good man.

Book: Rules for My Unborn Son, released in October 2009 by St. Martins — like the blog — offers a collection of advice from father to son.

Public Reaction: “My mom really likes it. And as it turns out, quite a few other people too. Within a few weeks of going online, I attracted my core group of a few thousand readers–mostly thanks to the Tumblr community, which (contrary to popular opinion of bloggers) is incredibly supportive, especially to new writers and ideas. I thought more people might call me out on being too earnest or square, but the reaction from most people has been really positive. You need a break from the snark and irony once in a while.”

Traffic-driving methods: “Tumblr. Without it I have no idea how anyone outside my group of friends would have found the site. But the staff at Tumblr and a few of the popular bloggers saw it and wrote about it, and I was off and running. Twitter has been a surprisingly good way to get more readers. The content on my site seems well suited for it, simply because it is short and a whole post usually fits in one tweet. It doesn’t drive people to my website, but the content gets passed around and I think that has helped strengthen the brand if you will.”

Highest traffic point: “That’s like asking someone their salary. It’s not a runaway hit like Penguins or What Fat People Like or one of those hot memes, but I think more people have read my site than say, the books of Ethan Hawke. So that’s something.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are just three examples from the December 17, 2009 post at Mashable: The Social Media Guide. One thing to note on all these examples is the volume of hits per month (average). In order to get noticed by potential agents and pubs your blog will have to be in the hundreds of thousands or millions of hits per month. This is a lot of traffic! So, one of the success factors for getting your blog-to-book involves really savvy social network marketing strategizing on your part and really, really, really good SEO (search engine optimization). I'm going to do a more detailed post later down the line about steps bloggers need to take to leverage this process of book-to-blog for maximum results. I'm working with a friend on turning her terrific blog into a book, as we "speak," so I'll have some real-world experience with this in short order.

In the meantime, my take on this is pretty simple. Worry about print in ten years, not now. Right now, everything is on the table. Books are not going anywhere, but they are going to move into the background and lose their primacy as first-and-only choice for readers. As e-books evolve and become more viral, their print versions will become the aftermarket, rather than the other way around. But, right now print books are selling very well (not fiction!—nonfiction). Leveraging this fact is only smart if a blogger has a marketable idea that will translate to a printed page.

It's not enough to just write your clever blog. You have to market it, make it as viral as H1N1, and build your base into millions of hits. This means using every social media trick in the book—pun intended. Blog-to-book—one more window opens for writers, and it's a good thing.

Interview with Michael Wiese: Michael Wiese Productions

I am very pleased to have the renowned publisher Michael Wiese (Michael Wiese Productions) here to share his views on some of the challenging issues facing writes, publishers and new media developers in today's ever-changing media marketplace.

Michael's publishing company (MWP) began in 1981 and has since become the leading independent publisher of books on screenwriting and filmmaking, with a current line of more than 130 titles. MWP also has a production arm that produces documentaries and independent films (MWP Films).

As a successful independent small press, in an age when small presses are disappearing, MWP has managed to not only hold its brand strong, but to grow and thrive. Anyone working in the publishing world has a lot to learn from a success story like MWP's, and we're lucky enough to get some advice, wisdom and practical know how from one of the masters in the field.

MWP books that cover the whole arc of screenwriting and filmmaking may be found at http://www.mwp.com with a 25% discount.




1. Your publishing company is noted as the leader in the niche entertainment sector. In fact, MWP was recently listed by "MovieMaker Magazine" as one of the top 25 companies that filmmakers need to know. In an age when small presses are dropping like flies, or getting absorbed by larger pubs, how have you managed to maintain your brand and actually grow? And, can you bottle it for the rest of us?

Wish I could bottle it! We are plodders. We take our time. When I first started and learned I could print a book in a few weeks, I failed to understand that that is not "publishing." Publishing is not only printing but preparing the sales and marketing tracks well in advance of having hard copies available. So the ramp up is very important and towards that end we’ve spent years developing contacts and channels of communication so that when a new book comes out, our audience knows about it.

Quality is another thing we pride ourselves on. We find the best people to write what we hope are going to be the definitive books on the subject. That’s why Chris Vogler’s “The Writer’s Journey”, Steve Katz’ “Shot by Shot,” Judith Weston’s “Directing Actors” and dozens of our other books are classics and sell well year in and year out.

