Three years ago, author Gini Graham Scott was a successful writer specializing in books on work relationships, professional development, and business success, with books published by major publishers, including AMACOM and Random House. She had also sold a service connecting writers to publishers and agents, the film industry, and the media, which she still works with as a consultant. But then the economy tanked, publishers cut back, and the e-book revolution happened, making it harder than ever to make a living writing one's own books.
But after two desperate years of living on the edge while commuting between L.A. and Oakland, Gini Graham Scott has found a new career as an indy screenwriter and producer, as well as helping would-be writers, speakers, and businesspeople write, publish, and promote their own books through her new company: Changemakers Publishing and Writing (www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com). As an indy filmmaker, she has written and produced over three dozen short films and trailers for features, which are now featured on YouTube at changemakersprod. Her most recent films are trailers for the feature, The Engagement at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU15IABpr_4, and for a documentary for geocaching, Hide and Seek at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szRNRoJB5Pk
Scott has additionally written a book on low-budget filmmaking: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING, PRODUCING AND DIRECTING A LOW-BUDGET SHORT FILM to be published by Hal Leonard in November. In the meantime, an e-book version is available through Smashwords and Kindle, and she is currently working on her next book for filmmakers: FINDING FUNDS FOR YOUR FILM, since she is doing exactly that for some of her feature films. She is also leading workshops on writing, producing, and promoting short films, as well as on how to write, publish, and promote one's own book and find a publisher or agent.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Self-Published Authors Can Tap Into 3,500 Christian (Book) Retail Stores
As a result of its mission to "reach the world through ministry, missions and products that honor God" SCP, a leader in the Christian retail market for more than 75 years, is using its long-standing relationships with Christian bookstore owners and its infrastructure to enter into an exciting opportunity to help authors/pastors and their ministries distribute self-published materials. It is a hybrid distributor /publisher model that no one currently has within the Christian marketplace.
"Swanson has identified a need to bridge the gap between an author's self-publishing and vying for a slot in traditional publishing houses," said Shawn A. Kuhn, vice president of P&K Bookstores. "The company's commitment to quality says to me that these will be great books that will make an impact in the lives of people and cause a stir in the publishing industry."
Christian publishing is a $4.2 billion-a-year industry. Books and Bibles account for more than half the revenues of the average Christian retail store. However, current distribution systems are still based on more traditional models that are integrated with established publishers who only release 10-30 titles a year.
As a result, many self-published authors and pastors who would like to get their books or most-popular messages to the public are unlikely to be able to publish or distribute them though traditional Christian marketing channels.
"Last year, for the first time ever, there were more self-published titles released than traditional publisher titles," said Adam Swanson, president of SCP. "We have set up a system to enable the self-published author to get his message out to the consumer through the Christian retail market. It's a win/win for everybody."
SCP is a not-for-profit ministry of Victory Christian Center. It is an importer, manufacturer and distributor of more than 4,000 Christian products in categories such as apparel, home/office décor, Bible accessories, entertainment and custom products.
For more information about Grace and Fire Media go to swansoninc.com and for a CBA store near you, click on Find A Store Near You.
Visual Storytelling -- almost a movie
Cinema is the most powerful medium for delivering information and entertainment, beyond any doubt, but standing in close proximity to the cinema is the visual story; and Chriscribe.com offers digital readers a unique style of visual storytelling. Best viewed on large screens of 15 inches and upwards, these visual ebooks are formatted to present a mosaic of integrated text and images, much the same as a magazine or newspaper spread. However, on the iPad the format differs in that continuous horizontal scrolling is achieved to provide a significant animated function that equates to a movie.
Currently, at Chriscribe.com there are three graphic novels: Made in England, Born of Fire: The Omen and Where Giants Fall: Lest We Forget; and and visually robust art and design analysis: The Visual Reviewal, all priced at $19.95 AUD and in PDF downloads that facilitates 'read-right-away'. Born of Fire: The Kingdom of Venga is due in April.
All the artwork is developed using a Wacom Cintiq with Photoshop, collated in InDesign and exported to Acrobat PDF.
As the applications for visual material become more available so will the products, and the ability to scroll along the pages uninterrupted is a volatile feature that cannot be overlooked for much longer. Once artists can deliver continuous imagery in a horizontal format, unfettered by the printing process protocols, to electronic readers and computers then this medium will explode, with the potential, not only to equal the power of cinematography in the delivery of visual material, but to overtake it.
