Self Publishing Presses

Another Million Dollar Dream
When the itch of literature comes upon a man, the only thing that will relieve it is the scratching of a pen. A Victorian vicar wrote that and he wasn’t wrong. I’d had the urge to write since I was a young man and I indulged myself from time to time. I scribbled the odd short story, I wrote pornographic letters for a couple of contact magazines, I sent ideas to TV stations, I wrote scripts and I collected a lot of rejections â€" as most writers do. One day I got a letter inviting me to visit a TV producer to discuss my work. I wept. The producer didn’t want to use my script; she liked it, but she was looking for writers for the revival of an old courtroom drama. Did I think I could write thirty episodes? Why not? I said. Go away and study the law, courts and court procedure, she said. As soon as the contracts are signed I’ll send you the story lines, she said. I read books. I spent my days in London’s famous courts. I made friends with people, on both sides of the law. I made lots of notes. A couple of months passed. We wrote to one another: I told her how much I had learned and how anxious I was to get started on the scripts; she repeatedly assured me that the contracts would soon be signed. I noticed, at the bottom of one of her letters, that her title had changed. She was no longer assistant producer of xxx, she was now producer of xyz. I congratulated her on her promotion. It was the last letter I ever received from her. I had not understood that the change of title meant she had been promoted out of the old job, with responsibility for the courtroom drama, and that she would have no more use for me. It took a few weeks, but I got the message. It was a blow. I probably wept. I promised myself, that I would not write anything speculative again for TV or anyone else, I would write a novel instead. And I wouldn’t send it to publishers; I’d publish it myself. I thought I may even give it away; hand copies to people on street corners; read passages to people on trains and, if they liked it offer a copy to them; or just leave copies in coffee shops and on park benches. I began writing The Workers, a sexy, violent, funny story from the London underworld. After writing about fifty-five thousand words, I allowed the son of a friend to borrow my laptop for a homework project. Don’t download anything and don’t add any programs, were my parting words. Two days later he brought the laptop back with a killer virus on it. Every word of The Workers was lost. I wept. Luckily I had a few chapters in hard copy and I tried to rewrite the rest, but it’s hard. I just didn’t seem to be able to get the scenes down. I had all but given up when I saw an article about Alex Tew and his Million Dollar Website. It was a great idea, Alex had sold a million pixels to fund a university education, I thought may be able to sell a few pixels to fund the writing and serialization of The Workers. I decided that, once I got going with a monthly deadline, I would be able to squeeze all the lost ideas out of their hiding places in the dark corners of my brain and onto the screen. I didn’t have any trouble finding a Million Dollar Script, a Google search produced plenty to choose from. I decided on a script offered by ozwebfx. The script was less than a hundred dollars and Ozwebfx uploaded it for a small fee. Within a few hours, on the 31st February 2006, chapter one of The Workers, Say Goodbye To The Monk was uploaded to my new site, http://YourBigHomepage.com.

Sam Nikolas is a Londoner now living and writing in rural England. All rights reserved.

One Author’s Solution For Publishing Creative Writing Output
It has never been easy to have your creative writing output accepted by traditional publishing houses. Witness these famous masters of fiction who were all obliged to take the route of shelling out hard cash to have their debut novels printed. Alexandre Dumas D.H. Lawrence Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Rice Burroughs George Bernard Shaw Gertrude Stein James Joyce John Grisham Mark Twain Mary Baker Eddy Rudyard Kipling Stephen Crane Upton Sinclair Virginia Woolf Walt Whitman William Blake Zane Grey John Grisham, incidentally, sold copies of his first novel “A Time to Killâ€� out of the boot of a car which at the outset was his sole 'vehicle' for distribution… And it is getting tougher all the time â€" even for established authors. It can be doubly frustrating when you’ve written something that you are desperate to see in print; something you want other people to read. There is always recourse to the expensive vanity publishing houses but I wouldn’t take that route come what may. Would you? Imagine my surprise then when I stumbled across the perfect solution for publishing creative output that you cannot place elsewhere. I have a string of traditionally published titles currently selling in bookstores world wide but I have an almost equal string that I have never been able to get into print. That is until now… The little known but highly reputable POD (print on demand) source I have discovered requires an initial membership fee that covers UNLIMITED titles â€" perfect bound with ISBN and free shipping to customers In a nutshell: Instead of requiring you to place an initial order for 10 to 100 books, this innovative publisher provides the first copy of your book free of charge and then prints-on-demand and ships when they receive subsequent orders from you and your customers. This website featured in the resource box below is well worth a visit especially if you are still struggling to get your first book into print. You could have your own personal library up and running in next to no time.