Our other ace is that we are filmmakers who essentially publish for ourselves. We ask, "what is it I don’t know that is essential to my skill set as a filmmaker"? When we get the answer we go out and create a book to answer that question. Our competitors are unable to do that. What we do for our readers is turn outsiders into insiders. It’s our goal to make our readers better writers, better filmmakers, better craftsmen so that their work will endure and the careers will grow. Our books are not about our authors but they are about our readers. We get book proposals from big name Hollywood producers and actors but we don’t publish their name-dropping war stories because this information does not empower our readers’ careers. We’ve been successful because we make our readers successful. Those who have read our books appreciate that. So what goes around, comes around.

2. On your website you mention something called “conscious media,” in relation to the new paradigm shifts taking place in publishing. What do you mean by this and how can writers participate in helping formulate this concept?

For years we’ve been publishing "how to" books. We’ve given screenwriters and filmmakers the tools to get it done. But now that you know how to make something, what are you going to make? The big question is “what are you doing and why? Who does it serve? How are you going to use these incredible powers"?

So "conscious media" refers not only to creating works that contribute meaningful to humanity but it also refers to the process of ‘awakening’ the consciousness of the media-maker. After all, writing and filmmaking bring others into a certain state of consciousness. To lead a reader or viewer to new insights and dimensions, the filmmaker has to be conscious, awake and able to access these spaces as well.

We’ve already published books that dip into this area such as “The Writer’s Journey," “Stealing Fire from the Gods," “Deep Cinema: Film as Initiation” and others. My recent film, “The Sacred Sites of the Dalai Lamas,” and my new film (currently in post), “The Shaman & Ayahuasca: Journeys into Sacred Realms,” explore these dimensions of consciousness. My not so secret agenda is to empower a generation of filmmakers who will in turn inspire, engage and create works that will contribute to humanity for years to come. It’s 5 minutes to midnight. The days of creating mindless drivel and eye-candy are over. It’s time to wake up.

3. Your company has developed an impressive list of titles for filmmakers, screenwriters, and aspiring film/TV artists. With so many books on the nuts and bolts of craft already in your back list, how do you make editorial decisions when a new story structure book crosses your desk, or another book on how to write great characters? This must be getting harder and harder. Who do you pick and to whom do you send that lovely rejection letter? Can you share some of your editorial process?

There are a million facets to the diamond. There is always another way to create meaningful content. Bodies of knowledge can be sliced and diced infinitely. What we are looking for are new ideas for media making books and other communication products. Sometimes we’ll have an idea and take it to an author. Other times our authors or prospective authors will pitch an idea. My job is to twist and turn an idea with the author until we are really clear on what the book is about. Once done, we let the author roll with it. We are not about doing derivative work. We want really fresh ideas that will turn on our audiences and inspire them in some way. I like to look to other disciplines and how those bodies of knowledge influence say screenwriting, storytelling or character development - subjects like psychology, the Enneagram, the chakra system, meditation, architecture, mythic structure and so on. The list is quite long. The possibilities endless.

4. It’s looking like 2010 is going to be the year of the e-book. Two thousand nine was good, but analysts are projecting 2010 to be 30-40% better. What role will e-books play in your company next year (or coming years) and how can authors respond to this new format to jump start writing careers? Also, will you be offering Kindle books in the future?

We expect about 15 of our books to go "live" on the Kindle and other platforms any moment now. It’s taken a long time to sort this out. We have another 50 titles that are being prepared for release right now. Amazon expects a 10% uptick in our revenues from e-books (and they usually under-estimate our growth). But we really don’t know what this move means. Amazon tells us that people like to have the hard copy in their library and an e-book copy on their portable devices so that e-book growth isn’t expected anymore to wipe out the traditional book. Did television wipe out the movies? Different platforms, different purposes and experiences.

5. Author platforms are all the rage. The days when publishers promote their new writers with marketing campaigns, signing tours, etc. are long gone (unless you’re Dan Brown or J.K. Rowling). Now we writers have to “do it ourselves” and the new media platform has become essential just to get a first-time deal with many agents or pubs. What does MWP require in the way of an author having his/her platform in place, prior to submitting proposals? Do you care? What platform components would you recommend as essential for any first time writer trying to get a presence on the web?

