How writing a novel is like starting a company

Lucky or unlucky, I’m an action oriented person. Always happy to jump into new challenges I must hold myself back…recognizing that time is a limited commodity and doing a thorough analysis before undertaking a major commitment is essential (otherwise lots of unfinished projects!).

Currently, I’m buried deep in revising draft one of a sequel to Captive (at over 400 pages) and nursing a business plan. How to allocate my time and give each their proper attention and chance at success? Well luckily the two projects aren’t as diverse as they may sound and the skills required are very similar in many ways. But first I want to draw a distinction between writing a novel and writing non-fiction: in my opinion, non-fiction is much more predictable and structured, though not necessarily less creative.

So how is writing a novel like starting a company?

1. Creativity is an absolute must. One could argue that all stories have been told and indeed the best ones are variations of the classic story lines. Likewise, many new companies are only reinventing what has already come before or tweaking a new reality. Thus in both cases, seeing the possibilities in the marketplace or on the page differently is key to success.

2. Start with an outline or business plan but be prepared to deviate as necessary. Characters and marketplaces take on a life of their own and evolve seemingly beyond our control. When that happens, react (not over react) appropriately to meet the new realities and create a better end product.

3. Life changes: adapt. Selling and marketing a novel is so different from the standard paths of even last year with digital and bookstore realities evolving as we watch. Creativity and adaptability are now required off the page as well as on the page. When starting a company change also has a big impact on the original idea’s long term prospects. Markets, competitors, regulations, consumer choices, and the like all evolve and any new (or old) company needs to be reactive to these changes.

4. The idea is only the beginning; more important is the execution. Stephen King wasn’t the first to write a Kennedy book but his may sell the most when all is said and done. Neither Facebook nor Google was the first company in their industry sector.

5. Steal ideas if you want to succeed; just tweak them in a new way. Different from point one in that you can do better by learning from others and shouldn’t be ashamed to try. This point in is response to a shared post I saw earlier today mocking “piracy” and “plagiarism”. Don’t steal if doing so is illegal (such as with piracy or proprietary and protected technology) and don’t plagiarize. But do model the best and steal freely their ways.

6. Discipline and complete absorption into the new world you’re creating is essential. Starting something is easy; finishing and succeeding at building something great is very difficult. Successful people always work hard.

7. If you don’t market, what you create is just a hobby.

8. You will face a lot of naysayers. While I’d like to say that most are just jealous or too scared to do the same sometimes they are just more able to see that the risks of success are small. So be it. Not everyone wants to change the world.

9. You can change the world through your efforts! Not all novels or companies will do so but by innovating and creating something new and different you at least have a shot.

10. You will doubt yourself, your abilities and your judgment at some point. Get over it or you won’t succeed. No fully sane person ever sits down to write a novel or start a company (the risks are too high); find the inner resources to keep going.

11. Once done you will have created something new and (hopefully) different. You are an innovator and driver not spectator. What could be cooler than that?

I’m sure I could keep adding to the list but would only cloud my point. With the costs of self publishing or starting certain types of businesses plummeting and the traditional career paths not working as well, right now is a great time to try something new. The basic requirements are few but essential. Dare to dream?

Now, back to writing a long piece and not a blog….

Picture by Lauren

Input: should I become a publisher?

I’m in the process of transferring Captive’s distribution from my publisher to me. There may be some disruptions in availability but I’m learning (a lot). And it’s all fairly simple…surprisingly so. Or at least I’m saying that now.

The Captive saga is long; suffice to say, when I decided to go with a smaller publisher I made the decision based on the fact that I kept full rights to the book thus could get creative with my marketing. And now I have distribution flexibility. The benefits and perils of being a lawyer (I was discussing this idea with a Copyright lawyer friend of mine over lunch…I even have great advisors). Not all writers have that skill set and are navigating the publishing world unprotected.

