Time to Write

Writers (and others): Watch your language!

On your road to success as a screenwriter, you’re going to have to convince a lot of people that what you’re doing is worthwhile. The same is true for almost any other profession.

If you're a screenwriter, how you speak to agents, financiers, actors, studio or network people and even how you speak to yourself can make a big difference to the results you get.

Nick Kemp is a Neuro Linguistic Programming trainer who has worked in schools to help students and teachers be more effective.  In an article published in the magazine ReSource he reveals a simple change in language that creates positive effects.

He noticed that in interviews with staff, many of them used phrases like "I’ll try to..."  or "We'll aim to..." or "Hopefully..." or "All being well..." 

All of these imply that failure is possible (perhaps even that it's likely). When he had them switch to definite statements like "I will..."  it changed their thinking and their whole state in the classroom. 

Listen to how you speak about things you are about to undertake, especially when dealing with agents, producers, actors, directors—anybody who may hire you to write a script or with whom you might collaborate. Do you use qualifiers that suggest you may not/will not succeed?

If you find it difficult to be aware of this as it goes on, try tape recording yourself for a few hours. 

You might want to extend this to how you respond to questions like, "How are you?" or "How's it going?" Do you say (as I'm guilty of doing), "Not too bad"?

It would be better to reply, "Going well," or "Fine, thanks" --at least to those people who aren't actually interested in a factual account of our challenges (which is most people).  

Switch to definite statements that presuppose success, and notice the difference in how you feel, how you carry out your work, and the level of interest you get from others.

 

Piracy on ISSUU

ISSUU is a site where you can access a huge number of books and magazines. The problem is that many of them have been uploaded without the authorization of the author or publisher. 

What do the people posting your book get out of it? They can add links to their own sites, charge a reading fee, or place ads. Or they may just want to share. 

For instance, thanks to a reader of this blog, I learned that someone named Andrew Yi from Taiwan uploaded my book, Your Writing Coach, without permission from me or the publisher. I've now lodged a complaint but the first edition of the book has been up a long time and gotten 112 "likes" which suggests at least that number of people have accessed it on ISSUU.

I wonder whether ISSUU is at all concerned with who downloads what. Yes, you can upload your own book, but does ISSUU really think that McGraw Hill gave permission to Kamal Al-Dallam to upload "Business Writing and Communication"?

There are hundreds, probably thousands, of examples like this.

If you or someone you know has a book out, check ISSUU to make sure it's not being pirated there.

 

 

 

Is Your Idea Any Good?

You've probably had the experience of suddenly having a seemingly great idea pop up in the middle of the night, while you're in the shower, or just walking down the street.

Eureka! This idea is going to make you a fortune, save the world or, ideally, both!

Then you revisit the idea later and most of the time you wonder what you were thinking.

But once in a while you still believe it might be a great idea, but you're too close to it to know for sure. What criteria can you use?

That's the question addressed in a book I've been reading: Chasing the Monster Idea - The Marketer's Almanac for Predicting Idea Epicness, by Stephen Mumaw.

Despite the author's fondness for puns and his annoying practice of pointing them out just in case you didn't notice them, the book has some excellent tips for evaluating ideas in terms of their likelihood of succeeding in the marketplace.

Of course, that's not the only criterion for a great idea; you may decide to pursue one that isn't likely to take the world by storm because you believe it's worth doing even if it reaches only a small number of people. Either way, though, you want it to be as good as possible. 

THE CRITERIA FOR A GREAT STORY

One of the topics the book considers is what makes a great story. Mumaw identifies these six qualities:

• A well-defined, singular theme
• Clear characterization
• A well-developed plot
• Stylistically vivid
• Dramatically told
• Audience appropriate

Yes, I know--each of these is a huge topic in itself. But at least this list is a useful starting point. Here are a few ways to address each element.

THEME

Can you identify in one sentence the theme of your story (or product or service, for that matter)? Plot is what the story is about, theme is what the story is REALLY about. 

CHARACTERIZATION

Is it clear what your protagonist wants, as well as the personal qualities that help them and the weaknesses that work against them? Is there a solid reason that the antagonist is opposing your protagonist? 

PLOT

Does the plot have a beginning, a middle, and an end that comes from the actions of the protagonist? Have you made sure that the middle doesn't sag? If your character changes over the course of the story, is that change lined closely to the events of the plot?

VIVID STYLE

In one way, "stylistically vivid" applies more to novels than to screenplays, since the style of the movie owes a lot to the way it's directed, but even the screenplay should be an entertaining reading experience for the people who will decide whether to buy or option it. One good practice is choosing vivid verbs: Instead of "George opens the door, obviously excited" try "George slams open the door, bouncing off the walls with excitement." (Note: use strategically--a script or novel written totally that way would be annoying).

