If you are writing a novel or screenplay, this is a simple way to make sure that it has the qualities that will attract readers and buyers.
Lou
Kunzler, who teaches the ‘writing for children’ workshop I attend, had this great
suggestion: before you write anything, decide on three words that describe it
in a way that will make people want to read it.
Put those words on a sticky
note and put it where you can see it as you write, as a reminder that every
chapter should fit that description.
For
the novella I’m writing, I’d say something like “killer pursuit thriller”—it’s
the story of a boy and his father on the run from people who want to kill the
father.
That
reminds me to make sure to keep up the pressure, to show how much is at stake,
and to keep the action thrilling.
You
could also choose three adjectives that don’t refer to the plot, just the
writing itself, something like “funny, insightful, touching.”
If you are self-publishing you might also find the three words come in handy when you're coming up with the marketing materials for your ebook. However, when pitching or writing a query letter don't use too many adjectives but rather make sure the way you summarize or describe the project suggests those qualities. In other words, instead of writing in a letter to an agent that your book is "funny, insightful, and touching," make your description project those.
I
think this strategy could extend to other kinds of goals as well. If you want
to improve your health and fitness, what three words describe the result you’re
after? Maybe energetic, flexible, strong, for example.
You
could also apply it to the process you employ in pursuit of the goal. For you
to stick to an exercise regime, for instance, what three words describe what it
should be like? Maybe enjoyable, non-competitive, efficient (that is, gets
results in minimum time)?
Let's say you have a problem relating to your writing or selling what you write. You're stuck...now what?
I suggest a brainstorming activity I call, “How do THEY do it?”
First you think of somebody who does something that’s similar to—but not exactly the same as—whatever
you want to do. Then you look at what are the main things they do and translate
those back to what you’re trying to do.
For example, let’s say you have finished writing a book or
script and now you want to sell it. First let’s pick a “they.” Who sells stuff?
Well, salespeople. Let’s pick the kind of selling that probably is the most
daunting: door to door sales.
WHAT THEY DO
What do THEY do? Make a list of their key behaviours and attitudes:
They go from door to door, calling on many potential
customers in a day.
They come up with a first sentence or two that is designed
to capture the interest of the potential customer so the latter won’t slam the
door in their face.
They have a strong pitch that relates the product to the
needs of the potential customer.
They have answers ready for the most likely objections, such
as “I can’t afford it right now,” or “I’ll have to ask my spouse.”
They know that most people will say no, but that if they
persist, it’s likely some will say yes.
They listen to what the non-buyers say and adjust their
pitch accordingly for the next time they might make the sale. They learn from the no's.
WHAT WE CAN DO
Now what can we take away from that in terms of selling
our manuscript or script? What would be our equivalents to what "they" are doing?
One is that we would approach a number of agents or
publishers or producers, not one at a time. After all, a door to door salesperson
wouldn’t say, “Well, Mrs Miller said she’d think about it and let me know next
week, so I’ll just wait for her answer before I try next door.”
To get our foot in the door we would fashion a strong first sentence for our query
letter or our pitch, so we capture the interest of our potential customer.
We would think about what objections might come up—for
instance, maybe that it would cost too much to produce a certain script—and
we’d be ready with an answer. Maybe we could even build that information into the
pitch or the query letter itself to disarm the objection.
For instance, if you were pitching a novel right now that
features zombies, you’d want to be sure to explain very early in the letter or
pitch how it’s different from all the zombie stories out there at the moment.
We would not give up after the first few
rejections.
And we would listen to the feedback we get, and if several
potential customers point out the same issue, we’d fix it before moving on to
the next one.
That’s the “How do THEY do it?” strategy and you can
apply it to just about any process that you’re finding difficult.
MORE EXAMPLES
Having trouble building a story? Figure out how the people who build houses do it and translate that back to story-building.
Having problems with a story that seems too predictable but you don't know how to throw the reader off the scent? List how magicians deceive their audience and find out which strategies might work in your story.
Finding it difficult to come up with ideas? Find out how advertising agency people come up with them and apply them to your kind of story-telling.
By getting inspired by people and solutions outsideo of your field you will come up with fresh ideas, not imitations of what everybody else in yours is doing already.
