Collaboration

There are a lot of long-held beliefs about artists that get in our way.  For me, one of the worst of them is the idea of the artist as an anti-social lone voice in the wilderness.

We see the genius, hard at his or her work, despised by all others, fighting against all odds to eventually triumph over the forces of "normality" and ignorance--many times after their tragic death.  It's lonely.  It's a battle.  It's epic.

It's kinda silly.

I've used Shakespeare before as an example.  I'm going to do so again, humbly begging your pardon while doing so.  Yes, I think Shakespeare was a genius.  No, I don't think you need to in order to understand what I'm talking about.

Whether or not you enjoy Shakespeare's works, he gives us a model we can look to.  He was a writer.  He was very successful during his own lifetime (in spite of what you may have heard).  He collaborated.

Shakespeare collaborated with other great writers of his day, most notably Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Fletcher.  My guess is that he learned something from each person he worked with, and I'm certain they learned something from him.

Our process doesn't have to be lonely or in the dark.  Working with someone else can elevate our writing, but it can also help us to identify our weaknesses, bringing them into stark relief.  Once we see them (usually one of the biggest problems artists have while viewing their own work), we can do something about fixing them.

The other thing it can do is to double our audience.  You bring yours and I'll bring mine, and together we can put on quite a party.

@IndieBookIBC is taking that kind of thinking to the next level.  It's a marketing collective for all you writers out there.  If you haven't done it already, you need to check that stream out.  In addition, the work we (Zero to Sold) do for writers, filmmakers and screenwriters...creating trailers, cover/poster art and press kits...is another type of collaboration that is truly a win-win.  Go take a look at www.ztspromotions.com to see some examples of how we can work together to really get your work out in the public eye.

The Indie Book Collective

So, you're a writer.  You have written, or are writing, or are about to write a novel.  You have now, or are seeking, or hope to one day obtain a publishing deal.  You are in the process of, or are preparing for, or are thinking about selling many many many copies of your book.

In other words, you need the Indie Book Collective.

Let's be honest with each other.  Unless you're a name author (and as flattering as it would be to think a name author is following my blog, I like to keep it real), selling your novel is tough.  You may be able to get it polished, packaged and ready to go with a fair amount of work and a fairly steep learning curve.  But selling lots of copies?  You're going to need some help.

Even if you have a traditional publishing deal, the house simply is not going to pony up the marketing budget for a beginning writer.  You need to make it happen yourself.  That's where the Collective comes in.

The Indie Book Collective had a wonderfully successful launch last Monday (9/13), but we're trying to get the word out to every writer that's serious about promoting.

The IBC is a group of writers, from both traditional publishing house and indie digital markets.  We promote our novels through a combination of social media platforms and brick-and-mortar bookstores.  We're getting our stuff out there!

How are we doing it?  Well, it's too involved to give you all the details here, but you can go to the website to get the whole picture.  Also, if you're on Twitter (and if you aren't, you should be), follow @IndieBookIBC.  But the snapshot is this:  cross-promotion.

The essence of cross-promotion is that if people like your book they may like mine...as well as the reverse.  Add in a bunch of other writers, and all of the sudden we're reaching a vastly greater number of potential readers.

The core members of the Collective are all successful indie writers themselves that have already stumbled through the process on their own.  Now, they're sharing information with you, so that your process can be much smoother.

So go to the website.  Follow the stream.  Get on board the Collective train.

'Cuz, baby, this engine's going somewhere fast, and you'll want to be along for the ride!

Oh, and just to get a little idea of what the Collective can help do for you...check out Plain Jane here at Smashwords.  Watch the trailer, listen to the excerpt and read 50 pages for free before you purchase!

Going out on a Limb...or Maybe Not

At some point, it seems that many artists get to a crossroads.  It seems painful or traumatic...usually somewhat epic, but it feels like life asks us to make a decision about whether or not we're going to live by our art.

It usually takes the form of having to choose between keeping our full-time job and continuing our creative work (that in these moments normally doesn't pay well enough for us to quit our full-time jobs).  We feel stuck.  Our focus is more and more on our art and less and less on our paying gig.  Our boss notices.  Things reach a head.

