Our 2007 First Chapter Contest is now open!

Download and listen to our 20-minute contest 2007 podcast here

First Prize:

• $500
• The two-volume print version of Literary Market Place (LMP) (a $299.95 value)
• An interview on The Writing Show
• Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

Two Second Prizes:

• $100
• Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

All Entrants Receive:

• 750 words of feedback
• One week's free access to LiteraryMarketPlaceOnline.com (a $19.95 value)!

Dates

• Early deadline May 15, 2007
• Late deadline June 15, 2007

Winners will be announced on November 15, 2007.

Entry fee:

• $35 if received by our early deadline of May 15, 2007
• $45 if received between May 16 and June 15, 2007

POPULAR CRIME FICTION AUTHOR C.J. BOX, who writes the Joe Pickett novels, will be part of our celebrity panel selecting the winners from the judges' short-list.

What We're Looking For

We want to find the world's best first chapter of an unpublished novel. Above all, you must tell a compelling story. That means that you have to grab us so quickly, so completely, that we can't stop reading, come earthquake, fire, flood, or pizza.

Your writing will be judged on the following five criteria:

1. Story. Is it a compelling read with a great hook? Are we engaged?
2. Style. Is the writing smooth and tight, without awkward constructions, extraneous verbiage, and redundancies?
3. Dialog. Is the dialog natural and does it move the story along?
4. Character. Are the characters interesting? Do we care about them?
5. Mechanics. Are grammar, spelling, and punctuation correct?

We�re not necessarily looking for great literature or fancy writing. We just want an absorbing story. The point is to write tightly and economically. You don�t have to write in a spare style like Hemingway, but you must make every word count. And please, watch those extra commas, capricious capitalization, overuse of individual words, and "it's" where you mean "its" and "their" where you mean "there!"

For more information about the contest, including rules and how to enter, see our Web site.

Sponsored by Literary Market Place, the ultimate insider�s guide to the U.S. book publishing industry, covering every conceivable aspect of the business

In the last two issues we've explored how to write your press release using advice from Paul J. Krupin, Trashproof News Releases: The Surefire Way to Get Publicity. In January, we addressed how to write the release. In February, we explained when to send it.

This time we discuss where to send your release.

Krupin suggests localizing your story for best effect because you�re competing with fewer people than if you go national or international. Focus on a person, place, or thing �that is directly involved or affected by your news.� If you follow this advice, it�s easy to figure out where to send your announcement. Check out Krupin's free media database you can search geographically.

Other places that host media lists include:

• Send2Press
• Easy Media List
• Mondo Times
• NewsLink

Or, Google �media lists.�

Whether or not you localize your story, study the media you�re targeting. Create a release that meets their specific needs. Do not send your announcement to outlets that won�t be interested in your topic.

Once you�ve identified likely candidates, ascertain which editor is responsible for your subject and direct your release to him or her. But first, put yourself in their place. What do their readers, listeners, or viewers want? If it isn�t what you�re offering, figure out how to fit into their scope or go elsewhere. Otherwise you�ll waste your time and end up in the trash bin. And what�s the point of that?

In the January 8, 2007 issue of The New Yorker, movie critic David Denby takes a searing look at the current and future state of the Hollywood movie industry ("Big Pictures: Hollywood Looks for a Future"). His thesis is that content on demand is changing everything.

The studios have started to notice that the ability to get movies when you want them, where you want them, and how you want them is changing consumer behavior and affecting the industry's revenues and potentially, its future, with some observers describing the situation as "a panic." In the attempt to control runaway salaries and budgets, the studios have been laying off employees and cancelling projects featuring big stars like Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey.

What�s going on? Denby explains that even though 2006 box office grosses were up from 2005�s unhappy dip, the industry is facing devastating hits to its revenue from more important sources. (Ticket sales account for less than 20 percent of total movie revenues.) Specifically, DVD sales have levelled off, cancelling out the box office recovery. At the same time, the studios have been investing in expensive new high-definition technology that may or may not prove popular with consumers. Red ink is flowing.

But it�s more complex than that. At the heart of the crisis is the industry�s business model. Hollywood studios are simply divisions of giant conglomerates racing to keep returns high for investors. Because of the enormous pressure to produce results quickly, the studios create films they believe will appeal to opening-weekend audiences, mostly families and people between 12 and 25. (The more buzz generated on opening weekend, the greater potential earnings for the film over its lifetime.) These movies, typically on the dumb and unoriginal side because of the target audience, which patronizes theaters more than other demographics, cost an average of $60 million to make and $36 million to market. International blockbuster wannabes like "King Kong," which open simultaneously worldwide, can cost more than $300 million. Can you imagine that the $550 million "King Kong" grossed was considered disappointing? What an amazing universe the movie industry creates for itself.