(You'll find lots more creative ideas for solving writing problems and creating powerful stories, in my book Your Writing Coach. It's published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)
Ryan North set a goal of $20,000 on the crowdfunding site
Kickstarter for an illustrated “select your own adventure” book, To Be or Not to Be (yes, based on
Hamlet).
It took him only six days to get to over $120,000, at which
point there was an article in The Guardian about it. By the end he raised…wait
for it….$580,905! That’s about £381,000.
Why was it so successful?
1) He
is already well known for his work on Dinosaur
Comics, the Adventure Time comic
series, and for co-editing the best-selling short story anthology, Machine of Death.
2) He
recruited a stellar line-up of illustrators, each of whom has their own
followers, to do the pictures.
3) The article in a national newspaper couldn't have hurt
4) People
liked the project.
Of course there are many projects that don’t reach their
goal in the time the creators set for raising the money, in which case no money is turned over to the artist or writer at all.
For instance at the time of this writing Momma Love: How the Mother Half Lives, a proposed hardcover book with “portraits and 40 mothers’ moving personal stories (that)
provide an honest look at the highs and lows of the motherhood experience”, has
raised only 66% of its desired $35,000 goal with six days to go.
The Barefoot Diaries,
by Verity and Stu McLellan, described as “A journal of roots, rhythm, reverence
and relationship", still has 19 days to go but has raised only $37 (1% of the goal) so I’d say things are not looking good.
Even though it really helps to arrive with a following, there are writers who worked very hard to push their Kickstarter project and reached their goal.
What about you? Any projects kicking around that you might like to try to finance this way?
(If you want to discover 100 creative, low-cost ways that people have used to market themselves or their product--and that you can adapt for your marketing--see my book Do Something Different. It's published by Virgin Books and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
Below is an item from a list written by an online marketer who calls himself Johnny B Truant.
The best moneymaking and success strategy is to be awesome. It’s amazing how many people fret about perfecting their marketing strategy when what they have to offer is total shit. Sure, marketing and SEO and positioning matter… but only once you are producing awesome stuff. No matter how many times we talk about marketing funnels or KDP Select promotion strategy on the podcast, the bottom-line advice always boils down to, “Keep writing awesome books that people love.” That philosophy applies to everything.
This resonates with me especially because I was approached recently to work on a book series that has a lot of promotional angles to it, but when I read the description of the actual content, it was terrible, so I declined.
It's easy to get so hung up on marketing--which certainly is important--that sometimes core quality gets lost. We have to remind ourselves that while hooks and gimmicks can help sell things, we have to be careful not to let the marketing dictate the content, or at least not to the point where it hurts the quality. This can be very hard when we are working for someone else so we owe it to ourselves even more to to do it when we do our own work.
(Want to learn how to focus and overcome procrastination? Get my book, "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." It's published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
In the previous post I told the story of Ron Tanner, who did
a forty-state, sixty-city book tour to promote his book, ““From Animal House to
Our House: A Love Story,” about the refurbishment of an old fraternity house.
Did he make any
profit?
How many books did he sell? In the article he says he’s
still trying to figure that out. I’m not sure why he doesn’t have at least an
educated guess, so I’m going to risk making one.
He made 60 appearances. Let’s say the average attendance was
15. That’s 900 people, let’s round that up to 1000. How many of those bought?
My guess would be ten percent, or 100.
The book costs $25, so if he bought them at the author’s
rate he probably made $5 on each one. That would make his take a total of $500,
which would have been less than he spent on gas and other expenses.
So, net profit: zero or possibly minus a few hundred
dollars. He did get exposure via his media appearances, and now via the article
I’m quoting. It’s possible that the effort will stimulate some follow-on sales. That might just
put him into the black if you don’t count the cost of his time for four months.
Other benefits
However, money is not the only way to measure something like
this. In an article In Poets and Writers Magazine, Tanner writes, “If you think
that a book tour should make money and/or you should easily recoup your
expenses, then stay home and query book bloggers. If, on the other hand, you
believe that by putting yourself in motion, by meeting as many people as you
can, you will be better off as a writer, then the DIY book tour is for you.” He
mentions that it can be done on weekends if you don’t want to commit four
months the way he did.
