Where Have I Heard This Before? Pt. 2,766

Joe Konrath spent a little time on the web and came up with a list of unknowns doing really well with their Kindle publishing.

What really warms the cockles of this bastard's heart though, is this little missive... missile to the heart of the matter for folks with no reputation and who seek to build their career as a writer:

"Okay, there's twenty. It took me about three minutes to find these folks, simply by surfing Amazon.

Guess what? There are HUNDREDS more. I'd wager that at least one out of every ten books in the Amazon Top 10,000 is a self-pubbed author. But I'm not going to spend my afternoon cutting and pasting links to prove to the world something I already know.

See for yourself. Click on one of the above books, then click on the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" and see how many new authors you find.

Lots, right?

So if these authors don't have platforms, how are they selling so well?

Good cover, good product description, low price.

It doesn't take a well-read blog, a print backlist, and an established fanbase to sell a lot of ebooks."

This is the PULP FORMULA gang! Removing all barriers to a sale.  It not only works with books and comics - it works with movies too!  Especially movies that don't feature STARS or BIG SET PIECES, but have an easy to access story that's entertaining.  As Bill Martell would say, "The story is the star!"

You COULD do it the other way - spend a lot of money on your movie, book theaters, try to get into prestigious festivals like Sundance on the very odd shot you'll make it...

All the while trying to make the payments on the 2nd mortgage you took out to make the movie in the first place.

But really, does that make sense?

Seems like gambling to me.  I'm not a gambler - especially with other people's money. I'd rather surprise the audience who already knows me, and give them something new to appreciate and talk about... and buy.

------------------------------------------

Lot's going on here at the House that Pulp Built.  I told you that Chris Sharpe and I had a summit meeting a week or so ago, and out of that came some new strategies and some procedures we're putting into place so things go smoother.

We also talked about some really cool stuff that we will be assaulting you with (and you will love us for it!). Putting the pulp formula to work for your benefit:

Good cover, good product and low price in a variety of media. 

 

 

Now get out of here, have a great weekend and put your imagination to work. 

Cool Stuff Coming to The New Dark Delicacies in June

Our friends at Dark Delicacies have moved into their new store and have posted a schedule of upcoming events:

Dark DelicaciesÒ 

3512 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, CA

818-556-6660 / 888-darkdel

www.darkdel.com

SPECIAL NOTE:

We are now in our new location and the store is looking good. Del and I would like to take this time to thank everyone who made the move possible from those purchasing items from the auction, to donations and to those who helped box and move the store. We could not have done it without all of you. Thank you, thank you.

Saturday, May 29^th – Survival of the Dead

George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead posters given out while supplies last to customers 16 years & older.

Friday, June 4^th 7 to 9: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Trunk Show

Saturday, June 5^th 2 pm – Movies, Movies, Movies

Screenwriters Matt Chernov and David Rosiak and other guests to be announced signing Hard Ride to Hell (DVD $19.98)

Writer/Director Chad Ferrin, Noah Segan (Cabin Fever 2), Ezra Buzzington (Hills Have Eyes), Timothy Muskatell, Sean Cain, Vernon Wells, Lew Temple (Devil’s Rejects, Joe Pilato (Day of the Dead) signing Someone’s Knocking at the Door (DVD $24.99)/BR $29.99).  Chad and Timothy will also be signing Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! (DVD $24.99)

GRAND OPENING WEEKEND

Friday, June 11^th at 7 pm: Doug Jones signing Pan’s labyrinth (DVD Reg $14.98, 2 disk $26.99, BR $35.99), Hellboy I (DVD Reg $14.98, BR $28.95), Hellboy II (DVD Reg $14.98, BR $26.98, 3 disk $26.98), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (DVD Reg $14.98, 2 disk $26.98). Doug will also be selling his photos

Saturday, June 12^th at 2 pm

: Writers/creators Mick Garris & Tom McLoughlin, writers Anthony & Christina Adams (Bogman episode), writer Abbie Bernstein (Nice Girls Don’t episode) and actor Neil Dickson (Dr. Ian Matheson) signing the TV series, She-Wolf of London (DVD complete TV Series $39.99)

Friday, June 25^th at 7:30 pm: The Final Curtain - Catherine Olen

talking and signing her books on celebrity deaths, The Final Curtain (TPB $14.99).

Tuesday, June 29^th 7 pm: The Crazies

Director Breck Eisner, writers Scott Kosar & Ray Wright, Robert Hall (Special Effects Make-up), Brett Wagner (Jesse), Tahmus Rounds (Nathan), Larry Cedar (Ben Sandborn), Jeremy Ambler (soldier) signing The Crazies (DVD $29.98/BR $39.98)

Boy! This Writing Thing is Murder...

Since the Thanksgiving holidays, I've been frequenting the local Goodwill store and picking up a few bargain books in hardcover and paperback, usually for around $.99 / book. Some of the great treasures that I've picked up are several of the genuinely excellent volumes in the James Patterson (et al) WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB series.

The set up is four women in law enforcement - a cop, a medical examiner, a prosecutor and a crime reporter team up after work to exchange information and resources to solve crimes. I had only seen the television show on ABC when it aired, and hadn't read any of the books. At the price I was acquiring these used copies I now had no excuse.

I am so glad I did... for a variety of reasons.

