Time to Write

Why books fail (an editor's startling confession)

On the mediabistro membership site, an anonymous editor made a startling confession regarding why books fail and who gets the blame:

"Nine times out of ten the author is blamed for poor sales... As an editor I can assure you that I have too many books to edit and there are too many books to promote. Why is it a safe bet to blame the author? Because we all want to keep our jobs, that's why... The bottom line is this: When sales are good we all pat ourselves on the back and take credit, but when sales are bad, we find fault with the author, when in fact many times the poor results are our own fault!"

Of course there are many reasons why a book fails or succeeds. A big factor is how many copies the sales force can get book stores to order the first time around. My newest book, "Focus: the power of targeted thinking" is doing very well, partly because W.H. Smith travel outlets placed a big initial order and then they and the publisher promoted it as the W. H. Smith Business Book of the Month the first month it was out. Another book store promotion is being discussed with another chain of bookshops at the moment. The book has not had much attention in the press yet we've been selling an average of 700 a week, so it's clear how important book store placement is (of course I also like to think it's a good book...)

When your horse dies... (on the fine art of quitting)

Today a good friend sent me an email saying he was giving up, at least for a while, on a project he's been working on. It just wasn't coming together. And later this evening I ran across a great little item, the kind of thing that people send each other on the internet, in the book, "Don't Compete...Tilt the Field!" by Louis Patler. He said his assistant sent it to him, and the heading was "If your horse dies, dismount!" It then suggested what people often do instead of dismounting:

1. Buy a stronger whip.

2. Change riders.

3. Appoint a committee to study the horse.

4. Arrange to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.

5. Create a training session to increase riding ability.

6. Harness several dead horses together to increase speed and pulling power.

Actually there are 26 responses, but you get the idea. Most of us hate to give up on an idea or a project, but sometimes it makes sense. Horse sense.

(For tips, sometimes amusing, sometimes very serious, about how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-newsletter. Just send an email request now to [email protected])

Do you make this mistake?

Here's a little cartoon I did for The Writer magazine last month on one common error... 

What's the truth about script contests?

Is it worth spending time and money to enter script contests? Here's what Christopher Lockhart, story editor at the William Morris Agency, told The Writer recently:

"Ninety-nine percent of all screenwriting contests have little connection with the industry, and a win means absolutely nothing in the professional arena. Contests love to suggest that a win will help open doors, but it's highly unlikely, since most contests are unknown to Hollywood and the proliferation of them is almost satirical. The Nicholl Fellowships are one of the few exceptions. Contests that award big cash prizes are worthwhile, because a win boosts the bank account--even if it doesn't open Hollywood's doors."

(for more guidance on scriptwriting, get hold of "Your Writing Coach" (currently available from online and offline stores, or an older copy of "Successful Sitcom Writing" and "Successful Script Writing"). And for tips on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin--just send an email request to [email protected] now)

Can you answer these questions about your characters?

In an article in Writing Magazine, William G. Tapply suggested some questions to ask about your characters to be sure you know them inside-out. Here are a few of the most revealing and useful ones:

* What personal demons haunt him?

* What's her favorite type of music?

* What does she like to do to relax?

* Does he have any health problems?

* Who depends on him, and why?

Naturally not all of these will necessarily be revealed in your short story or novel, but knowing the answers can help you to make sure the characters are alive in your mind, and that will ensure they are alive on the page, too.

(for lots of crucial information on how to write fiction, get your own copy of "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available at online and offline sources; and for tips and techniques for being more creative and productive, sign up now for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin--just send an email request to [email protected])

Is this the way to make money on the web?

A new article by Frank Rose at Wired.com reckons “Hollywood has finally figured out how to make web video pay.” In the spotlight is a new production for nbc.com, “Gemini Division.” The elements are pretty familiar: woman in jeopardy in a sci-fi thriller plot. The star is Rosario Dawson (“Sin City”). The short trailer shows lots of intense frowning people, a few explosions, and guns pointing in various directions.

 One difference is the budget: $1.75 million or so for three 50-minute episodes (on network tv, the budget would be two to three times that for a show without big names). A lot of the money is coming from product placement. The director, Stan Rogow, calls it “a self-financing marketing vehicle.”