So I’m starting to question whether I should be leveraging all that I’ve learned about the book world from my Captive experiences to help other writers. Maybe I should ask for manuscript submissions and brand a (digital at first) publishing house. There is scale in a steady stream of genre related books.

As we know, book publishing is undergoing disruption and a newer, friendlier business model hasn’t yet emerged. Costs to make a product are lower but generating sales is harder (with the long tale continuing to get longer). Many, many individuals have written books yet new writers have a harder time getting heard as the publishers and agents are wary to take on the risk of a new artist with sales in flux. The burden of marketing is on the author, unless they’re already established or lucky.

In change comes opportunity.

Thoughts or suggestions? Good idea, or bad? Have a manuscript?

All feedback is welcome. I’m a huge believer in drawing on the wisdom of the crowds. Does it make sense to start a digital publisher to launch talented new writers? Any interest in reading their work…chosen carefully and in select genres?

Thanks for reading this far….even if you have no comments…..

Are we driving some of our content creators underground?

Today we “officially” released the results of the Captive/BitTorrent promotion: over 400,000 downloads in about two weeks…globally.

I wrote a book, got an agent, got frustrated, tried to find a new agent, got even more frustrated, went with a small publisher (instead of looking for an agent any more), then partnered with BitTorrent. I now have a global audience and a lot more options.

I wasn’t the first “artist” as part of BitTorrent’s new artist program. They’ve had bands, movies and now an audience funded series. The resources available to new artists are staggering: sites that promote or aggregate them with a built in following; drastically cheaper equipment or options for filming, recording, printing, distributing, editing and marketing; social networks and peer to peer communities; and even Kindle with it’s tiered pricing. I could go on with the last sentence but what I wrote says enough.

Contrast that with the “traditional” media world. They are supporting and promoting fewer and fewer new artists preferring to play it safe and stick with established “names”. Not that I necessarily disagree with them. The content world is notoriously hard to predict and studios, publishers and other promoters have lost money on too many artists (new and old) over the years.

But (see above) part of my “I got frustrated” was hearing too many times that the audience only wants celebrities, vampire books and lite chic lit. 400,000 plus downloads proves otherwise (there are lots of free book downloads that don’t build such an audience).

Isn’t it time to interact more with the audience and not force them into “alternative” media? The artists are already there with options for those who want more than celebrities, vampire books and chic lit.

What will I do with the sequel? Don’t know yet; hopefully, finish it (should be writing that and not this…). But the options only continue to expand.

Why are we not building and promoting new artists more in the traditional media world? The costs are so much lower… Some studio or publisher needs to question why they really need to spend so much in this day and age to launch a new artist.

My favorite example of how we can’t so easily define quality content, YouTube’s Annoying Orange, just got a television deal. Watch it and tell me the cost structure to launch those videos online was material in any studio budget (my kids love Annoying Orange so that isn’t a critique! Also, my son loves Superskamory…a 17 year old who makes Mario walkthrough videos…favored over any TV show in his world).

What fun we’ll have watching new artists as they build audiences outside the traditional spheres! I do believe that the traditional studio models will evolve to match the new reality that they’re no longer the only option for a talented new artist.

This piece is a companion to the one I wrote on my investment banking blog; www.ibla.us on whether we’re driving part of our audience underground.

Digital promotion highs; blank page lows

During the BitTorrent/Captive promotion I loved watching the digital download numbers soar. My Facebook and Twitter numbers jumped. I got direct emails from readers…thankfully positive... After sitting in front of a computer screen or hard copy printout for so long writing the book seeing some actual proof of readers is gratifying.

But each day, no matter how exciting or interesting an outward directed event is (even positive feedback from readers!) we are all still responsible for our own work product.

Writing is creative, very much so. But it’s also work. And unless I’m writing I’m not a writer, but a dreamer. Can you force creative work? Absolutely! A friend of mine tells me repeatedly that I should be writing X number of pages a day, even if I have to throw them out. I tune his number out since he’s much more optimistic about what I can complete in a day than I am.