Success in publishing comes with a collaboration between authors and publishers. The more active and visible an author is – on any platform, the more noticeable his or her book will be. The late, great Blake Snyder was a master of promotion. He told people about his book anywhere, 24-7. I saw him not just work a room but work Chicago’s Ohare airport when we walked through there together to catch a plane. He had a 5-foot-high poster for “Save the Cat" and talked to everyone about his book! When he was frisked by security he was pitching! He formed screenwriting forums both online and in dozens of cities. He held seminars, gave lectures, interviews, had an inactive and daily updated website, a Facebook fan site, etc. He did it all. Of course publishers like authors who are very proactive. If you just sit around waiting to be discovered – you won’t be. 


6. Simon & Shuster recently introduced their new concept for hybrid media: the vook (part book, part interactive video). How do you think vooks and other hybrid formats are going to impact your business? These could have a major impact in the nonfiction and how-to markets (cookbooks, instructional, etc.). Since so many of your publications are instructional and/or how-to, will you be expanding into this area? And should writers who want to submit vookish proposals be comfortable doing so?

I think this is a very cool and appropriate concept – hybrid books. But until they are more established we’ll probably only dabble in it for the moment. (We’ve got a few of these in the works.) Sometimes its better to be second rather than first. Film books that teach filmmaking should be a no-brainer for this format but you still have to clear studio movies that you would use as examples and there’s the rub. They simply won’t play unless you are willing to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on clearances. So to license that kind of video material the math will never work. Still it’s a very exciting area that we are watching closely.


7. One last question on the sea change taking place in publishing; not that anyone knows where things will land. But, with books, nooks, Kindles, etc. the format zoo for new media is getting as bewildering as particle physics. At the end of the day its about the written word — or is it? Do you think the web’s influence here is just “flavor of the month” or is there no going back? Are books going the way of newspapers? What does it all mean? I hope you know!

Books are artifacts. They say something about their owners. They are part of our identity. When you sit down in Starbucks and read a book it identifies you. If you read from a Kindle it doesn’t or at least not in the same specific way. However, portable devices offer other advantages. If you are a doctor going to Africa to run a clinic you’ll take a Kindle loaded with your medical reference books rather than 500 lbs of books.

But I think you answered your own question – Kindle or hard copy – the reading experience has to deliver.

8. What new projects, initiatives, or hot, new writers are you developing for 2010?

We’ve got about 30 titles in the development and writing stages. We are contemplating a whole new line of books but its far too early to announce that. I’ll be finishing and releasing “The Shaman & Ayahuasca," which I shot in Peru, and next month am shooting a doc in Bali about the “unseen worlds." We’ve got some new things we’ll be doing with our website. But all this aside, we are plodders and will continue to carefully develop and nurture the best books we can.


9. What question should I have asked that I didn’t?

If you are traveling in space at the speed of light and you turn on your headlights, will anything happen? Thank you for your intelligent questions.

Kirkus Reviews Closes Doors

After 76 years in the book review business, "Kirkus Reviews" has been closed by its parent company, The Nielsen Company. Nielsen also shuttered "Publishers & Editors," another independent voice in the publishing world, started in 1901!

Kirkus, for those of you who may not know, was a leading provider of book reviews for the book trade, entertainment industry, schools and universities, and libraries throughout the country. They reviewed about 5,000 books per year, and while vilified by some for being hackneyed and superficial, more than not Kirkus has been honored for providing a truly independent voice in book reviews. Many authors have valued being covered by Kirkus, prior to publication, and their pre-pub reviews often made a significant difference to authors hoping to get a shot in the arm prior to official publication.

But now, one more voice has been silenced. Why? The same reason newspapers have died (yes, they are dead—the print form anyway) and the same reason venerable magazines are dropping like flies: vertically integrated companies like Nielsen can not financially justify keeping these acquisitions alive in the face of the new media juggernaut.

Nielsen Business Media President Greg Farrar's memo about the magazine shutdowns follows:

Dear Colleagues,

Today, we announced that Nielsen Business Media has reached an agreement with e5 Global Media Holdings, LLC, a new company formed jointly by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners, for the sale of eight brands in the Media and Entertainment Group, including Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, The Clio Awards, Backstage, Billboard, Film Journal International and The Hollywood Reporter. e5 Global Media Holdings has also agreed to acquire our Film Expo business, which includes the ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo International and CineAsia trade shows.

In addition, we've made the decision to cease operations for Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews.