TELLING DRAMATICALLY

Have you considered whose point of view will be most interesting? Have you piqued the audience's or readers' interest, then doled out the information they want, one piece at a time in a way that keeps them interested? Have you included some surprises?

AUDIENCE APPROPRIATENESS

Deciding what is audience appropriate is trickier than it used to be. There used to be pretty clear definitions, for instance, of what was a kids' film and what was an adults' film. These days the kids' films that are successful are careful to include content that may fly over the kids' heads but will keep their accompanying adults entertained. And when I go to the cinema, I often see kids in the audience even for films that have guidelines suggesting they're for adults. I asked a cinema manager about this once and he shrugged and said, "If the parents don't care, I don't care."

It's possible for a story to have all of these elements and still flop or to have delayed success, but if your idea or story does have these six characteristics, there's a very good chance it will succeed.

How to avoid being scammed by people like this guy

Author and TV producer Lee Goldberg has a post on his blog about James Strauss, a "convicted con artist and fake TV writer."

Goldberg has received many emails with horror stories from people saying they've been conned or harassed by Strauss.

A recent one was from a young filmmaker asking whether he should do free work for Strauss in exchange for help breaking in to the business. Since Strauss has zero real Hollywood experience and has stiffed screenwriters, conference organizers, and many others, the answer is a loud NO.,

In 1998 Strauss pleaded guilty to defrauding a teachers' retirement fund out of $400,000. He was sentenced to 21 months. In addition he was accused of embezzling more than $20,000 from a Santa Fe Business while out on pre-release from the other case. 

Unfortunately, there are many like him out there, swindling aspiring writers and others. 

HOW TO AVOID BEING SCAMMED

If you are unsure about anybody offering you services like matching you with producers or publishers, public relations, promotion, editing, publishing help, etc. do your homework before you hand over money or agree to work for free! Here's what to do:

1: Google their name, the name of their company and anything else you know about them. Go past the first page of results. Smart crooks often set up fake websites full of endorsements for themselves, but under different names.

Many times they'll have a headline like, "Is X a scam?" and in the body of the site say, of course not! They use SEO to drive these sites to the top of Google results, pushing genuine sites down to page 2 or 3 or 4.

In the case of a bogus publisher, I Googled the names of the books they had supposedly published and none were listed on Amazon, nor did any of the alleged authors have websites.

2: If they feature endorsements, follow them up. Ask for complete names and contact details. If all you can get is quotes like, "X got me a big Hollywood deal!" -- Annette F., Detroit...well, that's not enough!

It's true that some people who give an endorsement don't like to give their full names and email addresses but the person in question should be able to give you at least a few who are willing to be contacted via email.

3: If the endorsements also feature photos, do a reverse image search.

First, go to http://images.google.com/ and click on the camera button and upload the image (you can usually click and drag it off the page on the person's website). Or you can drag and drop it into the search blank on the Google image search page.

Then also use TinEye, the simple instructions are at www.tineye.com. Both are free to use and sometimes an image source pops up on one but not on the other.

If you're dealing with a con artist, the image may turn out to have been sourced from a stock image site. That turned out to be the case with one subsidy publisher I looked into a couple of years ago.

4: Ask for specifics. For instance, if they say they can get you in the door at a studio, ask whom they deal with there--who is their contact?

That may be enough to scare them off.

If they're brazen they may say, "Spielberg, of course!" Don't be afraid to email that supposed contact, tell them what you've been told and ask if they have a relationship with the person making the claims.

5. Spread the word. If you find somebody is deceiving people, spread the word via your blog, Facebook, other social media and to relevant groups (like writing groups) and organizations.

Be sure to stick to the facts. Don't say, "X is a  con artist and fraudster!" Instead, say, "X offered to connect me with producer Y, yet when I got in touch with Y I was told they have never heard of X." Or, "The pictures of supposed satisfied clients on X's websites turn out to be stock photos purchased from iStock."

The reason for being careful to stick to the facts is that scam artists often like to threaten lawsuits. I had a few threatening letters from Tate Publishing, for instance, before they went bust and two of the principals were arrested. But because I'd stuck to the facts, there was nothing to sue me about.

Usually they're bluffing, but getting into even a bogus lawsuit is no fun. The facts should be damning enough. The reason I can characterize James Strauss as a con artist is that he's been convicted of embezzlement. Is he still conning people right now? I don't know but I'd sure avoid getting involved with him in any way, based on his past and the continuing complaints.

