Prepared for Success

We talk a lot about the tools that you need to become the successful writer/screenwriter/filmmaker that you want to be. We help with branding, online presence & platforming, social media expansion. We create amazing visuals like cover art, poster art, press kits and trailers to help your project succeed.

All of that is great, but it doesn't address one of the biggest problems we all face.

We are frightened of success.

You may not immediately agree with me. You may say to yourself, "But I desperately want success! I'm working myself half to death trying to be successful."

Just take a look at that last statement. Do you feel how much conflict is in it? We're fighting for success, but who is it that we're really fighting? The universe? I'm pretty sure the universe has enough success and to spare. It's not the one holding us back.

We are.

We're busy fighting off all of the stuff inside us that really believes that we don't deserve to be successful. We're putting self-imposed limits on what we can accomplish and how high we can go.

So, rather than talk about amazing tools to help, I thought that maybe we'd talk about preparing ourselves emotionally to become the artists we want to be.

I'm not even going to talk about how "good" or "bad" our art is, because firstly, that's pretty subjective, and secondly, we can always improve (that's the topic for another blog...always being a student!). It's not our job to determine whether or not what we offer is amazing. There are enough "bad" books and films out there that we all know that isn't really the determining factor.

What seems to be the real point is whether or not we're willing to embrace the idea of sharing our projects with the world. Because that is kind of what success looks like, right?

Any time we start to doubt ourselves or question our worth or want to just give it all up, let's take a second and realize that those words are not our own. Those are old tapes running in our heads that we picked up from someone else at some point. Usually our parents, but I'm not your therapist, so don't take my word for it. :)

Those tapes point in the exact opposite direction of where we want to be going, so when they show up, it's a pretty good indicator that we're on the right path. We don't need to bully our way through the negative tapes, we just need to take a moment and reconnect with our joy.

We know what it feels like when we are connected and creating. That's real. The dark, ugly tapes are not. At some other point, we can talk about the parts of us that are playing those tapes, but for now, just know that they're really telling us to keep going. We're on the right path. If we weren't, there would be no reason for those fears to come up.

Breathe through it, reconnect to your love of your art and continue to create. Keep showing up. Find others to help support you when the tapes get too loud. Talk it out with them. Lift one another up.

Eventually, success is not longer a battle. It becomes an inevitability.

Twitter, Your Own Personal Piggy Bank?

You've heard me talk about social media. You've seen me wax poetic about the wonders of Twitter. You've experienced my not-so-subtle prodding about what it is that we're doing here.

Time to get super specific!

We want to make money, right? Preferably doing what it is that we love.

And social media, particularly Twitter, is perfectly suited to helping us do exactly that.

So, the question is, are your accounts ready to monetize? There are many different ways to potentially make money off of social media. As many different ways, honestly, as there are different interests. And if you've been on Twitter long, you know that there are a LOT of different interests here. :)

The first step is to figure out what you have to offer. What is it that you can provide to interested parties? You may not see it at first, but it always has to do with passion. What are you passionate about?

Once you've determined what that passion is, it's time to develop a brand. Simply put, it's a unified way of having others looking at you. It's a way of helping those that view your materials to understand very quickly what you're all about.

The more your branding is well developed, the easier it will be to monetize when the time comes.

So, that all sounds great, right? Perfectly wonderful! Now, how do we do it??

That's where we come in! Zero to Sold is offering free online workshops on how to monetize your social media accounts, focusing on Twitter.

Watch our stream for upcoming times and dates for these amazing classes, but anyone with any interest, go ahead and leave a comment with your Twitter @ name, so that we can contact you directly as classes are available.

Let's get to it! There's money to be made!

Let's Talk about Tweets, Baby!

"Let's talk about you and me."

Because that's what Twitter is all about, right? Creating relationships based on shared interests at 140 characters a pop.

So, just for a moment, I want you to go to your profile (if you're on Twitter, that is. If you aren't, get on, RIGHT NOW! Seriously!) and look at what's there.

What do your tweets say about you? Look at them from an outsider's point of view. Do they make sense? What's the latest tweet (which is one of your most important "stats" by they way)? If you were someone else, would you decide to follow yourself, based on what you see?

