Creative Writing Career

Latest Episodes:

Getting Book Reviews and Writing Western Fantasy with Derek Alan Siddoway Jul 04, 2016

Show notes

Derek Alan Siddoway is an author of fantasy (which he titles Western Fantasy), the creator of an awesome author newsletter (the every day author), and he has started a new service called Book Review 22.

Book Review 22: http://bookreview22.com

The Newsletter: http://everydayauthor.com

Buy Derek's books: http://www.amazon.com/Derek-Alan-Siddoway/e/B00GRI6OL8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1467584447&sr=8-1

Derek's bio:

Derek Alan Siddoway is the 24-year-old author of Teutevar Saga, a "medieval western" series combining elements of epic fantasy with the rugged style and folklore of American Westerns (read: John Wayne meets Game of Thrones). His journey as a storyteller began over a decade ago with a particularly thrilling foray into Pokémon fan-fiction. Ten years later, Out of Exile, his debut novel, and the first book in the Teutevar Saga, was published. An Everyday, Undaunted Author, Derek spends his time reading, obsessively filling notebooks, adventuring outdoors and celebrating small victories. He's a sucker for good quotes, peach lemonade and books/video games with swords in them.

Book Launch and Succeeding as an Author, with John L. Monk Jun 27, 2016

Show notes

John L. Monk wrote an awesome book called HELL'S CHILDREN, and he shares how he went about writing it and then launching it. The book launch phase of being an author is hugely important, so tune in to this episode! It's also applicable for anyone looking to push their creative work into the world.

JOHN'S BIO

John L. Monk lives in Virginia, USA, with his wife, Dorothy. A writer with a degree in cultural anthropology, he boldly does the dishes, roots out evil wherever it lurks, and writes his own stunts.

Find more at his website: john-l-monk.com

HELLS CHILDREN

The world has gone to hell and it isn’t coming back.

It happened in a year: starvation, gangs of kids with guns, and every adult in the world dead from the Sickness. Houses are now mausoleums. Civilization lies in the hands of children who’ve never had to feed themselves or survive a winter without gas or electricity. Most will die. Others — a bare few — will tread a different path.

Fourteen-year-old Jack Ferris is a survivor — because his parents raised him that way. Leveraging qualities rare for his age, he must lead his desperate companions to a secret refuge. Too late, he learns that safety is a mirage, and that the high price of hope is paid in blood.

Talking Creepy Spiders and the book THE HATCHING, with Ezekiel Boone Jun 20, 2016

Show notes

Kevin and Justin sat down to discuss traditional publishing and the creepiness of spiders with Ezekiel Boone, author of THE HATCHING.

THE HATCHING

An astonishingly inventive and terrifying debut novel about the emergence of an ancient species, dormant for over a thousand years, and now on the march.

Deep in the jungle of Peru, where so much remains unknown, a black, skittering mass devours an American tourist whole. Thousands of miles away, an FBI agent investigates a fatal plane crash in Minneapolis and makes a gruesome discovery. Unusual seismic patterns register in a Kanpur, India earthquake lab, confounding the scientists there. During the same week, the Chinese government “accidentally” drops a nuclear bomb in an isolated region of its own country. As these incidents begin to sweep the globe, a mysterious package from South America arrives at a Washington, D.C. laboratory. Something wants out.

The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster. An ancient species, long dormant, is now very much awake.

AUTHOR BIO (In his own words)

I live in upstate New York with my wife and kids. Whenever I travel and say I'm from New York, people think I mean NYC, but we live about three hours north of New York City. Our house is five minutes outside of a university town. We're far enough out of town that, at night, it's dark.

No.

Darker than that.

Dark enough that, if you're not careful, you might fall off the small cliff at the edge of my property. If you're lucky, the water will be up enough to break your fall. If you're not lucky, please sign a waiver before you come to visit.

I've got two unruly dogs who are mostly friendly. Well, that's not true. The part about them being unruly is true, but one of them is the most friendly dog you've ever met, and the other dog ... isn't. They are good writing partners, though they spend a lot of their day curled up in front of the wood burning stove and ignoring me. Unless I'm making lunch. They pay attention to me then.

THE HATCHING is Ezekiel Boone's first book, but it's not actually my first book. I also write under the name Alexi Zentner. Alexi Zentner's books are pretty different from Ezekiel Boone's.

TO CONTACT AND FOLLOW HIM:

www.ezekielboone.com

www.TheHatchingBook.com

Twitter: @ezekiel_boone

Crafting Your Screenwriting Career with Lee Jessup Jun 13, 2016

Show notes

Screenwriting coach and author of GETTING IT WRITE, Lee Jessup, shares her advice with the guys about breaking into writing, some common mistakes first-time screenwriters make, how to approach finding an agent and manager, and what writers should expect when selling screenplays. She also breaks down the Blacklist and other ways to break in, and motivates the heck out of us. Enjoy!