So, first things first.  If you're not there, you don't have to get there.  I truly believe that a good portion of this is our subconscious trying to scuttle the whole "living by our art" thing.  Most of us have some pretty negative voices in our heads about that whole deal, and success isn't really part of it.

In other words, focusing on our art is not an excuse for checking out of our "real" jobs.  They're paying the bills.  Writing or filming or painting or acting or whatever it is that you're doing is MUCH easier with the bills paid.  Period.

Now, if you do find yourself in this position, don't panic.  Stop.  Breathe.  Life isn't necessarily asking you to make a choice between these two things.  Before you storm out in a huff, yelling back over your shoulder that you'll succeed or starve, remember that starving does strange things to the creative process...not many of them good.

Find the third option.  It's not a compromise.  It's not trying to reconcile the two seemingly opposing choices.  It's finding a way forward that honors our need to survive but also recognizes our desire to create.

I'm not saying you should never give up that day job.  I'm just saying to stop and breathe before you make a rash decision.  We should never make a decision based on fear.  Giving up our art so that we can survive is a fear-based decision.  Storming out of the day-job so we can "suffer for our art" is too.  Art doesn't demand our suffering.  It may ask for us to be more creative in how we manage our lives, but it doesn't want us to be in pain.

So, maybe instead of going out on that limb, we can climb back down the tree, go inside and fix ourselves a nice cup of hot chocolate...as we sit down to begin creating again.  'Cause that day job starts early, and we do need our beauty sleep. :)

Art

What makes art...well...art?

We spend a lot of time as creatives trying to improve our craft, seeking to sell our product, looking to live by our art.  But do we know what actually makes it art?

There are so many different (many times seemingly opposing) views of what makes good art.  Two people can watch the exact same film, read the same novel, stare at the same painting and walk away with two completely different opinions of what they've just experienced.

And that's how it's supposed to be, right?

Because, for me, art is the ultimate in individual expression.  I think that's what art ultimately is.  It's an extension of who we really are on the inside.

That extension can be touching, shocking, revolting, empowering or even titillating to us, but when it's honest and connected, it will move us in one way or another.  That's what good art does.  It's one person reaching out and touching another.

And when we experience it, we can't help but be changed by it.

So how do we create art?  I think part of the process is simply doing it.  Over and over again.

When we start, our work is usually pretty derivative.  We're mimicking what we've seen others do.  We liked it and want to repeat it.

Eventually that doesn't satisfy, so we start digging deeper.  We start delving into the "how" of our craft.  What do I have to do to make a story compelling?  What can I do to make a character more believable?  How can I craft a film to engage an audience?

We immerse ourselves in the nuts and bolts of what we're doing.  We spend time with it, we make mistakes with it, we occasionally obsess about it.  And it gets into our bones.

And then, at some point, we realize we're stuck in the minutiae.  We're bogged down by craft.  We've lost our joy.

Really, we've lost ourselves.

And so, hopefully, we rediscover who we are.  We develop our "voice" (which we've actually been developing all along).  We let go of the tediousness of the craft and just trust that it'll be there for us.  Sure, we check in during moments of trouble, but we relax and allow ourselves to come through.

And brilliance starts to happen.

Now, I can't say that this is everyone's process.  I can only say that it's been mine so far.  I imagine there are lots more stages along the way, and I think that's exciting.

Because that's another thing about art--it's ever-evolving, just as I hope to be.

Fear

Well, we've gone through, at least briefly, all the steps of self-publishing our novel over the last few weeks.  Fun.  Good times.  Right.

Now then.  What have we actually done about it?

If the answer is, "I have followed all your advice except for the parts where I had an idea about how to do it better," then you're doing just fine.

If the answer is somewhat less than that, the question is, "Why?"  We want to sell our novel, right?

Well, therein lies the problem.  It's one that I've talked about before.  I've even addressed it in the blogs leading up to this one.

Fear.

It's the big bugaboo.  It's the boogeyman under the bed.  It's the opposite of true connected creativity.

