1) Tell us how
you landed a film/TV deal with an independent production company?
This is a really
fun story. I was told when I first started in social media to be responsive and
receptive to any requests from friends and followers. I also did not want to be
the author who was always shouting, “Buy My Book!” So, on occasion I post that cute
picture of Puss-n-Boots from Shrek with his hat in his hand, giving the viewer
the “Big Eyes,” and I ask, “Please Review My Book.” Hey, indie authors have to
ask…Right?
Well, I posted that
and a producer from an L.A.-based production company posted a tweet back and
said, sure they would review my book. Which one did I want reviewed? I told
them to pick one. I was open to whichever one they wanted to do. I was just
thankful they would.
They chose “James
& the Dragon.” They liked it so well that within a few days they posted a 5
Star review and asked if they could highlight the book on their website. I said
sure. Free publicity is always a plus for an indie author.
Well, one thing led
to another and soon they were contacting me in a DM and wanting to talk about
doing a beta test for a Farloft film. If it worked out and we all liked it once
it was finished, then we would draw up a contract for an industry standard
split and try to sell it. I ended up signing a five-year agreement with them to
work on that project. It is already proving to be an adventure and quite a
roller coaster ride.
2) What are
the most surprising things about signing an agreement with a production company
for your work?
First off, that I
even had the opportunity present itself. I have friends who say, ‘but you have
worked so hard writing and marketing, you deserve it.’ There are tens of
thousands of indie authors who work their tails off on their craft and don’t
get this kind of chance. I was in the right place at the right time. What would
have happened if I didn’t follow up on my tweets each day and missed that offer
to review my book? What would have happened if I was shy and didn’t agree to
talk to someone I didn’t know? What would have happened if I didn’t take the
leap and sign the agreement in hopes that something might materialize out of
it?
And the most
exciting thing is the interest that is being generated for Farloft and his
stories. We have some super people looking into the project. Farloft is
creating a ground swell in Hollywood.
3) What's your best
advice to new writers?
Don’t give up. At
first the whole ‘marketing yourself’ seems so daunting. It is time consuming
and we all want to write rather than market, but there were over 700,000 indie
books published in 2015 and if you don’t market you are lost in the flood.
Also, don’t pass up opportunities. You never know when doing that one interview,
or that one blog post, or that one twitter response, will be the key to opening
the gate for sales and the attention we all crave.
4) You're also
involved in writing scripts for a potential TV series or film. What are
the most difficult and most enjoyable aspects of translating your books
into screenplays?
This is something
that I am just starting to explore, and I don’t know that I will add this to my
resume. It is still up in the air as to who will write the scripts.
However, I wanted
to take a stab at writing the full-length movie script because I saw something
that would have to be addressed in the movie version. You see, in “James &
the Dragon,” the first volume in The Farloft Chronicles, there are only three
characters and they are all male. In the second volume of The Chronicles I
introduce three strong female characters and in book three yet another male and
female character.
So, I knew if they
made “James & the Dragon” as is, they would lose out on the female
demographic aspect of the audience. Any good production company would not take
on a project that would only address one part of a potential audience. I wanted
to show how two of the female characters from the second book could be
incorporated into the first film without disturbing the timeline of the full
series.
As far as
difficulty, I don’t have a program to format the scripts automatically, so
remembering where to capitalize, and fade ins, and wipe outs, were a bear. I
had to review and rereview the document to catch all of those.
For instance, right
now, I have the next Farloft Chronicle in 1st draft that I need to
read through one more time before passing it on to the beta readers. I have
three more in that series in my mind ready for being drafted.
skills?
As to the enjoyable
part, I was pleased to find my books translate well to the screen. I love to
write dialogue, so it was just a matter of transferring that and then if there
was something that was inner voice for a character, trying to figure out how to
voice that out loud for the audience. It was a challenge I enjoyed.
5) Tell us how you
ended up getting a New York agent. Did you go through a traditional query
process or handle things differently?
When I got involved
with the producer, it just started getting more and more complicated. I had
questions that I couldn’t find an answer to on the internet. So, I started
shopping around for an agent to help me make the big decisions and to keep me
from falling out of the car on this Hollywood roller coaster ride.
At first, I tried
QueryTracker, which is a website for finding agents. It seemed like a good
idea, but it moved kind of slow. I felt like I needed someone on hand in case
they threw and contract at me and gave me just a few days t sign or miss out
totally on the project.
