Johns and Levin Writing Professionals

Analyzing the Fiction Market. Giving Advice.

[whataboutwriting-blog]

I have a story that I dropped for a little while, but I want to pick it back up. The reason I dropped it was because I was having a problem with too much information. I have so much information that needs to go into the story for people to understand, that I’m having...

[johnsandlevin]

A fantastic and informative piece.

[johnsandlevin]

On Writing Jobs

Employer: Wait, you want how much per hour?

Writer: At least minimum wage.

Employer: Get with the program, kid. Check out the freelance sites. We don’t do minim wage any more.

Writer: But isn’t it… well, the minimum…

Employer: Only employees have to be paid minimum wage.

Writer: Aren’t you employing freelancers?

Employer: Going on the internet now.

Writer: No, that’s not fair. I am a professional! You should pay me a livable wage!

Employer: Clicky… clicky… clicky… ooooh ineresting. Clicky.

Writer: Are you even listening to —

Employer: Sorry, I just hired MFA Molly in Idaho to do this job for three dollars an hour.

Writer: But… I’m a prof —

Employer: And when I need to overpay somebody to fix my grammar, I’ll give you a call.

Suddenly Narrator: You have entered the Writing Zone: a world now unprotected by income laws.

[johnsandlevin]

[mikeverett]

While I definitely agree that the marketing is changing and it will make it difficult to thrive, there is a wonderful fact I believe that Johns and Levin failed to appropriately consider: Capitalism. Oh, yes, our good friend capitalism. Capitalism relies on consumers! Companies like Amazon aren’t forced to exactly what their customers want, per se, but they do have to produce things their customers will buy, or they won’t stay in business. Customers hold the power: They tell companies what to do and what not to do with their buying habits.

And guess what? You are those customers. Show Amazon what you support and what you don’t. Every author is, first and foremost, a reader; Don’t even both calling yourself a poet if you don’t read poetry. So, if you want a career in this market, show Amazon that there’s still consumers for this market. Show Amazon whether you prefer to support upcoming authors or read dead white guys for free. You hold the reins. You’re not as powerless as you think. 

[johnsandlevin]

Good sir,

Johns and Levin has read your thoughts. We think you have misunderstood. It is not for the consumers we worry. They will be very happy when Amazon optimizes their prices to sell the most books and generate the most profit.

We worry for the writers. Though Amazon will have to please its customers, they do not have to please their content makers. Kindle is already one of two or three real options that writers have when they want to sell ebooks to the worldwide audience.

Amazon pays these writers a percent on each sale. However, because writers have nowhere else to sell their ebooks, Amazon can lower the percent they give so they can make a higher profit, keeping more for themselves.

Johns and Levin don't have to show Amazon anything. They have trained professionals that already know what they can get away with, and because they answer to shareholders (who are like corporate-level customers), they will act to make the most money.

For instance, why give Borders Books, who outsourced their web sales to Amazon, a cut of the earnings? Why not let Borders Books go bankrupt and knock out one of your only real competitors? The history speaks for itself. Amazon acted to gain the most book revenue, ignoring their long-time customer's strife and not decreasing their share of the earnings to prevent the bookseller from going bankrupt.

Customers did not care in this instance because the prices of their books did not change. Only the supplier for Amazon cared, and they were destroyed.

That is our assessment concerning capitalism and content providers. Thank you for your reblog and we hope this response was helpful.

[johnsandlevin]

To celebrate joining the Tumblr community Johns and Levin will be providing five free writing evaluations and edits for works of fiction or screenplay.

Four entrants will receive feedback and have up to 1,500 words of their work collaboratively improved.

One entrant will be able to submit a complete short story that is up to 15,000 words. They will receive the full services provided by our agency for free. That means professional, collaborative assistance in bringing your work to its full  potential, and then further assistance to help you get that work published, be it independent or formal.

To enter please send a message to this account or go to our official website and contact us with the subject line: Contest. Please include a link to your blog. Otherwise it will be very, very sad.

Entries will be taken from today, September 20th to September 25th at midnight EST.

You've been amazing and we want to give back.

Also be ready for a new blog article to released in a few hours.

Thank you all for your support and have a fantastic day.

Sincerely,

Johns and Levin

[johnsandlevin]

Writers: Where Did The Audience Go?

by Jake Levin

  Technology in the 21st century will divide writers into kings and beggars. You have completed your manuscript or screenplay; you have decided that your baby is headed out into that cruel world. Out it goes, and then, nothing happens. You say to yourself, “If you build it, they will come.”

Bad news: they are not coming.

There may be any number of people out there that would pay for your content. The problem is that they have no idea that you, or your content, exist. Despite this some potential buyers may coincidentally plug in the right key words in a search engine, and find your piece without any guidance. However, the majority of those in your target market will not.

