Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 134

Rubber Meets Road

My last post was about the tried-and-true book publishing methods of making sure that the most important element of publication—getting books in stores and displayed—is successful. Selling-in a book at the retail and wholesale level is vitally important. So the early discussion at our December 1, 2010, marketing/publicity meeting at Crown covered this ground. Here
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Scott Oden

Hailing from the hills of rural North Alabama, Scott Oden's fascination with far-off places began when his oldest brother introduced him to the staggering and savage vistas of Robert E. Howard and Harold Lamb. Though Oden started writing his own tales at the age of fourteen, it would be many years before anything would
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Panic is Good

My friend Paul is writing a cop novel (I mentioned this in an earlier post, on the subject of trusting your instincts, even the darker ones–particularly the darker ones.) Paul has written screenplays and stuff for TV, but he's never tackled a novel, which is really his native medium. At the same time, he's writing more
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On Sharing

Steve's blog was created to serve as a vehicle for sharing his video series "It's the Tribes, Stupid." His goal was to share information about a common thread that had presented itself throughout his years of research. He wasn't interested in financial gains or promoting his books through this outreach, so we focused on sharing
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When It Crashes, Part Two

Did you ever see the movie Wag the Dog, starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Deniro, directed by Barry Levinson and written by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet?
The film is about a lot of things, but at its core it's a portrait of a Hollywood producer. The character of Stanley Motss, played by Dustin Hoffman, is, by
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The Elephant in the Room

[This Friday's "What It Takes" is the first from my publicist Callie Oettinger. I'm sure the first thing most readers will think is, 'Does a writer really need a publicist? How can you afford it? Isn't that over the top?' I first worked with Callie on a job-by-job basis. Her forte is the military; she's
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A Safe Space

I did an interview for Ishita Gupta and Matt Atkinson's online magazine fear.less that's going to run in January. I was proofing the text this morning and I thought, "There's a section in here that'll be perfect for an end-of-year Writing Wednesdays post."
The section was about Mike Nichols. His AFI Lifetime Achievement tribute had just
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The Sell In

I ended last week's post discussing "publishing meeting" Personae.  As Steve's manager/agent, one of my jobs is to secure the best possible sales campaign for THE PROFESSION.  Easier said than done.
As Steve's representative, I went to the Crown marketing meeting with an internal agenda.  Just as a publisher needs to define the proceedings of a
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When It Crashes

In our "What It Takes" series (adjacent), we're getting into the inside stuff of publishing, marketing and promoting The Profession, my upcoming novel. Here, for a look at the other side, is an event from the writing of the book. Here is every writer's worst nightmare:
When it crashes. When the wheels come off smack in
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Sean Van Vleet

Sean Van Vleet is a Chicago-based musician, songwriter, and lead singer of the alternative-rock band Empires. In March, Empires released their highly-anticipated sophomore effort BANG and have spent much of 2010 on the road in support of the release, with stops at SXSW, Verve Music Festival, and CMJ Music Fest. MTV.com called the album "great, all
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