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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board    Discussion of...    Getting to know you, getting to know all about you...  ›  Why Screenwriters Are Writing Novels Moderators: Administrator
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The Working Screenwriter
Posted: May 21st, 2015, 4:42am Report to Moderator
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Here's a little something I contributed to Script magazine...

http://www.scriptmag.com/features/screenwriters-writing-novels


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DustinBowcot
Posted: May 21st, 2015, 10:21am Report to Moderator
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I know why without reading your blog.

The ease of on line self publishing.

Now anyone can be a published writer. New publishing houses (not mentioning any names) are rising up, providing the illiterate with a service platform after scant edits to get them to read proper. Of course, reliant on their own skills after only being mediocre in the first place.

However, it is all smoke and mirrors. Mere vanity.

The real publishing houses are all too keen to read quality manuscripts.
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JSimon
Posted: May 21st, 2015, 10:39am Report to Moderator
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There are plenty of self publishers who find commercial and critical success. There are those that use this as a gateway into standard publishing. You have to sift through the poorer quality ones, of course, but with formats like kindle the reviews and ratings are a great help.

But sifting is always the issue anyway, whatever path you take. A quality but unpublished writer must be discovered somehow. Which means he has to subject his work to the sifting process somewhere. The standard publishing route means trying to get your work read by low level editors within the industry. Like anything, it's daunting and there is an element of luck. John Grisham shopped his first novel, A Time To Kill, to dozens of publishers and couldn't get a bite. Finally he did, and it sold like 50 copies, mostly to his family. Then The Firm was a great success, which made people discover Time to Kill, which was made into a film and is a work that many people consider his best. This is a common story in publishing.

To say that self publishers are illiterate is absurd. It's like saying an unrepped screenwriter has no idea how to write script.

Real publishers want to sift through and find the quality, and they scout self publishers that develop a track record. The odds of finding success this way, for a good writer, are probably at least as good as querying.

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DustinBowcot
Posted: May 21st, 2015, 12:06pm Report to Moderator
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Well, there is a lot of fraud in the film industry and self publishing is one of the routes used to perpetrate that fraud. It adds a guise of credibility when trying to gather funds from investors. I didn't say that all self publishers are illiterate, merely that it provides a platform for the illiterate to be published.

Maybe there are a few jewels in the rough... but, let's face it, it is mostly rough.

The answer to the question is also obvious. Screenwriters chagrined at not getting anywhere turn to self publishing to make themselves, for the most part, feel better.
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JSimon
Posted: May 21st, 2015, 12:21pm Report to Moderator
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A self published book that develops no sales record is not a good bet. Chances are it's either not well written or an uninteresting story, or both. Though of course it also could just be poorly launched.

But self-publishing can be seen as a more effective way of querying. The odds of building an audience might be long, but they are better than getting an editor with a long pile of manuscripts to become interested. If the self publisher can get some traction with sales, it's much easier to go to a standard publisher then. I don't think it's fair to the writer above to suggest it's vanity when he's merely trying to explore another way in.
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The Working Screenwriter
Posted: May 21st, 2015, 1:33pm Report to Moderator
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Dustin...if you had read the piece I wrote (and it was for Script magazine, not my blog) you'd know that I've been a working screenwriter for a number of years and have had some pretty decent success with it (lots of sales, options, assignments, two produced movies), but grew tired of not getting my stories out to an audience (cuz face it, though you might sell or option plenty of scripts, the chances of having any one of them get made into a movie is kinda low). I want my stories to have an audience...and for that to happen, self-publishing is a great way to go. Yes, just like most screenplays are awful, most self-published books are awful too. But I'm happy to say my book has done pretty decently in the last several weeks its been out. Good sales, great reviews, lots of positive feedback. So that story that otherwise would've been buried in a box somewhere is out and living in the world. Not a bad feeling, lemme tell ya!


