Meet the author: why writing is no longer just about words. So reads the headline in the Melbourne Age published on Sunday May 16 2015, on page 21, in the magazine section ‘Spectrum’.
When the public buys tickets to meet authors, what are they buying? On Saturday the 20th June an afternoon tea was held at the Rippon Lea Ballroom, the fictional home of Aunt Prudence of the television series Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries. Fiona Eagger, Executive Producer, Deb Cox, Executive Producer and Head Writer along with Kerry Greenwood the Author of the books on which the series is based provided an insight on the taking the book to the screen.
Many people paid a lot of money to attend. Are these television people celebrities? Or are these people marketing a product? And what is it that the audience will get out of it? What do they expect to get out of it?
There will be a room of people intent on asking insightful and their most pressing questions. Will they ask questions about the characters, ask about choice of décor or fashions, or Miss Fishers romantic interludes or will they want to know the problems and difficulties that the producers and writers faced interpreting the books for television? After the afternoon tea will this paying audience go home feeling satisfied with their new understanding of Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries? Will they be looking forward to any new series that might be forthcoming?
On the 29th March 2015 John Collee conducted a “Writing for Hollywood Masterclass” in Sydney. The participants were offered the chance to listen to a man who ‘has made it in the real world’. This event was different because it was a session where he spoke on various aspects of creating a screen play for ‘Hollywood’. He gave demonstrations, showed movie clips and spoke to those clips outlining why they worked, and how. He took questions from the audience and spoke one to one with people. This was real information, education, provided to help people write better. John Colley was the co-writer of Happy Feet, and Walking with Dinosaurs. The audience came to hear the words of a man who has had much success in Hollywood.
Samantha Napier author of Dating the Alphabet spoke at a writer’s workshop. She spoke about the motivation behind her writing the story and the journey from idea to published book. As it was a small group the audience took advantage of the situation and asked her lots of questions about her writing habits (she is an air hostess and so has stop overs which she uses for her quite time writing) and how she decided on the design of the book. It was a good experience. She gave lots of tips on writing, on looking for publishers and the importance of editing. She has an ebook, and a website, and a facebook page. Exposure, marketing, being seen and available to the readers and the public are important to her continued success. This workshop was part of her marketing, however, the audience was afforded an insight into how this successful author works.
The Bendigo Writer’s Festival is coming to town from Friday the 7th of August to the 9th and according to the brochure, one of the guest speakers, Marcus Westbury is a writing innovator, advocate for creative policy and agent of cultural change. He talks to Rob Stephenson about why risk is important, how he crowd-funded his new book and where writing is heading. His session is called Brave in the New World. What will the listeners want to know from him? Will they find motivation from his talks, will they go home and write, will they buy his books?
The Writer’s Life is running a competition called Publish or Perish. They write “even a great book won’t get attention from readers unless there is a plan for developing an audience,” said Neil Raphel, acquisitions editor of Brigantine Media, in a press release. “Our experience is that publishing success or failure depends on our authors’ commitment to marketing”. So marketing is all important. How will this competition help get the public’s attention?
Paula Boer, writer of novels for young adults entitled Brumbies has a web site, she has a Linkedin presence, she is on facebook, she has a blog and she invites people to write to her and tell her of their horse experiences. And she is attending the Snowy Mountains Readers Writers Festival. Marketing marketing marketing. The public is invited to participate in her writing world.
So what is it that people expect when they attend a writer’s presentation? Does they hope that they will hear some magic words or sentences that will transform their own writing into a best seller? Or are they looking for motivation? Or is it, that they can see and hear another person tell them how they have written a book or screenplay or poem, and allow them to dream that it’s possible for them also. Maybe that is why people buy tickets hear writers speak. It is to participate, to be a part of it, and to hope that some of that magic rubs of onto them.