I've read 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the series and after (very) quickly reading them, I understood exactly why WMC made it to television. Like my friend Alex says, "TV pulses" and Patterson and his collaborators' style is built along the same structure.

Each WMC book is structured as a series of pulsing mini-chapters that allow for two things:

- a cliffhanger element
- a relentless pace that allows for easy reading

Patterson & Co. have 1 page, 2 page and even a 1/2 page chapter - each one having some sort of "cliffhanger" to it - a key piece of evidence, and emotional peak (or valley), a threat, a stage to set - something to make you want to turn the page and keep reading. I can finish one of these 400 + page books in a day and end up feeling invigorated and wanting more. It's an excellent writing technique either borrowed or developed parallel to television structure.

Another technique that Patterson uses in the WMC books is the clearly defined hero in the form of Inspector Lindsay Boxer (played excruciatingly well by Angie Harmon). Even though the title of the book series is Women's Murder Club we never forget Lindsay is the hero, the focus of the books. How does he do that?

Every chapter Lindsay is in is told from her 1st person point-of-view.
All of the other chapters are 3rd person.

Read a sample from the 1st book - 1ST TO DIE - here and you'll see what I'm saying.

So yes, Women's Murder Club pulses and crackles and pulls you to and fro as you follow Lindsay and her team in solving their cases and resolving their lives. They're thrilling, sexy and scary and a good example of how to construct a story to keep the reader moving along without letting them put the book down.

Too bad the series was canceled. You'll just have to enjoy the books.

Lost Treasures

Been talking to the boys today, revising some of the BROTHER BLOOD artwork and going over the philosophy behind it. Don's written a slam bang, groovy cool late sixties piece of pulp that is just the kind of thing that I haunt garage sales and used book stores for... lost treasure.

And that got me thinking that there's all sorts of books people have picked up here and there in their lives - the buried treasures - that they've held onto.

So I put it to the gallery: What lost treasure book have you found at a garage sale or book store that you've held onto?

Posting Your Novel Online...

From Alan Rifkin for LA WEEKLY:

So I ended a kind of dysfunctional, common-law marriage to an agent who’d spent five years not committing to my book. The agent had said, “The problem seems to be that I can’t decide ultimately if this is a great novel or just a novel with great writing in it.” He said everything but No. On the day I broke it off, he wrote that I was more than justified, for he still couldn’t commit to the novel — but that he wasn’t absolutely sure, and, “I might even be talked out of this position.” It freed me. I finally got the joke.

Then came the cosmic avalanche. Out of nowhere, I met Jerry Burgan, co-founder of We Five, the electro-folk ’60s band that recorded my all-time favorite song (“You Were On My Mind”), and we began collaborating on Burgan’s memoir. When I told him I was going to post my full novel online, he offered me an original song to accompany it. I heroically resisted tainting my literary work with a stunt like that.

Except that it just made so much sense. The novel is, after all, about a country rocker.

Tomorrow! May 30th, 2009 --- 8 AM

If you're in the Los Angeles area and want to come by - please do! Lots of stuff to clear out of my shelves before I move. Here's my Craigslist ad (with a Google Map).

Priced. To. Move. (pun intended)

Stuff Hanging around my Desk...

Comics folk:

How come I can go to my local Mexican grocery / liquor / cigar store and pick up two - yes, two - 48 page adult digest comics (Pistolero #'s 124 and 127) in a plastic bag for $1.30, and you guys want to charge me $3.99 for 22 pages of story?

(I will scan the covers for you guys to marvel at)

On the other hand, I just read Mark Waid's The Incredibles comic from Boom. It will be on my "buy list."

Farscape fans are clamoring for more Farscape comics. Good. It's a good comic direct from the source.

I have an interview coming up with the guys who did something really pulpy cool.


Movie Folk:

John August is discussing D2DVD movies.

Read Screenplays by David S. Cohen. Quick read. Great read. This is the book for everyone who's ever asked, "How did that get made?" If you want to be in the business then you need to read this book.

I'm going to have to start a "Low Budget Movie Production Consulting Service" if things keep going the way they are...been answering questions/emails from a variety of sources. I can see why people are discussing it though. There isn't any money around with which to make movies. We're all going to have to learn to do more with less and do it better.

I am finishing the 1st draft of script this weekend. 95 pages +/- of pulp.

And Here's the Pitch!

Everyone has a story - their story - that makes them unique amidst their peers. When you hear them tell their story you become involved and caring and understanding - it affects how you feel about that person...or even that company...or that product.

Two very smart screenwriters, Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman figured out that everyone has a unique story to tell and if everyone "discovered their story," and learned to tell it effectively, then it would affect how people perceived them. In other words:

Maxwell and Dickman brought the art of the pitch to the boardroom and to business.

The two have written down their experiences and analyses of pitching in an amazing book called THE ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION (Harper Collins publishers) . It is a book I recommend not only to writers, but to career-minded people of all sorts. Inside are real world examples and concepts of how story affected someone's business in both a positive and negative manner. You'll learn how a story is constructed, and take a simpler look at the must-have elements of any good story.

By using the exercises in this book you'll learn your unique story and how to pitch it to everyone you meet. You'll be able to brand yourself in their minds and be that memorable guy who really held everyone's interest instead of that great writer who was kind of shy and sad.

Buy it.
Read it.
Use it.
End of story.