Lee Jessup's bio:

The author of the best selling book Getting It Write: An Insider's Guide To A Screenwriting Career as well as the upcoming Breaking In: Tales From the Screenwriting Trenches Lee Jessup is a career coach for professional and emerging screenwriters. With an exclusive focus on the screenwriter's professional development, Lee works with all level of writers including ones who have major spec, pilot and pitch sales under their belts, staffed television writers, television writing program fellows, Hit List, Blood List and Black List writers, as well as writers just beginning to chart their professional course.

Following a stint as a development executive, Lee spent 6+ years as director of ScriptShark.com. During her time with ScriptShark, Lee spearheaded a national Business of Screenwriting seminar series launched in partnership with Final Draft and sponsored by The New York Times Company. An invited speaker at the WGA, for NBCUniversal, as well as at screenwriting conferences, events and festivals both in the US and Europe, Lee is a regular contributor to Script Magazines and the official coach for Final Draft’s Big Break contest winners.

LINKS:

website: www.leejessup.com
twitter: @leezjessup
Facebook: facebook.com/leezahavijessup

Buy her book, GETTING IT WRITE.

Finding a screenwriting manager, pitchfests, and the long game of being a screenwriter, with Paul Zeidman Jun 06, 2016

Show notes

Justin and Paul Zeidman discuss the long game of the screenwriter business and what lessons Paul has learned so far. The two connected a few years back via Done Deal Pro, when Justin was just started to look at the Blacklist and was looking for people who'd found their managers on the Blacklist 2.0. Paul was one such person, and a friendship bloomed from their first coffee.

The two discuss when Inktip works (what budget? what kind of scripts?), email blasts to managers and producers, and what you can learn from pitches.

Check out Paul's amazing blog at: https://maximumz.wordpress.com

He has a series of awesome interviews with Script Consultant,s so if you're interested in getting notes on a script, that's a good place to start!

Selling screenplays with Ashley Scott Meyers May 30, 2016

Show notes

Ashley Scott Meyers of the SELLING YOUR SCREENPLAY podcast shared how he's made a living from writing movies that aren't the humongous box-office blowouts. His scripts have included such titles as Man Overboard and Ninja Apocalypse.

Ashley says that if you can write a low budget screenplays with 1-2 locations and a cast of 5 or so, you should have no problem selling it. He also offers a list-blast service (which Justin recently used and has only great things to say), which is pretty similar to the idea of an author newsletter that so many indie authors swear by.

Tune in to hear Ashley's other excellent advice on selling your screenplay.

Ashley's credits (IMDb):

Ninja Apocalypse (writer)
2013/I Double Agent (Short) (story) / (writer)
2013 Rushlights (written by)
2008 Man Overboard (written by)
2005/II Reunion
2000 Dish Dogs (Video) (screenplay)

Fantasy and Supernatural Thriller Author and BookTuber PT Hylton May 23, 2016

Show notes

This episode starts with Justin fan-boying over PT Hylton's book, Thorns and Tangles. The first book is only $0.99 and is amazing, and Justin wanted to know the strategy behind publishing 6 books of 100-ish pages each, versus going for a trilogy.

Next, the group discussed the differences between fantasy, urban fantasy, and supernatural thriller, and finished with a discussion on BookTubers and how doing stuff like this can be useful as an author.

Who is PT Hylton? (from his website):

I mostly write about secrets. People with secrets. Towns with secrets. How keeping secrets tears people apart, and how sharing secrets, even terrible ones, brings people together.

In that spirit, I’ll share my own secret origin story.PT Profile

I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I’ve written in some form or fashion ever since I could. But it wasn’t always fiction. After college, two friends and I started a small production company called Plethora Films. We spent a few years making short films and almost-but-not-quite finishing a feature film. For better or for worse, we disbanded just before YouTube hit the scene. To my knowledge, none of our shorts are even online.

I spent the next eight years putting all my creative energy into making podcasts, most successfully with the long-running guitar podcast Six-String Bliss. I also had some short-lived podcasts, including Guitar New Weekly, Real Dad Fitness, and Time-Traveling Film Critics.

One day I was talking with my daughter and encouraging her to go after her dreams.

“Do you have any dreams, Daddy,” she asked.

“I want to be a writer,” I said.

“Then why aren’t you doing it?”

That lit a fire under me something fierce, and I got to writing.

The things I’ve published so far:

The Deadlock Trilogy – A science fiction suspense series about a small town with a secret. Includes Regulation 19, A Place Without Shadows, and The Broken Clock.

Zane Halloway -The Zane Halloway series takes place in a world of magic, mystery, and assassins. It’s an epic sword and sorcery tale told in novella-sized chunks.

Drop me a line on Twitter or through email and say hello!

You can do so by commenting on his YouTube channel, HERE.

Don't forget that this podcast is sponsored by the two writing books, Creative Writing Career 2 and 30-Day Author. Thank you for your continued support!

Building an Author Platform and Mailing List with Johnny Andrews May 16, 2016

Show notes

Kevin and Justin start off this episode by basically going off on how awesome Johnny Andrews is, and specifically his Author Platform Rocket. Stephan brings it back around by making sure we keep it related to how writers of games and film can leverage mailing lists, and the group discusses other ways to build your platform and market books.

What is Author Platform Rocket?