But his point about the discipline is important.

I threw out almost a whole draft of Captive’s sequel. I was writing it to meet someone else’s deadline and I hadn’t done the requisite research to start writing. Clutter and mess. But know what? That first draft, now in the trash, helped me puzzle through the new book - which is so different yet clearly the next step.

All of that time writing helped the draft lead me to where it needed to go. Much as I regret those hours of typing bad fiction they made me a better writer. Now, I still need to continue researching (I need to stop writing these research heavy books) but the story line’s clarity simplifies the process.

I wrote Captive late at night, when my son was napping/daughter at school and occasionally in the car pulled over by the roadside to jot ideas down. Now, sometimes I’ll sit inside my house and stare at the beautiful Santa Monica weather all Sunday afternoon, even when friends have invited me to do something fun, writing. I hate that part. But I do feel proud of what I finish by the time the sun goes down.

The blogs are easy. Tip tap and they’re done. The books are a true commitment of attention and time. Yet when I finish one it contains a whole new world of my creation.

Thank you to my new and old readers, BitTorrent and all of those who listened to me jabber on and on.

Democratizing media: update on the Captive/BitTorrent promotion

Democratizing because Captive reached a large, global audience, and so quickly. As of a few minutes ago the completed download total is over 350,000 in under two weeks. I can't comment on BitTorrent's traffic but I can comment on the percentage that clicks through to my sites. Thus far my traffic comes from all parts of the world: Africa, Asia, the USA, Europe, Latin America and Australia/New Zealand. Countries include Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt, Iran, Tunisia and Algeria where I doubt Captive would have a chance of getting published.

One simple thriller and all of those people! I'll be writing more about my experiences with the audience and BitTorrent over the next few weeks.

The picture is UCLA early this morning.

Captive and Bittorrent: Democratizing media?

We’re early into our two week joint promotion but I’m amazed thus far with the international buy in. I’ll write a short posting now as I’m spending the night with my kids (and supposed to be making dinner). But the response has been global.

On my www.meganlisajones.com site (which gets about 1% traffic wise as does Bittorrent (www.bittorrent.com) with the download, I’ve seen amazing traffic. The hits have come from every continent except Antarctica. And, I’ve gotten real, meaningful traffic from countries not known for free media: China, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt and others.

Media is global now. It’s also democratized. This one posting (rare) will go on both my blogs. Please continue supporting out efforts to create a real community. Much appreciated.

The message really does belong to the street and not the elite.

Photo from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena.

Novel complete: publish, don't or BitTorrent promotion?

Link to BitTorrent edition download http://www.clearbits.net/get/1684-captive---bittorrent-edition.torrent

Okay, you finished your book so now what? Authors have so many options now that didn’t exist before yet overall book sales are down.

What did I do?

I started with the crazy normal path of finding agents who represented authors in my genre, sent them a manuscript then read the standard form letter of rejection.

No fun. And very time consuming.

I entered a contest. Amazon partners with Penguin each year to sponsor a new novel contest. They accept up to 10,000 entries globally and the winner gets a publishing contract with Penguin. I made the semi-finals but didn’t win.

That and an introduction got me an agent. I still adore her but she was too big an agent for a starting writer like me. Her other clients were and are giants. I didn’t even qualify as a midget. To make my project worthwhile for her I needed a franchise…which meant another book. Only I was working full time and don’t write chronologically. The first hundred pages would have sufficed but I don’t write that way.

Meanwhile, I’d gotten to know the people at Polimedia, a small publisher expert in online media marketing. As I worked with companies in the digital media space I saw that traditional media (including book publishers) revenues and business models were getting hit; which resulted in less support for new artists. I decided to have Polimedia publish my book as doing so gave me more flexibility online; I also felt that getting real commitment and support from a more traditional publisher was a long shot. While Polimedia didn’t have the might or influence of a larger publisher it did have flexibility, distribution relationships in place and unique marketing capabilities. And, importantly, I retained all related rights and control over Captive.