Currently, at Chriscribe.com there are three graphic novels: Made in England, Born of Fire: The Omen and Where Giants Fall: Lest We Forget; and and visually robust art and design analysis: The Visual Reviewal, all priced at $19.95 AUD and in PDF downloads that facilitates 'read-right-away'. Born of Fire: The Kingdom of Venga is due in April.
All the artwork is developed using a Wacom Cintiq with Photoshop, collated in InDesign and exported to Acrobat PDF.
As the applications for visual material become more available so will the products, and the ability to scroll along the pages uninterrupted is a volatile feature that cannot be overlooked for much longer. Once artists can deliver continuous imagery in a horizontal format, unfettered by the printing process protocols, to electronic readers and computers then this medium will explode, with the potential, not only to equal the power of cinematography in the delivery of visual material, but to overtake it.
Monday, February 28, 2011
It's great to see screenwriters like Aaron Sorkin and Chris Sparling getting the recognition they deserve
In Writing with Hitchcock, Steven DeRosa invites the reader into what was sacred territory at Paramount Studios for much of the 1950s--Alfred Hitchcock's office, where he and a young screenwriter named John Michael Hayes hashed out, debated, and plotted the movie at hand, until it was time for the director to go home, or to one of his favorite restaurants, leaving the writer to sort through the ideas they discussed that day and weave them into a screenplay. The first of their collaborations, Rear Window, marked a turning point that began the Golden period of Alfred Hitchcock's career, a ten-year-run during which he made his greatest films in Hollywood.
In all, four of those films would be penned by John Michael Hayes, the only screenwriter in Hollywood whose collaboration with Hitchcock lasted beyond two consecutive movies. Yet in spite of Hayes's considerable contributions to films such as Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, and The Man Who Knew Too Much, the director barred Hayes from speaking to the press about his work. It's hard to imagine a director or studio being able to silence a writer in such a way today.
One of this year's top contenders to take home the Academy Award for Best Picture is The Social Network, the film about the battle between the creators of Facebook, which is being touted more as the product of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's talent than that of director David Fincher. Even the official website for The Social Network contains a downloadable PDF of the screenplay. While Fincher himself has been dismissive of the film, Sorkin's script has been praised as an incisive look at a generation and for the irony in its subtext--the story of an idea that promised friendships, but ultimately caused destruction of the friendships between those who created it.
Another film released in 2010 which created a stir around its screenwriter was Buried, the movie which placed Ryan Reynolds in a wooden coffin beneath the Iraqi desert with a cell phone, a cigarette lighter, and little hope. For all the dazzling direction by Rodrigo Cortes, who faced the challenge of making a visually interesting movie in the smallest of spaces, the studio did not shy away from the fact that the concept was the brainchild of screenwriter Chris Sparling. Sparling would later be at the center of his own controversy when an email went out in his name to Academy members asking them to consider his achievement for an Oscar nod.
"It's great to see screenwriters like Aaron Sorkin and Chris Sparling getting notoriety and the recognition they deserve," says Steven DeRosa. "In Hitchcock's day and during the height of the studio system in Hollywood, that just wasn't done. Rear Window is as much John Michael Hayes's film as it is Hitchcock's. But for so long in Hollywood, unless you were a writer-director like Billy Wilder or Preston Sturges, or speaking of more contemporary hyphenates like Woody Allen, Sofia Coppola or Quentin Tarantino, the perception has been that it was solely the director's vision that reached the screen." DeRosa writes that Hayes drew upon situations in his own life when creating the central relationship between the characters played by James Stewart and Grace Kelly in the film. Like Kelly's character, Lisa Fremont, Hayes's wife Mel was a high-style fashion model.
DeRosa makes a compelling case for the significance of Hitchcock's collaboration with Hayes, as the director was in the midst of a career crisis following the failure of his own production company and a string of box-office failures when he called upon Hayes to help him reconnect with his audience. "Although they enjoyed a very fruitful association, it ultimately came down to a matter of contending with Hitchcock's ego. After Rear Window was released and was a huge hit, Hayes began to get recognition from the press and award nominations. After that, his days with Hitchcock were numbered. It's too bad," notes DeRosa, "because the films they made together were the pinnacle of sophistication and suspense at the movies."
