Whether it’s a true story or a novel, most authors dream of having their book become a Hollywood movie.
In fact, a high percentage of movies started out as books, comic books or graphic novels. According to Internet Movie Data Base, over 22,000 movies have been made from books. So far.
If this is your dream, read on. One way to increase your chances of having your book turned into a movie is to write the screenplay version of the book. Producers prefer reading script to reading books because they take less time to read. Most scripts are 90 – 120 pages, with a lot of white space.
If you’re thinking about writing your own screenplay, here are some things to keep in mind:
1. You must write the proper length (see above). Scripts that are too long or too short are immediately thrown away.
2. You must learn screenplay format. There are books that teach this. If your script does not follow proper format, it will be tossed without further consideration.
3. You must get the Hollywood reader’s attention in less than 10 pages. This may mean adapting the beginning of your story. If you don’t get their attention and interest soon, they move on to the next script.
4. A screenplay can only contain what can be shown on the screen — action and dialogue. Unlike a novel, you can’t write about what the character is thinking. But you can reveal their emotions and thoughts through action and dialogue.
5. Every scene must move the story forward in some way.
6. Don’t “direct” the script. Don’t put in camera angles or suggest particular songs to play in the background. That is the director’s prerogative.
7. Consider eliminating subplots and combining two or more characters into one, that is, create composite characters, if there a lot of people in your book.
8. Keep the dialogue short. Novels have more freedom in that regard.
9. Watch lots of movies with the intent of noticing what works and what doesn’t. It will help you become a better screenwriter.
10. Realize that a book is not a movie and a movie is not a book. They have different needs and different rules. Keep this in mind and you will be more successful at adapting your book into a movie.
Danek S. Kaus is a produced screenwriter of an award-winning film called “The Ante,” which will be out later this year. He was recently hired by a movie company to adapt a book for the big screen. Learn how you can turn your book into a movie at http://yourbookintoamovie.com/ Read his blog http://yourbookintoamovie.blogspot.com/
Danek S. Kaus is a produced screenwriter of an award-winning feature film out later this year. He was recently hired by a movie company to adapt a book for the big screen. Learn how to Turn Your Book into a Movie http://yourbookintoamovie.com
Your book cover is an essential marketing piece. Most readers decide to buy a book based on the cover and the table of contents. When it comes to creating the design of your book cover, there are numerous do-it-yourself software programs available. They consist of templates, which allow you to drop in an image and some sales copy and, voila, you have a book cover. Well, not quite.
CONSIDER HIRING A PROFESSIONAL BOOK-COVER DESIGNERYour cover is such an important element for the overall success of your book, unless you have a degree in graphic design from a prestigious art school, I don’t recommend designing your own book cover. Before hiring an artist, review their portfolio and make sure you understand everything that is included with their fee (will they work with your interior designer, do they provide several mock-ups to select from, how many revisions are included?) Expect to pay between 0-,000 for a professionally designed cover. The cost is well worth the investment. See the difference between using an unqualified artist and a professional book-cover designer on the “Before and After” page at George Foster’s website: fostercovers.com/before_after
Here are 12 Tips to help you create the best book cover possible:
THE FRONT COVER
1. KNOW WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE EXPECTS OF YOUR BOOK COVERBook covers for specific genres have certain similar qualities. Historical books use photographs on the cover. Medical books usually have a white background and modern lettering. Study other books in your category to get a feel for their design traits.
2. ATTRACT READERS WITH EMOTIONThe goal of the front cover is to grab a potential reader’s attention and make him want to learn more by reading the back copy and the table of contents. What attracts a reader to the cover is an emotional feeling they get from the visual elements (including the color, fonts, and images) and the title. The cover should be minimal, not chaotic, and evoke an emotional response from the reader. When the reader views your book cover do they feel comforted, peaceful, successful, motivated, inspired, hungry, secure, adventurous, interested, curious, concerned, empowered, intrigued?
3. MAKE THE FRONT COVER EASY TO READ
The front cover must stand out and be easy to read (think about what it will look like as a thumbnail on your website or Amazon.com). Place the title near the top of the cover on a clean background (NEVER place your title over a busy background). Don’t clutter the cover with several illustrations. Use one strong image that relates to the book’s content. Do not use the word “by” in front of the author’s name.
4. USE COLOR TO CONVEY THE RIGHT MESSAGEColor is a powerful tool. Choose your background color carefully to convey the right message. White conveys credibility, purity, and health. Red is warm, sexy, and exciting, and represents power, vitality, and action. Men relate blue to dependability, trustworthiness, and intelligence, while women often view it as sad and depressing. Black is authoritative, romantic, and mysterious. Yellow is joyous and energetic, often associated with home and happiness. Green conveys growth, prosperity, nature, and leisure.
5. USE FONTS TO CONVEY THE RIGHT FEELINGThe font you select for your title, subtitle and author name has a dramatic effect on the feeling of the book. Check out http://www.my-fonts.com or http://www.store.adobe.com/type where you can type in your book’s title and see how it ‘feels’ with the different fonts.
THE SPINE
6. CONSIDER USING A STACKED TITLE ON THE SPINEWhen your book is displayed in a bookstore, the first thing a potential reader will see is the book’s spine. Ensure it is attractive and legible by stacking the characters of the book title on the spine.
