Rich Leder's Blog: Laugh Riot Press Blog, page 2

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In September, I’m scheduled to embark on my first virtual blog tour to support the release of my three self-published novels, McCall & Company: Workman’s Complication; McCall & Company: Swollen Identity; and Juggler, Porn Star, Monkey Wrench, to alert the digital universe about the launch of Laugh Riot Press, and to introduce myself as a writer of funny books to as many readers in the digital marketplace as possible.

In Days of Olde, say way, way back a decade ago in 2004, the only book tour option for an author was to get in a VW bus, light up something special, and drive from town to town, visiting bookstores large and small, signing books, and reading passages.  (The VW and the joystick were optional, of course.)  Not to mention that only authors duly knighted by the Traditional Publishing Empire would or could even consider such a promotion journey.

Jump a whole huge decade forward, to where self publishing is the way of the world and the smart, righteous path, and indie authors around the globe are climbing into their virtual VWs, traveling to book blogs across the internet, and writing guest posts while being interviewed and spotlighted and reviewed—all while sitting in their home offices wearing pajamas and eating chocolate donuts.  (Maybe not every self-published writer is eating chocolate donuts.  Maybe that’s just me.  Maybe some are eating chocolate ice cream.  Or maybe that’s me too.  You get the point.)

I hired Virtual Book Tour Café to set up my guest blog dates and manage the logistics of my tour.  BK Walker, who owns and runs VBT Café, is an indie author as well as a virtual book tour guru.  I purchased her Café de Grande Tour for $275.  My tour will take 8-12 weeks and will include 20-25 Blog Stops.  VBT Café will assemble a media kit, write a press release, provide a social media blast each day there’s a blog stop, and create a static banner to display on each book blog of my tour. There will be author interviews, character interviews (with the characters in my books), guest posts, and author spotlights.  There will be five reviews of my book(s).  There will be a full banner ad on the VBT Café home page for the length of my tour.

All that and there’s no way to know whether my tour will be a success or not.

Either way, for the next few months, I’ll be busy tending to my tour, which means I’ll have less time to write—I’m more than halfway done with Let There Be Linda, a crazy caper novel about two estranged brothers who bring their dead mother back to life to settle scores and reset their lives.  (I’m loving this book!)

And since the last thing I want to do is have less time to write and since there’s no way to know if the tour will be successful, then why, the question is, am I doing it?

Here’s the answer—and it’s probably not what you think.

I like a challenge.  After more than two decades of commercial success as a Hollywood screenwriter, becoming a self-published novelist, putting my heart and soul and sense of humor out there in the digital marketplace in the form of a funny book, to open that door and walk through it is a way to challenge myself anew.

Plus, my virtual book tour is a wide-reaching way for me to introduce and promote my novels and Laugh Riot Press and myself as a writer of funny books to the digital world of readers, writers, reviewers, bloggers, and the e-Universe at large and...

Most folks feel that’s a good way to increase sales.

I hope those folk are right, but I’m not self-publishing my books for the money.  Some extra dough in my pocket wouldn’t be bad, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not in it for the payday.

I’m doing it for the thrill of accomplishment.  I’m doing it for the heart-pumping adventure.  I’m doing it for the adrenaline-fueled excitement.  I’m doing it because I’m a writer and a writer writes.  I’m doing it because I love to make people laugh, and I’ve written three funny books that I think will do just that.  I’m doing it to feel self-fulfilled, like I’m living right in the middle of my life.

Taken in those terms, it seems like my virtual book tour is already a success.

Fire up my virtual VW.  And pass the donuts.  I’ll see you out on the road...

In the meantime, let’s play the next round of Laugh Riot Press 20 Questions.

Question #4: Is membership dependent upon a literary judgment of a writer’s book?  In other words, does Laugh Riot Press render creative judgment?

Answer #4: Absolutely not.  If you’re the writer and you think your book is funny, that’s awesome.  Let’s get it out there and find other people who will think so too.

Question #5: So what is membership dependent upon?

Answer #5: Easy—the highest possible level of presentation.  That means your book has been professionally edited, cover designed, and formatted so that it is as polished as anything the traditional publishing empire could produce.  It’s a done deal, right?  With your passion as your guiding light, how could your book not be professionally polished?

