Book & CD Store for Writers - Page 4
“Make Money at Writing”
It is my contention that you can learn the trade and begin making a respectable income much faster than most people think possible—if you avoid the mistakes of others and stay away from both low-reward and super-high reward (but highly speculative) writing projects.
—Mark McCutcheon, author of Damn! Why Didn't I Write That?
How Ordinary People are Raking in $100,000.00 . . .
or More Writing Nonfiction Books & How You Can Too!
Bookstore Overview
FoW Fiction and Non-fiction
Banishing Writer's Block
Painless Punctuation & Grammar and Other How-To Books for Writers
Make Money at Writing
Promoting Your Book/Website
Movies & Fiction About Writers
Bookstore Contents - Page 4
You Can Make It Big Writing Books: A Top Agent
Shows
You How to Develop a Million-Dollar Bestseller
Writing Treatments That Sell:
How to Create and Market
Your Story Ideas
to the Motion Picture and TV Industry
Become a Workshop Presenter
How to Publish Your Articles: A Complete Guide to Making
the
Right Publication Say Yes
Write Any Book in Under 28 Days
“You Can Make It Big Writing Books:
A Top Agent Shows You How to Develop a
Million-Dollar Bestseller”
by Jeff Herman
Reprinted from the Fear of Writing Gazette, Vol. 2, Issue 4, April 2002
Review by Jennifer Turner, author of Stark Knight
I bought this book because I highly respect Jeff Herman. If there is any one man I would listen to with earnest eagerness, it's this agent. This book does not disappoint.
From Herman's introduction that ends with these words, “You can be the one who is responsible, the one who grabs destiny by the throat and proclaims: 'My will is my fate. My hunger is my fuel',” to the sections describing the authors who've gained success, this book is inspirational, to say the least.
Herman divides the majority of the book into five chapters, each detailing a corner of the literary market. The first chapter describes Marathoners—those who write continually over the course of their lifetime.
In the second chapter, The Heavyweights, he offers insight to the careers of authors who've sold millions, coined household phrases, and crossed into the film industry.
Producers, his third chapter, are described as authors who publish so many books others are in awe. Followed by this is Promoters, which discusses the merit of putting down the pen and going out into the world of promotion.
Chapter five was interesting as he tackled the arena of Niche Authors, an author who “know[s] that one way to make it big is to establish yourself in your niche, and the fans will flock.”
The second section of the book is an invaluable tool for any aspiring author. It covers the many do's and don't's an author should be aware of while starting their career. Herman's section on Reality Check is an eye-opening description of publication, but followed by his advice on Creating a Product That Sizzles: Gaining Access to the Mysterious World of Publishing, and Promoting Your Book to the Big Time, the reader is left with a sense of direction. In his last chapter, Getting Out of Your Own Way, we learn how we can avoid sabotaging our own careers--as in facing rejection and learning to be patient with extremely tedious publishing schedules.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in launching a career in writing. Not only does the afterword explain the secret ingredients to making it big, it ends the book on a positive note. Any business person researches his or her field. If we want writing to be our business there is no other book that describes, so simply and clearly, the true road to publication success.
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“Writing Treatments That Sell:
How to Create and Market Your Story Ideas
to the
Motion Picture and TV Industry”
by Kenneth Atchity and Chi-Li Wong
Reprinted from the Fear of Writing Gazette, Vol. 1, Issue 3, November 2001
Review by Milli Thornton
Like many people, I would someday like to write for the movies. OK, so where do you start? Do you go buy some hot screenplay software and let the machine do the formatting for you while you go wild with the movie inside your head?
No, you learn how to write a treatment. The treatment is your sales tool in Hollywood but it is also an excellent way to bring your story into focus. Imagine communicating your enthusiasm for a movie that you love to your best friend. That's what you get to do in a treatment—as long as you follow the formula that the “players” (Hollywood deal makers) want to see.
This book makes everything clear, from how to write a treatment to where the markets are to how to protect your work. Will this book inspire you to write for the movies? After reading this 220-page gem, I wrote two complete treatments and got down my notes and/or opening scenes for three more.
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“Become a Workshop Presenter”
by Milli Thornton
Includes 42 color illustrations
Winner (e-book category) at the 2004 DIY Festival
Just looking at the table of contents, I KNOW I will enjoy learning from this e-book. You’re a jewel, Milli!