If you're on Twitter for purely social reasons, don't worry about any of this. If, however, you're here to self-promote or to monetize, you need to make sure that your stream looks attractive to potential contacts.

How do we do that? There are a lot of strategies that we employ for our clients' Twitter accounts that we're hired to manage. I will share one of those ideas.

Know what you want out of Twitter, and then make sure that your stream constantly reflects that. Anytime you engage in random banter with people on the stream, you're leaving your followers out of half of the conversation. If the conversation is one that matches your objectives online, then by all means engage. Otherwise, take it to DM.

This is just one of the many strategies that we can teach you that will help to target your market specifically. Strategies that will build your following, that will build your influence, that will allow you to push traffic from Twitter on towards your website, facebook, blog, etc.

Our new website, dealing with all of these promotional tools, is coming out very soon. In the meantime, go to our current site: www.zerotosoldtrailers.com and take a look at our wonderful promotional tools! You don't have to use our services to help you promote (although we're awesome, so you should!), but PLEASE make sure that you are getting your projects out there!

Maximizing Our Exposure

Before we raise any eyebrows here, I'm talking about our internet exposure. There will be no removal of clothing here. #justsaying

We're all here on the internet for different reasons. Many of you reading may be joining us from Twitter. And what is it that you're doing there, or on any other of the many social media sites? Why are you reading a blog about promoting yourself and your unique form of creativity?

Whatever your reason for being here in the first place (information, support, marketing, networking, etc.), you've found yourself here, reading this post. And here's the thing: we can help you accomplish your goals.

Whether you're looking to make new friends within a certain area of interest or hoping to sell the next great American novel, we can help you gain greater exposure.

Just to tell you a little bit about ourselves... We are award-winning writers and filmmakers first and foremost. That's where we started. As we embarked on our journey of creation, we realized quickly that promoting our projects was key to any sort of success. And we weren't happy with any of the promotions that were being offered.

The trailers we saw didn't inspire us. Honestly, we didn't see any trailers offered for scripts (which seems ridiculous), and the ones being made for novels didn't have the kind of punch and presence we were looking for.

The cover/poster art available was decent, but again, was lacking the kind of drama and flair we sought. The same with the press kits.

So we made our own. And received immediate and overwhelmingly positive responses. We began doing it for others, including working with web designers to really solidify the clients' "brand".

Soon after that, we started realizing that this material on its own wasn't enough. It helps, definitely, but it wasn't getting us or our clients the full exposure we wanted. Even though our clients were thrilled with their responses, we knew we weren't reaching the full potential of what was being created.

At that point we got involved in social media. Very quickly it became obvious that the "social media experts" weren't as expert as advertised. Before we would get to the point of engaging their services, we would find that we had surpassed them. Within two months, we had landed five clients (among whom are a NYT Bestseller, an artist, a mommy blogger and a co-producer for a hit reality show) for whom we were managing social media accounts and web presence, as well as coaching them on their overall brand.

Enough about us. Our approach to maximizing your exposure is three-fold. We study you and your goals and help to identify and unify your brand. We develop materials (cover art, trailers, press kits, business cards, bios, etc.) to solidify that brand in the minds of viewers. Finally, we use social media to increase your presence online, drive traffic to your website(s) and materials, and to help you monetize as quickly as possible. There are no guarantees in this industry (or in life, for that matter), but our consistent record is greatly increased presence (100% to !000%, on average) within a month and monetization within three.

We have a new and greatly expanded website coming soon, but for now, you can go to www.zerotosoldtrailers.com to check out our promotional materials. You can also email us at info@zerotosoldtrailers (dot) com. We offer a free assessment of your web presence and brand. And here's the thing: you don't have to go with us, but getting a free assessment is... well... free! There's no obligation. And it will give you INFORMATION!! So, why not give it a shot?

What Are We Doing?

If you're here reading this blog, it means that on some level, creating is probably important to you. If you've made it to this second sentence, it almost certainly is.