This move will allow us to strengthen investment in our core businesses - those parts of our portfolio that have the greatest potential for growth - and ensure our long-term success. We remain committed to building our trade show group and affiliated brands. These assets continue to be a key part of The Nielsen Company's overall portfolio and we strongly believe they are positioned to grow as the economy recovers. In addition, we'll continue to assess the strategic fit of our remaining portfolio of publications.

As a result of these decisions, many of our friends and colleagues within these businesses will be leaving the company or will begin to transition to the new ownership immediately. These venerable brands have long been an important part of our Business Media family, and we are pleased that e5 will continue to capitalize on the brands' potential. The transition is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Pluribus Capital was founded in 2009 by James Finkelstein, George Green and Matthew Doull to focus on acquiring and managing industry leading media properties with high growth potential, particularly those with strong brand recognition across multiple platforms including digital, print and events. Guggenheim Partners is a privately held, diversified financial services firm. Both Pluribus and Guggenheim have strong track records of successfully managing investments in a variety of companies.

I want to take this opportunity to offer heartfelt thanks to our colleagues who will be leaving the company for their dedication and commitment to Nielsen over the years. Please join me in wishing them well in their future endeavors.

Regards,

Greg Farrar
President
Nielsen Business Media

In the case of Kirkus, who will take up this slack? Who will review the books? Supposedly, sites like GoodReads will start expanding its offerings to fill in the void. GoodReads is a social networking community of 2,600,000 readers, who have panned and celebrated 64,000,000 books, since its inception. But, can blogging sites really do the job? I doubt it. Just as blogging sites aren't noted for their journalistic prowess (i.e., citizen journalism), can they likewise be relied on for book review prowess? Or will we have a glut of author publicists, friends and family, and PR hacks clogging the blogosphere with self-serving book reviews that have no authenticity or critical value?

If you are an author who got trashed by Kirkus over the years, then you are probably dancing a jig, or as one author rejoiced, "Die Kirkus, die!" Personally, I find this horrible and sad. Not because I oppose the evolution to new media (quite the contrary), but because independent voices in media are vanishing like endangered species in the Amazonian jungle: quickly, with hardly a blink of the eye. We need to preserve independent, critical voices in media, not vertically integrate them, or worse, hand them over to the blog-mob (of whom I am one!), assuming citizen reviewers, like citizen journalists, will somehow have the chops to deliver critical reviews, objectively and with some panache. What we're likely to see are, "Shit man! That was a kickass book! You should buy it," or "Don't waste your money dude ... wait for the movie ... movies rock!"

Just shoot me now.

Please don't get me wrong; I am not a snob or an elitist. This post isn't about trashing everyone who blogs or who has an opinion about "stuff." I'm all for the grand conversation that is taking place all around us on the Internet. I'm not worried about journalism's future (it will survive and thrive), and I believe all critical forms like reviews of movies or books will also survive. I just can't help mourning when a species is killed off because its too expensive to keep it alive. And even as more windows open to voices everywhere, we need to be sure when others are closed they are not lost forever. Even one less voice in the world means we are all made a little more silent.

(Full Disclosure: I USED TO work for Kirkus as a book reviewer.)

Mid-November, Harlequin announced the launch of Harlequin Horizons, a new division billed as "[an] opportunity for women's fiction writers and romance authors to publish their books and achieve their dreams," provided they've got cashola to subsidize that publication. The partnership with subsidy-publishing juggernaught AuthorSolutions drew instant opposition from several authors guilds, which quickly lambasted Horizons as a vanity press operation. The Romance Writers of America announced Harlequin wouldn't be eligible for favored-publisher privileges at next year's national convention, the Science Fiction Writers of America announced "NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA," and the Mystery Writers of America said it might also take that route.

(Some of the above quoted from Mediabistro's Galleycat, 2009)

Since mid-November, Harlequin tried to sneak under the radar, re-branding Harlequin Horizons as DellArte Press, and the Mystery Writers of America jumped off the fence to the “personae non grate” side, declaring Harlequin as no longer a member of its prized “approved publishers” list. According to its rules, a "publishing entity" must "be wholly separate and isolated" from "an entity that provides self-publishing, for-pay editorial services, or for-pay promotional services." Harlequin’s alliance with AuthorSolutions violates these conditions, ergo the personae-non-grate status.