Jim Green is an online enthusiast and bestselling author with an ever-growing string of niche non-fiction hard copy titles to his credit. http://howtoproducts-xl.com

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Successful Self-Publishing
Successful Self-Publishing Terence Tam Issue 1: January 2007 Inside this issue: Developing a marketing plan for your book. Discover how a carefully structured marketing plan can make the world of difference to the commercial viability and success of your book project. Read more. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Developing a Marketing Plan for your Book A marketing plan is a business development document designed to help you identify and plan out the actual activities that will promote and sell a product or service. It is a crucial planning tool that provides focus and check-list type clarity. Marketing programmes attempted without the backup of a proper plan, often fall victim to an unstructured, ad-hoc approach and money down the drain. Why should you develop a marketing plan for your book? A book may not seem like the kind of item relevant for the development of a marketing plan. This is definitely wrong. Your book is ultimately a product. It is a commercial item that must be promoted and distributed to a pre- targeted marketplace. Approaching the sale of your book in this professional and business-like manner is the best platform to realise any kind of commercial success. Core components of your marketing plan The marketing plan for your book does not need to be an elaborate, 20+ page document full of graphs and market research analysis. This will be your marketing plan, for your book. It does need to be a clearly written and sharply presented professional document, suitable for bookstore buyers/managers, publishers and distributors to review. However, it only needs to reflect the fundamental essentials that will influence the potential commercial success of your ‘product.’ Goals and Objectives Establishing clear goals and objectives for the commercial success that you would like to achieve from your book is the first step in the development of the overall marketing plan. Think of these goals in terms of numbers. How many units of the book do you aim to sell and over what period of time? Taking into account your estimated retail price per book, how much revenue (money made before costs and tax) and profit (money left after costs and tax) do you anticipate from your unit target? Target Audience: Who exactly are the people most likely to be interested in reading your book? Create a picture of this person in your minds eye, and describe this profile within the plan. Are they male or female readers? What age? What kind of social or economic background do they come from? What level of education are they likely to have? Unique selling proposition (USP): You now have a profile picture of the type of person most likely to read your book. Now, clearly define this next essential question â€" why would this person want to read your book? Does the book address important social issues such as politics, economy, health, war or religion? Is it going to evoke strong emotive response? Will it capture the minds and hearts of the audience? How? In what way will it strive to achieve this? The qualities that will entice your target audience are the qualities that make your book unique. These unique characteristics form the foundation of your USP. They are the core messages that should be openly and clearly emphasised in all your promotional and selling activity for the book. Study the back covers of books in your local store. How does the text describe the book? What unique statements does it emphasise to capture and hook your attention? These back covers may appear to be simple synopses, but they use the essential principles of a USP. Promotional Activities: What promotional activities will you implement to generate publicity and public awareness of your book â€" especially among your selected target audience? Will you use media, through public relations or press advertisements? Will you look for speaking or networking events relevant to your book topic? How much of a role will the internet play? Do you plan to host a book launch event? Developing a marketing plan is your opportunity to think precisely about what strategies and activities you will engage in, and structure them in a tangible form. A marketing plan also gives you the best forum to plan out the specific details for each individual activity - such as timeframes and dates, costs, essential contacts and suppliers. In summary, a marketing plan is not a ‘quick and easy’ document. It requires thought, research and planning. Developing one really should be approached as a project in its own right. I guarantee however, that the time spent will be a worthwhile investment in the commercial success of your book. It will represent all your hard work in a professional fashion, and create a strong business impression. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terence Tam is the CEO of Book Pal and is a self publisher himself. His vision is to help both experienced and budding authors self publish their books. Book Pal also prints print on demand books to help the author print the number of books they require. Please visit www.bookpal.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terence Tam is CEO of Book Pal, a company specialising in self publishing and book printing Australia wide. He is a self publisher himself. His company also excels in printing print on demand books.