It's what will stop us if we let it.

Fear comes up in many ways and has many, many guises.  Sometimes it's even difficult to identify it as fear.  But it always comes with certain markers.

If we're looking in instead of out, we're afraid.  That means arrogance as well as insecurity.  Both are a direct result of fear.

If we're comparing ourselves to others, either to berate ourselves or build ourselves up, we're afraid.  Informing ourselves about what others are doing is one thing, determining our talent based on what someone else has done is just silly.

If we're defensive or dismissive when others give us critiques, we're afraid.  Either they have a point, or they may not, but getting angry or ignoring them is letting go of what may be a brilliant fix for a problem we haven't yet identified.

If we find ourselves stiff, using a lot of declarative sentences, running over past conversations in our heads in front of an imaginary jury... guess what?... we're afraid.

And that fear does nothing for us but hold us back from the artists we want to be.  We will not ever be as successful as we could be at promoting our own work.  Our future creative work will suffer.  Our personal lives will have more strife that we would like.

Basically, fear sucks.

So what can we do about it?

The things that I've found help invariably have to do with getting out of my own head and connecting with others.  Mentor a troubled teen.  Volunteer at a homeless shelter.  Read to the elderly.

Basically, do something kind for someone else.

It's not that hard.  It will make us feel good.  Oh, and one more thing.  Our creative work will improve.

Not so bad, right? :)

Selling Our Books

Well, we've written, polished and prepared our novel (and hopefully ourselves) for sale.

Now we have to...guess what?...actually sell it.

This is where we bring everything together.  This is also where we typically have a beast that likes to rear up its ugly head.  That beast has a name.  It's called "Discouragement".

See, selling our self-published book takes time.  There's a build to the process.  We're building our readership (especially since, for most of us, this is our first book); we're building our reputations as writers; we're building our word-of-mouth.

That doesn't happen overnight.

So, once we've realized that fame and fortune won't slap us in the face the second we launch our book, now we get down to the nitty-gritty.  This is where all of the tools we've acquired and the social media followings we've built come in handy.  At this point, we begin to advertise.

The main place to advertise, as far as social media is concerned, is Twitter.  This is where we need to be cautious.  We've built up our following by making sure we're putting out content that is informative, funny, entertaining, helpful, or possibly a beautiful combination of all four things.

Commercials are usually not any of those things.

So, we have one of two options.  We limit the number of "commercial" tweets we put out (no more than one commercial tweet to every "branded" tweet--in other words, the tweets that our followers like).  The downside to this is that those commercial tweets don't get out there as often as we'd like.

The other option?  Make sure our commercial tweets are informative, funny, entertaining or helpful.  In other words, work to make sure the commercial tweets fit inside our "brand".  If we can do this successfully, we can up the number of commercial tweets to pretty much one-to-one with the branded tweets.

These commercials can send people to our book trailer, our cover art, our website, our Facebook page.  Or, we could pretty much put most of those items up on Smashwords.  You remember this puppy from last week?  This is the site where you can format your novel (and it will take some work) to their specifications, so that it can be distributed in any e-book format that the reader would like.  You sell your novel for far cheaper than readers could get it anywhere else, and you make more than you would by selling a hardback through a traditional publisher.

You can go other routes (and you may want to pursue both at once, since there are those that just want the feel of a book in their hands), by going to the so-called "vanity" publishing sites.  There are sites where you retain all rights to the book, the books are printed as they are purchased, and you can sell through Amazon.  Cool.  You're still making a lot less off of each copy.

Plus, Smashwords allows for all kinds of coupon codes.  You want to provide a free copy of your novel to a reviewer (great idea for getting the word out there, by the way)?  Send them a 100% off coupon.  More important to you to build your readership than to make $?  Give your Twitter followers a 50% off coupon.  Want email addresses to be able to market your next book more successfully?  Trade the email for a coupon code with the percentage of your choice discounted.

One final note for this week's blog (although we haven't even come close to exhausting this topic):  too many of us view the selling process as something very similar to the picture above.  Furtive.  Shameful.  Hush-hush.

