#PublishingReinvented 197 - Hollywood Calling + Knowing When To Give Up!
I have long been attracted to the idea of one of my books being made into a movie or TV series. One of my books has been optioned twice and is currently with a big LA agent who is shopping it.
Does that mean it’s going to happen?
Sadly, not sure.
Getting over the big green-light hurdle is a proper challenge, but it’s still great to be at the races.
Five of the ten recent Oscar nominees for best picture were based on books. They need books. They need what we do.
Some of the biggest TV series in recent months are also based on books. some of the biggest shows in the past few months including “Shōgun,” “One Day,” “Fool Me Once” and “Slow Horses,” all began as novels. I was reading Shogun in the last century! Perhaps your grandchildren might benefit from a book you’ve written!
So?
At our upcoming September International Dublin Writers’ Festival we will have one of the real experts in turning novels into screenplays giving a MasterClass. Doug Richardson who wrote Die Hard 2 - the best movie in that franchise IMO. See more about our festival here and join us to meet Doug. We are a small 130 approx. attendee festival where we all mingle and there is no green room.
When to give up marketing?
We get some authors who try one ads package with Amazon or Facebook ads and who give up if it doesn’t immediately make a profit.
I understand the temptation to close the book on ads. It’s easy that way. You just stick a failed label on the campaign and move on.
This is not recommended.
Unless you have tried 5 different image tests with at least $100 spend on each, you are even at the beginning of testing what works with Facebook ads.
And unless you have tweaked your cover and Amazon text 5 times and spent $500 on Amazon ads for it, you really haven’t given your book a proper chance to sell with Amazon ads.
Why? That’s what other authors, your peers, are doing to make a profit.
They are not giving up too soon.
Your feedback on this and on any other parts of this newsletter will be greatly appreciated!
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Sounds like a fabulous conference. I believe new authors have no idea the amount of time and money they need to spend on marketing to make sales. When an author types The End, it's really just the beginning of a career in writing AND marketing.
Great inspirational piece.