Time to Write

Is it time for a New Deal for writers? (Yes)

In Publishing Perspectives, novelist and book marketing expert M. J. Rose declares, “Publishers must change the way authors are paid.” Her point is that now publishers expect authors to do most of the work of marketing their books but the pay rate is still the same.

She writes, “Accordingly, it’s blatantly and patently unfair for us to invest in our own books and then wait for our advances to earn out based on the same royalties rates we’ve always gotten. Be it $2,000 or $20,000, the money we invest should be discounted from the advances we’re paid, allowing us to earn royalties faster based on an honest up-front expenditure by the publisher. And, it goes without saying, we should be be getting a higher royalty rate. After all, we’re doing more than writing our books, we’re business partners as well.”

 

The challenge here is that the authors who have the clout to insist on this are the ones who don’t need it—the publishers do put a lot of marketing money behind their star authors. Therefore it’s going to have to be a grassroots movement, supported by fair smaller publishers. The thing working in our favor as authors is that now we have an alternative in the form of various types of self-publishing. Increasingly, authors may ask, “If we’re going to do all the marketing work and spend our own money on marketing, why not go the self-publishing route, distribute online only, and keep all of the profits instead of getting 10% to 20% of a publisher’s net?”

(for information on how to market your book, see "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)

Wise words for when you get discouraged

 When it takes time for the world to recognize your genius it’s easy to get depressed. On Hugh McLeod’s “ten questions” feature on his website, interviewee Mark O’Donnell (co-writer of “Hairspray: The Musical”) had these wise words:

 “Don't look down. I didn't realize that the odds are against the struggling artist, but I assume talent, patience and work will vindicate those meant for whatever the dream may be.

 And, as Yeats suggests, "Be secret and exult." Take joy in what you do, even if as yet it goes unseen.”

 

Might be good to write that down on an index card and keep it in our wallets…

(for inspiration for your creative endeavors, subscribe to my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to [email protected])

Another way for writers to make money

According to an article by Karen Holt in Publishing Perspectives, there’s a new trend: publishers are setting up speakers bureaus. They book appearances for their authors and split the fees. Four years ago HarperCollins started the movement and now Knopf, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Penguin and the Hachette Book Group have all followed suit.

 The article quotes Ellis Trevor of Macmillan Speakers: “We’re generating revenue, we are selling more books, and I think in the long term changing the paradigm of how we market our books and authors.”

 Of course the big names make the big money. Two authors who have become stars of the lecture circuit are Malcolm Gladwell and David Sedaris. Others who can demand large fees include Jonathan Franzen and Alexander McCall Smith. However, less well known writers are also in demand, sometimes for events such as conventions relating to their topic.

I do a bit of this myself, although most of my appearances are workshops or mini-workshops. The upside is that you get to meet a lot of great people who share your interests and sometimes it pays pretty well; the downside is the travel, which usually takes much longer than the appearance itself. But if you’re a writer looking for an additional revenue stream, you might want to check it out, either by registering with a bureau (there are many not associated with a specific publisher) or marketing your talks yourself.

(for information on how to get started on your writing career--or advance it--see my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available at amazon and other onlien and offline retailers.)

The amazing true story of Otto Heino

Note to self: stop finding fascinating blogs, they take up too much time! However, until I start doing that, here’s another one: Inpursuitofelegance.com, written by Matthew May, and named after his book.

In a recent post, he tells the story of master potter Otto Heino, who passed away not long ago at the age of 94. He re-discovered the long-lost secret of making a glaze that was a particular shade of yellow. The FBI raided his workshop and the Chinese offered him a billion dollars for the secret. Forget Dan Brown, this is an amazing true story!

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

How Judd Apatow writes his hit movies

“I’m always drawn to movies that make me laugh but lead to some sort of emotional punch,” says Judd Apatow in his interview with Elvis Mitchell on KCRW, citing the example of “Harold and Maude” as a perfect movie experience.

He cites his experience as a producer of “The Garry Shandling Show” as a major influence in terms of keeping it funny but raising the stakes about what the subject matter is.

 If you’re intrigued by how Apatow makes his comedy films and how “Funny People” takes him deeper into darker territory, you’ll enjoy this 28-minute interview.

Inspiring or annoying? (Quentin Tarantino interview)

Quentin Tarantino's been all over the media lately and I confess to a certain ambivalence about him (I find him alternately annoying and inspiring) and you may find both in this interview with him on KCRW's "The Treatment." The interviewer is Elvis Mitchell. Click here to listen:

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tt/tt090819quentin_tarantino

How writers are using Twitter (and one who isn't)

USA Today reported recently how a number of writers are using Twitter to help market their books. Among the examples:

"•The Other Boleyn Girl author Philippa Gregory is writing a series of tweets this week in the voice of Elizabeth Woodville, the queen in her new novel, The White Queen.