Guess what?  If we sell it that way, people will read it that way, and then will ultimately talk about it that way.  If we want people to shout out the name of our novel from the roof-tops, we probably want to sell the book in the same way.

Doesn't our novel deserve it?

Just to see exactly how this process works, go to our Smashwords page for Plain Jane.  Check out the cover art, the trailer, the audio excerpts and the excellent review.  Plus, you can read 50 pages of the book for FREE.  Test it out before you buy it.  Just a practical test-drive for you before you do the same for yours!

Preparation Part 2: Social Media

Well then.  Here we are.  We've written a book (and boy-howdy is it AWESOME!), we've developed cover art, we've gotten ourselves a book trailer and we've put together a kickin' press kit.  We even have an amazing website that we've created, with the help of our favorite tech geek buddy.

Now what?

It's not enough to have all those tools.  We actually have to use them.  I know.  Crazy, right?

This is where social media comes in super handy. 

I'm going to focus on two of the most helpful (and popular) sites:  facebook and Twitter.  I'll also talk about a couple of other sites that any self-publishing author is going to want to know about:  Smashwords and goodreads.

First, let's talk about what facebook and Twitter are (and are not).  Facebook acts a little bit like a billboard.  It's great for putting up content (cover art, book trailers, etc.) and then promoting.  You can advertise on facebook according to interests and locale, which means a very targeted group will be viewing it.  Problem is, they don't know you from Adam (or Eve, as the case may be).  It can be somewhat limited, and certainly isn't very dynamic.

Now let's talk Twitter.  Twitter is your best friend.  I know, you may not believe me, but I'm telling you, it is.  Twitter acts more like a television channel, with people choosing to "tune in" or follow your stream.  And, like a TV channel, you need to provide good content.  Interesting "tweets" or updates, that entertain, inspire, or give information.  A caveat:  it must be under 140 characters.  Er...

But what's great about Twitter is that once you have a loyal following, you can begin to introduce "commercials" into your stream.  Links to your website, your trailer's youtube, an e-event your hosting, whatever.  Once you are a trusted source, people will follow you...and click through.

This is where we talk about Smashwords and goodreads.  Smashwords is where you can sell e-books in just about any format imaginable.  And the commission you get off of a $2.99 sale of your e-book nets you more that bestsellers get per hardback copy sale.  You heard me right.  Worth checking out?  I think SO!

Goodreads is a place where people talk about the books they're reading.  This is a great place for an author to start to build up hype for his or her novel.  It works even better if you're working with a group (see my post on writers' collectives here).

So, I've given you a very brief overview of what social media can do for you and your book.  If you want to see this in action, check out my Smashwords page for Plain Jane.  You can watch our book trailer, listen to an audio excerpt (VoiceOver courtesy of @actingnodrama) and read up to 50 pages FREE.  You can also follow @writingnodrama, @cristynwest, @zerotosold and @craftycmc to see what we're doing with Twitter.  Then, once you're salivating, head over to our website to see it all in one place.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Preparation for Self-Publishing

Well, we've talked a bit about the creation piece of the self-publishing puzzle.  Now it's time to talk about how to prepare.  Specifically, how to prepare to sell.

I want to take a moment to say that most publishing houses take at least a year to prepare for the launch of a new hardback.  There's a reason for that.  There is a lot to get done.

Luckily, you only have one writer you need to worry about.  You.  Unless you've got some other personalities lurking in there that have their own manuscripts, in which case it's beyond the scope of this post to deal with anyway.

I'm going to talk about two different areas of preparation that are key for the self-published author.  One is the area of promotional tools, which we'll talk about in this post.  The other is the venue (or venues) for the distribution of those promotional tools, which we'll discuss next week.  They are both important.

The promotional tools a writer would want would be excellent cover art (variations of which could be used for biz cards, press kits, etc.), an electronic press kit (EPK), and a book trailer.

The cover art is the face of your novel.  It's what's going to grab a potential reader or turn them off.  It needs to be polished, creative and most importantly...sell your book!  If you've written a how-to, a fantasy-like cover will do nothing but confuse a potential buyer.