Casino Blogging â€" A Fast Free Way To Promote Casino Affiliate Programs
Open yourself up to the profitable world of casino affiliate programs with a blog account. Start to experience income just for writing messages. Anyone can do it, why not you? You do not need a lot of internet or computer experience to sign up as a casino affiliate or start a blog account. Both are free. It will cost you absolutely no money to try it. Why wait? Free casino affiliate and blog accounts are all over the internet. For casino affiliate programs you can click over to http://biglistofcasinos.com/webmasters.htm and for a free casino oriented blog click to http://www.biglistofcasinos.com/wp-login.php to begin. Other blogs may not allow links like this, but that casino blog certainly does. Just do not clog it up with a bunch of standard text. You are more likely to get results with messages in your own words. In a blog format, an informal conversational tone is best. Avoid the usual advertising hype and you will be much more likely to attract players. Do not think that you can just dump in a bunch of copied text. Your messages must be original. Otherwise, no one is going to read them and no search engine will likely bother with them. Be sure you include your casino text links in your message. If you are new to html, the blog format is a good place to start because it has that icon that looks like a “link of a chain�. Merely type in your text, highlight the text and then click the link icon. In the popup window you enter the casino code that you were given at the casino affiliate site. You need the http portion with your code, not the image portion with the banner. It is best to write about something that you are familiar with and enjoy. Besides giving you a good source of things to write about, you tone and enthusiasm will show through in your writing. That is the key to effective blogging. You do not need any special skills or talent to write a blog. Your writing does not have to perfectly grammatically correct. Of course, words like “dese� and “dem� will not suffice either. If you have never liked writing before, you may never have had the opportunity to write about something you enjoy. There is big difference between writing a book report and writing about casino gambling. The allure of gambling and the excitement it invokes, may be just the incentive you have needed. If you have ever been to a casino, or even want to visit one, you can write about that. Write anything you want about any casino, gambling, lottery or game that you want. You are the boss, so do what you want to do! There are bloggers out there that earn enough money to do it full time. There is no reason you can not be one of them. All you have to do is start.

RichardMeeuwsen.com does http://biglistofcasinos.com/ http://greenbaycasino.com/ http://infoarea.com/ http://pokergameonline.us/ http://captain-cooks-casino.us/ http://casinofuntours.com/

Top 5 Shenanigans of 5 Print-on-Demand Publishers
5) Cosmetic corporate connections

Publisher B has a new corporate overlord in Amazon, but offers no carriage with Ingram, which means no order availability through many bookstores nor major website listings with competitors Barnes & Noble.com, Powells.com, Bamm.com, etc.

Hint: Find a publisher that offers wholesale distribution through Ingram (which includes listings on Amazon, too). Publishing is already competitive enough; your distribution channels shouldn't be.

4) Disavowing any knowledge

Publisher P calls itself a traditional publisher, even though it uses the same on-demand technology as other PODs. They require an exclusive 7 year contract (twice as long as most traditional agreements) and absorb all your rights before you discover the truth.

Publisher L doesn't call itself a publisher at all, but rather a conduit toward publication. It even features a picture of a machine "publishing" your book for you. Do you want a hot-water heater handling your pride and joy?

Hint: Sign a non-exclusive contract that you can cancel in 30 days written notice and pick a publisher that uses real live human beings to format your book.

3) “Free� on-demand publication

Free things require no commitment, which is a harsh finale for a book you labored to write. We have heard of authors who "published for free" and then the author forgot who published their book! As Vince Lombardi says, “The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.� Getting what you pay for was never more appropriate, as authors of free services can attest.

Hint: You get out of something what you put into it; choose your publisher accordingly.