 Another is the writing. “Gemini Division” chief writer Brent Friedman compares it to writing for interactive games:"When the story begins, you're in-world — you have a gun, all hell is breaking loose, and your job as a player is to stay alive and figure out where you are.” He’s using the same strategy with this show: "We're starting every episode with Anna on the run," Friedman says. "She's already in the second act — the part where everything goes wrong."

 There will also be an interactive component on the website where viewers can get additional information and users who are recruited as secret agents will be able to talk to each other via webcam.

 Is it really a departure? Rogow says they want to do what television can’t do. From this account I’d say they’re not that far off what shows like “24” have done successfully already—but time will tell.

 (screenshot courtesy Electric Farm)

(If you want guidance for writing your novel, non-fiction book, or script, please take a look at "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available in the US & UK from Amazon and other online and offline sellers. And if you want free tips every month on how to be more creative and productive, subscribe to my Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to [email protected])

A different way to organize your information

UNO, or Universal Organizer, is Paul Borzo’s simple way of graphically organizing information for just about anything you want to write (although most obviously for non-fiction). It’s kind of a cross between outlining and mind mapping. It’s a lot easier to illustrate than to describe, so if you’re interested, check it out at the Metropolitan State University Writing Center, here. You’ll find a printable (pdf) illustration and simple instructions in two pages.

 I’m currently working on my next book (“Creativing Marketing for Entrpreneurs,” to be published next year by Pearson) and am finding UNO useful for organizing the content.

 (for tips and techniques for being more creative and productive, subscribe to my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to [email protected])

One source of inspiration

I'm always fascinated to hear what inspires artists and writers, especially when they may feel blocked. Here is what works for artist Andrea Kobayashi (who sells her artwork at www.akjapan.etsy.com):

“I have a collection of antique postcards from around 1900 to 1930. I don’t know how many there are, maybe 300 or more. I look at them all the time… I think about time, about near empty streets in central London, children in suits and gloves, horse-drawn transport, soot-stained cities, and ancient sites without ‘interpretation centres’ or gift shops.”

I collect advertising postcards from displays in various places, but I'll have to look for some antique ones as well. If visuals stimulate your imagination, give postcards a try. 

PS: the www.etsy.com site is a great place to buy artwork at extremely modest prices--it features prints, paintings, craft items, etc. all sold by their creators. I have just ordered a little lino print from one of the artists for the grand sum of $10, approx. £5, including postage.)

(for more tips and techniques on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send a request now to [email protected]).

If Elected, I Will Not Serve (just for fun feature)

First Paragraphs for Sale (for stymied novelists)

The Avacado Papers is selling first-time novelists opening paragraphs at the rate of $1.75 a word. You have your choice of a number of them, several of which seem to be based on the insanity or at least extreme eccentricity of their protagonists. The average price comes in at around $300—and that’s non-exclusive, so several novels could start with the same paragraph.

 It’s a fun little wheeze that will get the blog some publicity, but if you’re really in need of an opening paragraph I can save you some money. One free method is to mash up opening sentences from several novels, like this:

“”The lift is lined with mirrors, with many Cassies. Once again, he woke up screaming. Four in the morning, the dead of December. A warm sour cloud wafted across to Tommy’s side of the bed as his wife rolled over in her sleep.”

 (from: “As Far as You Can Go,” Lesley Glaister, “Gideon,” Russell Andrews, and “The Distant Echo,” Val McDermid, and “Blood Brothers,” Richard Price.)

 Or you can have this one, with my compliments:

 “He was in need of inspiration…but where to find it? Then he remembered Jurgen Wolff’s blog at www.timetowrite.blogs.com. There was always something interesting there. He typed in the web address, his stubby fingers stabbing the grimy keyboard. Damn! He got it wrong. He ended up at www.timetowrite.com, Jurgen’s website, instead. Still, it was full of useful information, too. Suddenly a shot rang out.”