I'm pretty convinced that there is nothing like the act of creating to bring out the best and the worst in us. No one can look at the great sculptures and paintings and be completely unmoved. We read amazing books written by the masters and weep and laugh and are changed. We watch films that transport us, uplift us and inspire us to be better than what we are.

And then there's the ugly side. We embark on the journey and are immediately beset by doubts and assailed by our personal demons. It seems like the entire of creation moves itself to test our fortitude. And a very large percentage take it as a sign and give up.

Maybe you're there. Maybe you just started and feel like the pounding's started. Maybe it's already occurred and you've "given up" but can't let go completely (you're still reading this, right?). Maybe you're hanging on by your fingernails, looking for inspiration to help you along.

So, here's my contribution to that journey, for what it's worth. This path may be uncomfortable. It may, at times, even be painful (usually because we make it so, but that's a topic for another blog). It is, however, amazing. It's transformative. It's a refining process, both for our art, and for us as people. I believe that it brings out our divine potential.

And I'm not sure that this process should be easy. The difficulty of the path is there, not to keep us from going forward. It's there to test how badly we actually want it. What is it worth to us to be able to move others with our art?

So, what are we doing? Part of this journey is artistic and personal. Another part of it is making sure that what we create actually makes it out into the universe. Creating something that no one ever gets to see is kind of a pointless act.

We want to affect others with our work, right? In order to do that, we need to make sure that they have access to it. We need to survive, right? In order to do that and have more time to create, we need to get paid, right?

Yeah, I know it sounds like it shouldn't even be included in a conversation about art, but without promotion, we're dead in the water. We need to research the best ways to make our work visible. Cover/poster art, press kits, trailers, web presence, platforms, branding. It's all part of getting to the point where we can spend our lives creating. Promotion isn't a dirty word. It's our best friend.

Time for the plug. If you aren't doing what I'm talking about, you can get some ideas by going to our website: www.zerotosoldtrailers.com. Take a look at what we have to offer.

Want to do it yourself? I encourage it! Not sure about that? Give us a call or shoot us an email. You'll be amazed at what we can put together for you.

Now go out and create!

As If That Weren't Enough...

We've worked. Hard. We've put in countless hours, agonized over minutiae that most others wouldn't even blink an eyelid at, sweat blood and tears.

And finally, after what seems an eternity, we're finished. Our baby's done. Our novel, script, short film, feature, whatever--is complete.

Aaaaaahhhh... Time to stretch a bit.

Congratulations! You've done something that many, many hopefuls never do. You have made something where there was nothing before. It's truly amazing, and you deserve credit and accolades for it. Doesn't matter the format, genre or medium, you have done something truly worthwhile.

And there you sit, thinking, "Okaaaaaay... Now what?"

You have just run smack-dab into it. You know. That wall. The wall that so many have committed figurative hari-kari against, by running into it at warp speeds. It is the wall that is not-so-lovingly referred to as (cue scary music)... self-promotion.

C'mon, you knew it was coming. Or maybe you didn't.

Somehow, as we're in the midst of creating, we manage not to think about it very much. Or if we do, it's this very short, very magical interlude between creation and success beyond our wildest dreams.

I'm going to hazard a guess that, out of all of the completed works of art out there, at least 97% have never seen the light of day. They are pushed (with a heaping helping of shame) to the deepest, darkest corner of the drawer or closet. We may, occasionally, dust them off and lament the death of the work that no-one-ever-had-the-chance-to-enjoy. Then we'll put it back and do our best to forget.

Or...

There is another way.

It is the path of self-promotion, Grasshopper.

I know, the magical belief that we SHOULDN'T HAVE TO is strong. So strong, in fact, that we resist this stage of artistic development almost instinctively. But gone are the days of patronage. No knight on shining armor (or naked lady astride a horse, not to mix metaphors too badly) is going to swoop down and hit our project with the mystical sword (or wand) of success. Not gonna happen.

Nor will posting our novel, or script or project up on some random blog do it either. Again, great step in the right direction, but we're still falling short of the mark.