With the stakes so high, the studios spend more and more in pursuit of the magic bullet. As Denby says, "Everyone wants the big kill and the bragging rights that come with it." He concludes, "So there you have it: the business model swallows the studio, which, obliged to supply its conglomerate outlets and subsidiaries, cannot prevent itself from repeating a failure."

Are these mega-movies what people want to see? Not necessarily, but they�re the ones the conglomerate parents think they can sell. Meanwhile, people are making their own movies and putting them up on YouTube and MySpace. Kids especially are taking control of their own entertainment, and, as Denby says, "may be unwilling to sit in a darkened theatre for two hours, submitting to someone else�s control."

However, there may be a solution to this budget bloat. Director Steven Soderbergh is touting a new business model in which A-list talent works for small up-front payments, deferring some income and sharing payback, if any, with studios and investors. By keeping costs down, studios and filmmakers will have more leeway to experiment and be less driven by fear. If this idea catches on, there may be more work for more people, but with smaller payoffs.

What would this model mean for writers? My conclusion is that it would create new opportunities. And that can only be good.

You may not be ready to look for an agent or publisher, but there�s something you can do right now to increase your chances of being a successful writer: build a platform.

What is a platform? It�s your reputation and following: people who read your blog, attend your talks, take your classes, read your articles, subscribe to your newsletter, listen to your podcast, and so on.

These people comprise a built-in audience for your books, and prospective publishers want to know about them. Your marketing and sales campaigns will be built upon your platform; the size of your advance will hinge on it; and your long-term success may very well depend on it.

Your platform proves your public commitment to the subject about which you�re writing. Since most outstanding publishing careers are built upon expertise and specialty, the more you can demonstrate these attributes, the more you�ll impress agents and publishers and the stronger career you�ll build.

Don�t have a platform? It�s time to get busy. Start with a blog or podcast. Or write articles for professional and trade publications. You might also submit to small local papers or specialized Web sites. Build up your clips, then capitalize on them by using them as samples to submit to other venues. And all along the way, find those connections with readers, listeners, and viewers. Answer their questions, help them out, and stay in touch.

It doesn�t matter if you�re in your teens or your eighties. It�s never too early or too late to start building a platform.

Now get out there and start hammering! (Our upcoming writing weekend is the perfect time for a little "home improvement.")

Our next writing weekend is March 24th and 25th!

All you have to do to participate is spend three hours over the weekend writing, planning your work, researching, or marketing. There's no signup, and you don't have to share what you're doing with anyone.

Join us for this low-pressure event in which we all sit down and just do it!

Upcoming shows:

March 19, 2007. "Writing the Celebrity Memoir," with William Bast, author of Surviving James Dean.

March 26, 2007. "Ghostwriting," with Joey Robert Parks.

April 2, 2007. "Bookfinder.com," with Anirvan Chatterjee.

April 9, 2007. "I Was a Teenage Writer," with Elizabeth Harrin.

We'll also be hearing from screenwriting coach and creativity expert, Linda Seger, and we'll be checking in with our reality show subjects, Jean Tennant and Mark Leslie.

Have a question or topic you'd like covered on the show or in the newsletter? Want to write for us or be a guest host? See mistakes in my writing? Let me know.

--Paula B.

Last month I asked �Which language features the greatest number of words?�

I apologize. I never should have asked this question. At the time, I was looking at a Wikipedia article that compared vocabulary size among languages, concluding that English is the most verbose, with more than 900,000 words.

Of course, I neglected to save or bookmark the answer, and now I can�t find it. What I can find, however, is a lot of dispute about how words are counted. I should have thought of that. You�d think a person who writes books about statistics would be more careful. Oh, what a dodo I am! (I don�t know if the Wikipedia article has disappeared or if I just can�t find it, but extensive searching on the Web has convinced me that the question itself is useless.)

However, I do have a legitimate question for you this month:

Which literary work inspired physicist Murray Gell-Mann to propose the name �quark� for a group of hypothetical subatomic particles?

I have saved the answer to this question, which has a real answer, and will reveal all next month.