Question #6: Do writers have to be published with the Laugh Riot Press imprint?

Answer #6: Nope.  We love our logo, but self-published writers whose books present at the highest possible professional standard and who have created their own imprints are welcome to join Laugh Riot Press and participate in our year-round social media marketing movement alongside indie authors whose books present at that same high-quality standard but have chosen to use the Laugh Riot Press imprint.

Question #7: Does Laugh Riot Press take a percentage of its writers’ book sales?

Answer #7: No way, brothers and sisters.  It’s your book, your sales, your revenue.

That’s it for now.  Thanks for reading me.  I’d love to know what you think.  Email me at rich@laughriotpress.com.   I’ll email you back.

The more funny books in the world, the better.

Rich

CONNECT WITH RICH : GOOGLE + | EMAIL | BLOG

In Septemb...

In September, I’m scheduled to embark on my first virtual blog tour to support the release of my three self-published novels, McCall & Company: Workman’s Complication; McCall & Company: Swollen Identity; and Juggler, Porn Star, Monkey Wrench, to alert the digital universe about the launch of Laugh Riot Press, and to introduce myself as a writer of funny books to as many readers in the digital marketplace as possible.

In Days of Olde, say way, way back a decade ago in 2004, the only book tour option for an author was to get in a VW bus, light up something special, and drive from town to town, visiting bookstores large and small, signing books, and reading passages.  (The VW and the joystick were optional, of course.)  Not to mention that only authors duly knighted by the Traditional Publishing Empire would or could even consider such a promotion journey.

Jump a whole huge decade forward, to where self publishing is the way of the world and the smart, righteous path, and indie authors around the globe are climbing into their virtual VWs, traveling to book blogs across the internet, and writing guest posts while being interviewed and spotlighted and reviewed—all while sitting in their home offices wearing pajamas and eating chocolate donuts.  (Maybe not every self-published writer is eating chocolate donuts.  Maybe that’s just me.  Maybe some are eating chocolate ice cream.  Or maybe that’s me too.  You get the point.)

I hired Virtual Book Tour Café to set up my guest blog dates and manage the logistics of my tour.  BK Walker, who owns and runs VBT Café, is an indie author as well as a virtual book tour guru.  I purchased her Café de Grande Tour for $275.  My tour will take 8-12 weeks and will include 20-25 Blog Stops.  VBT Café will assemble a media kit, write a press release, provide a social media blast each day there’s a blog stop, and create a static banner to display on each book blog of my tour. There will be author interviews, character interviews (with the characters in my books), guest posts, and author spotlights.  There will be five reviews of my book(s).  There will be a full banner ad on the VBT Café home page for the length of my tour.

All that and there’s no way to know whether my tour will be a success or not.

Either way, for the next few months, I’ll be busy tending to my tour, which means I’ll have less time to write—I’m more than halfway done with Let There Be Linda, a crazy caper novel about two estranged brothers who bring their dead mother back to life to settle scores and reset their lives.  (I’m loving this book!)

And since the last thing I want to do is have less time to write and since there’s no way to know if the tour will be successful, then why, the question is, am I doing it?

Here’s the answer—and it’s probably not what you think.

I like a challenge.  After more than two decades of commercial success as a Hollywood screenwriter, becoming a self-published novelist, putting my heart and soul and sense of humor out there in the digital marketplace in the form of a funny book, to open that door and walk through it is a way to challenge myself anew.

Plus, my virtual book tour is a wide-reaching way for me to introduce and promote my novels and Laugh Riot Press and myself as a writer of funny books to the digital world of readers, writers, reviewers, bloggers, and the e-Universe at large and...

Most folks feel that’s a good way to increase sales.

I hope those folk are right, but I’m not self-publishing my books for the money.  Some extra dough in my pocket wouldn’t be bad, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not in it for the payday.

I’m doing it for the thrill of accomplishment.  I’m doing it for the heart-pumping adventure.  I’m doing it for the adrenaline-fueled excitement.  I’m doing it because I’m a writer and a writer writes.  I’m doing it because I love to make people laugh, and I’ve written three funny books that I think will do just that.  I’m doing it to feel self-fulfilled, like I’m living right in the middle of my life.

Taken in those terms, it seems like my virtual book tour is already a success.