—Sandy Fleming, Pipe Creek, Texas
Find your passion and teach it!
You don't have to wait for someone to ask you to teach what you know. Learn the baby steps to becoming a workshop presenter . . . you never know what it will lead to! There are many reasons for setting out on this adventure: including promoting a book or other product, overcoming shyness, career advancement, and just plain old-fashioned fun. You will be amazed at how many skills you'll learn—or rusty skills you will dig up—by getting up in front of people to talk about your passion. Written by a shy person who DIA (did it anyway).
E-book - 120 pages (no-scroll formatting) - 1.3 MB - $15.00
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Table of Contents
— THE REWARDS OF BEING A WORKSHOP PRESENTER
— WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WORKSHOP AND A LECTURE?
— YOU KNOW SOMETHING THAT OTHERS WANT TO LEARN
— NAMING YOUR WORKSHOP
— DEVELOPING A FORMAT FOR YOUR WORKSHOP
— HOW TO PRODUCE EYE-CATCHING AND EDUCATIONAL HANDOUTS
— HOW TO WRITE A PROPOSAL FOR ADULT EDUCATION VENUES
— ADULT EDUCATION VENUES THAT WILL GIVE A BEGINNER A CHANCE
— HOW TO ORGANIZE AN INDEPENDENT WORKSHOP
— GAIN EXPERIENCE AS A SPEAKER BEFORE YOUR WORKSHOP DEBUT
— HOW TO TEST YOUR WORKSHOP ON WILLING GUINEA PIGS
— SPREAD THE WORD (CHEAPLY!) ABOUT YOUR WORKSHOP
— DESIGN AND PRODUCE A PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP BROCHURE
— YOUR MAILING LIST AND BROCHURE MAIL-OUTS
— MORE ABOUT PRESS RELEASES AND WHO TO SEND THEM TO
— TEACHER AND STUDENT, COME PREPARED
— DEVELOP A PRODUCT FOR "BACK OF THE ROOM SALES"
— TIPS FOR RUNNING A SMOOTH WORKSHOP
— INJECTING FUN INTO YOUR WORKSHOP FORMAT
— TESTIMONIALS WILL SELL YOUR WORKSHOP TO FUTURE PARTICIPANTS
— THE FUN OF LEARNING NEVER ENDS: INDEX OF RESOURCES
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Excerpt from: BECOME A WORKSHOP PRESENTER
Copyright © 2003 Milli Thornton
From Chapter Two: “What's the Difference Between a Workshop and a Lecture?”
A WORKSHOP IS more about audience participation than is a seminar or lecture. For instance, say you're a pottery expert and you've pioneered a new method for glazing and firing. You may be asked to give a scholarly talk on your discovery to a group of university teachers. But a workshop where the same art teachers get to hear the inside secrets and try it out for themselves—with clay and glaze and kilns—may be a more satisfying approach.
Lectures are useful for large groups of people when it's more appropriate to do most or all of the talking yourself. For a lecture, you may stand behind a lectern in your business suit and use an overhead projector to illustrate your major points. A workshop is for smaller groups where participants can "get their hands dirty" and learn by doing, interspersed with mini-lectures from you . . . usually in less formal clothing and in a more relaxed setting.
Artist John Farnsworth of the Farnsworth Gallery teaches the Watercolor Equus for Taos Art School. This four-day class teaches the watercolorist to "capture the spirit of the horse both in motion and in repose." John also teaches a method using only the primary colors—red, yellow, and blue pigment—to simplify the palette by mixing the desired colors and shades in lieu of buying endless tubes of paint. John teaches the Watercolor Equus in a barn with a live horse. Students watch the animal in motion as they paint the horse in its different moods.
Is John teaching a seminar or a workshop? Does the terminology even matter? I think it does. The word "workshop" should conjure images of play or involvement with the workshop material.
One definition of seminar is a group of advanced students working under a teacher in a specific subject of study. So, when teaching workshops for the general public, it's probably best to leave the seminar structure to university professors and design material that's not too narrow or specialized. Especially when first starting out, your workshop format should be accessible to beginners. Farnsworth's teaching style embraces a range of talents: from those just beginning to dabble in watercolor to those who've grown frustrated after becoming entrenched in a certain method or habit using watercolors.
A lecture may last for only an hour or two, whereas workshops can last for half a day to a weekend—and sometimes even a week. You'll get a feeling for how long yours should be once you've followed the steps laid out in this workshop tutorial.