The book tour that
made Wayne Dyer rich
In 1976 Wayne Dyer wrote a self-help book called Your Erroneous Zones (a play on the
title of a sex book popular at the time, Your Erogenous Zones). The book was going nowhere and the publisher
was not promoting it so Dyer took matters into his own hands.
Dyer quit his teaching job and for six months drove his
station wagon across the United States. He went onto local radio and TV
stations and did interviews with local and regional newspapers. He took a load
of books with him and convinced book store owners to put it in their windows
ahead of his media appearances. When he ran out of books his wife shipped more
ahead to the next town.
It worked. The publisher realized that they were getting a
lot of orders for this book and decided to back it with publicity and promotion
as well.
The book has sold an estimated 35 million copies and is
still in print. It was on the New York Times best-seller list for 64 weeks and
paved the way for Dyer to write many more self-help books and become one of the
top personal development speakers in the world.
What’s the
difference?
Why was Dyer’s tour such a spectacular success compared to
Tanner’s?
Book publishing and sales have changed. There are fewer book
stores and, as Tanner points out, many independents are struggling and don’t
have the time or money to promote speakers. Also when books don’t sell right
away they tend to return them to the publishers to get their money back, so the
books doesn’t stay on display or on the shelves for as long as they used to.
Dyer’s book had a wider appeal, Tanner’s is more of a niche
interest. Most people are interested in improving themselves and their
relationships. Compared to that, relatively few want to pay $25 to read about
house being refurbished. Niche books do break out from time to time, but it’s a
long shot.
There are fewer newspapers and people’s attention is more
fragmented. Back in 1976 if you were interviewed in a local newspaper or
appeared on a local television show probably you reached a majority of the
adults in that community. Now a lot of those newspapers are gone and TV
viewership is down. A panellist at
the recent Digital Book World conference in New York said these days only 10%
of book awareness comes from traditional media.
What’s the lesson for
authors?
A cross-country tour sounds like quite an adventure and may
not be without potential payoffs for certain kinds of books. However, as Tanner
says, if your goal is to sell the most copies, it’s not the way to go. These
days the internet is where to find readers, even though four months in a room
working on Facebook and Twitter doesn’t sound nearly as appealing as a road
trip with a basset hound.
(These days it
requires guerrilla marketing to make an impact. You’ll find a chapter on that,
as well as a chapter on traditional marketing, in my book, “Your Writing
Coach.” It’s published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your
other favorite book seller.)
When Ron Tanner decided to promote his book, he
really went for it. He didn’t go for Twitter and Facebook like everybody else.
He outfitted a camper van and did a self-funded forty-state, sixty-city book tour .
He was promoting From Animal House to
Our House: A Love Story. It was about how he and his then-girlfriend (later
his wife) restored an old fraternity house to its former Victorian grandeur.
His girlfriend didn’t want to go on the tour so his only company was his basset
hound, Cleo.
In the recent issue of “Poets and Writers” magazine Tanner
recounted some of his experiences and what he learned about face-to-face book
marketing. Here are some of his key findings and advice.
Find local partners
At least six months in advance, for each city you are visiting find and contact an
organization that connects to your topic or
theme in some way. Offer to speak at a meeting of their members or some other
event. Make no demands (in other words, don’t expect to get paid).
There are friends and
there are “friends”
Don’t count on your Facebook friends for help; only your
real friends and relatives are likely to come through.
The sad truth about
book stores
Some book stores now charge non-famous writers to do a
signing or a talk. Some ask for a co-op fee, meaning they want you to split the
cost of publicising the event. Tanner's publisher took this on in some cases.
Although you’d expect independent book stores to
be welcoming, many are feeling the strain and can’t be bothered with events
that don’t result in much benefit to them. Tanner says bookstore
appearances were the least beneficial of his activities. Instead, he suggests, hold your own
event at a friend’s house or library.
Help get the word out
Offer to help with the publicity for each appearance on your
tour. This means contacting newspapers, online events calendars, radio and TV
stations. Have an online press kit they can access. Mention your local
partners.