•The roll-out of Eoin Colfer's And Another Thing, Book 6 in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, will include a program called "Tweet the Galaxy" that allows fans to submit messages that will be beamed into space on Oct. 12.

•Romantic suspense author Jayne Ann Krentz is writing a "micro-novel" on Twitter, with tweets from her detective protagonist. His last tweet comes just before the publication of her new novel, Fired Up, on Dec. 29."

Less clear is whether using Twitter sells books by authors who, unlike the ones mentioned above, don't already have a following. Getting eyeballs to your website or blog or ears to your podcast remains the biggest challenge for writers. Using the social media can be fun and can pay off, but it also eats heavily into the time you need for writing. My suggestion: pick one outlet and put most of your energy into it, at least at first. 

And one author who isn't Tweeting is historical novelist Tracy Chevalier, who told The Independent that she doesn't use Twitter because life is too short. "I don't think my readers, or what I know of them, would expect me to Tweet," she said. "Maybe people can Tweet about my books."

(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].)

Michael Eisner's strangest inspiration

Former Disney honcho and still a major media player, Michael Eisner recently talked to the New York Times about how he works--he was talking mostly about a new animated show, "Glenn Martin, DDS," which runs on Nickelodeon.

He said, “When I have an idea, I’ve got to get it out on a piece of paper,” he said. “It’s stuck in my head on a to-do list, and until it’s all done I can’t relax."

"The way I ran all the companies I was at, whether it’s ABC or Paramount or Disney, was totally from an idea point of view: let’s put in this ride, let’s do this Broadway show, let’s do this television show, let’s do this movie, let’s do this acquisition.”

He also revealed one of the more unusual sources of inspiration for the dog character on the new series:

“This idea actually began with a dog that was owned by Tom Staggs, who is the C.F.O. of Disney,” he recalled. “Occasionally on summer vacations we’d be together with our families, and he had this dog that was a Swiss Army dog. It was about the size of a table. It had a tail that went straight up in the air” — and, he added, a rear end that was “beyond disgusting.”

 “But nobody ever said anything about it,” he said, “because what do you say? So when the dog was in the room, you just couldn’t even look at the dog because you would be obsessed with this part of the anatomy. And when the dog turned around and walked away from you — it was like, please. So I just wanted this dog in a television show.”

What you can learn from Reader's Digest bankruptcy

The US edition of one of the oldest magazines, Reader’s Digest, is in trouble. Their circulation has been dropping year by year. Why? Probably because the kind of interesting but general information they provide is available in too many other locations—free.

 Another category that has suffered is the general men’s magazines. Again, the internet offers similar material for free, in a more timely manner, and often with video or audio.

 The magazines that are thriving are mostly the ones that cover a specific topic. One example is Men’s Health—maybe not surprising, considering that men from the baby boomer generation are becoming more aware of the need to take better care of themselves as they get older.

 In many realms, it’s that products and services at the edges that seem to be doing the best. For instance, in the old days (20 years ago) the majority of films were in the middle-budget category. Now there are lots of very cheap films and lots of very expensive films, but not many in the middle-budget range.

 Similarly what was called the “mid-list” in publishing—books neither very literary nor genre books—had a big presence in bookshops. These days not so much.

 The implications of this for you as a writer or artist or other creator is that if you have a range of ideas, it may pay to focus on those that are on the edges, the ones that are unique in some way and would interest a particular niche of readers/ viewers/ audiences.

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

From idea to ugly success

 From the uglydolls.com website, here is the story of how some doodles became award-winning products (and a lucrative business):

“From the creative minds of two love struck artists David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim emerge the Uglydoll family! What started as a drawing of a playful orange character known as Wage has turned into a whole new world of fun! In 2001, when David's soon to be wife and creative partner Sun-Min had to return to Korea, he sent her many "I miss you" letters with his little Wage character drawn at the bottom.
Sun-Min sewed Wage into a plush doll and sent him to David as a surprise gift. David asked Sun-Min to sew a couple more for the Giant Robot store in Los Angeles and they sold out in one day! A very excited Sun-Min sewed many more and those sold just as fast! Sun-Min and David then began to pull more characters from the Uglyverse, a universe where UGLY meant unique and special, to translate into plush Uglydolls. They both met again at their very first Uglydoll Toy Fair booth (a small 6x6 booth made of felt and wood) in New York, where they would go on to win Toy Of The Year 4 years later!”

 The Obama daughters were seen clutching Uglydolls recently—hmm, I wonder how much that’s worth in marketing—and the line now includes different size dolls, keychains, books, stationery, and t-shirts.

 It started with doodles (but I’m sure there was a lot of hard work along the way, too).

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

Do you (or your male characters) have these secrets?

      In Redbook magazine, Ty Wenger wrote about the “11 Don’t-Tell-the-Wife Secrets All Men Keep” (I read about it on line at WebMD). While I doubt it’s really pertinent to ALL men, it’s fun to consider and potentially a great spur for fiction writers in thinking about their male characters. Here are some of the 11:

Yes, we fall in lust 10 times a day—but it doesn’t mean we want to leave you.