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DustinBowcot
Posted: May 21st, 2015, 3:16pm Report to Moderator
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Opinions are just words that can change at the drop of a hat and a difference of opinion should never bother anyone aside from offer food for thought.

If we are to take individual cases then there will be those success stories. For the main though, I find that most do it for vanity reasons. By that I mean that they haven't anyone from the industry say they are decent. There's one publishing house that I know right now where the authors are not the best with the English language and they are using the basis of these novels to forward an agenda whereby they gain money from US investors for their shitty films. Even going so far as to list celebrities that are not appearing in the film.

But, if you're a quality writer then why not try it. My initial remarks were based on the reasons why I believe most screenwriters move to writing novels, not any one individual.
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eldave1
Posted: May 21st, 2015, 4:27pm Report to Moderator
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Here's a little something I contributed to Script magazine...

http://www.scriptmag.com/features/screenwriters-writing-novels


Hey Jim: read your article. There seems to be too themes blended together here: (1) if you write screenplays - write a novel for reasons A,B,C and (2) unlike the case with screenplays, you can self publish your novel.

Years ago I wrote a novel and I did vanity publish it. Recently (last two years) I took up screenwriting. Currently, I am in the middle of converting the novel into a screenplay. What startled me was how utterly crappy the novel was. I don't think I would have noticed until I took up screenwriting. Basically, although there are the freedoms you mentioned in novel writing, IMO - writing screenplays makes you a much better writer. Long winded way of saying I wish I had gone in the reverse direction (screenwriting first - novel second).

Where we part company is the link you establish - i.e., write a novel because you can self publish. Although I personally believe that self publishing is for the most part vanity publishing, I don't buy that one most write a novel to achieve that objective.  For screenwriting their are boards like this one (and several others) where you are essentially self publishing your screenplay. Add to that contests that you can enter and other areas of exposure (social media) and I really don't see a difference between the two venues in terms of exposure potential.  Long winded way of saying I would not change from screenwriter to novelist in order to self publish. From a novel perspective it has little value and there are quasi self publishing of screenplays anyway.

It was an interesting read - thanks.


My Scripts can all be seen here:

http://dlambertson.wix.com/scripts
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Alex_212
Posted: May 22nd, 2015, 1:35am Report to Moderator
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Dustin...if you had read the piece I wrote (and it was for Script magazine, not my blog) you'd know that I've been a working screenwriter for a number of years and have had some pretty decent success with it (lots of sales, options, assignments, two produced movies), but grew tired of not getting my stories out to an audience (cuz face it, though you might sell or option plenty of scripts, the chances of having any one of them get made into a movie is kinda low). I want my stories to have an audience...and for that to happen, self-publishing is a great way to go. Yes, just like most screenplays are awful, most self-published books are awful too. But I'm happy to say my book has done pretty decently in the last several weeks its been out. Good sales, great reviews, lots of positive feedback. So that story that otherwise would've been buried in a box somewhere is out and living in the world. Not a bad feeling, lemme tell ya!


Hey Jim,

Well done at getting your novel written and out there... You never know who may take a read, love it, and want to take it further.

I have been screenwriting for the last 10 years and have also changed direction simply because novels "Get the story out there".... Many people read novels and only a handful read screenplay so it's a natural progression. Getting a few bucks along the way from sales also doesn't hurt.

It's definitely better for a number of people to read your novel rather than having your screenplay sit in a box under a desk for eternity. A waste of energy and creativity.

Many great movies were taken from novels as it reaches a much wider audience and increases your chances of getting the exposure that you deserve.

No one can go through life with Tunnel Vision and you really need to try different things in order to develop a broad range of skills and be more versatile as a writer.

Take a read of this article I wrote some time back, it describes the screenwriting journey... https://www.dropbox.com/s/l75hmaqgzsduvru/Screenwriting.pdf?dl=0

GO FOR IT AND ENJOY THE JOURNEY.  


PLEASE TAKE A PEEK AT SOME OF MY WORK:-

CLICK HERE: Please comment or PM me.

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