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Publishing these days is a multi-media affair and who better to explain than Greg McQueen who makes media including books in all formats, TV and film.
Greg McQueen is a writer and micro-publisher at Big Bad Media. He organized the ‘100 Stories for Haiti' and is currently organizing the '50 Stories for Pakistan' where all proceeds go to charities helping in these regions.
In this podcast, you will learn:
- How Greg started writing seriously when he went to film school. How Greg got work writing for TV which runs in his family, his Dad was one of the main writers for UK hit TV series, ‘The Bill'. So his background is more in TV and film, rather than books and he is currently working in Denmark in film and TV working on a children's film.
- What is a micro-publisher anyway? Greg explains that Big Bad Media is a small company with only a few people involved – it's mainly just him deciding to use some of the contacts and skills he has built up over the last few years.
- Big Mad Media makes media, not just print books. In Greg's publishing world, it's not just about a physical book. There will be audiobooks, videos, ebooks, apps and other companion media so publishers have to be multi-media savvy.
- On using video extras for ebooks and apps – whether to charge more, or to use it as a bonus for readers . Example being Philip Pullman's “Good Man Jesus and Scoundrel Christ”. How authors can use these multi-media tactics to pull new readers in. A great approach for indie authors.
- On choosing authors to work with as a micro-publisher. Greg has started with contacts he had worked with before or knew in some way, and each party brought different skills to the table. Example being David Robinson, whose book ‘Voices' talks about remote viewing. Greg is also publishing Graham Storr's audiobook for ‘Timesplash'
- What a micro publisher like Greg can do for authors when there are so many options as an indie author. For example, Greg has a lot of technical and multi-media skills that can help authors who don't have that skill. It is also important for approaching companies like Audible.com for audiobooks as they only take companies with multiple books so it can be more like a collective.
- We discuss getting books optioned for movies and the difficulties of getting a book to the screen. It takes an extremely long time to get that far and most books that get optioned don't get made into films. Some resources for people who want to invest some time and energy in researching this – try ShootingPeople and also The Knowledge Online listing of film contacts.
- On the “100 stories for Haiti” project and how Greg put that together as a spontaneous idea in a reaction to the disaster. He used Twitter and Facebook to ask for stories, received hundreds and released the best in a book with all proceeds to Haiti relief. He is now organising the same type of book for Pakistan, which is being published with Blurb.com in the next few weeks. Blurb have a specific program Blurb for Good that helps charity books.
You can find Greg at his main site Big Bad Media and also on twitter @GregMcqueen
That was an interesting interview, Joanna !
It’s awesome how the internet allows us to set up small, multimedia companies. I luv his diverse approach, it just shows how much potential we now have.
The 1oo stories for Haiti is inspiring. Super – inspiring. I luv entrepreneurs who are on mission and use today’s social media to support a cause.
This is magical stuff that I want to implement on my own blog.
Providing maximum value with entertainment and a cause to believe in.
Thanx for rocking, Joanna
keep shining,
Mars
Thanks Mars and yes, Greg is a real inspiration for writers and entrepreneurs. Print on demand technology and ebooks give us a real opportunity to do this type of thing without massive overhead or upfront cash. Fantastic!