2.5) "Free" publishing that isn't actually free

I have to slip in this bonus shenanigan. Publisher T claims they will publish your book for free, yet require a $3,985 investment from the author. Last time I checked, that wasn't free. Their justification? They reimburse the payment to you once your book sells its 5000th copy.

Hint: Ask them the percentage of times they actually reimburse their authors. Ask for the titles of the books and author's names. Then get the contact informaton for every one of those authors and confirm it.

2) Traditional publisher affiliations

Traditional publishers make the lions share of profits because they take a gamble on every author. Publisher U has executives from the traditional publishing industry; which means they know how to take an author's money up-front AND in the long run on the back-end.

Hint: If you pay to be published, make sure you make a higher royalty than a traditional publisher pays. And make sure you don't confuse "20% net profit" with a "20% retail royalty".

1) Charging to be profitable

In this competitive publishing environment, publishing is hard enough without having your publisher charging you for things that should be free. Publisher X recently introduced an option for $249 that lets you set your own retail price. And when you see this bar graph comparison, you will understand why: http://outskirtspress.com/marketing/case-owp.gif

Hint: Having pricing flexibility is certainly better than not having it, but you shouldn't have to pay for it.

Learn more about publishing your own book with a free e-book at <a href="http://outskirtspress.com">www.outskirtspress.com</a>. Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press and the award-winning author of "Self-Publishing Simplified". A free ebook edition is available at <a href="http://outskirtspress.com/publishing">http://outskirtspress.com/publishing</a>.

Powerful Book Pricing Tips for Authors
First let's provide definitions for the 4 terms covered in this article: Retail margin is the difference between your book’s wholesale price and your book’s retail price. For example, a book with a cover price of $10 and a wholesale price of $5 has a 50% retail margin. This is the profit enjoyed by the retailer. Wholesale price is the cost of your book to a retailer. To use the same rudimentary example, a book with a cover price of $10 and a retail margin of 50% will be sold to a retailer for $5 wholesale price. Retail price is the same as cover price or selling price or list price. This is the cost of the book to the end consumer (the reader). The retail price is typically printed on the cover of the book and also “embedded� within the barcode on the back. For example, a book with a wholesale price of $5 and a retail margin of 50% will have a retail price of $10. Trade discount is the percentage off the retail price that a wholesaler (not a retailer) pays for your book. Since the retail margin is always a portion of the trade discount, the trade discount always exceeds the retail margin. Distributors typically expect between 50% - 70% in order to provide an acceptable margin to the retailer. A book with a retail price of $10 and a retail margin of 50% might have a trade discount of 60%, and therefore the wholesale price is $5 and the trade discounted price is $4. Confused yet? Don't be. Understanding book math is what separates successful authors from unsuccessful ones. As you can see, retail margin, wholesale price, the trade discount, and retail price are interconnected. MAKING DISTRIBUTION WORK FOR YOU The higher your trade discount, the greater your level of distribution. Think about it - distributors want to make money, too. While your book's trade discount is but a piece of your pie (albeit a big piece), it is the entire cake for distributors and retailers, who together must split the take. The greater the trade discount, the larger their piece of the pie, and the greater incentive they have to distribute your book, sell your book, and market your book, etc. The proper trade discount depends upon the author's goals, and can vary from author to author just as readily as from book to book. Typically, the higher the retail margin, the higher the cover price, so authors interested in maintaining the lowest cover price possible will often opt for a lower retail margin. This may be okay, and even preferred, if the book's largest market is through on-line sales. Conversely, those authors who long for the best distribution possible will elect a higher trade discount, even though their cover price will increase accordingly (or their profit will decrease accordingly). Non-fiction or niche-markets are less affected by higher retail prices. Additionally, greater distribution is often advantageous in finding those niche markets. Suffice it to say, a non-fiction book can almost always sustain a higher trade discount than a fiction book. Trade discounts can be as low as 20% to successfully get listed on Internet retailers like Amazon.com, who manage to make a profit with such low margins through EDI (electronic data interface) with distributors like Ingram and on-demand publishers like Outskirts Press. By comparison, trade discounts can be as high as 75% - 80% when dealing with a niche wholesaler, or when attempting distribution for a book that does not have a proven market. In these cases, the distributor may be padding the coffers a bit in anticipation for a "harder sell" and perhaps, also, in preparation for offering an increased retail margin to close the deal. INDUSTRY STANDARDS Industry standards for retail margins are difficult to define because, ultimately, it comes down to negotiation between all parties involved. Publishers have the power to negotiate with distributors, who have the power to negotiate with retailers, who have the ability to negotiate with the reader, but the typical trade discount is around 55%, which allows for a typical retail margin of 40%. Publishing-on-demand is removing some of the participants in this little dance, and as a result, the same piece of pie is being divided among fewer people, resulting in more money for the remaining players (especially the author). This is particularly true if the author is going after online sales exclusively, which allows the author to set a much lower trade discount with little to no repercussions when publishing via a flexible on-demand publisher such as Outskirts Press, who lets authors set their own pricing. Now you have the flexibility to do it and the knowledge to do it right.

Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press at <a href="http://www.outskirtspress.com">www.outskirtspress.com</a>, where the future of publishing is here, today. He is the award-winning author of "Publishing Gems: Insider Information for the Self-Publishing Writer" and "Self-Publishing Simplified" which is available on Amazon for an unbelievably low $5.95 or for free in e-book form at <a href="http://outskirtspress.com/publishing">outskirtspress.com/publishing</a>

8 Super Selling Things to Do Before You Write Your Book Sales Letter
Every marketing campaign should begin with a plan. Sales letters are no different. No plan and you may miss the mark of High Sales you are aiming for. Set a roadmap that you can follow to explosive sales every time with every ebook. Focus and aim your sales letter with these 8 preparation tips. Then get ready to sell more than you dreamed:

1. Write a list of frequently asked questions for your ebook.

You want to make sure you pin point what your prospects and visitors are looking for and then give it to them. Find out what their burning questions are and then answer them in your sales copy and product. Before you write the benefits of your products you need to know the problems that audience face.

2. Develop a list to help your prospect visualize using your product.

Answer the questions: "When will your prospect use your product?", "How will they use it," "Why will they use it?" For example, if your new product was an ebook: will they read it on their desktop, laptop or will they print it out. Will they relax on the couch and read your insightful tips. Perhaps they will print them and read on the way to work or during lunch break

3. Write down what your up sell offers or possibilities are.

This is where a lot of small business professionals miss out. They fail to create up sell offers. Create your up sell offers and opportunities before you even write your sales letter so that they can be woven into your back end pages and sales messages.

4. Write a list of Benefit Bullets.

What do they get will they experience upon purchasing this product, what will this product give them.

5. Make a list of bonus gifts.

Select bonus gifts before you write the sales letter. This way you can include the benefits in your sales message as a part of your product.

6. Develop your guarantee.

Think about it? A lot of businesses shake in their shoes when it comes to developing a guarantee. But think about it; most small businesses have a built in guarantee. If someone ask for their money back, most small business professionals will just give their money back. They don't haggle over whether they should or shouldn't.

7. Gather your testimonials into one file.

If you don't have any yet for a new product, use famous quotes about your field until you get some. Sprinkle throughout your copy.

8. Go look at your competitor's sales page.

Examine their FAQs (see if you missed any), what are their bonus gifts, what is their guarantee, what is their up sell, if any? I made this step last so you wouldn't be tempted to just be a copy cat. But you can use your competitor's sales pitch as a measuring stick. How did you measure up? Did you whiz past; leaving them in a cloud of dust? Or did you miss a few things that you will now add after examining their pages?