Writing with Hitchcock is available now on Amazon.com in both print and e-book editions.
For more information visit writingwithhitchcock.com, you can join the Writing with Hitchcock Facebook community at facebook.com/writingwithhitch.
Barnes & Noble's New PubIt! Platform Grabs 11,000 Publishers and Authors
Barnes and Noble will also expand promotion for PubIt! titles and authors into its retail channels. In addition to in-store events, the company offers PubIt! authors and publishers access to the unique marketing and merchandising opportunities through the NOOK Bookstore, a PubIt! bestseller list and additional exposure through the Read In Store program.
Authors have found great success with PubIt!. H.P. Mallory, author of Toil and Trouble, Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble, and To Kill a Warlock, calls PubIt!, "an incredible experience… one of the best decisions I ever made." Mallory's paranormal romance books have become such a hit that she just signed a three-book deal with a major publishing house. Lori Brighton, author of A Night of Secrets, The Mind Readers and The Ghost Hunter, says, "PubIt! places publishing in the author's hands, which benefits not only the author, but also the reader."
Collection of Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Work Contains New Material
A University of North Dakota authority on Victorian era poetry and literature is celebrating collaborative efforts that has resulted in a new five-volume edition of the works of famed English poet and thinker Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
The works contain previously unpublished material. It is the most comprehensive modern collection of Barrett Browning's works to date, and the first new compilation in nearly a century.
A cooperative project by scholars from three countries, the work began in the early 2000s.
Sandra Donaldson, University of North Dakota Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor of English and Women Studies, was named to head up one of the more challenging recent scholarly projects in Victorian literature.
A career expert on famed English poet and thinker Elizabeth Barrett Browning (EBB), Donaldson was the earliest published among a group of fellow EBB scholars who determined that it was time to undertake a full scholarly edition. Those credentials led to her being named general editor of the new five-volume The Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (2010, Pickering & Chatto).
And now that the long-awaited edition is complete, Donaldson can reflect on the specialization and collaboration that made it all possible.
"I like taking care of details, organizing things, seeing patterns," Donaldson said, explaining the work of general editor.
Donaldson led a varied and talented team of junior and established EBB scholars in creating the edition. Nine people from three countries (the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom) are listed as part of the editorial team, including university professors and curators at the Armstrong Browning Library of Baylor University. One of the editors, Barbara Neri, is also a performance artist who specializes in spot-on, historical re-enactments of Barrett Browning.
A number of graduate students and other scholars also are credited with assisting the project.
"We all were writing, and in addition I had to make the voice consistent across all five volumes," Donaldson said of one of her duties as general editor.
The idea for the project stemmed from a 1995 conversation among Donaldson and two other principal editors, Marjorie Stone, professor of English and women's studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Beverly Taylor, professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The three lamented the lack of quality and accurate materials for teaching university students about EBB.
Available at the time were outdated works with no annotations, some errors and missing facts because they simply were not known yet. Donaldson and her colleagues knew that without a full scholarly edition, with all the right background and context, a good classroom edition of EBB's works could not be achieved.
In the early 2000s, work on a new scholarly edition began in earnest. A publisher, London-based Pickering & Chatto, was chosen and work was divided and assigned among the editors. Another important consideration was how "copy-texts" -- an author's original text -- might be treated and defended in the new edition.
"Some say only the first version should be used because that is what created the writer's first audience," Donaldson said. "I didn't really like that idea at all because so much was added (in EBB's later versions.)"
Donaldson's team had hoped to tackle the daunting task in three volumes, but the publisher suggested more, settling on the eventual five-volume set early in the process.
"I never imagined it would be that big," she said.
Donaldson was a hands-on manager, not only serving as general editor but also as volume editor of parts three, four and five, including EBB's verse novel, "Aurora Leigh." Stone and Taylor primarily handled parts one and two.
Donaldson said Volume Five, with its inclusion of works that had remained largely unknown -- some uncollected during her lifetime and others simply unrecognized as hers -- was especially exciting to research.
"I love (all the volumes), but that (Volume Five) was the most fun to do because we were truly discovering things," she said.
Donaldson said the collaborative nature of the project worked because there was an implicit sense of trust among the writers despite their geographical differences.