The EPK includes your one-sheet (brief description), three-sheet (more in-depth description), bio and press release, at a minimum.  It can also include a longer bio, a 3-5 page synopsis and FAQ's.  The EPK is essential for anyone that would like to option off the rights to the screenplay.  Being able to send this EPK at a moment's notice can make the difference between you being taken seriously or simply forgotten.

Finally, the book trailer.  This is an opportunity to SELL YOUR BOOK!!!  The importance of a good book trailer cannot be overemphasized.  Let's face it.  Our society has gotten more and more visually oriented as the years have gone by.  Having a visual medium that draws a potential buyer in is a MUST!

For some examples of some amazing cover art, slick EPK's and stunning book trailers, take a moment to go to our website:  www.ztspromotions.com.  You can also our work in action by going to my Smashwords page for Plain Jane.  Not only will you see our amazing book trailer, you'll be able to listen to an audio excerpt and read up to 50 pages for free!  Just so you can see that we practice what we preach.

Writing Your Masterpiece

I talked about self-publishing a couple of weeks ago and promised that I would take you through the steps.  Last week I talked about how important it is for us to be present in everything we do.  This week I'm going to write (at least a little) about something that's kind of important to the self-publishing process.

Writing a novel.

The point of this blog entry is not to take you through the entire process of writing a manuscript.  That's not really what I do here.  If you're looking for help with the craft of writing, go to my @writingnodrama Twitter stream, where I talk about the day-in, day-out process of writing a novel or a script.  You can also go to that stream's blog.

The idea here is that in order for us to get that writing career we've always wanted, we kind of need to...well...write.  #awkward

If you already have a manuscript written or well on the way to being written, this may not apply to you quite as much.  The questions you need to ask yourself is whether or not you're moving forward as quickly as you'd like and whether you've gotten to the point that you're needlessly fine-tuning instead of putting it out there.

However, if you've got the idea for a novel in your head and you're not moving forward with it, the question becomes, "Why on earth not?"  What's holding you back?  What "reasons" do you give yourself for not putting words on the page, even if they're horrifically bad.  Believe me, every author has written bad stuff.

Whatever the voices in your head are telling you, the real answer is that on some level you're scared.  Scared of exposure, scared of failure, or just simply scared that on some basic plane you're not worthy of success.

Now, you can listen to those voices.  That's a choice.  It is, however, a choice that will mean that succeeding with a writing career will be a bit of a tough sell.  It also means your voice will be silenced.

And that is the real tragedy.

A Little Bit Extra

That old phrase “The proof is in the pudding” is apropos.  At the end of the day, it’s really about what works.

We talk about structure and discipline and making time for our art.  We talk about craft and precision and specificity.  We talk about “the path” and promotional tools and networking.

And all of those things are good.  Really good.

And when push comes to shove, the most they will yield you on their own is a good product, adequately promoted.  I don’t know about you, but “good” and “adequate” are not really words that I want used in regards to my work.

So what is it that makes for something great, brilliant or even spectacular?

Not to put too fine a point on it, it takes us.  Putting the pieces of our projects together like they were some sort of a jigsaw puzzle or paint-by-the-numbers watercolor will yield us a result that is. . .good.  Marketing in the same way that everyone else does will give us a campaign that is. . .adequate.

We want to infuse ourselves into everything we do.  Take in all the ideas on structure, craft, precision and specificity.  But then, loosen it up.  Have fun with it.  Enjoy the process.  We can bring our unique talents and “voice” into the process.

The same thing goes for marketing.  If we pursue a “cookie-cutter” type of promotional plan, we’ll get “cookie-cutter” kind of results.  What can be our individual spin on it?

I have an actor friend who wanted to get an agent.  He had taken all of the textbook steps that can lead to representation.  None of them had given him more than a mediocre outcome.

So he did something different.  He put together postcards that talked about himself as a product that he was selling.  He was a comedic “staple” that every agent needed to have in his or her pantry.  It was funny.  It was eye-catching.  It was completely him.

