Just talked another client out of a job (mine!)
By telling her that she shouldn’t, given the details of her particular case, continue to fight the traditional publishing fight. That the publishers are in such a morass of confusion these days that all she’d be doing is losing control of her book (nonfiction, already successful in her lecture circuit) and dropping her income from the current $18 per copy she makes to about $1.50 per copy if she got it published. I believe she’ll be on kindle’s doorstep before I finish writing this sentence! Note, this isn’t true for everybody but it’s certainly true for her. She has her own avid following, is a businesswoman, and knows how to market herself (so that people will find the book on the internet). That’s the best of all possible worlds for e-publishing!
Every writer wants to send out a 10-page press release.
Forget it!
I know you can say 10 times as much about your book and 50 times as much about yourself. BUT, the rule is ONE PAGE about your book, ONE PAGE about yourself. Make them beg for more. They’re too busy to be hit with the more in your first press release.
I know you can say 10 times as much about your book and 50 times as much about yourself. BUT, the rule is ONE PAGE about your book, ONE PAGE about yourself. Make them beg for more. They’re too busy to be hit with the more in your first press release.
Most Common Weaknesses of Screenplays Submitted for Representation
1) The format is NOT professional (which is a sign of rank amateurism, since professional format is easily ascertainable from any available script—and the Internet is full of sites that offer them free).
2) The writer hasn’t bothered to proofread his work. It’s filled with spelling errors, typos, and repetitions.
3) The protagonist isn’t clear after the first five pages. You still don’t know whose story you’re reading.
4) Even if you know the protagonist, by page 10 you still don’t know what his dramatic problem is—or you aren’t “involved” with him. You don’t know why you’re reading his or her story.
5) By the end of the script you neither know what the dramatic problem was nor how it’s solved by the story.
6) The obstacles to the hero’s mission aren’t strong enough, clear enough, or interesting enough.
7) The Point of View is unclear throughout the screenplay, or is “all over the place.”
8) The protagonist and antagonist aren’t written with stars in mind. Once we love the story, Hollywood wants to know: What great actor or actress will desperately want to play this role?
9) The story lacks credibility—characters don’t behave the way people like they’re supposed to be would behave in the situation you’ve created.
10) The script is filled with clichés, or with on the nose expository dialogue and narrative.
11) The script isn’t 100% visual, filled with stage directions that aren’t “visual.”
12) The protagonist doesn’t grow from the beginning of the story to the end.
13) His or her antagonist isn’t clearly defined or singular enough to make a castable and saleable drama.
14) The climax and conclusion of the script aren’t strong enough, positive enough, and/or satisfying enough to warrant the investment of the reader/audience’s time.
2) The writer hasn’t bothered to proofread his work. It’s filled with spelling errors, typos, and repetitions.
3) The protagonist isn’t clear after the first five pages. You still don’t know whose story you’re reading.
4) Even if you know the protagonist, by page 10 you still don’t know what his dramatic problem is—or you aren’t “involved” with him. You don’t know why you’re reading his or her story.
5) By the end of the script you neither know what the dramatic problem was nor how it’s solved by the story.
6) The obstacles to the hero’s mission aren’t strong enough, clear enough, or interesting enough.
7) The Point of View is unclear throughout the screenplay, or is “all over the place.”
8) The protagonist and antagonist aren’t written with stars in mind. Once we love the story, Hollywood wants to know: What great actor or actress will desperately want to play this role?
9) The story lacks credibility—characters don’t behave the way people like they’re supposed to be would behave in the situation you’ve created.
10) The script is filled with clichés, or with on the nose expository dialogue and narrative.
11) The script isn’t 100% visual, filled with stage directions that aren’t “visual.”
12) The protagonist doesn’t grow from the beginning of the story to the end.
13) His or her antagonist isn’t clearly defined or singular enough to make a castable and saleable drama.
14) The climax and conclusion of the script aren’t strong enough, positive enough, and/or satisfying enough to warrant the investment of the reader/audience’s time.