The collaborations were not exclusive to the established EBB scholars on the team. Junior scholars, who in some cases were working toward their master's and doctoral degrees, also benefited.
While at UND, master's degree candidate Jane Stewart Laux contributed to the edition by painstakingly recording variants to EBB's "An Island," inspecting it line-by-line and comparing it with various other versions of the same poem. After graduation, she was named editorial associate on the project.
"She had some wonderful material to work with and she got paid to do it," Donaldson said.
Then there was Clara Drummond, who, at the time the project was in development, was a doctoral student at Boston University. Drummond's master's thesis and Ph.D. dissertation on EBB's translations of Aeschylus' "Prometheus Bound," as well as Drummond's classical journal essay on the same topic, were used and cited extensively by Donaldson in a portion of the edition.
Donaldson also credits Simon Avery, a senior lecturer of humanities at the University of Hertfordshire in England, as another invaluable member of the team. During the course of the project, he became a professor at the University of Westminster in London.
"We learned a lot from Simon, in particular, and Clara did an incredible task — she had knowledge that we did not have," Donaldson said.
Donaldson said the entire process was an effective exercise in collaborative writing. The resulting edition now allows readers, literary historians, students and scholars to more easily study the life and works of EBB.
"Before, you'd have to go to the different libraries around the world where we went to read them," she said. "There were no other places to see these unpublished works, of course."
As part of a requirement to receive National Endowment for the Humanities funding that helped support the project, Donaldson and her team had to lay out a plan for digitizing their work; in other words, make the research accessible on the Web.
Donaldson currently is working with UND's Chester Fritz Library to create a Web presence that features full presentation of all versions of some of EBB's substantially revised poems.
Donaldson said she is happy with the way the long-overdue EBB scholarly edition turned out. It had been more than a century since anything equivalent had been published. She said also she is grateful for the support of the UND community and the great reception the edition has received.
The works contain previously unpublished material. It is the most comprehensive modern collection of Barrett Browning's works to date, and the first new compilation in nearly a century.
A cooperative project by scholars from three countries, the work began in the early 2000s.
Sandra Donaldson, University of North Dakota Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor of English and Women Studies, was named to head up one of the more challenging recent scholarly projects in Victorian literature.
A career expert on famed English poet and thinker Elizabeth Barrett Browning (EBB), Donaldson was the earliest published among a group of fellow EBB scholars who determined that it was time to undertake a full scholarly edition. Those credentials led to her being named general editor of the new five-volume The Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (2010, Pickering & Chatto).
And now that the long-awaited edition is complete, Donaldson can reflect on the specialization and collaboration that made it all possible.
"I like taking care of details, organizing things, seeing patterns," Donaldson said, explaining the work of general editor.
Donaldson led a varied and talented team of junior and established EBB scholars in creating the edition. Nine people from three countries (the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom) are listed as part of the editorial team, including university professors and curators at the Armstrong Browning Library of Baylor University. One of the editors, Barbara Neri, is also a performance artist who specializes in spot-on, historical re-enactments of Barrett Browning.
A number of graduate students and other scholars also are credited with assisting the project.
"We all were writing, and in addition I had to make the voice consistent across all five volumes," Donaldson said of one of her duties as general editor.
The idea for the project stemmed from a 1995 conversation among Donaldson and two other principal editors, Marjorie Stone, professor of English and women's studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Beverly Taylor, professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The three lamented the lack of quality and accurate materials for teaching university students about EBB.
Available at the time were outdated works with no annotations, some errors and missing facts because they simply were not known yet. Donaldson and her colleagues knew that without a full scholarly edition, with all the right background and context, a good classroom edition of EBB's works could not be achieved.
In the early 2000s, work on a new scholarly edition began in earnest. A publisher, London-based Pickering & Chatto, was chosen and work was divided and assigned among the editors. Another important consideration was how "copy-texts" -- an author's original text -- might be treated and defended in the new edition.
"Some say only the first version should be used because that is what created the writer's first audience," Donaldson said. "I didn't really like that idea at all because so much was added (in EBB's later versions.)"
Donaldson's team had hoped to tackle the daunting task in three volumes, but the publisher suggested more, settling on the eventual five-volume set early in the process.
"I never imagined it would be that big," she said.