Who cares? Well, Harlequin does, that’s for sure. But, writers should care about this development as well. The various guilds find themselves in murky waters vis-à-vis pubs decisions to leverage the emerging power of Internet self-publishing. At a time when every angle is being explored to expand a publishing company’s bottom line, this once clear line in the sand separating the vanity world of wannabe authors from the proud world of made-it authors (i.e., published versus really published) is vanishing. As businesses, the pubs are scrambling to shore up the leaking business models of yesteryear, hoping against hope a new model that will show them to the golden road of profitability will emerge soon.

In the meantime, a profit center is emerging in the chaos. Subsidy publishing is on the rise and writers, the good, bad, and ugly are flocking to this opportunity. How should the guilds respond? Should they oppose, outright, traditional publishers from venturing into these profitable waters? Are they only trying to protect traditionally published author’s territories and their own member bases? Or are they missing an opportunity to follow the lead of some of these pubs that see the writing on the wall and are trying to adapt and innovate?

Questions, questions, I’m full of them. I don’t have the answer on this one. I’m not condemning either side. I see how each has its own reasons for picking one or the other side of this fence. I just think the guilds should not be so quick to throw down the gauntlet. Things are evolving for everyone in the publishing industry and writers, their organizations, and the publishers and their organizations are all scrambling to make sense of something that is still in flux. I understand it’s hard to not take a position, especially when special interests or feisty memberships demand such, but careful consideration is in order. I’m still looking at all the pros and cons for pubs moving in the subsidy-publishing direction, because I’m not convinced this could not be a win-win for everyone, if communication stays open and cooler heads prevail.

Maybe not, though, maybe this is just one more ploy to screw writers … except for the fact that the emerging group of writers in the subsidy arena kind of consider themselves writers too. Including the half-dozen or so who have made the New York Times bestseller list. Gosh—it’s all getting so bloody complicated. Grand, isn’t it.

[Full Disclosure: I work for AuhorSolutions as an editorial consultant.]

Why Twitter Matters to Writers

I know, I'm writing a lot about Twitter these days. There's a reason. It's getting to be a force in the writing universe. Consider the following:

I've heard it all before--as have you, "Why bother with Face Book, Twitter, My Space (so not cool now), etc.? Just a black hole of my time and keystrokes. Who has time?" I've heard myself say these same things.

Well, 28-year-old Justin Halpern found the time to setup his Twitter account titled "ShitMyDadSays." It has over 700,000 followers. One of those followers is CBS television. And--please sit down for this so you don't fall down--they just signed Justin to a TV deal. In addition, Justin signed a book deal recently based on his Dad who says shit.

Here's a sample:

"You look just like Stephen Hawking...Relax, I meant like a non-paralyzed version of him. Feel better? ... Fine. Forget I said it."

("ShitMyDadSays," Twitter 2009, Justin Halpern)

I can totally see how a creative executive at a network could run with this. Whoever saw the potential in this tweet made their salary for the year. And they made the right call. This is perfect for sitcom development, and this is the kind of stuff that fuels TV development all the time. I completely see how this could spin off into a multi-camera, family sitcom.

So, why Twitter matters, why Face Book matters, etc., beyond the social networking aspects, is that there are companies out there scouring these sites for ideas. We've all known for a dog's age that media companies have their story department interns reading e-books, watching every new web series, and listening to podiocasts galore. Web series like "Quarterlife" are now legendary for jumping species and moving to TV (disastrously in Quarterlife's case). But, now the focus of the Great Eye is now taking in anything where an ounce of creativity might show itself.

The point here is that writers can no longer take social networking for granted. Social applications where you can create a presence for yourself are gold. They are part of doing business for the writer, like writing every day, or calling your agent every week, or drinking gallons of coffee. You have to have a presence in all these venues. It's time consuming and a pain in the ass, but if you want to work, if you want exposure, if you want to be seen by the Great Eye that sees all things remotely creative, then you have to play the game.

If you watch anyone under thirty, you will notice they spend as much time thumbing their mobile device as they do making eye contact. These are the people who are being hired into power positions at networks and studios. I'm an old fart, but I'm tech savvy and I know this stuff, so I'm not behind the curve. But, how about you? Do you have your blog? Do you have a Twitter account? Are you marketing yourself in all the places you can to maximize visibility for your work and your brand? Even if you don't have a brand?