Fire up my virtual VW.  And pass the donuts.  I’ll see you out on the road...

In the meantime, let’s play the next round of Laugh Riot Press 20 Questions.

Question #4: Is membership dependent upon a literary judgment of a writer’s book?  In other words, does Laugh Riot Press render creative judgment?

Answer #4: Absolutely not.  If you’re the writer and you think your book is funny, that’s awesome.  Let’s get it out there and find other people who will think so too.

Question #5: So what is membership dependent upon?

Answer #5: Easy—the highest possible level of presentation.  That means your book has been professionally edited, cover designed, and formatted so that it is as polished as anything the traditional publishing empire could produce.  It’s a done deal, right?  With your passion as your guiding light, how could your book not be professionally polished?

Question #6: Do writers have to be published with the Laugh Riot Press imprint?

Answer #6: Nope.  We love our logo, but self-published writers whose books present at the highest possible professional standard and who have created their own imprints are welcome to join Laugh Riot Press and participate in our year-round social media marketing movement alongside indie authors whose books present at that same high-quality standard but have chosen to use the Laugh Riot Press imprint.

Question #7: Does Laugh Riot Press take a percentage of its writers’ book sales?

Answer #7: No way, brothers and sisters.  It’s your book, your sales, your revenue.

That’s it for now.  Thanks for reading me.  I’d love to know what you think.  Email me at rich@laughriotpress.com.   I’ll email you back.

The more funny books in the world, the better.

Rich

CONNECT WITH RICH : GOOGLE + | EMAIL | BLOG

THREE MONTHS TO LIFT OFF

Summer has arrived on the beautiful Carolina coast and it’s tough not to turn our attention to the surf, sand, and sun.  But we launch Laugh Riot Press in August, and there’s a ton to do.  Not that we haven’t been busy.  We have.  Here’s an update of the big picture, the little picture, and all the pictures in between (including actual pictures).

Heather (LRP marketing director) is working on the website.  Every Laugh Riot Press writer will have their own Writer’s Page, and each of their books will have its own Book Page, so she’s designing my Writer’s Page and the individual pages for the three books I’m self-publishing with the August launch as templates for the writers that join us.

There’s a Home Page (of course), an About Page (more on that in a moment), a Join Page, a Contact Page, a FAQ Page (more on that in a moment too), a page to introduce all the writers and a page to introduce all the books.  Plus there’s the blog.

There’s a cool LRP theme that carries through everything we’re doing, but each page requires its own design, which is big deal.   The Laugh Riot Press blog—you’re reading it now—is a wonderful example of the overall design theme of the website.  Here's a tiny sneak peek of the home page:

This week, we shot the video for our About Page.  Bo McKenzie of Crane House handled production, and we think he got some fantastic footage.  Bo thinks so too, so that’s good.  (Stay tuned for a sneak peek of the video.)

While we were shooting the About Page video, William Fridrich of Fridrich Design took some terrific photographs of Heather and me for the website and other LRP marketing purposes.  William is a fabulous shooter, an excellent artist, a kick-ass cyclist, a connoisseur of cool, and one of my good friends, so it was super fun to shoot with him.  He got some great shots of us.  Take a look:

We’re creating lists of libraries and bookstores across the country that will become part of the impressive marketing package we’ll offer our writers, and Heather has been building Laugh Riot Press brand awareness and creating a presence on the important social media sites, which we’ll use to present and promote our funny writers and their books while we grow our mailing list.

I’m deep in production for all three of my novels.  Both of the McCall & Company covers—Workman’s Complication and Swollen Identity—are done, and the Juggler, Porn Star, Monkey Wrench cover is being designed as I write this blog—Derek Murphy of Creativindie is my cover artist.  52 Novels is doing the interior digital design of the books in the various formats I need to publish them in different online outlets, and I’ll be producing print-on-demand paperbacks as well.   

So that’s where we are and what we’re doing.  Now let’s play the next round of Laugh Riot Press 20 Questions.

Question #2 : Why Laugh Riot Press?

Answer #2: As I set about the business of self-publishing my three funny novels, I needed a publishing imprint to produce the books as well as a social media marketing company to present and promote me in the global digital marketplace.  I thought it would be fun and cool to create a digital hub where readers could find my books and the self-published funny books of other indie authors.  My vision was that these writers would join together under the Laugh Riot Press imprint and form a genre-specific community focused on exponentially maximizing the power of a year-round social media marketing movement, a community large enough to make some serious noise but small enough that every writer would get exceptional exposure.