We’re unnerved by the notion of commitment, even after we’ve made one to you.

Earning money makes us feel important.

We like it when you mother us but we’re terrified you’ll become your mother.

We’ll always wish we were 25 again.

 Thinking about whether, how, and why these apply should help flesh out any male protagonist who is in a relationship (or maybe help explain why he’s not). Even if these kinds of  issues never come up directly, they would inform who he is. 

(There's more information on developing great characters and plots in my book, "Your Writing Coach" - number one in authorship on Amazon.)

Two free resources you might like: Photoshop course & ultra-simple blogging

Here are two resources you might find helpfu:

FREE PHOTOSHOP COURSE ONLINE

If you’ve wanted to learn Photoshop but have been put off by the high prices of most courses, how’s this for the price of an online course spread out over six months: free!

 It’s offered by CreativeTechs and you can get the full info here (there’s no catch, as far as I can tell):

 http://creativetechs.com/freephotoshopcourse

It's geared to Mac users but Windows users are welcome, too (how's that for a switch?)

SUPER SIMPLE BLOGGING

If you’ve wanted to start a blog but have been put off by the technical side, check out www.posterous.com . You can add a post by just sending it as the text of an email to the posterous site and attach to your email any graphic or other file (like audio or video) that you want to have be part of that post (although you do need to resize any picture to the size you want it to appear, unless you don’t mind it appearing maximum size).

You can try it out with one post without signing up, and if you proceed it’s free and you can choose what to call the blog and get assigned an address. (If you start one, let me know so I can have a look.)

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

A writer's revenge

This is one of those heart-warming stories where a writer (in this case, songwriter and musician Dave Carroll) is able to use his skill to get revenge on an uncaring company.

After months of frustration trying to get United Airlines to compensate him for damage done to his expensive guitar, Carroll gave up and took his case to the airwaves—or at least YouTube. He wrote and filmed a song (quite catchy, actually) called “United Breaks Guitars” and put it up on the internet.

His goal was to get a million views.

 

So far he has almost five million.

 

I’m guessing United is wishing they’d paid him his $1200 in damages.

 

Writing warriors, let Dave be our inspiration!

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

Do you (also) suffer from Technobivalence?

I don’t know if “technobivalence” is a word (well, it is now) but that’s what I’d call my attitude toward all the (maybe) great devices sprouting up and I was delighted to find, via Robert Crampton’s “Beta Male” column in the Times magazine, that I am not alone. Are you one of us, too?

 Crampton told of a party at which a friend showed off an expensive new digital camera but admitted, “I haven’t used it yet. I’m frightened of it.”

 Crampton then confessed that when his kids aren’t around he’s often unable to turn the TV on because he can’t work the four remote controls that go with it.

 He’s mastered his computer, mobile phone and tape recorder, he says, “but I still hate and fear them.”

 The fact that kids don’t bother with instruction manuals when they get a new device but just start pushing buttons is obvious, but I hadn’t thought about why it’s so much harder for us to do that. Crampton’s explanation is right on target: “I belong to a generation that remembers when…if you hit the wrong button the thing would break. Or at the very least cock up your life.”

 Yes, for instance by making a day’s worth of writing vanish.

 I don’t know exactly when it happens, but I think there’s some kind of turning point as you get older when you go from craving complexity (“Wow, look at all the stuff this thing can do!”) to craving simplicity (“How do you turn this thing on?”).

 I call this technobivalence instead of technophobia because although we fear these devices, we still crave them—or at least what we are told they can do. Count yourself lucky if your household includes a ten-year-old who can sooth your fears and show you how it’s done. Not that you’ll remember it the next time.

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

 

Another great writer passes: the incredible story of Budd Schulberg

Novelist Budd Schulberg (“What Makes Sammy Run?” and “On the Waterfront”) died recently. There’s a good video obit on the New York Times site, featuring an interview with Schulberg just a couple of years ago when he was already in his 90’s. It includes the story of how he and F Scott Fitzgerald worked together—or, more accurately, how they got fired together.

 You’ll find that video here (www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.html)  --you’ll have to scroll down to the videos and find it, it doesn’t have its own url).

 There’s a more comprehensive video bio on YouTube, in three parts. It covers how he was shunned in Hollywood after writing “What Makes Sammy Run?” and testifying against his former friends in the Communist Party. I don't buy his rationale for cooperating with the McCarthy witch hunt (one of the Hollywood Ten was my mentor) but there’s no denying Schulberg was a fascinating man. Here’s the link to the first part, it’s about 5 ½ minutes long: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6LfetSdcw

 (for tips on writing your novel or screenplay, have a look at my writing sites: www.timetowrite.comwww.yourwritingcoach.com.) and