Time to Write

Can you beat this procrastination record?

In an article in the (London) Times, children’s authors told how they got started. Meg Rosoff said, “I procrastinated  about writing a book for 35 years, always sure I’d never write one good enough.”

 So what finally got her writing? “When I finally tried to write a novel,” she says, “I was inspired by some really bad books I’d read, thinking, ‘at least I can do better than that.’”

 That’s not a bad strategy when you lack confidence. While you don’t necessarily want to compare yourself to the worst, it’s a prescription for disaster to compare yourself to the best. Don’t ask whether you can write like (insert name of best author you can think of)…ask whether you can write like you. And then start! At least you (probably) won’t have procrastinated for 35 years!

(for eight free mini-lessons how to overcome procrastination, go to www.tameyourinnercritic.com. There's no charge and we never sell or share our list.)

How writers and others can build a platform (part 3)

Building a platform means finding ways to reach people who are likely to buy your product or service. In part 2 we looked at how to find where these people hang out. Once you have a list, you can consider the next big question:

 What will you offer them to attract their attention?

 In other words, what do they want or need that you can give them via a newsletter, podcast, Facebook page, or other means? Usually you will emphasize one of these two elements:

·      entertaining content

·      informational content

 If you are building a platform for your books, the nature of the books will suggest which of the two to emphasize, although some topics lend themselves to both. For instance, if your book is about negotiating in business, most likely you’ll be offering informational content. If your book is about reality shows, probably you’ll want to offer entertaining content. But if your book is about fashion, you could go either way.

 If you go the informational route, it doesn’t hurt to have an entertainment element as well. For instance, in my “Writing Breakthrough” podcast (which you can access at www.jurgenwolff.com) I give lots of useful tips and techniques and interview writers about how they work, but I also have some fun interaction with my faithful manservant, Arthur.

 Making this decision is easier for non-fiction than for novels. In the next post we’ll look specifically at some options for fiction writers.

 In the meantime, in your Platform Building Notebook, write your thoughts about which approach would work best for you.

 (If you’re in the UK, get a copy of my new book, “Marketing for Entrepreneurs,” published by Pearson and available from Amazon, WH Smith travel outlets, and other online and offline retailers. In the US and the UK you’ll get more marketing tips in my book, “Your Writing Coach.”)

Do you want to write for children? An agent's tips

Agent Christopher Little, who represents J. K. Rowling among others, gave his top tips for writing children’s fiction in the (London) Times. Here they are:

 1: Characters – these are what holds your reader’s interest;

 2: A fully realized world – work out all the rules and background, even if you don’t use them all directly;

 3: Storyboard – create a storyboard including character descriptions and details—this will be an invaluable tool if you end up writing a series;

 4: The reader – know what age group and vocabulary level  you are targeting.  (But don’t talk down to them);

 5: Beginnings – the first 30 or so pages have to grab the reader.

 All of these apply equally to writing for adults, as it happens—maybe not so much the vocabulary but even there you do give some thought to matching your genre to the tastes and yes, even vocabulary, of your potential readers.

(Whatever kind of book you want to write, there's great advice in my book, "Your Writing Coach," available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)

How writers and others can build a platform (part 2)

Your platform simply is how you can reach people who will want to buy what you’re selling. In the first post on this topic, my suggestion was that you answer this key question:

Who are your potential customers/clients?

 The next big question is where can you find them? For instance:

·      Which magazines and newspapers do they read?

·      Which websites do they visit?

·      Which events do they attend?

·      Which columnists or commentators do they follow?

 In your Platform Building Notebook, jot down all of the places, real or virtual, where you potential customers/clients can be found. If you look at some of the magazines they read, you’ll get clues as to where else you can find them. Build up as big a list as possible.

 For example, my market of writers and people who want to write, the key publications in the US would be Writers Digest and The Writer magazine, in the UK it would be Writers News and Writing Magazine. Writers Digest has an annual feature of the 100 top websites for writers, so that would lead me to another 100 locations. There are lots of writing conferences every year, another prime target.

 Now do the same research for your market and make as big a list as possible.

 (If you’re in the UK, get a copy of my new book, “Marketing for Entrepreneurs,” published by Pearson and available from Amazon, WH Smith travel outlets, and other online and offline retailers. In the US and the UK you’ll get more marketing tips in my book, “Your Writing Coach.”)

What you can do for £45--or was it $35,000?

Marc Price says he only spent £45 making his horror feature film, “Colin,” with his old camcorder. It took 18 months and he got friends and family to work for free and recruited more helpers and cast members via Facebook.

 It was hit-and-run shooting with no permissions and a major emphasis on improvisation. For instance, on Bonfire Night he rushed out to record the sound of firecrackers going off and incorporated them into the soundtrack as the sound of gunfire.