Question #3 : Is social media marketing important for self-published writers?

Answer #3: Heck yes it is!  The sea change of self-publishing has created an online global marketplace, a worldwide bookstore, with readers looking for books on the web from every conceivable corner of the planet—reading and writing reviews, checking out covers, seeking out synopses.  Social media is the most effective way to reach the largest number of readers looking for specific material, the most explosive and efficient way for writers to present and promote themselves and their self-published books with the widest possible net and yet remain completely genre-specific.  To ignore the online platforms that currently exist and those that are forming is, well, bad business.  To access these platforms in half-hearted fashion is, well, half bad business.  Social media is not the only way to market yourself and your books, but it’s the best way to find the most readers and to drive those readers to your books.

We’re three months from lift off, and we’re excited.  We hope you’re excited too.

I’d love to know what you think.  Email me at rich@laughriotpress.com. 

The more funny books in the world, the better.

Rich

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THE COOL KIDS CLUB

So I’m reading Smashwords founder Mark Coker’s recent post, Indie Author Manifesto, and, as usual, he has familiar and terrific things to say about self-publishing, all of which I feel and think and believe and have contemplated and internalized at one time or another since the beginning of my self-publishing journey, and then he has a sentence that hits me like a brick to the brain:

INDIE AUTHORS ARE THE COOL KIDS CLUB.

Exactly.  Exactly!

By the time I arrived at the decision to create Laugh Riot Press and self-publish my funny novels—after being rejected by the traditional publishing empire for writing novels that were (what were you thinking, Rich?) funny—I had read post after post by writers who had self-published their books and were loving their writing lives, and I’d realized that self-publishing was not a second choice or even a first choice.  It was the best choice, the smart choice, and the cool choice.

It was the best choice because not one traditional publishing empire imprint could possibly care as much about my novels as I could and would and will.  The blogosphere is filled with horror stories of traditionally published authors whose books were mishandled, under-promoted, and ignored.  That’s not happening at Laugh Riot Press, where a small community of funny writers—including me—is going to get full heart-and-soul attention every day of the year.  I simply couldn’t have chosen a better imprint than my own.

It was the smart choice because as a publisher, I control my cover art, my editing and proofing process, my formatting, my distribution, my sales price, my promotion, and every other business-driven aspect of getting my books out into the world.  That control, in addition to making me feel swell, allows me to make important marketing and sales decisions precisely when they need to be made, not when a traditional publishing empire imprint gets around to it—if they ever get around to it (see the above referenced horror stories).  It’s the smart business decision to be in control of your business.  And my business is my self-published funny books.

It’s the cool choice because my imprint, Laugh Riot Press, is cooler than any traditional publishing empire imprint.  And even if it’s not, I think it is.  I love seeing that logo in my books.  It’s cool.  I even feel that way whenever another self-published writer shows me their imprint.  “You did that?” I say.  “That’s cool.”  You want cachet?  I’ll give you cachet.  Look at my imprint.  I did that (with Laugh Riot Press co-founder and social media marketing wizard Heather Thomson).  In Mark Coker’s post, he says, “as any indie author will tell you, the joy of self publishing cannot be distilled to dollar metrics alone.  How does one describe the importance of independence, freedom and self-determination?”  I know how to describe it: cool.

So with that thought in mind—best choice, smart choice, cool choice—I thought it might be time to play Laugh Riot Press 20 Questions.  I’ll start at the beginning, otherwise known as:

Question #1: What is Laugh Riot Press?

Answer #1: We’re a genre-specific social media marketing and publishing company whose mission is to create a vibrant community of self-published authors who utilize LRP as an awesome digital hub, another landing in their online portfolio, and a place to participate in and benefit from a year-round social media marketing movement.  Our bedrock is the belief that a 12-month/52-week, genre-specific, social media marketing movement is the most effective way to forge a long-term, online-marketplace presence and connect our writers directly with the largest number of readers looking for funny books.