Preparation for your super sales maker will give you the competitive edge you have been looking for. Put these steps into place before you even write your sales letter and sell more. Enjoy the journey and life is made easier.
======================================

Earma Brown, Author, Web Developer. Helps small business owners and writers write their best book now. Send any email to iscribe@writetowin.org for FREE 7 lesson mini-course to jumpstart writing your book

7 Tips for Book Promotion Media Events
Media events and public appearances can fall into any number of categories and include any number of venues (book stores, radio interviews, television interviews, writing group speeches, presentations, chat room interviews, online book tours, public forums, and more). 1. A good place to identify possible media event locations is through local bookstore. Most bookstores carry event calendars or maintain a list of contact people who hold that information. 2. Browse the calendar listings of your local bookstores and see if a certain book promotion fits with their plans. Sometimes it might be necessary to tailor a planned event for a particular occasion or holiday. If there is contact information available, make a note of it so you can pitch the appropriate person about your event. Depending upon the size of the store, that person is either the regional marketing manager, or the book buyer, or the owner of the store. 3. Follow-up with prospective contacts who have not confirmed dates. Selling yourself and your book is a numbers game, and as any salesperson will tell you, the amount of contact is directly proportional to the amount of sales. 4. Be persistent without being annoying. If, after three or four attempts with a particular media contact, you are still unsuccessful move on to another prospect. But keep those "maybe's" on file... and follow-up again over a holiday with an excuse to send them an email card. 5. Once you secure an event, prepare it thoroughly in advance. People who attend or listen to your events are participating because the advertisement or announcement struck a chord with them. So be sure to deliver what they came to see or hear. Don't be shy about letting them know how to order your book. After all, that's the reason you're holding the event in the first place. 6. Promote your media event aggressively. Invite your friends and family, and if it's within the scope of your marketing budget, advertise in the local paper. Neighborhood papers may even promote your event for free within their "Events" pages. You may even be able to tie it into a book review. 7. The store is sponsoring the event to attract more customers; the station is sponsoring the event to attract more listeners or viewers. Whatever the venue, it is your responsibility to attract the crowd. The venue is just that -- a venue. About the Author:

Learn more about publishing your own book with a free e-book at <a href="http://www.outskirtspress.com.">www.outskirtspress.com</a>. Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press at <a href="http://outskirtspress.com">OutskirtsPress.com</a> and the award-winning author of "Self-Publishing Simplified". A free ebook edition is available at <a href="http://outskirtspress.com/publishing">outskirtspress.com/publishing</a>.

Immortalize The Voice Of A Loved One. Hire A Ghostwriter.
Free the story trapped in a format indecipherable by most. Have the script rewritten into a manuscript, ready for self-publishing and self-promoting.

Imagine you’ve inherited the rights to a screenplay. You wouldn’t be alone. In fact, it’s trending -- understandable since forty thousand plus screenplays were written per year for the last twenty-five years. It was only a matter of time before they were resuscitated as last bequeaths.

Your imaginary benefactor’s eulogy glorified the dedication, the passion and the sacrifice with which words were capture to the page. Words, which in a unique style, voiced muses, meanderings and observations on life. Words which were this aspiring playwright’s most valued possession. Words which, for whatever reason, you now own!

Every writer has experienced the curse of an untold story. Haunted by one’s own ideas is aggravating enough. But to be reminded of a legacy-in-waiting at every family function is insufferable. What were once whispers of time ill-spent, have gossiped into a responsibility to the family name. ‘It’s a shame to think that the only credits her work earned were in her will’ will shadow you when all you want is more potato salad.

Whichever befits your character, a stoic answer to the call of duty or a dramatic capitulation with arms in the air, be prepared for the onset of reality. Your pen has just written promises it can’t keep. If you’re a writer, time is already rationed amongst personal projects. On the other hand, if you’re ‘narrative challenged’ (as she was) the task is a bit more foreboding.

So . . . who ‘ya gonna call? Ghostwriters!

Don’t dismiss the idea too fast. Appreciate that ghostwriting has been a guiltless yet respectable option for centuries. For as long as there have been speeches, memoirs or sequels, writing has been outsourced. The cultural handiwork of ghosts has not been limited to literature. Music and painting have a history of contributions by ghosts as well.

Does it honestly matter that ‘co-authored by’ or ‘as told to’ appears on the jacket, as long as the story is engaging? Odds are the book is better on account of it.