It worked.  He had meetings within a week and an agent within two.

This is the kind of thing that we do for our clients.  We approach each project as an extension of the individual we’re talking to.  We listen to you, and then ask questions and then listen some more.  Because we want your promotional process to be “you”.  Your take, your voice, your campaign.

You’ve heard me talking about my novel Plain Jane recently.  Take a look at what I’ve done with it.  Go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16176 and watch the trailer and the excerpt.  Read the reviews.  Download 30% of the novel for free to get a sense of it.   Go to www.plainjanenovel.com and see what my website looks like. Then decide for yourself if I’m walking the walk.

Whatever your opinion of what I’m doing, I want to give you a challenge.  Make the choice to step outside your comfort zone and promote your project, if you aren’t already doing so.  If you are, take a careful look at what you’re doing and see if there’s room to improve.  We’re not asking you to use our services.  We’re asking you to get your work out there!

Want to take a look at what we’ve done for others? Go to our website:  www.zstpromotions.com.

The Self-Publishing Bible

Let’s start off by acknowledging that the words “self” and “publish”, when used together, create something that’s been a dirty word for authors for a long time.

No longer.

While the publishing houses would very much like to keep it so, self-publishing simply doesn’t have the stigma attached to it that it used to.  We can create amazing works of fiction or non-fiction and market and sell them ourselves.  No more waiting around to see if those query letters did their job.  Create.  Prepare.  Sell.

So, that’s what I’m going to be talking about over the course of the next few (or perhaps longer.  We’ll see) weeks.

How do we create an amazing, compelling (and commercial) work?  What are the specifics of the process that can lead us to a product we’re proud of and, perhaps more pertinently, that readers will buy?

Once we’ve written our masterpiece, how do we prepare?  What promotional tools do we have already at our disposal?  What others can we (and should we) acquire?  How do we indentify, target and attain our desired demographic?  Once we’ve attained them, how do we prepare them to want to purchase our work of art?

Now that we’re prepared, how do we make sure that this primed and eager group of potential readers actually open their wallets to buy our novel?  What can we do to bridge the gap between an excited almost-reader and someone that’s willing to lay down the money to read (and review) our book?

And just so you can see that we walk the walk as well as talking the talk, we are going through this entire process ourselves.  I just released Plain Jane:  Brunettes Beware under my pen name, Cristyn West.  It’s available through Smashwords.com here.  You can read for free more than 25% of the novel to see if you’re interested in purchasing it.  Give it a try!

Then follow us as we take you, step-by-step, through the amazing process of do-it-yourself book publishing.  Not so scary.

And certainly not a dirty word.

Zero to Sold: The New Website!

It's here! It's up and fully functional, with loads of good stuff for anyone that's looking to promote themselves and their product.

We started ZTS Promotions based on the premise that visuals matter. Press kits are important. Cover or poster art is arresting. Trailers rock out loud!

These were the tools that we wanted to deliver to any creatives that needed them. Whether it’s the beginner that’s just needing some guidance, or the seasoned pro that simply wants the best tools for their project, we consistently delivered.

After quite a while of offering truly superlative marketing materials to writers, screenwriters and filmmakers, we realized something else. Things have changed.

When’s the last time you actually watched a commercial on TV? TiVo is an amazing thing, isn’t it? It’s also completely changed the way that savvy advertisers market. TV ads are being dropped left and right. Even the Super Bowl, the Holy Grail of television ad space, just doesn’t pack the whallop that it once did.

What does this mean for us? Nothing but good things!

Social media has now become the new frontier of advertising. Now, before you turn up your nose, I want you to realize that this is actually a return to the basics. In the days before TV, promotion was done socially, by building up and maintaining relationships with current and potential clients. Parties and gatherings were as much a part of a business’ landscape as they were a filling of a human need for contact.

And our new website is all over it!

We can help you fully integrate your amazing promotional tools across multiple online platforms. We have the skills to grow your network using your website, FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and more. We can help you develop an integrated “brand” that fully expresses what you have to offer. Once we have that, we then target those that will respond best to that brand.