Back to Coker’s manifesto, as spot on as it is, to me it seems more like a kind of wonderful Jeff Foxworthy You might be an indie author piece rather than an actual manifesto.  (It’s possible that I’m not smart enough to recognize a manifesto when I see one—that I’m only smart enough for Foxworthy—but that’s a post for another day.)

Anyway, number three resonated with me big time: you might be an indie author if you believe in the guts of your guts that you have a right to publish.

Dude, pay attention, if nobody has told you yet, here it is in black and white: you have a right to publish.  The traditional publishing empire has no right to tell you your book cannot, should not, and will not be published.  They have no power over you and your books.  Period.  Turn on the lights; the power is all yours.  And that is what you call cool.

And, if you’re a self-published writer of funny books, Laugh Riot Press is as cool as it gets.

I’d love to know what you think.  Email me at rich@laughriotpress.com. 

The more funny books in the world, the better.

RICH

It's a sharp-looking graphic, right?  I'm not surprised because it was created by Derek Murphy of Creativindie, and I know firsthand that he's a fabulous artist--he's doing the covers for my three novels that launch with Laugh Riot Press in August.

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MY CREATIVE CORNER OF THE WORLD

I recently read a post by H.M. Ward, a super-successful self-pubbed romance writer with strong feelings about trad-pubbing versus indie-pubbing.  Did I say strong feelings?  I meant nuclear detonation feelings.  I meant zombie apocalypse feelings.  I meant 10-plagues-upon-your-house feelings.  H.M. Ward has had it up-to-here with the Big 5.
 
You should read it. 
 
Point after point hits home for authors wrestling with whether or not to self-pub.  Ward pulls no punches as to her view of the competence and capabilities of the traditional publishing empire.   (Here’s a hint: the empire is burning to the ground.)  As romantic and sensual and sexy as she is in her best-selling books, that’s how hardcore and unforgiving she is in the post.  Think Joe Konrath in black silk stockings.  (Sorry for that image, Joe.)
 
Ward has sold millions of self-pubbed books.  She’s earned her attitude, her fans, and boatloads of indie-author respect.  I already subscribe to her way of thinking about self-pubbing, so as fun and refreshing and reconfirming as she was for me to read, the comments to her post were what really got me thinking.
 
There were more than a few writers angry with Ward for her aggressively defensive posture toward the traditional publishing empire and her debunking of trad-pubbing in totality.  These angry writers wouldn’t and couldn’t let go of their Big 5 Dream.  Either they couldn’t find time to self-pub, or they didn’t have the money to self-pub, or they believed the prestige of being trad-pubbed was greater than the prestige of being self-pubbed, or they found comfort in the idea that the traditional publishing empire would do all the heavy lifting for them, or, or, or, or, or.
 
For me, none of this back and forth road rage got to the heart of it.
 
Before I became a novelist, I was a Hollywood screenwriter.  I’ve written 56 screenplays—10 have been optioned as feature films, and 18 have been produced as television films.  All of that writing was done as a freelance (indie) author.  I know as much about being a paid professional indie writer as anyone.  I have been a working, independent writer for most of my adult life.
 
In August of this year, when I launch Laugh Riot Press with three of my funny books, I’ll begin the indie journey anew as a novelist and, when other writers join, as a social media marketer and publisher.   
 
For me, it’s not about the time or the money or the prestige or the consternation that there’s work to do above and beyond the writing. 
 
For me, it’s about control. 
 
I need to feel like I am in control of the one part of my life that I can and must control: my creative corner of the world.
 
I have personal obligations—I’m married nearly 30 years, and I have three children in college—I have outside business interests, and I have social commitments in my community that demand a percentage of my time and my life.  I’m not complaining; I chose for my life to work like this.  And I’m not special in this regard.  I’m sure many of you have these same obligations, interests, and commitments.  And I’m sure those were life choices you made as well.  Good for us.  But...   
 
The one place I can’t and won’t cede control of my time and thought and energy and effort is the creative corner of my life, where I am the most pure and self-realized me that I can be.
 
I want to be intimately, personally, and professionally involved in all the many aspects of presenting my book to the public.  The writing and rewriting and editing and proofing (of course), the cover design, the formatting, the release date, the pricing, the promotion...I want it to be my book.
 
I think I can produce at least as good a book as the traditional publishing empire because I believe I am at least as creative and organized and professional as they are.  I know I’ll be more emotionally invested.
 