As a workshop presenter, you can concentrate on being less of a talking head and more of a demonstrator. Develop plenty of exercises for your students, supply them with the materials they'll need to try it themselves, demonstrate how to do it, and then give them some space—a no-talk zone—and let them get their feet wet.
If your style really lends itself to more of a seminar or lecture format, you can still use many of the principles in this e-book to help you develop and promote your class. There's nothing inferior or superior about either style; it's simply a matter of what works best within your time restraints and with the learning materials, if any.
Phil Jones is an Australian musician who tours the USA presenting workshops on an ancient Aboriginal wind instrument: the didgeridoo. Phil provides each student with a didgeridoo and, during the course of an evening, gets everyone puffing and blowing and making music—a fine example of a hands-on workshop exercise.
Read the rest of the chapter in “Become a Workshop Presenter”
Meet the author: Milli Thornton
E-book - 120 pages (no-scroll formatting) - 1.3 MB - $15.00
(or download Adobe Reader later—our auto-email will show you how)
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“How to Publish Your Articles:
A Complete Guide to Making the
Right Publication Say Yes”
Shirley Kawa-Jump, author of over 2,500
magazine
and newspaper articles, shows you the
success-generating Square One™ system
Reprinted from the Fear of Writing Gazette, Vol. 1, Issue 4, December 2001
Review by Milli Thornton
When I decided to research article writing, I had the notion that querying would be hard and that editors would be resistant to me because they already have dependable material from writers with established bylines. Even though there's some truth in these perceptions, after working with this excellent book I no longer dwell on the obstacles.
Kawa-Jump starts with the basics: understanding your goals. Brilliant in its power to demystify, Chapter One anticipates all of the reasons why a writer might want to publish articles—and then helps you get realistic about yourself and the marketplace. Far from being a lesson in eating humble pie, I found this section to be priceless.
The author then takes you by the hand and walks you through the marketplace, covering every nook and cranny—from the homely (small newsletters), to the heavyweights (syndicates), to the sublime (refereed academic journals).
That was Section One. I stopped reading there because I couldn't contain my excitement for another page. I proceeded to draw up a realistic goal sheet based on Shirley's wisdom.
I wrote a simple first article and aimed it low but true: right where I knew almost without a doubt I would be accepted. The editor of the small niche newsletter accepted my article by email two days after I wrote it. Two and a half weeks later, the newsletter arrived with my article on the front page. Not only that but I was paid $15 for it.
The surge of confidence gained by having instant success from a baby step such as this is powerful medicine. All this from only the first 62 pages of Shirley Kawa-Jump's book.
Reviewer's Update, October 2005: I went on to write a batch of unpaid articles for SouthWest Sage (the newsletter for SouthWest Writers), even once landing on the front page—including author photo—with my article Fear of Writing: Is It a Gene?
That was back when I lived in New Mexico. I've since had fix or six unpaid articles published in a local monthly newspaper, The Hill Country Edge (Boerne, Texas), including photos I took to go with each story, plus an unpaid article on the Special Olympics in Much Ado News (San Antonio, Texas).
The next logical step is to use Shirley's method to get paid for writing for magazines. With the confidence I've gained by starting small (as Shirely suggests), gaining experience, and building my clips file, I now know I have the skills to tackle it. Having self-confidence can make all the difference!
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Write Any Book in Under 28 Days
by Nick Daws
How would you feel if in exactly 28 days time, you were holding the finished version of your own book? New course from best selling author Nick Daws shows how to do it in UNDER 28 days, working less than 1 HOUR a day.
Do you want to . . .
* Write fiction books, non-fiction books, and screenplays in just hours?
* Become the "famous" author everyone wants to know?
* Rocket your job prospects by becoming the guru for your industry?
. . . if so, keep reading. In fact, if you're serious about writing that manuscript fast, you'd better not take your eyes off this page! But before we begin telling you more, let's meet Nick Daws. . . .
INTRODUCING THE MASTER WRITER
Living in his luxurious English home, Nick Daws has been a full-time author for over 12 years. He enjoys a life of holidaying with his beautiful wife, playing his part as a regional celebrity, and occasionally putting finger to keyboard to write another book.
Those that write books stand out from the crowd. Those that write best-selling books become famous. In the past three years alone, Nick Daws has written over 30 best sellers and continues to write at a ground-breaking pace!