THE BACK COVER
7. USE BENEFITS AND PROMISES TO SELL THE BOOKYou’ve attracted a potential reader with your cover design, now you need to hook them with compelling benefits by telling the reader what’s in it for them if they buy the book. Will they become the best trout fisher they can be, learn how to navigate New York on a day, be inspired and motivated by a memoirist’s triumphant story, or discover how the founding fathers created the Declaration of Independence? Write a concise, brief (two to four sentences) statement describing the content of the book followed by several benefit bullet points and end with a ‘call to action’ that tells the potential reader why they need to buy the book. The back cover of Dara Mark’s book Inside Story concludes with: “It is a must-have book for any serious screenwriter, playwright, or novelist” – wow, if you identify yourself as any one of those, you’re going to want to purchase the book!
8. CREATE AN ARRESTING HEADLINE
Write a powerful headline addressed to the reader that helps him or her relate to, and identify with, the content. The back cover headline for Inside Story is: “What IS the secret to writing a great screenplay?” Most potential readers who pick up this book are searching for the answer to that question. The headline quickly and efficiently lets the reader know the answer is contained in the contents of the book.
9. USE ENDORSEMENTS AND QUOTESTestimonials, endorsements and quotes are a phenomenal selling tool. If someone else thinks a book is good, then it must have merit. The back cover testimonial for Inside Story reads: “Destined to become the gold standard for books on screenwriting!” That’s an impressive quote.
10. SHOW YOU ARE THE ULTIMATE EXPERT TO AUTHOR THIS BOOKAt the very bottom of the back cover (sometimes placed directly across from the ISBN), include a brief, one to two sentence only, biography highlighting why you are qualified to write this book and help the reader. This is not a full biography – you will include that in the ‘About the Author’ section inside the book. The goal here is to let the potential reader know you are an expert.
11. LIST THE BOOK CATEGORYBy listing your book’s category/subcategory (such as “true crime/current events” or “self-help/psychology”) on the upper left-hand corner of the back cover, your book will be properly categorized on the bookstore shelf (or virtual shelf, in the case of online booksellers).
12. INSERT AN ISBN & BAR CODEYou need an ISBN and Bar Code for your book to be sold through booksellers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can purchase an ISBN at http://www.bowkerbarcode.com/barcode(you need to obtain your ISBN prior to getting your bar code.)
You may reprint this article as long as you include all of the following information:Laura Cross is a business strategist, author, and professional ghostwriter. She provides business, publishing, and platform strategies to help entrepreneurs get known as the go-to experts in their field, become published authors, attract high-paying clients, garner major media, and earn more money with less effort by packaging their expertise. Grab a copy of the Free Audio CD
One of my screenwriting Twitter followers asked me the question: Which is harder-turning a book into a screenplay or turning a screenplay into a book? Without any hesitation, I responded that it’ s much more difficult to turn a book into a movie.
For one thing, you have much less space to tell your story when screenwriting. A novel can run 80,000 – 100,000 words and more, taking up hundreds of pages. A screenplay must, with very few exceptions, run 90 – 120 pages, with lots of white space on the pages. Average word count is somewhere around 20,000 – 25,000 words.
The reason for the strict page count when screenwriting is that the rule of thumb when making a movie is that one screenplay page equals one minute of screen time. It doesn’t always work out that way but you still need to watch your page count.
So you can see the problem from the outset. Books have much more room to develop their themes, stories and characters. They can spend a lot of time describing a scene or a character, and delve deeply into their backstory. Although it is important to be aware of page count because of production costs and marketing, novels have less exacting word counts.
Novels are much more flexible. They allow the writer to spend time on what interests them most. Novels also allow authors to have fun with the language, to show off their poetic flair, if so inclined. For many people, including me, part of the joy of reading a novel is the writing style of some of my favorite authors.
A novel can reveal to us what a character is thinking. In screenwriting, you can only write what can be seen and heard on the screen. Sure, there are voice overs, but most directors and producers prefer not to have them unless absolutely necessary.
Screenwriting must be minimalist. Character descriptions tend to be very general, in order to allow for more casting options. Also, movie dialogue must be much shorter. Every sentence and every word must move the story forward in some way.
Novels can have multiple subplots. Most films only have one or two, if any. There’s simply not enough time for them to develop in about 90 minutes.
Another reason that screenwriting is so much more difficult is that the audience only has a brief moment to absorb all they can form each scene. When people read a book, they can go back a few pages if something is not clear. You can’t do that in a movie theater.
In books, words tell the story. In movies, images, along with dialogue, tell the story, but images are preeminent.
On the other hand, for the reasons listed above, and others, turning a screenplay into a novel is a much easier process. The writer can use all those ideas, characters and subplots they had to discard because of space and time limitations. They can have fun with the language and more easily reveal the thoughts, emotions and motivations of their characters. If your novel is a few thousand words above what your editor asked for, you can probably get away with it. But if a screenplay is too short or too long, it gets tossed without even being considered.
One difficulty that a screenwriter may have when turning a screenplay into a book is that they now have to be more specific with details of locations and the visual appearance of their characters. So, although writing a novel is not easy, it is easier that writing a screenplay.
Danek S. Kaus is a produced screenwriter of an award-winning feature film. He has two movies in development and three more of his scripts have been optioned. Visit his screenwriting site for more article on screenwriting. You can also request his Free Ebook screenwriting for authors
Marc Norman, Writers Guild of America Negotiating Committee member and Oscar-winning writer of “Shakespeare in Love,” speaks with Written By’s Richard Stayton about “What Happens Next,” his new book on the history of screenwriting.