If my books sell, I’m going to be thrilled.  If they don’t, I’m going to have a hell of a great ride making and marketing and publishing funny books.  (And helping other writers do the same.)
 
Maybe I’m crazy, but I think there’s a whole lot of prestige in publishing my own books with my own imprint.
 
Anyway, I don’t carry the same vitriol as Ward even though I agree with her and even though the traditional publishing empire told me that funny books were too hard to sell so though they laughed out loud and thought I was a swell writer, they were not signing me.  I don’t hold a grudge because I don’t like that feeling inside me.
 
If writers can’t let go of the Big 5 Dream, that’s their call. 
 
I get the time concern part of their equation.  That’s why I founded Laugh Riot Press in the first place: so I wouldn’t have to do the everyday heavy lifting that successful social media marketing demands.
 
As for the rest of all that antagonistic back and forth, the bottom line is that you’ve got to do what makes you feel vibrant and alive and active and awesome in your creative corner of the world while you’re present enough to have one.
 
Time is ticking.  The more funny books in the world, the better.
 
I’d love to know what you think.  Tell me your story.  Email me at rich@laughriotpress.com.  

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HEAVY WORD COUNT

Hi there. 

I’m Rich Leder, screenwriter, novelist, publisher, and founder of Laugh Riot Press.  (One of these blog posts I’ll stop introducing myself.) 

This year, as I prepare to launch Laugh Riot Press and publish four of my novels under that imprint, I’ve been thinking about something I’ve been reading in self-pubbing blogs I follow and hearing in like-minded podcasts I listen to.  It’s been bothering me a bit, and I’m wondering if it’s been bothering you too.  It has to do with how many books a year successful indie writers are writing.

These writers, many of whom I stand in awe of for their courage and talent and generosity and entrepreneurial success, are writing and self-pubbing three or four or five or more novels a year.  By any measure, that is a heavy word count.

They have learned from their experience as indie writer business people that one of the true keys to being a successful self-pubbed writer—successful as in selling lots of books—is to have as many self-pubbed books as you can and to keep adding to that total in an exponential way year after year.

It makes sense, of course.  And the numbers don’t lie.  It’s true.  Speed is good for sales.  The more books you self-pub, the better you position yourself in the marketplace, and the more potential you have to increase your sales.

I’m going to have three self-pubbed novels on Amazon and beyond by the summer and a fourth novel in the marketplace toward the end of this year.  That’s four in one year.  But I didn’t write them all in the same year.  It’s taken me a bunch of years to write them.

When one of my icons learned I was a screenwriter before I became a novelist, she said to me, “Wow, you must be a fast writer.”

I’m not.  I’m one of those novelists that write and edit at the same time.  My first draft takes months, not weeks.  I’m a fast rewriter, but by the time I’m rewriting my first draft, other already very successful indie writers have finished and published two books or three and are becoming even more successful while I’m still at the starting gate.  They’re offering book packages, co-writing more books with other indie writers, filling their Amazon pages and websites with book after book.

It’s amazing how they do it, how they keep the quality of their work at such a high level while writing at such a high speed.  It’s awesome.  And intimidating.

So I’m wondering if I have what it takes to be a successful self-pubbed novelist.  I’m wondering if I’m going to publish enough books in any one given year to make a difference in my sales (if I’m lucky enough to have any sales in the first place), to make a dent in the marketplace.  I’m wondering if I’m behind the eight ball before I’ve even chalked the stick.

I’m wondering these things because I’m never going to write four books a year.  It’s not in me to do it.  I’m not built that way.

I’m good for two books a year—if my characters behave the way I think they will, if my story unfolds according to my outline, if the rest of my life cooperates so that I have enough time to write.  Two books a year, max.  That’s what I think.

So I’m wondering about all of this, and, like I said, it’s bothering me a bit, and then I turn a corner and I’m thinking, Who gives a shit in the end?

I want to make money at this, yes, of course I do.  But I want to write books that I like, and I want to like the books that I write while I write them.  If I force myself to go too fast, I don’t think I’ll write as well as I write when I write at the pace I write well at—if you get my drift.

