The Ultimate Writer’s Dream: Your Book Made into a Movie

The Ultimate Writer’s Dream: Your Book Made into a Movie

by | Jun 8, 2020 | Uncategorized, Writing | 0 comments

The Ultimate Writer’s Dream: Your Book Made into a Movie

 

Many of you know I have the opportunity to speak with writers all over the world about every day of the week, and I’ve noticed some of the universal desires writers express.

They used to say, “I want to be on Oprah.”

Today, they say things like, “I want to be on Ellen,’“ or “I want to be a New York Times bestseller,” or “I want to be on so-and-so’s reading list.”

But what many of them say to me is, “I really want to have my book made into a movie.”

These are dreams that are pretty universal to writers. We’d all like to get the amazing publishing contract with a the multi-book deal, and we’d all love to have our book made into a movie. 

Over in the Writing Gym, we are all about having big dreams, and dreaming big dreams — and we’re all about getting results.

I’m excited to share today that over in the Writing Gym, we’ve got a new module on how to get your book made into a movie!

We have Jeanne Covert, who is a professional screenwriter and a member of the Writing Gym.

She’s the real deal. Jeanne has several credits on IMDb, been on the Red Carpet and on set, along with other Hollywood experience. 

Anyway, she came in and taught the members of the Writing Gym how books actually get made into movies. What is the lens that producers are looking at movies through in order to get books actually made into movies? How do we go from the dream–it’s a great place to start–to reality, actually living that dream? What are the steps that are going to get you there?

As you’ve heard me say, time and time again over at the Writing Gym, we’re about real results. Real results.

We want to get your book made into a movie, and we want to show you how.

This is the kind of thing we’re delivering over in the Writing Gym: Real professionals, talking about real results.

So, for those of you already in the Writing Gym – congratulations! You’re on the inside track to living the author lifestyle. And if you haven’t talked with me or someone on my team about the Writing Gym and the results that we get over there, I or someone on my team would be happy to get on the phone with you to talk about where you are, where you’d like to go, and how you can get there and whether or not the Writing Gym is the right solution for you and if you’re the right fit for us.

Until next time, Happy Writing!

Are Agents still Open to Queries during COVID-19?

Are Agents still Open to Queries during COVID-19?

by | Apr 10, 2020 | How to Publish, Uncategorized, Writing | 0 comments

Are Agents still Open to Queries during COVID-19?

I have been seeing this question in our Facebook group Write to Publish and Sell Your Novel: 

“Are agents still interested in accepting submissions and queries during this global pandemic?” 

The answer is absolutely yes. Many of us are quarantines, spending much time at home, lounging in the living room. Well, guess what? So are the agents. 

Like many of us, they are cozying up in their pajamas with the time to read. They’re not going out to lunch. They’re not going into the office. They’re not doing many of the things that we took for granted only weeks ago. 

What does this mean? Agents have more time to look at those submissions, and more time to spend reading them, according to the conversation I’ve been having with some agents. 

They’re still negotiating rights domestically and internationally. But instead of flying over to London to do it, they’re doing it over Zoom like many of us at this day and age. So, yes, they’re still busy, and certainly need your respect. 

But now is a great time to be submitting your manuscript for traditional publication.

What happens over at the Writing Gym are conversations with literary agents and publishers. We’ve been able to get manuscripts on to the desks of the right people and they’ve been taking them in and it has just been wonderful. 

And I’ve seen probably a dozen deals happen with agents that I know just last week.

So yes, agents are absolutely taking manuscripts–and they want good manuscripts. They don’t want something that you just threw together during some National Novel Writing Month; they want real quality manuscripts. 

For those of you who are interested in publishing a novel–a fiction manuscript–in English and in the American market as soon as possible click here. Put yourself right into my calendar and we can discuss where you are, where you’d like to go, and how you can get there. 

Now is the time to get your publishing journey started and we are here to help make that happen. 

Until next time. Happy writing. 

“Can you help me to publish?”

“Can you help me to publish?”

by | Jan 23, 2020 | How to Publish, Writing | 0 comments

“Can you help me to publish?”

 

Many people have asked me this week: “Can you help me to publish?” “Can you help me to finish my novel?” “What is it that you do?” 

There’s a lot of information about what we offer over in the Writing Gym, and what it is exactly that the Writing Gym does.  

You’ve probably seen a lot of posts from people who have participated in the Writing Gym and all three phases. The three phases over in the Writing Gym individually help writers in each step of the writing and publishing process. The first phase is when we help you to write a novel in eight weeks. In the second phase, we help you to get that novel published. 

You’ve heard me talk a lot about quality publication in Write to Publish, and this is exactly what we’re working on in this second phase.

Here, we’re working with fiction writers, novelists, and short story writers to help them to get traditionally published.

We shoot for the Big Five publishers.

I have a bank of agents that we work with to help you to get published. They know me well, and they know the quality of writing I’m providing to them from the Writing Gym.

This typically accelerates the publishing timeline for writers writers. You’ve seen a lot of posts about that from members of the Writing Gym in Write to Publish–their novels or their anthologies of short stories getting published through our programs. 

We focus on helping you find an agent and work towards traditionally publishing in the Publishing Mastermind and the Publishing Bootcamp. In the third phase, we want you to sell your finished novel, grow your fan base, and have book signings. We help you augment that in our third program called Novel Selling U. 

These are all the objectives that we have in the Writing Gym.

You’ve seen the testimonials and success stories, you know that people are finishing novels and they’re publishing novels and they’re selling novels, because that’s what we do and we do it well.

We do focus primarily on novels and short story anthologies. If you’re writing a nonfiction piece or a memoir, we have a group for that called Be the Expert Who Wrote the Book on It. You can join us over there and find out about publication opportunities. We frequently have submission openings that we post about in that group.