Donaldson was a hands-on manager, not only serving as general editor but also as volume editor of parts three, four and five, including EBB's verse novel, "Aurora Leigh." Stone and Taylor primarily handled parts one and two.
Donaldson said Volume Five, with its inclusion of works that had remained largely unknown -- some uncollected during her lifetime and others simply unrecognized as hers -- was especially exciting to research.
"I love (all the volumes), but that (Volume Five) was the most fun to do because we were truly discovering things," she said.
Donaldson said the collaborative nature of the project worked because there was an implicit sense of trust among the writers despite their geographical differences.
The collaborations were not exclusive to the established EBB scholars on the team. Junior scholars, who in some cases were working toward their master's and doctoral degrees, also benefited.
While at UND, master's degree candidate Jane Stewart Laux contributed to the edition by painstakingly recording variants to EBB's "An Island," inspecting it line-by-line and comparing it with various other versions of the same poem. After graduation, she was named editorial associate on the project.
"She had some wonderful material to work with and she got paid to do it," Donaldson said.
Then there was Clara Drummond, who, at the time the project was in development, was a doctoral student at Boston University. Drummond's master's thesis and Ph.D. dissertation on EBB's translations of Aeschylus' "Prometheus Bound," as well as Drummond's classical journal essay on the same topic, were used and cited extensively by Donaldson in a portion of the edition.
Donaldson also credits Simon Avery, a senior lecturer of humanities at the University of Hertfordshire in England, as another invaluable member of the team. During the course of the project, he became a professor at the University of Westminster in London.
"We learned a lot from Simon, in particular, and Clara did an incredible task — she had knowledge that we did not have," Donaldson said.
Donaldson said the entire process was an effective exercise in collaborative writing. The resulting edition now allows readers, literary historians, students and scholars to more easily study the life and works of EBB.
"Before, you'd have to go to the different libraries around the world where we went to read them," she said. "There were no other places to see these unpublished works, of course."
As part of a requirement to receive National Endowment for the Humanities funding that helped support the project, Donaldson and her team had to lay out a plan for digitizing their work; in other words, make the research accessible on the Web.
Donaldson currently is working with UND's Chester Fritz Library to create a Web presence that features full presentation of all versions of some of EBB's substantially revised poems.
Donaldson said she is happy with the way the long-overdue EBB scholarly edition turned out. It had been more than a century since anything equivalent had been published. She said also she is grateful for the support of the UND community and the great reception the edition has received.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Christian Writer Cecil B. Murphey Supports New Authors Again
Who is Cec?
Cecil B. Murphey is best known for writing 90 Minutes in Heaven (with Don Piper), which has sold more than five million copies and has been on the New York Times best seller list since October 2006, but has actually been in the top-selling 150 books for 15 years, according to USA Today. In fact, plans are in the works for a full-length feature film. For more on his books and work go to www.cecilmurphey.com.
But that's not all he wrote.
Cecil has authored or co-written more than one hundred books that have been translated into more than 40 languages and have sold millions of copies. No doubt he has encouraged and touched the lives of millions of readers with hope and inspiration. What has he done with all the fame and prosperity? Cecil says that he can't think of any better investment in the kingdom than to mentor and support other writers, especially Christian writers.
Cecil understands our unique branch of artistry for God. Prior to launching his career as a full-time writer and speaker, Cecil served as pastor of Riverdale Presbyterian Church in Metro Atlanta. He was also a volunteer hospital chaplain for ten years and a missionary in Kenya for six.
He holds bachelor's degrees in education and religious education, as well as master's degrees in education and theology. In addition to all of that, Cecil was awarded an honorary Doctor of Literature from The Richmond Virginia Seminary for his contributions to the writing field. A pastor, a writer, an educator, a philanthropist and a mentor. Cecil B. Murphey is all of this and more. The OC Christian Writers Fellowship and our aspiring writers for God thank you, Mr. Murphey, for your encouragement and generous support.
The OC Christian Writers Conference held on April 29 & 30, 2011 in Irvine, California, is one of the longest running one-day conferences in California. This year's keynote speakers are Simon Tolkien, grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien, and Vinita Hampton Wright. With 27 writing workshops, four writing contests, four acquisition editors, three literary agents, and authors and writers in almost every genre, this is a place to get instructed, get connected, and get published. Find more about the scholarships at www.occwf.org.
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