Working the Internet...

[Scott]

An interesting thing is happening to me at the moment, and I'd thought I'd share. Back in August I was selected as "Scary Stud of the Month" by Heidi Martinuzzi for her women in horror site Pretty-scary.net. It was a fun to answer questions about the book I was writing, and she clearly framed them so I could talk as much as I wanted about what I had written and what I was working on.

At present, Heidi is hosting a "Scary Stud of the Year" contest where readers can vote for their favorite "Studs". Thinking it would be fun to beat the likes of Eli Roth and other horror notables as a fledgling author, I contacted a few friends and family members about voting and posted the contest on my Facebook page. At the moment, I'm leading with nearly 200 votes and the back and forth has drawn some attention around cyberspace. So much so, in fact, that I was actually contacted by a literary manager who read my interview and was interested in my sending him some stuff. Bonus!

I've often thought the Internet could level the playing field for new authors (screenwriters, etc.) if they could find a way to create a buzz. Finally, after creating my own blog and participating in several others, I happened upon something that just may give me a toe-hold in the industry. And so you know, my time spent at pretty-scary is for fun and because I'm a fan of Heidi's, so you never know what sort of activities will pay dividends. I guess all you can do is stay close to your interests and stay involved.

Anyway, I thought my ongoing story may be helpful to some of you who are trying, like I was, to be noticed in such a vast sea of competition. Amazing: after dozens and dozens of queries, it's a scary "beauty" contest that produces some results (although I have gotten some short stories published thanks to my blog). Incidentally, if you're not too busy, would some of you mind heading over to the website and casting your vote for me (Scott Norton), and if you're really feeling generous, passing along the word? The contest continues through to the 31st of this month, so there's plenty of time. Who knows––if I win, or at least make as good a showing as I seem to be now, there may be more attention heading my way and I promise to share what comes of that, as well.

And back to the topic, anyone else come up with any ideas on how to use the Internet to get your work out there?

[Ryan]

I guess all you can do is stay close to your interests and stay involved.

YES!!!! Hard to do sometimes when your wife comes home and asks,"What did you do today?" and you reply, "Uhhh I wrote a page and generated 20 hits to my blog...."

Great news Scott!

I hope this creates a "Tipping Point" for your works.

Every little thing helps. Think VIRAL. Think BIG.

When the time is right I plan on blitzkrieging You-tube and Vimeo with pet videos. The videos will channel potential readers to my book's website(still to be created). Once there people can browse more videos, view a book trailer, read excerpts and buy the book.

A few excerpts and videos.
http://thechinproject.wordpress.com/mem ... 3-excerpt/ My New Zealand dog goes toe to toe with an electric fence.
http://thechinproject.wordpress.com/mem ... t-but-fun/ A kitten with a deformity teaches me an important lesson

Cheers

Ryan

[Scott]

Very clever idea, Ryan, and the videos are brilliant. Cheers for sharing, good luck and thanks.

[marilyn peake]

Congratulations, Scott, on being officially named a Stud :) ... and on being contacted by a literary manager who’s interested in your work! That’s awesome!

In answer to your question, I’ve also had success using the Internet. One of the most exciting things that happened to me on the Internet was having a Hollywood Writer-Producer-Director ask to read my work, then referring me to two top Hollywood agents who only accept queries by referral, and having them request all the books and short stories I’ve ever written and giving me an open invitation to submit future work. Here’s how this all happened ... I started an online newsletter through Yahoo! Groups in order to promote my books, then soon afterwards decided it would be much more interesting for subscribers if I featured articles by a variety of writers and other experts. I started out by contacting fellow small press authors, then contacted movie and TV people I met online in addition to more small press authors, to write articles. The response to my requests was positively awesome and the articles so good, my small press publisher agreed to publish two years’ of articles as two books. Both books went on to win awards. One of the movie and TV people, a Writer-Producer-Director, asked to read my work. After reading it, he referred me to two top agents in Hollywood. To my great and wonderful surprise, both agents agreed to read my work. Both of them wrote back to say they liked my writing, but were looking for a specific type of project. One of the agents asked for everything that I had ever written, one manuscript at a time, as he needed a certain type of project, then left it open for me to submit additional manuscripts in the future. This was a huge boost to my self-confidence as a writer!

[Scott]

That's remarkable, marilyn. In essence, you created your own network. And that's one of the possibilities Internet Marketing provides. Viral campaigns, newsletters, "user-generated-content"––all can reach the ends of the earth if pursued wisely. I'm creating a website for my next book that I'm hoping will create a buzz. I want a forum for people to discuss the characters, ideas and themes of the book and how they relate to other areas of popular culture. If I can get a community interested for more than just purchasing a copy, I could parlay a single work to bigger things. And the book really lends itself to edgy discussion, so here's hoping.

Thanks for you story, and continued good luck!

[marilyn peake]

Your plans sound fascinating, Scott! I hope you'll post an announcement if you open a Forum. Whenever you've posted information about your writing, it always sounds edgy and interesting. I'd definitely be interested in looking into any Forums you host.

[Ryan]

That's a great story Marilyn. You just never know do you. Knowing you can submit to some top guys whenever you want has to be very motivating.

Cheers

[Scott]

Your plans sound fascinating, Scott! I hope you'll post an announcement if you open a Forum. Whenever you've posted information about your writing, it always sounds edgy and interesting. I'd definitely be interested in looking into any Forums you host.

Thanks, marilyn. I'll definitely let you know. :)

[marilyn peake]

Thanks, Ryan. It has been motivating, but the odds of actually succeeding in today's extremely competitive publishing market are daunting, to say the least. I just keep on writing and trying to remain hopeful. :)

[Scott]

Marilyn, you reminded me of something...if it's a professional novelist you want to be and you're not at all interested in writing any other kinds of projects, it seems to me it will be much harder to break through. I'm involved with animation series (created with someone I met on a networking site called Nextcat.com), I do short stories, I'm even involved in producing a web series that will be streamed to HDTV in order to get my name and work out there. I have to think diversifying is important to getting one to their dream. A perfect example is your online newsletter. You kept your name and words out there, stayed involved, and one thing led to another.

The Internet may have increased the competition––or at least our awareness of it––but it also opened up new possibilities if we can learn to see them and be creative with them.

[marilyn peake]

My feelings exactly, Scott. You started a really interesting thread here. My goal is to be a successful novelist and short story writer, but I found it helpful to branch out into other types of Internet writing projects in order to expand my writing life, and I found that one small step after another can lead to much greater opportunities than existed before taking the first step. I think it’s also really helpful to think outside the box – you never know where it will lead. Sounds like you’re involved with some really interesting projects. It’s awesome that you’re creating an animation series and a web series that will stream to HDTV. Very cool!