Publicity
Sitting through a publicity meeting the other day, I reminded my clients of my standard rules for dealing with the press:
1. The host is giving you millions of dollars worth of publicity, but
2. Remember, “these people are not your friends.”
3. Every question is a trick question.
4. Pause before you answer.
5. Make sure you get across YOUR AGENDA.
6. Set the hook to make the audience want to read more of what you’re saying.
7. Make them want to interview you again.
8. Talk in “sound bites,” memorable short sentences.
9. Show your gratitude.
10. Don’t do the interview AT ALL if your books are not available yet for purchase.
11. Don’t assume your interviewer knows all about you—OR your book.
1. The host is giving you millions of dollars worth of publicity, but
2. Remember, “these people are not your friends.”
3. Every question is a trick question.
4. Pause before you answer.
5. Make sure you get across YOUR AGENDA.
6. Set the hook to make the audience want to read more of what you’re saying.
7. Make them want to interview you again.
8. Talk in “sound bites,” memorable short sentences.
9. Show your gratitude.
10. Don’t do the interview AT ALL if your books are not available yet for purchase.
11. Don’t assume your interviewer knows all about you—OR your book.
Tips on Breaking into Show Business, gleaned from here and there:
1. Remember, it’s a business. Figure out the business interest of the person at the other side of the desk before you get to the meeting.
2. Don’t assume anything is the way it was a year ago.
3. Network--with anyone and everyone you know, and find out “what’s going on.”
4. Get contacts from contacts: always ask for three more contacts from every contact you meet.
5. Value the “insider’s” time more than your own.
6. Set "informational meetings"--more often accepted by the other side.
7. Meaning: Ask for their advice. Don’t worry, if they’re interested themselves, they won’t be shy about it.
8. Try to enter the Industry through your area of expertise--if you’re a lawyer then
9. through legal or business affairs department. If you’re a publicist, through the p.r. department.
10. Have a compelling story about your passion about film rather than your general belief that show business could be lucrative for you.
11. Be informed about the Industry, even if new to it.
12. Be informed about the person you’re meeting with. Do your homework.
13. Be willing to do anything that’s required to make your work better.
14. Be humble and willing to invest in your career.
15. Be inventive about getting your work in front of decision-makers.
16. Be patient and persistent, and you’ll find a way in—and look for sudden opportunities in this land of “right place and right time.”
17. Be flexible about jobs offered, and take opportunities. Access is all.
18. Always be positive, no matter how bad the situation.
19. Always be passionate about what you do.
20. Read up on the fields that interest you and the people that populate them.
21. Master the fine, undefined line between being persistent and being a pest.
2. Don’t assume anything is the way it was a year ago.
3. Network--with anyone and everyone you know, and find out “what’s going on.”
4. Get contacts from contacts: always ask for three more contacts from every contact you meet.
5. Value the “insider’s” time more than your own.
6. Set "informational meetings"--more often accepted by the other side.
7. Meaning: Ask for their advice. Don’t worry, if they’re interested themselves, they won’t be shy about it.
8. Try to enter the Industry through your area of expertise--if you’re a lawyer then
9. through legal or business affairs department. If you’re a publicist, through the p.r. department.
10. Have a compelling story about your passion about film rather than your general belief that show business could be lucrative for you.
11. Be informed about the Industry, even if new to it.
12. Be informed about the person you’re meeting with. Do your homework.
13. Be willing to do anything that’s required to make your work better.
14. Be humble and willing to invest in your career.
15. Be inventive about getting your work in front of decision-makers.
16. Be patient and persistent, and you’ll find a way in—and look for sudden opportunities in this land of “right place and right time.”
17. Be flexible about jobs offered, and take opportunities. Access is all.
18. Always be positive, no matter how bad the situation.
19. Always be passionate about what you do.
20. Read up on the fields that interest you and the people that populate them.
21. Master the fine, undefined line between being persistent and being a pest.
Do Conferences Help?
You betcha! One of the most difficult challenges writers face today is ACCESS, and meeting an agent, attorney, publicist, publisher, or other facilitator at a conference separates you from the faceless masses. It’s a PRIME STRATEGY for taking your writing career into your own hands. From time to time, I recommend the conferences I’ve attended or found effective on my mainblog and in the daily inspire@storymerchant.com Stay tuned!
Change
Every day I run into writers who are clueless about the shifts in the industry, both publishing and entertainment. They have expectations and demands that fit a culture that no longer exists. I can only spend so much time educating them. That’s your responsibility, as a writer who wants to cross over into the promised land of the published or produced. The internet lies before you like a vast land of dreams, yours for the understanding. Explore it thoroughly before you submit your work. Things have changed, things are changing, things will continue to change. The only thing the remains constant is the need for stories, for content, for intellectual property.
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