 Price learned by doing and eventually edited it down to 97 minutes and took it too small film festivals. At one of these Helen Grace of Left Films spotted its potential and she and Price screened it at Cannes. It landed a distributor and will show at some UK cinemas in time for Halloween.

 It just goes to show what £45—and a lot of determination and ingenuity—can achieve.  Or wait a minute…could it be that it cost more and saying it cost only £45 and was shot on a ten year old camcorder is a great way to get press attention? Sideline.com says:

 And sorry guys, but Price spread some really nice porkies so it seems. The whole budget for the film was well over US$ 70 and is instead said to be well over US $35,000 which means Price didn't beat the record "The  Blair Witch Project" supposedly set. The news was confirmed by an actor in the film who said: "Price has been feeding the press utter nonsense, which is kinda funny!"

 So maybe we should say it just goes to show what $35,000 and a clever, if dishonest, PR strategy can achieve…

(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]. And for 100 case studies of creative marketing, get my book "Do Something Different," published by Virgin Books with a foreword by Sir Richard Branson and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)

The Ego has Landed

I loved this observation about Garry Shandling in an article in the New York Times written by Dave Itzkoff:

"...the “Shandling’s Show” writers had to observe only two rules: keep their star armed with plenty of one-liners, and make sure he was the funniest person in the room.

“Garry likes stuff where he gets the laughs,” said Tom Gammill, a “Seinfeld” and “Simpsons” veteran who with his writing partner, Max Pross, contributed to the show. “If there’s a scene where everyone else is getting laughs, he goes: ‘I think there’s a problem with this scene. I can’t put my finger on it.’ ”

The writer's toughtest job: building a platform (part 1)

If you’re a writer or artist, you’ve probably heard the term “platform.” It just means your ways to reach people who will want to buy your work. These days, it’s a prime factor in whether or not publishers will want to publish your book.  To be honest, I think in many cases a not-so-good book with a good platform trumps a good book by an author who doesn’t have one. Is that fair? No. Is that the real world? Yes.

 THE GOOD NEWS: The internet gives everybody the means to create ways that people can find them and their products.

 THE BAD NEWS: The internet gives everybody the means to create ways that people can find them and their products. (Which means literally millions of websites, blogs, etc. competing for eyeballs.)

 It’s one thing to set up a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a podcast, etc. but another to get a large number of people to access them. A publisher will not be impressed that you have all these outlets unless you can show they are popular.

 In this series of posts, I’ll look at your options and some tips for making sure that whichever of these outlets you choose, people will find them. I’ll be sharing my own experiments in this arena and let you know which ones work and which ones don’t. (If you’re in the UK and want a head start on all this, get my new book, “Marketing for Entrepreneurs,” published by Pearson.) I suggest you get a notebook and call it your Platform Building Notebook. Use it to jot down your thoughts and plans as we go through this series.

 Step one is deciding who you want to reach. In my case, it’s writers and people who want to write.

 Who is your prime audience?

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

Can you find the "glue" that holds your novel together?

I was reading an article the other day about Joe Pernice, a singer/songwriter whose first novel is called “It Feels So Good When I Stop.” Here’s a little clip from Scott Timberg’s profile:

 The characters in "It Feels So Good" live their lives through rock songs: They bond over one band, remember a breakup in terms of another. One monologue describes how an innocent bystander can be implicated in a romantic tangle: "From then on, all of Todd Rundgren's music was off limits. That included bands he produced, such as the Psychedelic Furs and XTC. It was a shame, really. None of it was Todd Rundgren's fault."

 I haven’t read the novel, but what struck me is that Pernice had found a way to use one of his own prime interests as a kind of “glue” to hold his novel together, and how useful a tool that can be.

 If you are writing something that lacks cohesiveness, finding a glue might be the solution. It can even work in non-fiction books. For instance, I have an idea for another book on creativity for businesspeople and one “glue” could be setting up at the beginning a fictional manager with a challenge, and then at the end of each chapter having a vignette showing how applying the methods that have just been discussed move her closer to a solution.

 What kind of “glue” might help your project?

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

Visualization: supercharge your creativity with music

Creativity music bonus

Ten things not to say (or write) to an agent

10. “I don’t know if you handle this kind of material, but…”

9. “I’ve already sent this to a bunch of other agents but none of them were smart enough to sign me up, so…”

8. “I know this has spelling mistakes but if you take it on, I’ll get them fixed.”

7. “If you take me as a client this book will make you rich.”

6. “I know this book is great because all my family and friends have read it and loved it.”

5. “As you’ll see, most of the dialogue is written in dialect.”

4. “While the story seems unbelievable, this actually happened to my uncle/aunt/friend.”

3. “The reason the book ends on a cliff-hanger is that I have in mind an eight-book series.”