Let the buyer beware!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marketing inspiration from quirky London bars

The idea that you need to do something different in order to stand out in today's crowded marketplace is obvious, but how do you do it?

Business Insider found some great examples of London bars that have embraced this notion:

BALLIE BALLERSON has an adult ball pit you can jump into--the UV balls glow in the dark. I wonder whether they occasionally find someone at the bottom at closing time...

At the spy-themed THE BLETCHLEY you crack codes to order cocktails, using simulated Enigma machines. They call it "escape room meets cocktail bar." CNN called it "the bar of the future." By the way, you can visit Bletchley Park, the actual home of the codebreakers, but you won't get any drinks there.

I'm not so sure about ALCOTRAZ, a pop-up prison-themed bar where you have to smuggle in your own booze and are given an inmate number and orange jumpsuit to wear. The Guardian wrote that it was  "accused of being in poor taste by charities and the latest in the 'fetishisation of misfortune' by critics." It looks like it'll be open through April, 2018.

Japanese bar SHOCHU LOUNGE decorated their ceiling with hundreds of cherry blossoms to mark the season. That's over but the decor looks pretty cool even without the blossoms.

SKYLIGHT at Tobacco Dock featured a rooftop ice rink and amazing views. It's done for the winter, but comes back  with croquet during the summer; bratwurst, pumpkins and cider in autumn, and the ice rink in November/December.

ABQ has a "Breaking Bad" theme. You 'cook up' your own cocktails inside an RV. It brands itself an "immersive molecular bar" and has no official relationship to the TV series. Because it's so small, it's best to book. You get 2 hours in the RV, with a welcome drink and two that you create yourself, for £30.

If you're not inspired yet for how to differentiate your product or service, go to one of these and have a cocktail or two.

 

 

Learning from first pages that work...or don't

You pick up a book or check the "look inside" feature on Amazon, and read the first page.

Do you want to continue reading? Enough to buy the book?

On the Writer Unboxed site, there's a feature called "Flog a Pro: would you pay to turn the first page of this bestseller?"

As the title suggests, the feature reveals the first page of a popular book, asks you to decide whether you'd pay to continue reading, and explains why they would or wouldn't. You can vote and see how others voted.

The most recent example was the first page of Glass House by Louise Penny, which held the ninth spot on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list for Sept. 17, 2017.

I opted for "no", as did 54% of the total voters--but since this was a new post, only 17 people had voted.

The post's author, novelist Ray Rhamey, also voted no.

Like Rhamey, I felt that too much of the first page was devoted to the unremarkable musings of a character I don't know yet. The book is part of a character series, so that might not bother people who have read others in the collection. 

Focusing the the first page is an enjoyable way to get yourself to be analytical about what works (or doesn't) to grab the reader, a good source of lessons for our own writing. It's not only browsers who pay attention to the first page, so do agents and publishers. Crafting a strong first page is equally important for screenplays. 

However, avoid the temptation to try to make the first page perfect before you write the second and third. That's better left for the second and subsequent drafts, if you want to avoid driving yourself crazy.

---
Would you like writing advice from the classic and modern greats? You'll find it in my book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass, published by Nicholas Brealey/Hachette, and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.

 

 

When book blurbs go bad

The text on the back of your book or the blurb that publishers put in ads or promotions for your book can influence people to buy...or not.

In a mailing I received today I found a couple of examples of blurbs that leave a lot to be desired. Surprisingly, the books are by successful authors, published by a major publisher (HarperCollins). Here's one, for Born Bad by Marnie Riches:

Manchester’s criminal underworld is shaken to the core when gang leader Paddy O’Brien is found bleeding by the poolside of his sprawling Bramshott mansion. So begins a fierce battle for the South Side, with the leading Manchester gangsters taking the law into their own hands - even when they have to play dirty to win...

Wait a minute, isn't taking the law into their own hands what gangsters do all the time? And is it rare for them to play dirty? I'm sure the book is better than this description.

Here's another one, for The Secret of Orchard Cottage by Alex Brown:

April Wilson is hoping to piece herself together after the loss of her husband with a visit to her elderly great aunt, Edith. Arriving in the rural idyll of Tindledale, Edith seems to have lost interest in her home and the surrounding orchard completely, desperate to find out what happened to her sister who disappeared during WWII.

As April begins to unravel the mystery of the missing Winnie with the help of the enigmatic Matt, she slowly feels things coming to life again - but can Orchard Cottage work its magic on her too?