This observation leads to a distinct conclusion: besides writing, the modern author needs to reach potential customers. Otherwise, your work’s full potential is squandered.

Three hundred years ago the mere idea of investigating customers on this microcosmic scale would be laughable. It would have cost many fortunes and taken many years just to attempt. One benefit of modern technology is that now all writers are able to cheaply and efficiently find and communicate with their readers from anywhere on the globe.

Methods to approach this challenge range from mathematical analyses to just asking around. The approach I will recommend relies on a simple concept: those who would like your work are linked. 

They have at least one common interest, your work, and where there is one, there are more. The internet is famous for having connected millions of people, yet it has accomplished something even more astounding. As the web connected millions, it also categorized each and every one into communities based on similar interests. 

As an example, take a group of readers who like young adult wizards for protagonists. Many of them probably enjoyed Harry Potter, and it is likely that they visit popular Harry Potter fan pages or blogs. So long as a person uses the internet to pursue their interests, knowledge of those interests allows the modern author to locate them. But how can these similarities be determined? Which factors are stronger indicators that people will like your work?

You have to use your intimate knowledge of your writing to make predictions. This may seem counterintuitive. After all, we’re looking for customers! Why focus in on our work? 

Simple: because whether or not you are an econometric expert, you are an expert on your writing. You know its hidden themes, and its imaginative descriptions. 

You know what elements of life you drew upon for your creative piece. Finally, you wrote the work, certain elements appealed to you. Asking yourself about your own work will stir up visible patterns. Why would this work satisfy somebody? What other activities would fulfill these needs? Just like that, you have it. You have the link.

Now comes the second phase: what to do with this information. Using these predictions, you must go online and seek out the relevant hubs — those focal points that draw people in more powerfully than their competitors. Once found, you need to get creative.

Hubs will consist of a diverse set of interactions and cultural rules. As a result, there are many variegated methods that will be needed to reach your audience. 

If it is a community, get involved. If the website sells advertising space, advertise. If there are forums, mention your work. And always, always, always remember to act like you are in somebody else’s home. If you come in and ruin the experience for them, they will not want anything to do with you.

There will be kings. There will be beggars. The only difference between them will be who knows how and where to look. Writers have entered a new playing field, with no guidelines or clear-cut rules. The only definite principle is to use whatever instruments or advantages are available. The capacity to find the right audience is the most important development that the 21st century has offered the modern day writer.

[johnsandlevin]

Fiction Writers: How Screwed Are We?

by Jake Levin

Based on recent data and trends, extremely. Writers, especially of fiction, are extremely screwed. What about the established, famous writers, like Neil Gaiman and Clive Cussler? They are in for some surprises, but are mostly fine. When I say writers, I am referring to normal writers and aspiring deities. The good news is that some will survive and thrive, and once it is explained what they are surviving, I will begin to explain how they will do it.

A fundamental law of business says that big companies that cannot be outsourced or competed against get bigger. The future of fiction writing is in ebooks. This means that Kindle and iTunes, the primary purveyors of ebooks, are going to control nearly everything.

Why does this screw writers? The entire digital book market will soon be monopolized by one or two companies. These companies will set the prices, as well as the authors’ and publishers’ percent of revenue on sale. They will do this to maximize their profits, which means less for you and me. If you don’t like it, then you will have to find another career. There will be no alternative.

Another problem with advanced technology is that in the last decade the competition for writers has grown exponentially. Ebooks never go out of print. Your detective novel is not competing with the other detective novels on the shelves. It is not even competing with the detective novels currently in print. A potential buyer looking at your detective novel can choose from every detective novel ever written, produced by everyone from independent authors to publishers. That is your competition – from Agatha Christie’s entire body of work to all the Sherlock Holmes novels, which are available for free.

The bad news gets worse. You have more competition than just other books. People read in their leisure time. Your work has to be more interesting than Tumblr and Reddit — better marketed than Hollywood and Sports. And then there is the greatest evil of all, though most writers do not realize it: fan-fiction.

“Nonsense!” you say. Hear me out: ten years ago you would have been correct. However, search engines have advanced so that readers can find exactly what they want. Let’s say that .1% of fan-fiction is as well written as your novel. It’s still there, and there is enough fan-fiction that .1% represents a lot of content. Nobody will spend money on your book, a thing made of new worlds and filled with new characters, when they can just read well-written fan-fiction of their favorite stories, for free. People do not like change; now they can avoid it.

The future looks bad. So what are you going to do?

Johns and Levin has done the diligence and research. There is still a way to succeed.

The secret to being a successful writer in the 21st century will depend on five major factors. First, a writer must identify his or her audience. Second, they must figure out how to inform their audience that their work exists. Third, they must learn to craft their work to expand that audience. Fourth, they must know their market so well that they can predict its future in their sleep. Fifth, they must do all this very, very fast. The winners will be those who use the same technology that has devastated the writing industry to stay on top.