I'm happy for Justin. But, his story is no different than the stories we used to hear about in the indie movie world where the young-up'n-comer from out of nowhere lands the movie deal for the sixteen millimeter short he/she shot while on summer break from school. We just heard a similar story with the phenom "Paranormal Activity," shot for 15,000 by an unknown director two years ago. Recently released by Paramount, "Paranormal" is now pushing 100 million domestic and hasn't even been released globally. There are always the lottery winners out there who fuel the dreams of struggling filmmakers and writers everywhere. "Hey, that might be me next!" I say dream on, and congratulations Justin.

But, in the meantime, while you wait for the lottery to shine on you, take a cold, hard look at what is happening in the marketplace and on the Web. This is where writers have to be in the years to come (screw years-months). It's just starting. We don't even know how all this is going to end up, because it is constantly evolving. All I know is that Justin is a huge shout to us all to rethink our businesses and our writing. I'm not saying you have to abandon traditional values and/or methods, or that you have to start writing 140-character novels. I'm only suggesting its time to open up the repertoire and design a business model for your career that leverages the world as it is, not as it was.

Publishing, movies, television, it's all changing--and fast. Justin is our canary in the coal mine, only instead of dying form poisonous gases he is flying high for being in the right place at the right time. You can too. It just takes work and attention to your writing life--screw the lottery. You have to be your own lottery.

Twitter-lit Redux

A few days ago I wrote a post on something called Twitter-lit. Twitter has always been about real-time reality, being in the moment, life in the raw in 140 characters (or less) at a time. Then, one day, someone decided to depart from reality and just make stuff up (like no one ever makes things up on Twitter)—voila, fiction and Twitter meet: Twitter-lit.

Today The Huffington Post (wonderful online newspaper) started a Twitter-lit contest. It invited its readers to submit their version of the great books in literature. In other words, give them a 140-character version of War and Peace. If you know about screenwriting, or have ever worked in the entertainment business in story development, then what you are going to see next will look familiar. Here are some samples of what the Huffpo readers submitted:

Mary Shelley’s Frankinstein by AskMrScreens:
Misunderstood monster only wants a friend in a recycling project run amok, with an ending that goes up in flames! (Huffington Post, 10/06/09)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula by marcywoody:
Creep preys on the veins and sexual desire of eager young women. Despite immortality, his thirst is forever quenched by one heroic doctor. (Huffington Post, 10/06/09)

Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility by LolaDanger:
One sister wanting romance, the other craving good chat (both hot for rich brits) outplay a manipulative bitch and an emasculated gigolo. (Huffington Post, 10/06/09)

(Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/29/huffpost-twitterature-con_n_333974.html?slidenumber=grlh7L0PxJM%3D#slide_image&cp)

Okay screenplay hounds. The Internet culture calls these examples Twitter-lit. But, screenwriters will recognize these as something else, something we use and agonize over for hour, days, sometimes weeks (or more). These little flavor-of-the-month masterpieces above are nothing more than loglines!

A logline is your movie (or book) in a sentence. It is a complicated, complex, and challenging little beastie. The logline has to capture the essence of your story, meaning it has to give a sense of the core relationship driving the story, the high-concept conceit of the story, and a hint of the conclusion without giving too much away. Loglines are essential tools for anyone who works in the movie and/or television business. Anyone who has done script coverage has had to come up with a logline. And any writer pitching a story to an agent has had to get that logline perfect for their elevator pitch. It is also important for novelists, though less so. Loglines get movies made, when they’re good. And when they’re bad—well, you know the rest.

What I find fascinating about this little exercise by Huffpo is that this “new thing” is being touted as a new thing, when it is as old as the hills. This all speaks to an important idea to always keep in mind: nothing about writing on the web or for new media is really “new.” Take away all the SEO (search engine optimization) gibberish, all the IA (interactive architecture) interfaces, and all the Web 2.0 gobbledygook and you are left with words on a page. It’s all “just” writing. You can put all the lipstick you want on that pig; you still have pork. I’m all for repackaging and re-branding ideas, but it is important for writers not to get too caught up in the hype of “the next big thing.”

I’m enjoying all the new formats, platforms and delivery windows that are opening up for writers thanks to the Internet, but I’m taking my own advice. I will just keep my wonder and awe reserved for the simple written word that knows no gimmicks, attention-grabbers, or leaps in the technology zeitgeist. Trust me, I’m no Luddite, I’m a technology champion. I just think it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that so much of what we’re seeing in new media content delivery is really just a variation of the old notion, “What was old is new again.”