So, go check it out, right here! What do you have to lose? It’s just the click of the mouse, right?

Plain Jane--The Launch

Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. Here I am, going on and on about “getting your stuff out there” and what have you seen from me?

Hmmm.

Worry not, kind friends (or skeptical passersby, whichever fits the bill). There has been a plan.

I am announcing the release of Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware, written under my pseudonym, Cristyn West. This is a wonderfully tense crime thriller with a twist. Here’s the link to our Smashwords.com page (an amazing resource, by the way): http://bit.ly/atlm6P. You can read up to 30% of the book for free, and if you wish to purchase it, it’s only $2.99!

Now, there’s a twist in the actual novel itself, but there’s another one as well. We are releasing this novel as a fully self-published work with a completely online business model.

There will be no attempt to get this novel into typical brick-and-mortar bookstores. It will only be available as an on-line purchase.

In addition, we will be heavily promoting the e-book versions, eschewing the print copies almost completely.

Why?

Simple. As of March 2010, e-book sales are up 185%. Amazon is now reporting that 50% of its book sales are digital. They expect that statistic to reach 70% by next year. People are buying more e-books.

They’re easier to purchase. They’re less expensive. You don’t have to worry about shipping. You can read more than a quarter of the book first without paying.

Okay, now you know why others (perhaps even you) are buying e-books, but what about us? What’s the upside?

Ahem. Money.

We make more money per copy off of e-book sales than we ever would off of a print version. Doesn’t matter if you’re self-published or not, the amount we make off of a hardcover or paperback copy is not as much as we make off of an e-book, even selling it for $2.99 on Smashwords: http://bit.ly/b60jVe.

Like what you’re hearing? Like the idea that we don’t need to cow-tow to the publishers? That we can do it ourselves, through the power of the internet and social media like Twitter?

Then join us. We’re looking to form a writer’s collective. We want it to be small (no more than 10 authors). We want it to be made up of the truly dedicated. We want it to work for everyone involved. If you have a novel that you’re sitting on, hoping against hope that it’ll get picked up, why not test the digital waters?

From where I’m swimming, it’s quite refreshing!

The Anti-'Borg Collective

I love Star Trek. The original remains my favorite, since it’s the one that first opened up my eyes and mind to the mysteries of a larger universe. However, some of the newer series’ episodes had some pretty awe-inspiring stuff.

One storyline that really affected me was the ‘Borg collective. It was creepy. It was inhuman. It went against everything that I believe in (pretty sure that was the point).

It was also incredibly powerful.

That kind of unification allows for a lot to get done very quickly. I started thinking that if we could form that kind of unity without giving up our individuality, we could do so much more than we can as isolated artists.

So, here’s the deal. I want to form a writer’s collective. The old publishing model is starting to feel increasingly outdated. Publishers simply don’t give the kind of attention to new writers that they need to really get their stuff out there. It’s increasingly up to the writer to make sure their books get sold.

Okay, so let’s embrace that! I have a friend who’s a mid-list author. His experiences with his publisher were less-than-stellar, so he finally got fed up. His backlist was dead in the water. It had barely made him back his modest advance and he was never going to see any royalties from it. Worse, his career was stagnate. He was LOSING his reader base rather than building it.

Then he said 'screw it,' and took over his on-line publicity. He hit Twitter, Facebook, and blogged like a fiend. He also made over $100,000 last year from Kindle alone. He’s on track to make twice that this year.

We can do that. We can come together as writers, supporting each other and our work.

Let’s form a collective!

Not a soul-crushing, individuality stealing entity, but a life-affirming, art inspiring group. We can lift one another up, offering moral support and encouragement, as well as cross-promotional marketing.

And I'm putting my money where my mouth is! Next week, I’ll be putting my novel out there for everyone to see. I'm going to be an active part of this new venture.

As part of this, we will be offering free online workshops on how to use Twitter to effectively market our novels. Leave your email address or Twitter handle here in the comments if you’re interested in joining in with our writer’s collective. We will keep you up-to-date on any upcoming workshops.

Together, we can do some pretty spectacular stuff!

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!! :)