The second sentence makes it sound like Edith, not Alex, arrives in the rural idyll of Tindlledale. It seems strange that Edith is just now getting around to wanting to find out what happened to her sister, who disappeared during WWII. Finally, if Orchard Cottage is where Edith lives, its magic hasn't worked very well, since the old lady has lost interest in everything. And if Orchard Cottage isn't where Edith lives, where is it?

I'm sure the book explains all of these, but if the blurb is confusing we probably won't bother to buy.

It's likely that these blurbs were written by a junior staffer, but I hope the authors are paying attention and make some changes. 

 

On ambitious dreams...and when to get help to make them come true

"I think it is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams. Since no one else is crazy enough to do it, you have little competition. In fact, there are so few people this crazy that I feel like I know them all by first name." 

Larry Page, quoted in Re-Invent Yourself, by James Altucher

One of the stories from that book is about how Mick Ebeling saw a report about a young boy in the Sudan who had both arms blown off by a bomb. Ebeling, without any relevant experience, got together a bunch of experts who helped him figure out how to 3D-print prosthetics for the boy. 

START BEFORE YOU ASK FOR HELP

He asked Intel to sponsor this work, but not until he'd gathered the necessary information and started experimenting. Altucher writes:

"Too many people say, 'I have an idea. Now I need funding.'

Don't do that anymore. Stop it!

Say instead, 'I'm already doing this. Here are the 10 or 20 things I've done so far. Here are the results. Are you in?""

WHY THIS IS DIFFICULT

That's great advice but I know it can be difficult to follow. If you're like me, you'd like somebody to endorse your idea right away. Then we feel more confident going ahead. But if we're reluctant to take the plunge on our own idea, I guess it's no wonder other people will be even more so.

Something to work on...

 

Writing contests with no entry fees

One of the reservations I have about writing contests is that often the entry fee is too high compared to the prizes on offer. Fortunately, the Published To Death blog has a list of 53 writing contests with March 2017 deadlines--none of them requiring any entry fee.

A few of the deadlines have already passed, and you'll see that some of the contests have very specific requirements.

For instance, in one case entry is restricted to Irish residents of the UK, in another the entries have to be poems about Nantucket Island.

The good news is if you fit any of these, the odds are tyou won't have the same number of competitors that you'd have in a more generic contest, so your odds of winning are greater.

You can get the list here. Good luck!

Top prize of $1000 in humorous poetry contest

If you write funny poetry (on purpose) you may be interested in the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest.

Entries are invited until April 1 and, unusually, there's no entry fee. 

Your poem can be published or unpublished and can run up to 250 lines. 

One submission per person, made online. 

They will also award a second prize of $250 and ten honorable mentions worth $100 each. Results will be announced on August 15, 2017.

Submit your poem here.

I seldom feature poetry contest because often the entry fees strike me as excessive for the typically modest prizes, so a contest with free entry and a large prize is a worthy exception. 

POETRY CONTESTS TO AVOID

Unfortunately, there are quite a few scams that target poets.

A common one is a contest in which you don't win but you get a commendation and the great news that they want to publish your entry in a compilation of the very best poems they received. In most cases they require you to purchase several copies in advance, in others they rely on you doing so to show your doubting relatives and friends that you've finally arrived.

These books are always vastly overpriced and you won't be impressed by the quality of the books or of many of the other poems.

Winningwriters.com features a useful list of contests and services to avoid or at least approach with caution. You'll find that list here.

Good news for UK ebook authors

The Bookseller reports that UK ebook  authors will soon be earning more money:

"Authors will be paid from a government fund that compensates authors for loaning their works for free from public libraries.

The catalyst for the change stems from a judgement in November in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It held the definition of lending by public libraries in European copyright law also includes remote electronic lending, thus removing the final barrier to its expansion.

The UK is one of the first countries to extend its library lending compensation scheme to remote e-lending, following amendments to the Digital Economy Bill."

The British Library reports that in the year to April 2016 there were 4 million loans of ebooks and almost one million audiobooks.

The amounts earned by individual authors under this program will be small but at least the principle has been established. 

More warnings: Loiacono Agency, Swetky Agency, Warner Literary Group

In case you aren't familiar with the excellent Writer Beware blog, you may want to check it out.

The post of Feb. 16 contains a red flag alert about:

The Loiacono Literary Agency, which apparently has placed most of its authors' works with small publishers for which you don't actually need an agent to submit, or with vanity publishers;

The Swetky Literary Agency, which often suggests that author needs an (expensive) editor--who happens to be the husband or partner of the woman who runs the agency, a relationship they don't mention;

The Warner Literary Group, which has averaged only two deals per year since it was founded, and has been the target of several lawsuits by unhappy clients. They also have a contract with a clause that gives them the right to represent the work not only for the life of the author but also for 70 years afterward.