2. “Most of this is based on my ex-husand’s/ex-wife’s rotten lawyer and all I’ve done is changed the name, ha ha.”

1. “If you like, I can come to your home to talk about this project because I know where you live. And where your children go to school.”

(for tips on what you should say or write to agents, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite online or offline retailer. For more information, see www.yourwritingcoach.com.)

The almost-cliche advice most writers don't follow

In a USA Today article about NCIS/NCIS:LA show-runner Shane Brennan, Bill Keveney reports:

 

“Before the editing can start, an assistant hands Brennan revised pages from the latest episode. He scribbles away on his own revisions, saying the words out loud to make sure they sound right.

 

"I always perform the dialogue. If I hear it, I know it makes sense. I can feel the emotion of it," he says. "The way I write, I feel I'm a stenographer. I sit in the corner of the room and the characters come in and talk, and I write down what they say."

 The tip that you should read your dialogue out loud is almost a cliché by now, but in polling my writing workshop participants, I find that very few authors actually do it. (Full disclosure: I don’t do it all the time, either.) At the same time, those who do it say they find it really helpful in making sure the dialogue works and getting them into the feelings of the character. There’s a lesson in there…

(Want to write a book but not sure how to start? Get a copy of "Your Writing Coach" from Amazon or your favorite other online or offline retailer.)

Two simple ways to make videos - Flip & iPod Nano

I've had some inquiries from writers and others wanting to create simple videos for their websites and blogs. I have two simple video cameras--a Flip and a recently-acquired iPod Nano 16GB. I thought it might be interesting for you to see both of them. First, here is the Flip, as shot by the iPod Nano:

And here is the Nano, as shot by a Flip:

Of course both of the original files have been made smaller in order to be placed on YouTube and this blog.

My verdict: for a sharper image, go for the Flip, but for the ultimate in portability, go Nano.

Words + a music service: a great idea for marketing a book

Here's an excerpt from a press release about an innovative way to merge a music service and a book:

"Profile Books and Spotify, the acclaimed music streaming service, announce a groundbreaking collaboration - the streaming audio version of THE 50th LAW, in a deal that captures the synergy between the book and 50 Cent's music fanbase. From Thursday 8 October, THE 50TH LAW will be available exclusively via Spotify for two months, with extracts appearing on Spotify Free, and the 8-hour unabridged audio version available as Spotify Premium's first exclusive audiobook.

THE 50TH LAW:

When Robert Greene published THE 48 LAWS OF POWER in 2000, a book that has sold over 4 million copies worldwide, he had no idea it would become a mega cult classic - and not just amongst business types. Indeed, managers, producers and aspiring artists in the hip hop community embraced Greene's tactics to survive and thrive in the cut throat music industry (tactics which are largely based on historical figures like Napoleon and Nietzsche). Now Robert Greene has joined forces with one such survivor, Curtis Jackson (aka 50 Cent) to co-author THE 50TH LAW, a book that shows how fearlessness is the secret to success in work and life."

***

I happen to be reading this book at the moment--I'm not sure that 50 Cent really counts as a co-author, it's mostly Greene writing about the lessons he draws from observing 50 Cent's behavior on the streets and in the music business. But as with Greene's other books, it's an entertaining read with provocative ideas. I'll share some thoughts from and about it when I've finished it. For now, I think the Spotify hook-up is a great way to introduce the book to a lot of people, including some who may not buy a lot of books.

(for ideas 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])

If authors charged like airlines...

Inspired by recent airlines tariffs, I’ve just come up with a new menu of charges for people who buy my books:

 

Basic book: 10.99

Cover: + 1.99

Color cover: +2.99

Page numbers: + 2.99

Binding: + 3.49

Author’s photo: + .05

Font larger than 6 point: + 2.50

Author’s creative anguish fee: + 1.99

Author’s office improvement tax: + 2.49

Now I only have to come up with a good name for my imprint: RyanBooks, EasyBooks, UnitedBooks, BAbooks….the choice is endless.

An unusual book promo strategy and the missing link

Publishing Perspectives tells of an unusual book promo from German writer Rainer Schmidt. He got 300 people in Germany to each read aloud on video one of the 300 pages of his novel, “Liebestanze.”

He will post these on his MySpace page and the book’s website, at the rate of three per day. I’ve had  a peek at the promo for it and the sound quality on many of the readings is terrible. But presumably those 300 people will tell their friends about being featured and that could get some buzz going about the book. Also, the approach is unusual enough to get some press.

 Does it actually make people want to buy the book? Hmmm…that’s usually the missing link in these publicity stunts. It’s similar to television commercials that make you laugh—but a minute later you can’t say what they were advertising.

(for tips on how to use both new and traditional media to promote your writing, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)