Coming out of college I had my mind pretty set on screenwriting. I saw everything visually and frankly watched more movies and saw more plays than I read books. For years I slaved over spec scripts for television drama and feature film while at the same time working on my own personal projects that I wanted to produce and direct myself.
The more time I spent working for the studios, the less interested I became in using that path to fulfill my dreams. I became inspired by indie films and decided the way to go was to produce and shoot my own pictures without having to lock horns with a studio executive editing my work to look like projects past in order to increase the bottom line.
I wanted the freedom to create something truly original, but things didn’t go quite as I’d hoped. The costs and collaboration needed to shoot short films at my desired standard marred my ability to experiment with the medium. To film even a simple drama set locally in present day was beyond what I had access to. Not to mention the new budget I’d need to create the finished product into an indie DVD! It was really depressing.
My wife, who had been working on a manuscript for a number of years, suggested I try writing my work as a novel. With nothing to lose I wrote a chapter or two and it came out nicely. But I remained unconvinced. I yearned for the big picture.
Then a friend turned me on to iUniverse and I began researching self publishing. I was shocked to find how easily one could publish and distribute a book. Mind you, this is coming from the perspective of an indie filmmaker…compared to the half million dollars needed to produce a film on the cheap, the cost of self publishing a book looks like a few pennies in a bucket.
In the film world, it would cost somewhere between the budget for The Dark Knight and Avatar to make my debut novel into a movie. Another piece I’m working on would be closer to the budget of Cider House Rules. But as books they cost precisely the same to make: a few thousand dollars.
And I get the freedom to write any story I want. I get to be the writer, director, and production designer. I get to design the sets and sculpt every expression on all the actors. Talk about a control freak’s paradise! All I needed to do was sit down and do the work. And that I did. I began writing the first draft of the THE DARK PROVINCE in June 2006 and was finished by Thanksgiving and I will get to see it released next month!
Today it’s easier to produce and sell your book than it has ever been. Access to the best editors, cover designers, and printers are just a click away. Though the apparent cutbacks in acquisitions by traditional publishers are enough to leave a writer in despair, a simple change in perspective can send that same writer into the streets, dancing like nobody’s watching.
