Wednesday, June 26, 2013

See Brian Write--Episode #4: Sean P. Wallace and Yasiv

In the fourth episode of See Brian Write, I chat with Sean P. Wallace, author of the young adult fantasy novel Deep Echoes. In the Writer’s Toolbox I discuss Yasiv, a visual discovery tool for Amazon products.

You can find out more about all of Sean’s projects at his official website, www.darkmess.com.

You can listen to the entire episode right here in the player below, or head over to soundcloud.com/seebrianwrite to download the MP3. I will be getting the show up on iTunes in the next few weeks, but you can subscribe to the podcast with these feeds:

RSS: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/44741447-seebrianwrite/tracks

iTunes: itpc://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/44741447-seebrianwrite/tracks


Intro 
Animoto trailers (http://www.seebrianwrite.com/2013/06/heres-some-cool-stuff-you-can-make-with.html)
Podcasting book update
Mo Stache (www.mostachecomic.com)

Interview
Sean P. Wallace
Deep Echoes (Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AZQ845C)
*You can also download Deep Echoes for free on Sean's website www.darkmess.com.

Writer’s Toolbox 
Yasiv
www.yasiv.com



NOTE: If you are a writer and want to be on the podcast, either email me (brian@seebrianwrite.com), or DM me on twitter: twitter.com/seebrianwrite. I am currently scheduling interviews a few weeks out due to a great response, but I will get you on the show!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Why Valiant Joining Kindle Worlds is a Big Deal

When Amazon announced their new fan fiction initiative Kindle Worlds recently, speculation immediately began as to how soon we'd see comic properties join the party. The prevailing theory was that DC would get in on the mix first, as WB-owned CW properties like Vampire Diaries were among the first licenses announced for Kindle Worlds.

Last week though, Valiant and Amazon dropped the bombshell that X-O Manowar, Archer & Armstrong and other well-known Valiant titles would be participating in Kindle Worlds.

To be clear, this means that you can write stories about the Valiant characters and be compensated for doing so.

This is megaton news people, and I expect this to have a major effect on the comics industry moving forward. Make no mistake, Valiant is just the first comic publisher to jump on board with Kindle Worlds. There will be many more to follow, and I can envision this initiative becoming a recruiting pipeline for comic writers in the very near future.

You may be scoffing at the idea of fan fiction, but when it comes to the comic industry, a good percentage of comic writers are writing fan fiction. Particularly at the big two publishers (Marvel and DC), writers are working with established characters that are not their own, writing stories in worlds they did not create. The only thing separating it from what we think of as fan fiction is the fact that these writers have permission to write these stories, and they are being compensated for it. Which is exactly what Kindle Worlds will provide for writers who participate in the program--permission and compensation.

I am very excited about this, and I'll definitely be taking a crack at writing stories for some of the Valiant characters. Who knows, perhaps the fine folks at Valiant will like my take, and I'll be writing comics for them someday.

You can't win if you don't play. Bring it on!


Friday, June 21, 2013

Talking Self-Publishing and Video Marketing With Animoto

I've raved here on the blog and in a recent episode of the podcast about what a great tool Animoto is for creating trailers. This past week, the folks over at Animoto highlighted a couple of the trailers I've created using their tools, and also interviewed me for their "Small Business Video Marketing" blog series.

The focus of the interview was my experiences so far in self-publishing and how Animoto can be a tool for writers to spread the word about their books. You can read the entire interview on the Animoto blog here.

And if you haven't tried Animoto yet, I highly encourage you to play around with the free version of their service, as you can do quite a bit with it. I created the trailer for Courting the King in Yellow with the free tools.

Thanks to Becky and Cassie over at Animoto for interviewing me!

Monday, June 17, 2013

SBW Podcast Diaries #1--Hello, SoundCloud!

One of the things that’s exciting about launching the See Brian Write podcast is that I’m using some new tools to do it. The biggest of those is SoundCloud, which is the platform I’m distributing the podcast through.

SoundCloud has been known up to this point as a music sharing platform, but they are moving into the podcasting realm, having started a beta program and introducing some new features. As I was getting ready to launch See Brian Write, I came across the beta, and asked in. A short time later, my SoundCloud account was accepted and I was ready to roll. The big feature for podcasters as opposed to the usual SoundCloud accounts is the addition of subscription feeds. So, people can not only download each episode from my SoundCloud page, but they can add the feed to whatever podcatching service (iTunes, Podkicker, DoggCatcher, Downcast, etc.) they use.

One of the coolest features of SoundCloud is the commenting system, and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to use SoundCloud for See Brian Write. If you listen to any episode on the SoundCloud page, or even here on the blog, you’ll notice there is a bar at the bottom of the player. If you mouse over it, you’ll get a pop-up that asks if you want to leave a comment. That means you can actually comment right there in the player, and your comment can be attached to a specific time in the actual episode.


So, say for example I was talking to a writer and they spoke about a new software tool they were using. You might have a specific question we didn’t address in our discussion of that tool. So, you could leave a comment right at that point in the show, writing it down as soon as it popped into your head while you were listening.