At the next visit to your favorite online bookstore, make a point to browse the memoirs. Much of the work has been penned on the condition of anonymity. Ask yourself these questions: ‘Do you really think as many were self-written as claimed?’ ‘Is it reasonable to assume that celebrities and sports figures whose success resulted from a lifetime of practice, were suddenly as equally adept at being proficient authors?’ Picking up a scalpel would be beyond belief, so why isn’t a pen?

In the publishing and film industries, ghostwriting is ubiquitous. The Development Editor identifies extensive revisions necessary to make a manuscript marketable. On a larger scale, teams of unnamed professional writers do the same to major Hollywood releases. A script reversed from the finished production would rarely resemble the original.

Don’t let partial notions prevent further consideration of ghostwriting when you cannot do it yourself. If a qualified writer can be found at an acceptable price, is it not worth it to break the curse and free the story?

Assuming the decision to proceed, the next step is to find one. Rather than searching ‘ghostwriter’, post the writing project on a freelance database. The first approach will list services charging $10K to $30K and the project will have to fit into their schedule. The second will return multiple bids ranging from $500 to $1000 from an international wealth of eager writers.

At these rates, your scribe will be scrambling. Consequently, even the most efficient writing can hide serious problems between the lines. It may be bland without inspiration. Characters may be stereotypical or weakly drawn. Backstory and exposition may be information dumps disrupting story flow. The style may be rift with distractions causing the reader to disengage. The potential for flaws is considerable. Therefore, expect to dedicate some time for editorial review. Lean on friends and family to critique it as if it were your own. Use a standardized critique from writing sites or an editorial filtering service.

Before posting a project description, understand the differences between a screenplay and a manuscript. Any screenplay, even one nominated by the Academy is not publishable as a novel. Few people would purchase a copy of a screenplay for a good read.

Other than the directing instructions, the story content of a screenplay is essentially a subset of a manuscript. Both have a hook, characters, dialogue, a problem, a goal, conflicts, a climax, character growth and an ending. In addition to this, the manuscript has narratives which elaborate on the setting, the backstory, the characterization, the action and the emotional depth. Without these, a screenplay is mostly dialogue. In a manuscript, dialogue typically comprises 40% to 60% of content.

Therefore, the project is basically to approach the dialogue of the screenplay like the plotting or the skeleton of the story. To this, narratives consisting of the missing elements are fleshed or layered in.

The project description also has evaluation and promotional components. It is appropriate to request a sample chapter on spec, as well as, a pitch, a synopsis, and a logline.

As the bids trickle in, the evaluation process resembles the role of an H.R. dept. Desirable skill-sets include the abilities to:

- make the author’s words jump off the page in their original voice and style rather than what they personally publish;
- experience and interest in the subject matter;
- package the concept so that an agent can sell it;
- proofread and polish their own work;
- collaborate;
- research;
and of course,
- write.

The ability to negotiate will depend totally on the number of the bids. Concerning quality, there are no guarantees at any price. One tactic, however, can hedge your investment. Try to negotiate a progressive payment agreement. Request to have performance advances released upon remittance of predetermined chapters/pages. If the writing does not meet expectations at pre-established milestones, no commitment to continue will exist.

A second tactic to enhance the caliber of writing is to fully disclose collaboration with the term ‘co-author’. With the ghost’s name on the jacket, more effort will probably be invested. The glory or celebrity given up in exchange is fleeting anyway.

Finally, offer splitting any proceeds 50/50. Few experienced writers will accept projects on spec. If a talented novice does, it may motivate writing as if it were for a bestseller.

The services of a ghostwriter is worth considering whenever a story is trapped in a screenplay and either time or ability is scarce. If the screenplay is your own, don’t leave it until the reading of your own will. Forget about naming beneficiaries because of interest once expressed in your writing. They’re family. They were just being polite. Do it yourself while you’re alive. Let them enjoy the potato salad!

Matthew Evans hosts www.changingmediums.com, a resource for playwrights interested in developing their screenplay further into a manuscript for the purposes of self publishing as a novel. Ghostwriting and freelance databases are examples of the topics discussed in more detail. Matthew reads for the editorial filtering service www.4gatekeepers.com. Copyright 2006