You can read the more detailed warnings here.

The ease of self-publishing has shaken out some of the more dubious vanity presses and agents, but it still pays to check out any agent or publisher who offers you a contract and go over the contract with a fine-tooth comb.  

 

Does dropping the price of your e-book work?

One of the main e-book marketing methods used by self-published authors as well as traditional publishers is a temporary price drop. Does it work, or does it just mean you make less money?

Author and scientist Dan Koboldt, who has done many useful marketing studies relating to self-publishing, has reported on the results when the e-book version of his novel, The Rogue Retrieval, was put on the promotional price of .99 cents for three weeks by HarperCollins. The usual price was $3.99.

BOOK PROMO SERVICES AND THEIR COSTS

During the promotion period, Koboldt used ten book promotion services, at an average cost of about $25 per.

These reach anything from 112,000 readers (BargainBooksy - $40) down to 4800 (BKnights on Fiverr - $10). He also took out an ad with Riffle Books ($30). 

Probably the top book promotion site is BookBub, but they are very selective about the books they highlight, and this time around they didn't choose his book.

Importantly, he also benefitted from being promoted in the HarperCollins daily e-mail to almost a million readers, and from being mentioned on their Twitter and Facebook channels. 

THE RESULTS

Koboldt breaks down the likely results from each of the promotional services but overall he figures he sold about 250 copies during the promotional period (actual sales figures won't come in for a couple of months).

He doesn't say how many he would have expected to sell during that period without such promotion but it's safe to say it would have been a lot fewer.

IS IT WORTH IT?

Probably the main benefit of this kind of promotion is visibility on the Amazon ebook lists and the possibility that some of those who buy will like your book enough to spread the word and to buy another one of your titles if you have more available; from a strictly financial standpoint, Koboldt will get less in royalties for those 250 copies than the $226 combined cost of the promotions.

The bottom line: if you're looking to build word of mouth, and have a long-term goal of establishing yourself as an author, this kind of promotion can help; if you're promoting only a single title, with no plans to release another in the foreseeable future, it may not be worth the money.

PS: Of course, one cheap way to promote your book is to mention it on your blog, as I do once in a while for my books, Your Writing Coach and Your Creative Writing Masterclass, both from Nicholas Brealey Publishing and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller. :)

 

 

The great children's ebook con trick

I've seen a lot of promotion recently for courses that purport to show you how to make loads of money writing children's books and selling them on Amazon.

One of them shows you have to use clip art or public domain art for the illustrations.

Another suggests you hire people on Fiverr.com to do the illustrations for you for five dollars each. 

Then you put your book on Amazon and wait for the money to roll in.

Prepare for a long wait. 

Children's books represent the arena in which ebooks have made the smallest impact.

Kids like holding books or sitting in their parents' laps while being read to from a traditional book.

Also, if you're very skilled maybe you can put together an attractive book with public domain illustrations or Fiverr art, but it's not easy. 

The biggest question is how you get people to become aware of your book so that somebody buys it. Just putting it on Amazon is like throwing a message in a bottle into the ocean. 

If you want to write a kids' book for fun or maybe as a present for your grandchildren, by all means go ahead. You can easily set it up as a print-on-demand book. Once in a very great while, such a book could take off. 

Just don't count on it, and don't spend a lot of money on a course that pretends success is practically guaranteed. 

When publishing meets television: a new approach, but is it a good one?

When pitching a movie or a TV series, writers sometimes characterize their project as "X" meets "Y"--as in, "Romeo and Juliet" meets "Lord of the Flies."

There's a new approach to books that might be described as "TV writing" meets "publishing."

New publisher Serial Box produces ebooks in 13 to 15 weekly episodes. The first one and the series bible is created by one writer, who is the equivalent of the Show Runner in TV. The team works out the complete storyline, then writers compose chapters, alternating so the assembly line keeps rolling.

Each episode takes about an hour to read and costs $1.99, or you can subscribe and pay $1.59 each, or buy an access pass for all the episodes for about $20. You get both text and audio versions.

The first publication is a dystopian YA novel with a premise that sounds pretty familiar: 23 teens wake up after the Apocalypse and have to figure out what happened--while also being hunted by machines. 

Wired.com quotes co-founder Molly Barton as saying that one of the ideas behind this format is that friends will find it easier to discuss the books because they will be reading them at the same time.

I can't say that as an author I'm very excited by this development; television necessarily is a collaborative medium, but in novels I value the author's individual voice. Of course, there have been book series before that were written by various authors under one pen name, and it didn't kill literature.

Even so, it'll be interesting to find out whether readers go for this format.

Related articles

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