I’m going to do all the other things my indie writer heroes recommend I do to market myself and my books—I founded Laugh Riot Press for one thing—and I’m going to work hard at making my books as fun and funny and professionally produced and presented as I possibly can, and that is going to be good enough because it has to be.

After all these years, I still love to write.  I mean the actual writing, the sitting-at-the-desk-and-stringing-words-into-sentences part.  I still love that.  I don’t think I can go faster and feel that way.  I think I’ll feel like I’m going too fast.

Do I wish I could write at warp speed?  I do.  But I can’t, so fuck it; I’m not going to.  And I’m not going to worry about it anymore either.

What about you? 

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YOU DON'T SUCK

Hi there. 

I’m Rich Leder, screenwriter, novelist, publisher, and founder of Laugh Riot Press.  For more than a decade, in addition to the rest of my madness, I have been a private writing coach, helping authors build stories, create characters, stylize dialogue, establish rhythm, and hold tone in every genre you can think of.  I have coached in excess of 100 writers, all of whom finished first drafts that were solid, professionally crafted, and sweet to read.

However, the road to The End is often filled with potholes the size of Houston.  Here’s a typical email I get from writers all across the country:

“Every damn sentence or idea I write down is accompanied by a cringe of how stupid, unlikely, unsupported, incongruous, dumb is that?! I’m stuck, unsure of how to begin to resolve this story.  Frustrated!”

Sound familiar?

I thought so.

Throughout my career, I have battled this sentiment and others much worse.  And yet I have written 56 screenplays and four novels (number five on the way). I have fought through frustration and fear and doubt and panic and terror and disappointment and anger with a two-word battle cry that has sustained me for decades: Write Anyway.

No one’s going to give a shit about this.  I know, I tell myself, write anyway.

This is an idiotic story, and my characters are thin and moronic.  Yes, I tell myself, write anyway.

My dialogue is mundane and foolish and sounds like garbage.  I hear that, I tell myself, write anyway.

Writing is hard.  Your brain doesn’t want to do it.  It wants you to stop and do something easier, like drink beer or watch TV (or both at the same time).  It will say anything to make you metaphorically put the pen down...or maybe literally put the pen down.

Sometimes your brain will sweet talk you, tell you how brilliant you are, how you nailed it first time so go ahead and watch cartoons.

But a lot of the time your brain will berate you into quitting, make you feel like a fraud, like a hack, like an amateur.

Rather than fight the feeling, try admitting that the words on the page don’t work the way you want them to just yet, that they are overwritten or clunky or out of focus or disengaging or pretentious...and that you are going to write anyway.

Try saying to yourself, “I know this sucks and writing’s hard and no one’s going to care.  Screw it, I’m going to write anyway.”

I’m feeling that way about this blog post right now, it just so happens. 

Write anyway, write anyway, write anyway.

I have those two words taped to the front of my printer, which sits across from me in my office.

I’ve completed a lot of stories over the years in spite of the voice in the back of my head telling me to give it up and get a life by replying to the voice that I was, I will, and I am going to write anyway.

If these two words don’t work for you, that’s fine.  Choose other words that keep you going. 

Just don’t stop because it’s hard.  Or because you think you suck.  You don’t suck.  And even if you suck right now this minute, so what?  In ten minutes or tomorrow afternoon or next Tuesday you won’t suck.  Keep writing.  Write anyway. 

It’s hard for every writer sometimes.  You’re not special in that regard.

You’re special because you have a story to tell or an idea that resonates or a point to make or a feeling to share.  You’re special because you’re a writer.

So write.

And then write anyway.

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JOIN THE BAND

JOIN THE BAND

Hi there. 

Welcome to the Laugh Riot Press Blog.  I’m Rich Leder, screenwriter, novelist, publisher, and founder of Laugh Riot Press, an indie social media marketing and publishing company whose mission is to present and promote its community of indie authors and their funny books.  Since this is the LRP inaugural post, I’m going to tell you a little bit about who I am and why I created Laugh Riot Press, so you’ll know where we’re coming from.  I’m guessing my story is a lot like yours.  Maybe not exactly the same but similar.

As an indie screenwriter, I wrote in Los Angeles for 15 years—18 of my scripts have been produced and aired in markets around the globe.  It was a sweet ride for a long time, but like most rides, this one came to an end when the TV movie business imploded. 