Pretty cool, right?

Even better, you don’t need to be actively listening to the episode to leave a comment. So, you could subscribe to the show in your favorite podcatcher, and then either go to the SoundCloud page or the blog here to comment in the player for that episode.

At the end of the day through, whether you comment here, there or anywhere else, I appreciate the feedback. And thanks again for listening!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

See Brian Write--Episode #3--Adam Ortyl and Book Expo America

In the third episode of See Brian Write, I have a great conversation with Adam Ortyl, the author of Leah and the Jackhammer, which you can get on amazon right now. I also talk about my upcoming podcasting book as well as some of the great on-demand programming from this year’s Book Expo America.

You can listen to the entire episode right here in the player below, or head over to soundcloud.com/seebrianwrite to download the MP3. I will be getting the show up on iTunes in the next few weeks, but you can subscribe to the podcast with these feeds:

RSS: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/44741447-seebrianwrite/tracks

iTunes: itpc://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/44741447-seebrianwrite/tracks


Intro
Feedback and response
Podcasting book update

Interview
Adam Ortyl
Leah and the Jackhammer (Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AMR4LZ6)

Writer’s Toolbox
Book Expo America (www.bookexpoamerica.com)

Friday, June 7, 2013

Here's Some Cool Stuff You Can Make With Animoto

I got some great feedback on the first episode of the See Brian Write podcast, and some great questions as well. One question in particular was about Animoto, the video creation tool that I mentioned would be great for creating book trailers, and whether I have some examples of video created with Animoto.

I’ve actually made several videos with Animoto, both personal and project related. Here are the ones I’ve made for various creative projects:

This first trailer is one I made for the launch of my book with the free (Lite) version of Animoto:



This trailer is a longer one that I made for my webcomic Mo Stache with the Plus version ($30 a year) of Animoto. You’ll notice it’s longer, because the paid version allows you to create videos over 30 seconds long (in addition to having access to a lot of other features).



This last example is a trailer I made for my long-running podcast Secret Identity, which I play on a loop at comic conventions with the Mo Stache trailer. This was also made with the plus version of Animoto.



What’s amazing about Animoto is how easy it actually is to use. The more content you have to work with, the more creative you can get. You can see from the book trailer that I basically just cut up the cover and sprinkled text in between the transitions. I created the music for the trailer using GarageBand (which I’ll write a separate post about in the future), but you can choose from plenty of music right on the Animoto site. For the other two trailers, I had more photos and art assets to work with, so they are more diverse.

My advice to you would be to go play with the free version, and think about what you’d like to use it for before deciding what level of account would work best for you. You can try the service, check out all of their plans and see a tutorial video at www.animoto.com.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

See Brian Write--Episode #2: Screwpulp and Animoto

In the second episode of See Brian Write, I talk a bit more about the show format, give an update on my webcomic Mo Stache, discuss the video creation service Animoto and talk to Richard Billings of Screwpulp.

Screwpulp is a self-publishing marketplace that is built on social media promotion and features a reader-driven pricing model. The platform launched in April 2013, and you can find out more at www.screwpulp.com.

You can listen to the entire episode right here in the player below, or head over to soundcloud.com/seebrianwrite to download the MP3. I will be getting the show up on iTunes in the next few weeks, but you can subscribe to the podcast with these feeds:

RSS: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/44741447-seebrianwrite/tracks

iTunes: itpc://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/44741447-seebrianwrite/tracks



Show Notes:

Intro
Format update
Mo Stache update (www.mostachecomic.com)

Interview
Richard Billings of Screwpulp (www.screwpulp.com)

Writer’s Toolbox
Animoto (www.animoto.com)

NOTE: If you are a writer and want to be on the podcast, either email me (brian@seebrianwrite.com), or DM me on twitter: twitter.com/seebrianwrite. I am currently scheduling interviews a few weeks out due to a great response, but I will get you on the show!

Monday, June 3, 2013

When it Comes to Non-Fiction, I'm a "Plotter"

I wrote a post last year about the “pantser” vs. “plotter” approach to writing, but it came up again when I had author Adam Ortyl on my podcast (in an episode which will air later this month). In my post last year I decided that I was a “signposter”--someone who starts with a basic idea, and then plants some signs along the road of their story, just to make sure they're still headed to my intended destination, even though they get off the highway several times along the way.

But I learned something about myself the past couple of months, as I wrote a how-to book about podcasting--when it comes to non-fiction, I am most definitely a plotter.

I outlined my entire book before I even began, and although I moved some of the chapters around, I pretty much stuck with that outline the whole way through. The biggest difference for me was that when it came to the subject of podcasting, I knew exactly what I wanted to cover, and I outlined the book to make sure I didn’t forget anything.

So for me, when it comes to fiction, I like to let the characters help decide the direction of the story within some general parameters (signposting). But for non-fiction, I want to plot, as there is clearly defined material I want to make sure and cover.

You can hear Adam and I talk about our "pantser" approach to fiction writing later this month in the third episode of See Brian Write.