Next, I thought to
approach some of my author friends who were traditionally published to ask them
if they could either ask their agent if they were interested in representing me
or if they knew of someone who represented authors in book-to-film rights.
Several of my
friends were very helpful, but we hit dead ends because of my books being
middle-school fantasy and perhaps their agent only represented adult fiction or
mystery writers or some other insurmountable hurdle.
However,
eventually, a friend stepped up. He offered to contact his agent in NYC. She
didn’t handle middle school, but her boss, the founder of the agency, Marisa Corvisiero,
did (the agency link is below). She was impressed with my website and the breadth of my work. She was
excited about the idea of doing book to film and even talked about perhaps
being able to get The Farloft Chronicles traditionally published should the
film come to fruition. She agreed to represent me, and it was really a load off
my mind.
6) You're a very
prolific author, in many different genres, from children's to supernatural to
sci-fi. How do you manage to balance writing so many different books,
in different genres?
I am usually
working on several books at a time, but when I get down to the final draft
after the beta readers have gone through it, then I focus on that book to do
the final polish, get the cover just right, write the blurb, and format it for
publication.
For instance, right
now, I have the next Farloft Chronicle in 1st draft that I need to
read through one more time before passing it on to the beta readers. I have
three more in that series in my mind ready for being drafted.
I have a paranormal
(Twin Cities Book) in 2nd draft being read by beta readers and
another in my mind that will follow up for another trilogy in this series.
And I have two
scifi books in 1st draft. One is the 3rd, and final, in
my “In2Minds” trilogy with David Stevens as co-author, and the other is the
start of a new series based on a character I have written about for years on my
Serial Story Blog, the Star Trader, 3su.
7) What are your
3 best tips for promoting books?
1) Don’t overdo. Be subtle. Be clever.
Have fun with your promotion of your books.
2) Use art other than just the cover.
Graphics are the key. And keep them ever changing.
3) Secure interviews and guest blogs
where possible and when someone is nice enough to do that for you, be sure to
repay them by promoting that post over and over again on social media. Don’t
just do it and walk away.
8) In
addition to being an author, you're also a busy freelance editor working
on several projects at once. As an editor, what are your three top tips
for writers to improve their writing
skills?
1) I think a solid, honest, group of
loyal beta readers is a key component of producing a great book
2) I personally believe in reading a
manuscript out loud. A lot of times you can catch stilted dialogue by doing
this.
3) By all means do a spell and grammar
check. I can’t tell you how may manuscripts I get that haven’t even been
through a spell check. I have not used it myself, but I hear a program named
Grammarly is quite good.
10) Tell us a bit
about your Work(s) in Progress and any other news you want to share about your
career.
9) Any parting tips
for new writers?
Remember there were
over 700,000 indie books published in 2015 (the most recent records available).
First impressions never count more than in the Indie Publishing Industry. You
want to put out the best product you can so that when someone picks up your
book they read it and are hungry for another. You don’t want them so
disappointed in the lack of proofreading that they will never look at another
one of your books again. You will probably never get a chance to impress that
reader again and if they post a poor review for your book then most likely it
will turn other folks away from reading it. You can have an impressive cover
and a great blurb, but if the content is lacking, predictable, poorly written,
or not completely proofread, you are toast.
10) Tell us a bit
about your Work(s) in Progress and any other news you want to share about your
career.
I
have already told you about the works I have in progress. What I would like to
do is share my journey with all your readers through this Hollywood maze of
making a movie or series. I will be posting updates on my “Afterthoughts” blog
and of course I will be posting to Social Media as well.
If your readers have not read any of my
works, or if they just want to get a jump on The Farloft Chronicles before it
comes to the Big or Little screen, they can download the 1st of each
of my series for free. I give the first one away, because I know you can’t stop
with just one. They are a bit like popcorn or potato chips. This also signs you
up for my monthly newsletter with author updates of my writing world, freebies,
contests, and cool swag.
And
of course, if anyone is interested in contacting me, following me on any of my
social media sites, seeing what is new in my book worlds, or checking out my
latest garden tour on YouTube (yes, I do take time to garden too), you can find
all the links on my website.
 |
| Author Theresa Snyder |
Big thanks to Theresa for
taking time to let us know what she's up to! Here's her agent's
website, FYI. (Please note they aren't taking queries over the holidays and are
open again January 2, 2018.)
Thanks again to Theresa! More interviews with great authors - indie and traditional - to come! Also stay tuned for my new author coaching business! Sign up to the blog for updates!
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