Through the platform, authors can do giveaways and basically pay Johnny to run our facebook ads for us, to build up an author email newsletter mailing list. Check out Author Platform Rocket (we do not get any cut or represent them in any way).

Want to See Our Giveaways?

Click here for Justin's giveaway of his fantasy novel, Land of Gods (the first in the trilogy).

Click here for Kevin's giveaway of his sci-fi omnibus, Citadel.

And if you want to get on their newsletter for awesome sci-fi, fantasy, and more, check it out at ReignofReads.com.

About Your Host Jonny Andrews: Multi-Time Best Selling Author, Publishing Expert, Entrepreneur, International Speaker & Business Strategies Consultant
(from Jonny’s site www.AuthorPlatformRocket.com)

Since discovering how to “hack” the publishing industry, Jonny Andrews has been known as the go to guy for author entrepreneurs when it comes to launching a successful business or books by leveraging the power of audience & Amazon. His techniques for using leveraged publishing systems has propelled clients works to massive bestseller status in their first week, hitting #10 on Amazon and #2 on the Wall Street Journal.

His programs and services have helped thousands create massive publishing successes in both fiction & nonfiction.

What Do You Do?

I created a service that does the author newsletter building & marketing for fiction authors.

How Do You Do It?

We've created an amazing team that creates "perpetual" giveaways that builds your mailing list while you (the author) can focus on writing. We drive traffic by running paid facebook ads. Basically we do all the marketing stuff so you can just focus on writing.

I Love Vampire Novels/Romance Devoured/Reign Of Reads

He is the founder of I Love Vampire Novels, Romance Devoured & Reign Of Reads, book discovery ecosystems reaching up to 3.7 million readers each week. ILVN is considered by many authors to be one of the top needle movers for book sales second only to the promotional giant: BookBub.

Make Comics Like the Pros with Fred Van Lente May 09, 2016

Show notes

Fred Van Lente has worked at Marvel on comics and games, Telltale with Justin on the Walking Dead: Michonne. Fred has worked on such titles as Amazing Spider Man, Incredible Hercules, Iron Man, GI Joe, Conan the Barbarian, and the books Action Philosophers and Action Presidents (HarperCollins Kids).

Fred also created the awesome book Make Comics Like the Pros, with the amazing Greg Pak.

Listen to hear Fred's tale about breaking into the comics industry, how it's different from writing for games, and the stories behind Men in Black and Cowboys and Aliens.

Definitely check out Fred's book. More information below:

Make Comics Like the Pros

A step-by-step guide to all aspects of comic book creation--from conceptualization to early drafts to marketing and promotion--written by two of the industry's most seasoned and successful pros.

Discover the Secrets of Your Favorite Comic Book Creators

Do you want to break into the comics industry? There are many creative roles available—writer, penciller, inker, colorist, letterer, editor, and more. Each creator serves a vital function in the production of sequential art at companies such as DC, Marvel, Image, and Valiant. In Make Comics Like the Pros, veteran comics creators Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente team up with a who’s who of the modern comic book scene to lead you step-by-step through the development of a comic. With these two fan-favorite writers as your guides, you’ll learn everything from script formatting to the importance of artistic collaboration to the best strategies for promoting and selling your own sequential art masterpiece. Pak and Van Lente even put their lessons into practice inside the pages of the book—pairing with Eisner Award–winning cartoonist Colleen Coover (Bandette) to produce the swashbuckling, adventure comic Swordmaids, and giving you front row seats to their creative process. Make Comics Like the Pros provides all the answers you’ve been seeking to take your comic book–making dreams all the way to professional-level reality.

And CREATIVE WRITING CAREER 2 the #Audiobook is now available. Exciting!

Games and Virtual Reality with Ross Berger May 02, 2016

Show notes

Ross Berger has written on such games as Quantum Break, Sunset Overdrive, and upcoming VR, Farlands. He's done a lot of other great work, including writing at Telltale Games back in their CSI days (before Stephan and Justin were there).

Ross gives us all amazing advice on breaking in, surviving, and what being a multi-media writer means.

Ross's Bio:

Ross Berger is a writer, producer, and transmedia strategist based in Los Angeles. He has written for live-action television (LAW & ORDER), animation (shows for the Hub Network), video games (titles for Microsoft, EA, Sony, UbiSoft, and THQ), and digital series (the Webby-award-winning LONELYGIRL15 and the Obama Girl franchise). He has also written books for Sterling Innovation (a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble) and Amazon Game Studios (an Audible exclusive).

From 2011-2013, he served as Lead Narrative Designer at Microsoft Studios, a role that leveraged his skills in screenwriting, producing, and content strategy to create nextgen entertainment franchises for the XBoxOne. There, he also served as a digital showrunner of a pilot for a live-action TV/Game scripted experience.

Since then, he has been working as a writer and transmedia consultant for several companies including Amazon, MGA Entertainment, Age of Learning and Adaptive Studios. Most recently, he consulted as a writer/narrative designer for Oculus on a virtual reality launch title called FARLANDS.

In addition to screenwriting, his work often involves the designing and project managing of transmedia experiences to expand an IP’s world or promote brand awareness across various media platforms.

Ross's IMDb link.

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