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Buy my Plot (Social Experiment)
So, today I came up with an idea for a novel. The idea itself isn't important or relevant; I come up with an idea everyday for a book, including one notable departure from fiction for a tabletop picture-heavy hardcover about potato chip culture in America. However, what I did with the idea (the one from today, not the potato chip book) is what's interesting.
I did nothing with it. I'm not going to write it.
But it occurred to me that it's a good idea, and maybe someone would want to buy it from me.
But how would I sell it?
So, this is my experiment with selling an idea. I don't really expect anyone to want to buy it, but I was curious if the model I came up for the salesmanship would work. I invite you to pretend that you're an interested buyer, and tell me whether my pitch works, or if there's more information you would want to know before you make a decision and/or offer.
I'm not going to be sharing the idea for the novel itself, as that would be giving away my product for free, but I'm going to use it for this experiment so that we have a solid foundation. Ideally, we'll develop a model we can all use to sell ideas online, maybe even create an Idea Industry, and then we can all sit around on our computers all day touting our mystery "pleasure food" idea and then reveal "pizza wrapped in ham" after we've been paid by some dumb patsy. (Naturally, we'd have to worry about inflation and brand devaluation.) It's not that I dislike my day job, otherwise I might actually try writing this novel, but trading a real job for a not-real job without loss of income is the Great American Dream. (And all foreigners love American stuff, so I'm sure everyone else digs it, too.)
The Pitch
Characters: Main characters are one man and one woman. Both will be reusable at the end of the novel. An extended supporting cast can fit into the story easily, including rivals for both the man the woman, although the final adversary must arrive from outside the main setting. As many of the supporting characters as desired can be reused, and they all have spin-off potential.
Setting(s): Single location, of an age-old type that can work in any genre or world. It can be fitted to various cultures and geographic locations, and can scale to accommodate casts of widely varying sizes. It should be reusable at the end of the novel, and can serve as the common element in a series of otherwise unrelated novels.
Genre(s): A mix of Romance, Social Examination, and Western. Depending on the preference of the writer, each of these can be maximized or minimized to suit any taste. I, for example, would play up the Western aspect, but plenty of great stories could be told without it.
Length: This story can be told in one novel, but is too long for a short story. It could be broken up into a series of short stories, but is mainly designed for a single narrative. Sequels are a possibility for the main characters and world, but not in the same setting. Alternatively, a sequel could be told in the same setting with a new cast.
Themes: Prejudices, racial and/or cultural; Fish out of water; Learning to love; Strength from friendship; Overcoming social and/or economic adversity; Surviving being an outcast; Uniting to form a community; Sexual maturity/exploration (optional);
Audience (generalities based on market studies): Given the characters and general storyline, I can see this appealing heavily to female romantic fans who like exploring new cultures with a bit of action at the plot's climax. Depending how much of the Western aspect is incorporated, there's a strong possibility to hook in a heavy male audience, but in that case the Sexual theme would have to be downplayed, as erotic fiction does not sell well with men. Even without the Sexual theme, I do not see this working well for teen audiences, due to certain necessities of the setting; while teenagers are curious about sex, moral guardians would probably clamp down just based on the premise.
And so, my "customers," are you ready to bid, or do you need more info? Play along, now, no real money required.
I did nothing with it. I'm not going to write it.
But it occurred to me that it's a good idea, and maybe someone would want to buy it from me.
But how would I sell it?
So, this is my experiment with selling an idea. I don't really expect anyone to want to buy it, but I was curious if the model I came up for the salesmanship would work. I invite you to pretend that you're an interested buyer, and tell me whether my pitch works, or if there's more information you would want to know before you make a decision and/or offer.
I'm not going to be sharing the idea for the novel itself, as that would be giving away my product for free, but I'm going to use it for this experiment so that we have a solid foundation. Ideally, we'll develop a model we can all use to sell ideas online, maybe even create an Idea Industry, and then we can all sit around on our computers all day touting our mystery "pleasure food" idea and then reveal "pizza wrapped in ham" after we've been paid by some dumb patsy. (Naturally, we'd have to worry about inflation and brand devaluation.) It's not that I dislike my day job, otherwise I might actually try writing this novel, but trading a real job for a not-real job without loss of income is the Great American Dream. (And all foreigners love American stuff, so I'm sure everyone else digs it, too.)
The Pitch
Characters: Main characters are one man and one woman. Both will be reusable at the end of the novel. An extended supporting cast can fit into the story easily, including rivals for both the man the woman, although the final adversary must arrive from outside the main setting. As many of the supporting characters as desired can be reused, and they all have spin-off potential.
Setting(s): Single location, of an age-old type that can work in any genre or world. It can be fitted to various cultures and geographic locations, and can scale to accommodate casts of widely varying sizes. It should be reusable at the end of the novel, and can serve as the common element in a series of otherwise unrelated novels.
Genre(s): A mix of Romance, Social Examination, and Western. Depending on the preference of the writer, each of these can be maximized or minimized to suit any taste. I, for example, would play up the Western aspect, but plenty of great stories could be told without it.
Length: This story can be told in one novel, but is too long for a short story. It could be broken up into a series of short stories, but is mainly designed for a single narrative. Sequels are a possibility for the main characters and world, but not in the same setting. Alternatively, a sequel could be told in the same setting with a new cast.
Themes: Prejudices, racial and/or cultural; Fish out of water; Learning to love; Strength from friendship; Overcoming social and/or economic adversity; Surviving being an outcast; Uniting to form a community; Sexual maturity/exploration (optional);
Audience (generalities based on market studies): Given the characters and general storyline, I can see this appealing heavily to female romantic fans who like exploring new cultures with a bit of action at the plot's climax. Depending how much of the Western aspect is incorporated, there's a strong possibility to hook in a heavy male audience, but in that case the Sexual theme would have to be downplayed, as erotic fiction does not sell well with men. Even without the Sexual theme, I do not see this working well for teen audiences, due to certain necessities of the setting; while teenagers are curious about sex, moral guardians would probably clamp down just based on the premise.
And so, my "customers," are you ready to bid, or do you need more info? Play along, now, no real money required.
no subject
But the team wouldn't just be limited to writing and editing. One or more members of the team would be able to handle the publishing process, formatting all final draft for submission to all the various digital publishing venues. You'd have one or more doing the promotion, playing up connections on Facebook and Twitter and the like, and maybe running a blog that the whole group could contribute towards. One person would be an artist and could put together a cover, or would simply have enough deviantArt friends that they could get someone appropriate to put together a cover.
Basically, it would be an Agile team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_development) devoted to creating a book, from beginning to end. Perhaps the team is working on multiple books, but not everyone on the team is involved in both books. Perhaps I'm one of the two primary writers for one book, but only contributed the Idea (covered in the same detail as the Idea I was trying to sell up above) to a second book, and am merely going to edit that and a third book. The person doing the distribution could do all three books more easily than one at a time, and as success built, promoting each new book would become easier.
It would offer all the services of a big publishing house (even if it had to work harder and longer to get a hard copy on the shelves of book stores), and vastly superior to going it alone in the self-publishing scene.
And, instead of there being an Author's name under the title, there would simply be a team, just like a video game. And just like a video game, at the end are the full credits. Unlike Hollywood, the team identity would be given priority over the Auteur. That's what the brand would be built on. (Example: the video game development studio Valve. They run the whole process from start to finish, including their own digital distribution, and everyone knows that when you buy a Valve game, you're getting a certain standard of quality and production values, even if the game isn't your thing.)
Dang, I'm all fired up for this. If only I had a team of writing buddies I could bring together in my basement.
(2/2)
no subject