Marketing fell heavily on my shoulders, with traditional book promotional events, plus Facebook, Twitter, a Captive site and the blogs. Thanks to Amy at Pissant Productions I even made Captive related videos and put up a YouTube channel.

Then I handed a copy of my novel to someone at BitTorrent (Claude). They asked if I wanted to be part of their new artist program (and the first book thus represented). After initially being shocked (books aren’t done that way) I said great!

What I like about the BitTorrent promotion is that we can hopefully connect with a meaningful audience and build a new business model for books…one that is interactive and audience focused. Being a Silicon Valley girl at heart I love the new technology enabled options available in the media world. We aren’t replacing so much as building alternatives. What could be better than being a part of that experimentation? Let’s all see what happens.

My advice?
Find a contest – like Amazon’s – or a new opportunity – like BT’s new artist program (www.bittorrent.com).

Go with a traditional, experienced agent if you can find one who believes in your book. My issue with this route is that fewer new writers are being developed so finding that agent takes a tremendous amount of time. But if you can make it happen then do. A big name publisher has more resources and impact on the market (if they are committed to you). Still. Period.

A smaller publisher versus self publishing? In both cases, the marketing falls heavily on your shoulders. Polimedia has marketing expertise which makes my life much easier (and relationships with relevant journalists, bloggers and other influencers). They also have distribution relationships in place (though they decided to avoid Borders and were right in that decision).

I don’t know what I would have done had I followed the traditional “self publishing” thing. It’s an option – which I didn’t explore – that has worked well for many. And the economics, if you’re a good marketer or already have an audience – are much more favorable than is going with a large publisher. (But you have a much larger work load!).

What’s most exciting is that the media world is now open to experimentation and variety. Writers tend to be (hopefully) creative types and we’re now so much less restricted in what we can do and how we choose to engage with our audience.

I really hope to get feedback on Captive. Indeed, I want thoughts and ideas on Escape, the sequel I’m currently writing. I’ve moved the action to Northern Africa and New York and brought in the ideologies and strategies of revolution. Anyone have any character name suggestions?


Thanks to Amy at Pissant Productions for doing my videos.

What amazes me is the miracles

Friday night, coming home from Coro and a drink with my other fellows in the program a car zoomed past me, lost control and hit another car just ahead of me. The driver tried to drive away and was blocked physically by the man whose care he'd just hit (with his little kids inside).

Today in yoga my teacher, Steve, told us that yoga is to help us control the mind; the body is much easier to control.

Yet how much control do we really have when so much happens independent of our actions or thoughts? Can we, through imagry and effort, control our own outcome?

I got some good news on Thursday which I'll be able to share (hopefully) soon. It was a hit of luck... that I'd worked some at cultivating. Miracles do happen yet somehow they seem to happen more for those who work hard at finding them.

A car can wreck your night or your life. Someone irresponsible (or stoned?) can do irreparable damage. But in our country we've had the opportunity to fight back and search for yet another miracle.

What will the world bring going forward? I'm hopeful. With Captive we've made some traction...slower than I'd like but it is moving.

Spread the word, write a review and thank the miracle that saved a family of four from being hurt when hit at 65 miles an hour on the freeway last Friday night.

Captive is shipping from Amazon; on the Borders site as well

And I'm so excited. Though the world hasn't changed... and I won't sell so many books so soon (not being a name author). Now I start marketing!

But I've never had a book for sale before; of course it feels great (after all that work getting to this point). And the idea that people can and will read it (some of my friends/family have pre-ordered copies...). Well, you don't put in that kind of work in the hopes that no one reads it.

I loved researching the book; I loved writing it. I'm proud that I actually finished it and got it published.

So, being me, I'll cry a little. I cry at happy things more than sad. But first I need to rush to a meeting!

Please read Captive!