So what is the easiest way to talk to me about what your goals are, where you are currently, where you’d like to go, and how you can get there?

You can book a call with me here. Get yourself directly into my calendar as soon as you can as space is very limited. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Until then, happy writing. 

How Do Writers Get Derailed?

How Do Writers Get Derailed?

by | Aug 2, 2019 | Why is publishing so hard?, Writing | 0 comments

How Do Writers Get Derailed?

This time last year, I was getting ready to speak at an event in Denver, Colorado when a blizzard came in. So, there I was stuck in Kansas, waiting for the highway to clear again.

In life, we can think that we’re going in one direction and doing all the right things, but one thing can happen and completely change our plans. The thing about writing to publish is having those contingency plans so that you can get where you want to go, even in those moments where there are bumps in the road. 

I want to point out a couple things I notice from writers that keep them from being published and successful.

1. They are not investing the time on their writing.

Many would-be authors think that they can just write a first draft, call it a book, and then start collecting checks. Because of the digital age, this is very possible. You can publish your book on amazon just for bragging rights but it will not lead you to the road you want. That is, you won’t experience a successful author’s lifestyle involving book signings and having a large fan base with a $0.99 amazon book. 

2. They are not willing to invest the resources.

Many writers come to me with plans of becoming best-selling authors. They know that they’ve got a story to tell and what kind of people it will appeal to–but they want to do this as cheaply as possible. And they wonder why their manuscripts keep getting rejected over and over again. It’s because they don’t invest in the right resources. You get what you pay for. 

3. They think that publishing a book is a DIY project. 

Writers can be super independent people and this is all well and good. The downside of this attribute is that these writers think that they don’t need any help to publish. Out of all the mistakes this is the one that brings the most wasted time and disappointed. Writers see their publishing dream sink because of this mistake. Of course, writers can publish independently and still find success. However, this is an anomaly. 

Let’s take an example: I can try to fix my car without being a mechanic. Sure, I can go on YouTube and see how they do a certain thing and see which parts go where. This may work but is this time efficient? I can spend all this time looking up how to fix my car when I can make my life so much easier by going to a mechanic. If I have gone to a professional in the first place, I would have gotten to where I needed to be much sooner. 

Writers who make all the mistakes I’ve mentioned above are the same writers who end up leaving their publishing dreams. On the other hand, writers who get the process right and who don’t make these mistakes finish and publish faster. They enter the publishing process with confidence and with the knowledge of what the publishing standards are. 

The question is: which writer do you want to be? The one who makes the same mistakes over and over again? Or the writer who gets published and moves on to write and publish their next book. 

If you are serious about publishing and tired of spinning your wheels, let’s talk about where you are, where you’d like to go, and how you can get there. 

Fill out my online form
Ever Wonder How To Get Your Books Into Libraries?

Ever Wonder How To Get Your Books Into Libraries?

by | Jun 7, 2019 | Writing | 0 comments

Ever Wonder How To Get Your Books Into Libraries?

I recently had an amazing meeting with a head librarian-turned-publisher, Jen. We talked about how to get your books into libraries.

This is a question a lot of self-published writers come to me with, and even traditionally published authors who are working on their own marketing platform.

It’s actually really hard to get your published books into libraries, maybe harder than you might think.

I’m really excited about having someone like Jen, a kind of ally, over here at Date With The Muse. Now we have the inside scoop to get you the skills and all the right information about getting your books into libraries. I had no idea until I spoke with Jen how much work goes into the librarian side. 

If you’d like to talk to me about how to get your books into libraries and how you can work with me to make that happen, you can just drop yourself right into my calendar.

I look forward to speaking with you. 

The Truth About the Publishing Industry

The Truth About the Publishing Industry

by | May 17, 2019 | How to Publish, Writing | 0 comments

The Truth About the Publishing Industry 

I’ve been in the publishing industry a long time, I’ve been a writing coach for a long time, and I’ve been a professional writer for a long time.

I’d like to think that I’ve seen close to everything when it comes to writing and publishing.

I know that it is easy to get sucked in by people who tell you what you want to hear:

  • “It’s so easy to get published.”
  • “I’m gonna make you a bestseller.”
  • “All you have to do is write a novel in a month during NaNoWriMo and everything’s gonna be wonderful.”

I see authors waste money on whatever it is these people are peddling – they waste $100 at a time, $200 at a time, $2,000 at a time–and get 0 results. What they bought is what they wanted to hear. But the truth is: publishing a book is an investment of time and money.

Here at the Writing Gym, we give you programs that actually work.

  • Do you want to finish a novel?
  • Do you want to publish a novel?
  • Do you want to sell a novel?

We have three separate programs for each of these at the Writing Gym. We take the time that’s thorough enough to get you to a point where your book is actually publishable. We speak with agents and editors and publishers every week to make sure that your manuscript is the quality product that they’re looking for–and not just some kind of schlepped-together garbage that you threw together in a month.

If you’re not ready to make that real investment in yourself and to face the reality of what the publishing industry is and what they’re looking for–then it’s just not time for you.

Is there an exception? Can entering NaNoWriMo, writing in one month, or even a week work sometimes? Of course. For every rule there’s an exception–you’ve heard me say that before. But that is not always the case.

Here at the Writing Gym we tell you about real results based on hard work and on investing on yourself as a writer so that you can live that author lifestyle–whatever that means to you.

And that is the truth.

If you’re interested in investing in your author lifestyle, let’s chat. 

To speak with the Writing Gym Team about where you are, where you'd like to go & how to get there, choose a time by clicking below.

I'm ready to PUBLISH

Want to watch the video on the truth about the publishing industry? Click here: 

Pin It on Pinterest