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In today's competitive creative marketplace, the reality of selling your story - whether it is fiction or from life - takes more than just writing it down and waiting for someone to notice your genius. It takes a fully dedicated approach, a savvy business mind, and, more than anything, understanding exactly how the business you are trying to break into works. The fantasy of waking up one day and suddenly being on the best-seller list is unfortunately not the reality. Dan Brown was virtually an unknown until The Da Vinci Code, and now his earlier works are finding themselves on best-seller lists too. With a little luck, and a lot of hard work, you too can be a successful Story Merchant - someone who's not only a good storyteller, but also believes in his or her story enough to make sure it finds its market.
The starting point to success is how you think about your story from its inception. At AEI (www.aeionline.com) and The Writer's Lifeline (www.thewriterslifeline.com), we think of our clients as storytellers, not as novelists or screenwriters. The biggest mistake many writers make is thinking of themselves as only a novelist, only a game inventor, only a comic book writer, only a screenwriter for film or TV. While of course it's not a poor choice to dedicate your time and your craft to the medium you are currently most adept at, our most successful storytellers hone their skill set and learn to write in all formats, or for all formats. This means crafting a story with a high concept that is adaptable to all media. A high concept is a one-line pitch that describes your story (prehistoric mega- shark terrorizes California coast - Steve Alten's Meg [book trilogy, screenplay, videogame]).
The ability to wear both hats means more success for you in this business. AEI client, now partner in his own production company Warp & Weft, John Scott Shepherd wrote the screenplays for the films Joe Somebody and Life or Something Like it, which AEI produced for Fox. He's also found success in the publishing industry with his novels The Dead Father's Guide to Sex & Marriage (Pocket Books), and Henry's List of Wrongs (Rugged Land), which director Mark Waters ("Mean Girls") will direct for AEI and New Line Cinema. In addition, Shepherd's ABC television series The Days has been met with critical success. Just like any of the most passionately successful storytellers, John learned there's more than one way to tell stories. You can learn that too.
The second key is to think of your story, and yourself, as a brand that is sellable to NY and Hollywood. A brand is a product that is a household name, like Levi's or Windex, except in this case we're talking about Steven King and Steven Spielberg, Steve Alten, James Michael Pratt ("the master of moral fiction"), Jamise Dames (who writes for those who check "Other" on their census questionnaire), or John Scott Shepherd. When you think of Steven King, you know you're going to get horror and suspense. You must think about yourself as a writer and the expectations of your readers in this same way. What is your brand? What are you selling to the public? Are you the person who writes those fantastic historical romances? The person who writes the mysteries centering around one character (a la Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series) or the person who writes fantasy for the big screen like Tim Burton? Also keep in mind to study market trends and see what is hot right now (our Internet column, "What's Hot/What's Not" on aeionline.com is updated regularly for that purpose). Aspiring book writers, fiction or nonfiction, especially should be aware that women make up 70% of the book buyers.
While the writing itself is the first step, the next step is being collaborative - taking notes from people who are familiar with the marketplace, and being able to improve your work; the final step is promotion and publicity. There are numerous things writers can do to spread the word and garner media attention for their product. Successful publicity can lead to brand name status:
- Securing a well connected agent or manager is key, as they know who to talk to and how to spread your name in the industry.
- Hire a publicist. They can help you land radio or TV spots, get you interviewed in newspapers or magazines, coordinate book signings, and much more.
- Do you have something educational to share? The Learning Annex is always looking for new teachers. This avenue is a great way to share your knowledge and contribute to the world. There are Learning Annex locations in many cities across the U.S., and their bi-monthly catalog (a good place for ads!) reaches 2 million people.
- Come up with a marketing scheme. Start a website! Get your link sponsored on other websites. Write emails! Send an email to friends, family and co-workers about your product, and ask them to pass it along to everyone they know. You'll be amazed how fast word of mouth spreads!
- Read books on publicity, such as The Savvy Author's Guide to Book Publicity by Lissa Warren (Carol & Graf, Dec. 2003), Guerilla Publicity: Hundreds of Sure-Fire Tactics to Get Maximum Sales for Minimum Dollars by Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman and Jill Lubin (Adams Media Corporation, June 2002) and How to Get on Oprah...and Other PR Secrets by Rick Frishman (audio cassette, FME Publishing, Sept. 2002)
Remember, even Shakespeare had to schmooze Queen Elizabeth to get support for his plays, and the ancient playwrights Aristophanes, Sophocles, and Euripides had to raise money each year to mount their plays competitively in the Great Athenian Festival. It takes serious effort and business savvy to thrive in this business of taking stories to market.
Above all, you must believe in your story. Romantic notions must fly out the window if you have any desire to succeed in this business. As much as writing is a solitary exercise, the business is a collaborative enterprise, and writers must be prepared to take constructive criticism, re-work plot lines, develop and adapt their tale to fit the needs of the marketplace. Remember, you are not just a writer, you are a Story Merchant.
With more than thirty years experience in the publishing world, and over ten years in entertainment, Ken Atchity is a writer, producer, teacher, and literary manager, responsible for launching dozens of books and films. Based on his own teaching and writing experience, he has successfully built bestselling careers for novelists, nonfiction writers, and screenwriters from the ground up. Now, as chairman and CEO of Atchity Editorial/Entertainment International, Inc., Ken is maximizing his entrepreneurial skills to provide a one-stop full-service management machine for commercial and literary writers by building their presence on the web, promoting their books and careers through public relations, media management, and speaking engagements, selling their books to publishers, and producing motion pictures and television films of client screenplays, novels, and non-fiction books. AEI, a literary management and motion picture company, is always looking for author submissions, especially:
- Celebrity or "branded" books and films that can be series
- Authors who are ready to move from one medium to another - a successful author wanting to break into film, a comic book writer wanting to write screenplays or novels, a successful screenwriter wanting to write novels, etc.
- Books by women or written for women
- Successfully self-published books that can be taken to the national market
- Novels with a fresh or contemporary voice and/or film potential.
- Pop culture, music books and music related films
- Celebrity biographies
- Multicultural/Ethnic fiction
- Entrepreneurial business books by distinguished business leaders
- Personal achievement by nationally know names
- Visionary, heroic and true stories of every kind
- Narrative non-fiction/memoir
- Non-religious inspirational
- Mainstream commercial novels - action, suspense, mainstream romance, espionage, outstanding science fiction that can also be made into TV or feature films
- Dramatic fiction with fresh, original voice - especially by women and minorities
- Screenplays - especially adaptations of classics into modern times; teen action; comedy; horror; heroic true stories (past or present), especially involving families in a crisis; action; thrillers; serious dramas for big stars; romantic comedy; science fiction with strong characters; female driven heroic stories
Queries may be emailed to jp@aeionline.com
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