Chris Abbott at The Writers Store March 24

Chris will be appearing at The Writers Store in Westwood on March 24 to talk about pitching TV and movie ideas. After that she'll take questions and sign books.

We're not sure yet exactly what topics she'll cover, but I'll post more as soon as I know, and I'll put this event on the calendar.

Here are the details:

Chris Abbott, author of Ten Minutes to the Pitch

at

The Writers Store
2040 Westwood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 441-5151

March 24 from 5-7 p.m.

Please come by and visit! Chris is a lot of fun and has a great, positive energy. We're looking forward to the event.

And a reminder that all the author's proceeds from the sales of the book benefit the Writers Guild Foundation's Literacy and Libraries programs.

The Grandfather Thing Hits 20,000 on Amazon!

Wow, I just checked on The Grandfather Thing, and its rank is 20,694 on Amazon.

In publishing parlance, that really rocks. Anything under 40,000 is considered awfully good. This new status could be due to the fact that we excerpted a chapter on the GrandTimes web site for seniors. I'll keep checking in to see if it stays there more than a few days.

While checking the site, I realized that I recently bought 2 of the books that are currently in the Top 25 -- Collapse, by Jared Diamond, which is a 600+ page history/sociology/anthropology book, and French Women Don't Get Fat, which is a diet book.

I first found out about Collapse in The New Yorker, and a couple weeks later, a friend of a friend mentioned hearing Diamond give an interview on NPR. So in this situation, the publicists really worked the intellectual in-crowd, focusing on the "environmental impact" and "how we can learn from history and not repeat it" angle. Diamond's book -- which I haven't started reading yet -- apparently contains moralistic undertones about how we should be giving more thought to long-range land and resource management so that we too don't vanish from the planet.

This book is everywhere you look -- on the radio, in major market magazines, in newspapers -- and I think the key to its success is its alarmist p.o.v. Even the most subtle suggestion that society may self-destruct is one that taps into common fears, fears people will spend $25 in an attempt to ameloriate.


French Women Don't Get Fat first entered my awareness around Christmas, when I was feeling especially chubby. I spotted a feature article in the lifestyle section of the Hartford Courant. I made my mother read it, and then we become obsessed with finding the book.

Diet books are always popular, especially if you can offer a refreshing approach that involves little to no effort on the part of the dieter. This book is unique because it offers promises of chocolate and champagne without exercise. Somehow by the end of the process you should end up looking like Juliette Binoche. Hell, this book doesn't even need a publicity campaign. The word of mouth should be, and probably is, ferocious.

To recap. If you want to sell a lot of books:

1) Pick a controversial topic, then figure out how to tie it into current political policy later;

2) Promise the impossible.

Chris Abbott to Give Talk on Pitching on The Writers Channel, March 30

If you're interested in joining the site and dropping by Chris's panel, visit the site for more info on registration. I'll post this event to the Tallfellow calendar as well.

TV Writer.com/TV Guide Online Writer Reviews "A Martian Wouldn't Say That!" (!!)

To see the glowing review, go here and scroll down to the book review. It's a .pdf document.

It's very true that this book should be a basic (and enjoyable to read) primer in the real-world politics of getting your writing produced on network TV. It's also a great behind-the-scenes glimpse as to some of the compromises writers and producers have to make to bring you the content you DO get to see on the tube each week. Imagine, then, all the fantastic, cutting edge material that ends up going through the super-shredder! (Time for another book...)

Press Release: A Dozen Romantic Movie Rentals to Cuddle up With at Home

Last week we put an article by author Billy Mernit out on the PR newswire. Apparently it's been syndicated all over the place. It'd be nicer if we'd placed it in a newspaper, but who knows -- with the web being as influential as it is, maybe this is better.

Read the full article: "A Dozen Romantic Movie Rentals to Cuddle up With at Home."

A Martian Might Say This...

Our book A Martian Wouldn't Say That is one of the prizes in the current Write Safe Present-a-Thon for aspiring TV writers.

Forever Friends - an Incentive to Be Humane

We're very pleased to announce that our softcover children's book, Forever Friends, is being offered by the American Humane Society as an incentive for Humane Action Teams to engage in virtual activism and advocacy on behalf of animals. Here's the link.

Press Release: 10 Minutes to the Pitch

This release was put out a few weeks ago, but I'm just posting it on the site now.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Pocket-Sized Pitching Coach Hits America's Bookstores

Pedro Martinez. Roger Clemens. Randy Johnson. All have pitching coaches to steer them toward victory. So should every Hollywood writer. Pitching - selling one's story to producers and executives - is the only way to stay in the game.

For those who can't afford a live-in coach to prep them for studio meetings, there's now a portable alternative: Writer and producer Chris Abbott's new book, TEN MINUTES TO THE PITCH: Your Last-Minute Guide and Checklist for Selling Your Story (Tallfellow Press, ISBN #1-931290-56-3, Jan. 2005).

TEN MINUTES TO THE PITCH is the second in Tallfellow's new Ten Minutes to Success series. Written by a Hollywood veteran who has pitched and been pitched to, the book provides invaluable insider advice as
o Turn Off Everything But Your Mind
o Don't Start Pitching Until You're in the Room
o Be Memorable (lacking natural charisma? Turn to page 83)
plus anecdotes from industry pros explaining what to do... and what not to do!

Compact and comprehensive, TEN MINUTES TO THE PITCH comes with a last-minute checklist that prepares writers for that all important moment on the mound, as well as a resource guide to get you in the game. At $12.95 and 4 1/2” wide, it's designed to fit any budget or pocket.

Chris Abbott's career began as a story editor on Little House on the Prairie. She went on to write for, consult on, and produce such shows as Cagney and Lacey, Magnum P.I. and Diagnosis Murder. She lives in Utah with her husband and son and is working on a novel. Her royalties are being donated to the Writer's Guild Foundation's Literacy and Library Programs.

Ten Minutes to the Pitch
By Chris Abbott
ISBN: 1-931290-56-3
120 pages, 4 _” x 7”, $12.95
Softcover, January 2005

Check Out Our Online Calendar

Your good old-fashioned neighborhood press is getting with the times. We set up our online calendar on Yahoo last year in order to help streamline a busy summer. I've decided to make the calendar public.

Now you can check out the calendar for upcoming events that are open to the public, as well as get a first-hand glimpse into the deadlines we small publishers strive to meet on a daily basis.

I'll also add a permanent link to the calendar our sidebar.

Do you think I've said the phrase "the calendar" enough times?

Failure is All the Rage

A new book on failure has come out.

In this article, a professor at Georgetown, Michael Kazin, is quoted a saying (I paraphrase) "I don't think anyone's ever written this sort of book before."

But we beg to differ. So I'm hoping our author Steve Young will call this professor and let him know there IS another social history of failure -- Great Failures -- and it's a primary resource -- perfect for future historians.

Today was a busy day. We're trying to do a Valentine's Day Promotion, part of which involves placing an article our author wrote about romantic movies.

Claudia and I are both hustling pretty hard, and there's a chance we may be getting some media attention as a result. I'll post more when I know for sure.