 Please send me a copy of the novel when it gets published. J

Creating a Great Villain

The July issue of The Writer features an interview with novelist Diana Gabaldon ("Dragonfly in Amber," "Drums of Autumn"). She was asked why writers often don't get villains right. Part of her reply:

"First, there is a squeamishness that leads people to be superficial and stereotypical about their villains because they don't want to go deeply into them. Yet, they want them to be very bad, so they're picking out surface aspects, which means it'll never be convincing. ...You do have to accept them as actual human beings and also as parts of yourself, which is where the emotional honesty comes in."

By the way, that issue also features one of my "Write it Right!" cartoons.

(Great dialogue comes from great characters, and that's a topic covered in depth in my book, "Your Writing Coach," published in the US and UK by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and bookshops.)

Writing dialogue

In her Writing Show Newsletter, Paula B. combines her own tips on writing dialogue with some from the book, “Dialogue: Techniques and exercises for crafting effective dialogue” (Gloria Kempton). Here’s one I find especially useful:

Consider using description instead of a tag if it sheds light on character or moves the story forward. Here's an example from Larry Niven's Rainbow Mars:

 Her voice was turning brittle again. "We can't read the Martian, Hanny."

 Niven doesn't say, "'We can't read the Martian, Hanny,' she said brittley." He indicates the nature of his character's voice using description: "Her voice was turning brittle again."

 Here's another example of description substituting for a tag, this one from Dean Koontz's Forever Odd: He let out a low sound of abject misery. "You're gonna think I'm such a loser."

 Rather than saying, "'You're gonna think I'm such a loser,' he said miserably," Koontz eliminates the tag and gives us a bit of narration to describe the speaker's mood: "He let out a low sound of abject misery."

 You can sign up for Paula B’s newsletter and find her useful podcast interviews at www.writingshow.com.

 (For lots of tips on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm newsletter. Just send an email request new to [email protected])

Are authors & books in danger?

At a The Bookseller conference, Andrew Keen, author of “The Cult of the Amateur,” has lashed out against the tyranny of free content. Keen warned: “The content business is in crisis, if you want to look at the way it will go take a look at the music industry and newspapers, these sectors have really been on the front-lines of a perfect storm: the problem is that content has become simply an adjunct of advertising.”

 He noted that this is a bad time for creatives because direct access to the audience also means “when you take away the gatekeepers everything becomes crap. Writers don’t get rich and famous on their own.”

His suggestion is that publishers fight back. “The future is the expert,” he said, adding that the challenge is no longer just selling the book but managing the talent and nurturing them through live events.

 My guess is that another major implication is that we authors will have to take ever more responsibility for our own careers—a two-edged sword!

(Regardless of what happens in the future, being more creative and productive will help. For tips and techniques, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin now--just send an email request to [email protected])

Another tool against writer's block (inspired by Janet Evanovich)

In an article by Wendy Fry in the San Diego Union-Tribune, prolific novelist Janet Evanovich reveals how she got into writing when she was in her 30’s:

 “In college I was a painter, and all my life I've drawn pictures and painted. It was while I was drawing with my daughter that I realized that every time I was drawing a picture or painting something, I was actually telling a story in my head about what I was drawing,” Evanovich said. “It was like a thunderclap went off in my head and I decided to try writing the story I was drawing.”

 That quote gave me another idea for how to deal with the occasional feeling of stuckness that most of us encounter at one time or another with our writing. Even if you’re not much of an artist, why not try telling your story with simple drawings first? Or if it’s a specific character who is eluding you, maybe draw him or her first. Could be a fun way to get your brain buzzing again, ready for you to return to the keyboard.

(one reason writers get blocked is that they have a harsh inner critic--if you do, too, you may be stopping yourself from achieving the success you deserve. For information on how to tame your inner critic, click here.)

How to keep your writing brain fired up

Canadian writing teacher Biff Mitchell has an unusual approach, according to an article in The Daily Gleaner. Instead of teaching in a classroom, he takes his students to coffee shops, art studios, and even hot tubs. He says, "The rationale for this is to constantly change the setting to keep the right side of the brain fired up."  At these locations, he asks the students not only to look but also to listen, touch, and even taste. 

If you feel that your writing is getting a bit stale, you could do the same--find some offbeat locations, look, listen, touch, taste, smell--and then write.

(for lots of tips on keeping your right brain active, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin -- just send an email request now to [email protected])