I was living in Santa Barbara with my wife and three young children and was confronted with two choices.  Choice One: Move us back to LA—where we had lived for seven years prior to moving up the coast—and (try to) get a staff job on an hour drama.  Choice Two: Move myself back to LA during the week and drive home on (most) weekends.  My wife did not want to move back to LA, and I didn’t want to miss my kids growing up—I coached all their sports and volunteered in their classrooms.  I picked Choice Three: Sell everything. 

I cashed out and moved across the country to a North Carolina beach, where I could continue to coach and volunteer and write and where life would be somewhat slower and kinder and more genteel.  All of that turned out to be true and, once again, pretty sweet.

Six years ago, I wrote my first funny novel (hey, I think it’s funny), Juggler, Porn Star, Monkey Wrench, and, like a lot of you, I got hooked.  I wrote two more—the first two books in my funny PI series, McCall & Company: Workman’s Complication, and McCall & Company: Swollen Identity—started a fourth (another stand-alone) and went searching for a New York agent.  I found a good one and together we went looking for a legacy publisher, and that’s where, like a lot of you, the story got sucky.

Over the course of a year, I heard this, more or less, on 14 separate occasions: Rich is a terrific writer, easy, fun, and fast to read.  And he’s funny.  I laughed out loud.  I read parts to my friends, and they laughed out loud.  So... Pass.  Funny books are hard to sell.

I had read stories aplenty of writers who had suffered through many more than 14 rejections over far longer periods of time while waiting to land their legacy deal, but a year of rejection was enough for me.  I didn’t want to wait another year or two or ten for my books to be deemed marketable by an industry in the throes of a sea change.  I wanted my books to have a life of their own as soon as possible, my theory being the more funny books in the world, the better.

I began to read and research self publishing and found Joe Konrath and Joanna Penn and CJ Lyons and David Gaughran and Johnny, Sean, and Dave from the Self Publishing Podcast and Smashwords and other iconic indie author-publisher-entrepreneur-warriors-and-heroes who were (and are) well ahead of me on the self publishing curve, but who continually turned around and said, “Come on, man.  You can do this too.  Here’s how I did it, step by step.”

So, like a lot of you, inspired by Joe and Joanna and CJ and David and the SPP posse—none of whom I have ever met but whose blogs and newsletters and podcasts I read and watch regularly for courage and inspiration and knowledge and know-how—and cheered by the brave and vibrant heart of the indie author community, I decided to keep writing and self publish my books.  Step one: Awesome feeling of control.

But I had also read and researched that if you want the world of readers to know that you and your books are out there and that people should know you and buy your books and read them and then buy more of them, then marketing (after writing more and then more, of course) was the next most important, immediate, and obvious step... Step one point one.

I have other entrepreneurial business interests and so I know from experience that, if you do it daily and do it right, social media marketing, when generated with sharp focus, is the most cost effective way to get the word out with the widest net to the largest number of people that there’s a product or service in the marketplace worth knowing about.  In this case, that product would be indie authors and their funny books.

So I needed to create a genre-specific, social media marketing and publishing company, a digital hotspot that was at its core a promotion machine whose mission was to market and promote a community of indie authors who want to make readers laugh and continually connect them with readers looking for books that will make them laugh, a community of indie authors joining together to maximize the exponential power of year-round social media marketing exposure. 

I needed to create Laugh Riot Press.

Fortunately, LRP co-founder and social media marketing wizard Heather Thomson was (coincidentally) also looking to create a social media marketing company.  Also fortunately, she likes to read funny books.

In our blog, we’ll talk about indie writing and publishing and marketing and how the time is now—right now—to keep writing and self publish your book(s) and get the word out in the most present, persistent, powerful, and efficient way possible.  We’ll feature Laugh Riot Press authors and their books, we’ll host guest bloggers and present interviews with writers and cover designers and formatters and editors, we’ll share book reviews, and we’ll keep you up to date on all the free stuff and giveaways and special deals and new releases and funny business happening at LRP.

So please join our mailing list, friend us on Facebook, +1 us on Google +, follow us Twitter and Pinterest and keep reading our blog; we want to stay in touch.

That’s it for now.  We’re excited to meet you, so come on back...

CONNECT WITH RICH : GOOGLE + | EMAIL | BLOG