It isn't magic, says Nick. It's all down to a few well guarded secrets, including:
* The freewriting technique and why THEY don't want you to know about it!
* How to only ever write in five minute segments, so you never lose interest!
* Where to buy a guaranteed best selling plot for just 50 cents!
* The three keywords that simply blast your story to life!
* The absolute quickest methods of research (nothing to do with the Internet!)
* How to use Power Editing to edit your entire book in under one hour
. . . and he reveals it all in his new writing course!
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Quick Cash Writing Course
by Nick Daws
Do you need a method of turning your writing talents into COLD, HARD CASH . . . QUICKLY?
If so, then I guarantee that this will be the most important letter you've read this year. It'll mean the beginning of an entire new chapter in your life . . . a chapter where you live the dream of a successful, published writer.
And this is a GUARANTEE. So please, read on and treat this letter seriously.
You see, the problem with writing is that it can be a very LONG process. If you're a perfectionist, or lead a busy life, you might just find writing a book a little too daunting. Or if you're already writing a book, you'll know that it can take MONTHS before you actually see the result: COLD, HARD CASH.
But what if you could get PUBLISHED and earn QUICK CASH . . . TODAY?
No hours of slogging over a keyboard. No waiting for quarterly commission checks. No deadlines.
Just write . . . get published . . . get cash.
And the best news? This is all possible, right now . . . TODAY. You don't need any experience and you can start earning CASH almost instantly—once you discover the niche industries that are CRYING OUT for people like you to write for them.
The great thing is that the VAST MAJORITY of writers have NO IDEA about these little-known writing markets. Only a handful of writers are truly aware of the potential . . . and are earning a fantastic income by tapping out words on their home computer. You can join them, working just five minutes a day.
The industry needs YOU. Are you going to pass by your chance to become a published author?
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From the Mailbag:
"After starting three novels and never finishing, I can't believe what I've discovered. In the few hours I've spent writing, I've completed five fillers—and have confirmation that two of these will be published in Bella next week! You've made my dream come true, Nick. God Bless you!"
—Vic Parr, Plymouth, Devon, UK
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Use the red-hot link below to find out more about:
* Nick Daws, best-selling author of Quick Cash Writing
* Secret writing markets and how to exploit them
* The best filler market of all—paying up to $7,500 per 1,000 words—that uses hundreds of fillers submitted by freelancers in every issue!
* 10 great ways to find more time to write
* Why all quick cash writers should carry a camera with them
* Ten top tips on taking "quick cash" photos—even if you've never held a camera before!
* Money making short story, review and comedy secrets
* Seven secrets of writing short story dialogue—and making it sound life-like!
* How to make up to $10,000 (or more) entering and winning short story contests
* Get your work sold to Hollywood
* How to make money writing questions for TV and radio quiz shows and quiz books
* How you can boost your quick cash writing earnings to stratospheric levels by selling ideas for TV shows and movies
. . . AND MUCH MORE!
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“Damn! Why Didn't I Write That?
How Ordinary People are Raking in $100,000.00 . . . or More
Writing Nonfiction Books & How You Can Too!”
Written by Marc McCutcheon of Roget’s Super Thesaurus
This book will change your thinking!
Forget everything you've heard about the travails of the freelance writer. In Damn! Why Didn't I Write That?, Marc McCutcheon contends that “you can learn the trade and begin making a respectable income much faster than most people think possible.”
To illustrate, McCutcheon lists 17 pages of bestselling titles, including Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance (150,000 copies sold) and Golfing, a humor book (525,000 copies sold).
McCutcheon himself wrote a few well-chosen titles and claims to be “easily support[ing] a family of four, working part-time.” How? Think niche, says McCutcheon. Think backlist. Think about perennially hot topics like dieting/weight loss, relationships, parenting, health, low-fat cooking, sex, spirituality, money/finances, cats, career and leadership, and computer and Internet.
McCutcheon is quite helpful about things like contract negotiation, agents, proposals, and promotion. He also confers a real can-do attitude on his readers. “In the corporate world,” he says, “tall, beautiful people rule. In the writing world, even Yoda can climb to the top of the success ladder.” —Jane Steinberg, Amazon.com
Note from Milli: Marc McCutcheon is the author of five reference books and does not hide the fact that he's a high school drop out. In other words, you don't need a fancy degree to write a non-fiction book. Some simple commonsense might even go a lot further.
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