We need to open our hearts, our hands and, yes, our mouths. We need to get it into anyone's and everyone's hands that is willing to give it more than a cursory glance.
Put the sucker up in a blog or website, sure! Then drive traffic to it like it's the freakin' Jersey Turnpike.

Yes, it's uncomfortable. No, it's not impossible. You can do it. Really.

And here's the other thing: you don't have to do it all on your own. Yeah, it's that time again. Time for me to do my own bit of self-promotion. We're really good at what we do. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself. www.zerotosoldtrailers.com. We promise you'll never get a hard sell from us. Just an honest assessment and a true desire to help.

And look for some wonderful new developments from us in the near future. We're working on some amazing products that we will be unveiling within the next week or so. I'm telling you, it'll be worth reading about! Until then, keep dreaming, keep creating, and keep PROMOTING!! :)

The Crazy Voices

So, if you've followed my Twitter stream at all, you know that I'm a writer and filmmaker that is involved in helping others to promote themselves. I've worked with a lot of people in the industry (both publishing and film/television) and there are some things that I've noticed about those that are successfully working in their artistic fields and those that are not.

We all know that talent is important. We feel it. We know that quality matters. Of course. Problem is, we can ALL point to absolute crap that's been published or filmed. Then we look at our own stuff and think that it's at least as good as any of that. So then we're in this weird place where we flip flop between arrogance and insecurity. Our stuff is good enough to be out there, but we haven't had the success we want yet. Our judgment must be compromised. Or we're jinxed. Something.

Thing is, talent does matter. It just doesn't matter the most. Dedication, consistency, persistence, determination are all things that ultimately may be more important than talent alone. I've seen too many people that I didn't consider to be talented succeed and continue succeeding, that I have to believe that talent is only one variable in the formula for success.

Oh, here's something else for the talent purists out there. Talent can increase. When Kim Basinger started her acting career, it was as a Bond girl. Her performance was less than memorable. But she was attractive, she was dedicated, she was determined. She persevered, and eventually got to the point that she won an Oscar. She worked out her problems and hangups on the big screen, by doing the work.

All of us have voices in our heads. Negative voices that scream that we're not good enough, we'll never make it, we're dooooomed! I've already said that talent isn't the determining factor in success, and I think that most professionals would agree with me. What seems to me to be the determining factor is whether we can manage our self-destructive tendencies. Can we corral our inner demons that are constantly screaming silently at us in our heads?

What keeps us from being the kind of people that demonstrate all of those scary, scary qualities I mentioned earlier? You know. Dedication, consistency, persistence, determination? Do we exhibit all of those traits? And if not, why?

I've found that most people that we typically think of as "lazy" or "procrastinators" are actually just scared. They've got voices yelling at them that if they really TRY and then fail, they've truly FAILED. FOREVER!! Easier to just sit back on their heels and engage in a little self-destruction. When we put it into those clear terms, of course they don't want to do this, but in the moment, it's easier to just... lose track of time.

There's another trap. It's the "push forward at all costs" trap. This group realizes that hard work is necessary to succeed, so they will kill themselves, working without sleep to get their work "finished". Problem is, it's never finished. Once they get close, they either start working on a new and exciting project, or go into OCD mode, polishing, polishing, polishing... and never getting it out there.

Neither way works all that well. The successful authors, screenwriters and filmmakers out there work consistently, putting time aside everyday to work on their passion projects. Most started out doing this while holding down at least one full-time job. No excuses. Put it on the page. Five to ten pages a day of writing is a good goal to work up to. That's about what professional authors do, and that's what we want to be, right?

But the most important part is actually writing. Putting fingers to the keyboard and pounding out words. Yes, craft and structure matter, but getting craft and structure is, once again, secondary to ACTUALLY WRITING!! The voices in our head will come up with all kinds of reasons to keep us from doing it. If we realize that it's just our fears creeping in, and that the only way to become whole is acknowledge those fears and work through them, we can find consistency in our work. And joy. Joy is good.

One final word. Patience. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Now go out and create!! And as you create, remember that the time will come (and actually is probably now) when you will need to promote. And we'll be right there ready to help you.

www.zerotosoldtrailers.com