Every day, the publishing industry is becoming more like Hollywood in every way

Think about this: The publishing industry is becoming more like Hollywood every day. It didn’t used to be like this. So, if you accept that premise, and you are an established author or aspire to be published by one of the big publishing houses what do you do? Well, to be successful in the publishing industry (we're talking New York), you look at what it takes to be successful in Hollywood.

1. You gotta be great, not just good, but great.
This means you leave no loose ends, your craft, your networking, your brand, EVERYTHING has to be perfected to within an inch of its life. The first thing that decision makers in Hollywood look for when they consider product (a crass way to look at artistic work, but there you are) is a reason to say no--ANYTHING that falls beneath their self-set standards of excellence/perfection, no matter how small or insignificant. It’s their way of separating the wheat from the chaff. Get your format wrong on the cover of your screenplay, and FZZZAAAAAAHHTT! Like a bug hitting a electric zapper light on a hot summer day, you’re toast. Does this arbitrarily eliminate product that could make them a lot of money? Of course it does, but that doesn’t factor into the equation. It’s the self-justifying paradigm that is important. So by exercising your due diligence and going the extra 500 hundred miles to be absolutely the best you can be, craft your product to the industry and the market, and produce transformative work, you give yourself at least a fighting chance. Be careful--one of the most common comments editors are giving manuscripts these days is "I've read this before". They are looking at fresh takes on established themes. Don't default, go on to the second choice or third choice or beyond in how you treat your materials.

2. Hone your brand.
If you don’t create and define your own brand experience for other people, other people will either wonder what the heck you’re all about or decide for themselves something about you that could completely miss the mark and spoil your chances. This starts with who you are, your work, and positioning it so that it creates an experience for others that YOU want them to have. An experience that creates affinity, loyalty, and yes, love. If you don't understand branding, better study up.

3. Begin with the end in mind.
Total follow through. Visualize the book as published, as the publisher supported it from acquisition through preproduction, marketing and PR, through the sales chain until it arrived on the shelves, well-positioned and with a high level of awareness among the buying public and achieving break out sales. Then back it out to the agent, who that person is, how they really “get” the book, how it needs to get sold, to what publisher, and how it needs to get marketed successfully. Your choice of agent may be the most important decision you make--everything flows from there. Then back it out to the hiring process—hiring the agent and researching the pool out there so that you understand the relative merits of each agent, their strengths and weaknesses and how that relates to you and your work and your ultimate goal, networking with friends and other authors to get more information and referrals that give you more ammunition and strengthen the power of your choices. Back it out to the query letter where you position yourself and your work to give yourself the best chance to engage your chosen agent prospects in an interview process. Then .....

4. Start from the beginning. It starts with Word One. Every page, every sentence, every word must have integrity. Integrity with your self as an artist, integrity with the marketplace. Airport fiction. A book that the weary traveler can pick up from the airport gift shop rack and settle back for four hours (or until it’s time to deplane) for a totally engrossing read that causes that reader to pine for that very next opportunity to sit down and continue reading. And when the reader finishes the book, the reader feels longing for the story to go on, but it cannot, because it’s over!. (“when’s your next book coming out???”).

5. Do your Research and Self-examination.
Yes, you have to figure out what you can write that will resonate with a diverse, large audience out there (who actually still reads). Know yourself, know the market, and learn from the very best in any way you can. And then transform yourself. Go the extra five hundred miles.

You're on your own, bro

In the latest politician-screws-around-and-gets-caught story, this one involving Handsome John Ensign, a Nevada senator, there was one breath of fresh air.

He came out to admit his affair with a staffer (or a staffer's wife, or maybe they were both staffers) without the most important appendage for these press conferences.

His wife. Nowhere to be found. Hallelujah! No wife, embarrassed and ashamed (why the hell should she be ashamed?) standing by her man. Nuh-uh. His wife stayed home and saved herself the photo op of the year.

Good for you, Smart Wife.

If he's determined to go down the tubes, it's good that you don't let him take you down with him.

By your silence we shall know you. And we like you already. Finally, a woman who said, "You're on your own, bro."

I love a guy who loves dogs

I'm talking about Brian Williams. In his NBC special on the White House, he had a few meetings with the First Puppy, Bo.

There are people who don't like animals. There are people who don't see animals. There are people who like animals well enough. Then there are people who turn into little kids whenever they cross the path of a dog or a cat or a horse or a ferret. I'm one of those people. On my walks, when I see people coming in my direction and they have a dog, my eyes light up and I think, "Ooh, a puppy!" Or "Ooh, a Rottweiler!" I can barely contain myself. "Can I pet him? What's his name?" Etc.

Brian Williams is like that. When beautiful Michelle came into the room with Bo at the end of the leash, Brian Williams immediately dropped into a crouch and said, "Ohhhhh, good boy!" Then he apologized to the First Lady for not greeting her first.

My kinda guy.

Fear of Flying

I learned to manage my fear of flying by this simple reasoning:

1. Commercial air travel is many times safer than driving a car
2. Most crashes occur during take-off or landing, not when the plane is at cruising altitude, and it's almost impossible for a plane at 32,000 feet to go down. Almost impossible, emphasis on "almost."

Close enough to get me to fly on airplanes. I figured, during takeoff, there were several minutes of danger, and all I had to do was hold tight for those few minutes, and then we were likely home free. I'd wait to hear the little ping that came when people were free to move around the cabin, and I loved it when we leveled off. As far as landing: it's hard to keep up being terrorized for hours on a plane; mostly you just want to get to your destination. I also figure if you made it this far, you're likely to make it all the way. So by the time we come in for a landing, I'm cool as a cucumber.

So what do I make of the recent spate of airline crashes? Sully's crash--that was birds: take-off.

The crash into the house in Buffalo? That was a small feeder airline with pilots getting $22,000 a year. So I'll avoid those little commuter airlines if I can.

But the Air France crash just off Brazil? This one rattles me. They were at cruising altitude. They were not supposed to crash. But they did.

So until I find out why this airplane fell out of the sky, I am hereby refusing to fly from Brazil to France in an Airbus.

What are you afraid of?

Mapping the brain, politically

There's an interesting column by Nicholas Kristoff about the differences in the brains of liberals versus conservatives.

One difference: Conservatives register more disgust with more things. Maybe, but the most liberal person I know won't use a Porta Potti at a sporting event. Just won't do it.

I think everyone has a certain disgust level. I can't stand the smell of cooked cruciferous vegetables. I'm almost physically ill. But give me a snail fork and some garlic butter and I'm ther

What was your favorite car?

Mine was a pale blue 1970 Ford Maverick, which I had for 21 years. It had a dark blue vinyl top, which of course peeled. My dad used to change the brake shoes on it himself, out on hot summer days on the bermuda grass in the backyard, using his own tools on those heavy-duty springs. Could have blinded himself. But he grew up as a farm boy, and during World War II he was the head mechanic on B-17s. Every time one of those B-17s was worked on, he had to go up with the pilots. Talk about a guarantee. What was the best car you ever owned?

(For a favorite car, the 1957 Thunderbird comes to mind. With the porthole.)

kernels of advice

When writing, think about bright shiny object. Always. Keep challenging yourself. Keep doing that question thing, take the last choice. Get as much as you can out of a situation – run into the torpedo. Head right toward it. Go into its teeth. More on what Bright Shiny Object is all about in a later post.