Don't just read
Instead of a reading, make a presentation. Tanner used a slide
show with lots of humor. Use graphics, props, artefacts , anything relevant
that keeps the audience entertained.
A tour is hard work
Tanner had assistance from an intern provided by the
publisher, but he says he really needed at least two helpers to manage the
bookings, confirm appearances, etc.
Touring the country by yourself, even with a basset hound,
gets old pretty fast. Tanner called his girlfriend every day and met lots of people
but it still was lonely work at times.
Did he make any
money? Was it worth it? The answers will be in the next post. There I’ll
also tell you the story of another author. This one did something similar and
managed to turn his book into a best-seller that made him rich.
(You’ll find a
chapter on traditional marketing and another on guerrilla marketing, in my book,
“Your Writing Coach.” It’s published by Nicholas Brealey and available from
Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)
In the previous posts we've looked at some big questions to ask youself about your future as a writer and as a person, and how to use the zero-based planning approach to help you come up with a powerful picture of how you want each of the parts of your life to be--regardless of how they are right now.
If you haven't yet written a dramatic and motivating description of how you'd like each part of your life to be, go back to the previous post and do that now. I suggested you THINK BIG and gave you some tips on how to do that. If that's still difficult for you, this true story may help:
Six years ago some young guys set out on a two-week road trip on which they wanted to achieve as many items as possible of the 100 on their "bucket list." It turned into a way of life for them, and they pledged that for each one they managed to do they would help someone else attain a goal important to that person.
Among the things they've done is being on the Oprah show, playing ball with President Obama, streaking a stadium, and making a $300,000 donation to charity. Their adventures are recounted in a book called "What Do You Want to Do Before You Die?"
One of the guys, Ben Nemtin, points out that most people aim for a realistic goal. They're afraid of failure, so they don't reach too far. The number of people aiming for the "unrealistic" goals are fewer. "Therefore," he writes, "not only do you statistically have a better chance of achieving what may seem like an unrealistic goal, doing so fuels you. Once you feel the first high of accomplishing something major and seemingly unattainable, you want to go bigger and badder, and you force yourself to fulfill the need all the more. Even better, the technically smaller goals suddenly seem less daunting."
Of course setting the goal is only the first step and wishing won't make it so. You have to take action, and the action also has to be big. A few suggestions:
* Study the behaviour of the people how have actually done whatever it is you want to do, not the people who just write about it. There are loads of self-help books by people telling you how to lose weight, get rich, have better relationships, etc. who haven't actually done it themselves.
* Dare to ask. Most people never even try to get advice or help from those who are successful in their field. They assume those people are too busy or wouldn't be interested in helping someone else. Often that's not the case.
* Be willing to allocate the resources necessary. Sometimes that's money, but often it's commitment to many hours of effort and not giving up when things get tough. This is why it's important to be sure that you want that goal enough. Some of these resources have a high price, not necessarily financially but in other ways. For instance, how deeply will this cut into the amount of time you have free to spend with family and friends? Will you still have time to exercise and get enough sleep?
* Understand that you can have it all, but not all at the same time. Sometimes people set three goals, any one of which would take total dedication. They will cancel each other out because you have only so much time and energy. Pick the one that is the most important to you. Sometimes achieving that one makes it easier to achieve your number two and number three goals.
* Treat failure" as a setback , not a reason to quit. If you think something is going to work and it doesn't, what's the lesson you can learn from it? Did it tell you something about what might work better? Give yourself a day or two to feel disappointed, then get moving on the next thing you'll try.
* Develop a thick skin. There's never any shortage of people who are happy to advise you (whether asked or not) that you're aiming too high, you'll never do it, you're wasting your time, etc. etc. If you're feeling gracious, say "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." Then, unless there's something constructive in their comments, forget about them.
All of these are easier said than done. One big goal I felt strongly eough about to do all of these steps, was creating a career as a writer. There have also been big goals I've set and failed to reach (although in some cases I came close). The problem was never that they really were unattainable, it was that I didn't want them badly enough to make all the sacrifices required. There's nothing wrong with that, the only thing I regret is that sometimes it took me too long to come to that conclusion.
If you're ready to consider some Big Hairy Audacious changes for the better, congratulations! In the next post we'll see how to choose one goal and get moving on turning it into a reality.
(If your big goal is writing a book or screenplay, you'll find friendly guidance in my books, "Your Writing Coach" and "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," both published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
What works in the supermarket can also help you to sell your writing, whether that's a novel, a screeplay, or a non-fiction book.
I'm talking about the samples tray--you try a little of that cheese or that sausage or cookie, you like it, and before you know it in your shopping basked you've got three packs that you never would have bought otherwise. In terms of writing, here are some of the ways you can let people sample your work.
If you're a novelist:
* short stories published as an ebook
* short stories or sample chapters published on a sharing site like Wattpad
* sample chapters of your novel on your web site
If you're a non-fiction book author:
* articles on related topics published in newspapers or magazines
* a relevant blog you establish, and guest posts on other blogs
* samples on your web site
If you're a screenwriter:
* short films for which you write the script, produced by you
* short films produced from your script by others (check local film schools--they often have directing/producing students looking for scripts to work with)
* a graphic novel (or chapter of one) based on your script (graphic design and illustrations students who aren't writers may do this cheaply or for their portfolio-naturally you should make a deal to pay them if and when you make any money from this)
* spec scripts in the genre in which you're strongest
Most people are reluctant to take a chance on someone new but if your samples demonstrate your skills you'll find it much easier to win them over.
(For lots of tips on marketing your work, see "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)
Digital Book World reports that lots of companies are
jumping onto the ebook bandwagon:
“AskMen [one of the top men-focused lifestyle sites on the web]
is part of a growing list of non-book-publishers that are entering the ebook
publishing business.
Most recently, Newsweek/Daily
Beast entered into a partnership with Vook to
publish ebooks.
Playboy launched a series of
shorts for the Kindle, the Washington
Post announced an e-book program, and the Chronicle
of Higher Education, a trade publication focused on the higher
education field, launched an e-book business.
It makes sense. AskMen has 20 million unique visitors per month, why not sell them ebooks on popular topics?
For writers it offers the chance to get your book published by companies that have powerful marketing platforms. Although many things have changed, one that hasn't is that it's difficult to make people aware of your book. If you can team up with a company that already has access to a large number of readers who might be interested in your work, why not do it?
One tip: Don't wait for these companies to come to you. If you have ideas that fit their target audience, take action. Find out who is handling their ebooks division and reach out to those people.
(Another thing that hasn't changed is that what you write has to be good. For friendly guidance from idea through to publicaiton, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
Yes, it's possible to sell a script to Hollywood even if you don't live there. The steps that could lead to such a deal:
1. Write a great screenplay in one of the genres they favor (see the previous post). This spec script (meaning you're writing it on speculation--that is, for no money upfront) will be what opens doors for you. It has to be the best you can do.
2. The first set of door it must open is the one that leads to getting a US agent to represent you. Some UK agents do have arrangements with US agencies so it's possible to get in that way, but it adds another layer.
Most of the bigger agencies say they don't look at unsolicited scripts. That means you have to find a way around that, either by getting their attention with a great query letter in which you offer to sign a release form, or getting a recommendation via a writer they already represent, or by some clever strategum you figure out yourself.
(For help with inspiration, see my book "Do Something Different," published by Virgin Books--it's not about writing but it contains 100 case studies of how people used clever, inexpensive ways to market themselves and their products, and you could adapt some of those to this situation.)
3. Tell the agent you frequently go back and forth between wherever you are and Los Angeles (that's where the agent should be, ideally). This will make him or her less hesitant about setting up meetings with you and any of the producers who show interest in your script. Be ready to finance that first trip yourself.
4. Don't assume that once you have an agent everything will be done for you. You still need to educate yourself about who is buying what, who is who at the studios and production companies, etc. Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, although both suffering in the current shift away from print advertising, are still your best bets for US information. Keep the agent informed of any initiatives you plan to undertake yourself--it has to be a partnership. The agent doesn't want to be embarrassed by approaching someone on your behalf only to find you've already been there and got a rejection.
5. Finally, you need a load of good luck and good timing.
