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"Author:
Jake and Mimi and Balling the Jack"
Who would have thought that a pink slip would
be a good thing? For Frank Baldwin it was. After years of putting
his writing "on hold", a job loss threw him into a
successful writing career with Balling the Jack and Jake
& Mimi.
During a California Writers Club Marin Branch
meeting in June 2002, Frank shared some tips and insights based
on his own experience:
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Write what you think others might want to
read. After spending a year on a grim novel which was rejected
by agents and editors, he realized ven he wouldn't want to
read it. He turned to writing an erotic thriller, Jake &
Mimi, which got him a six figure advance.
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Make your manuscript the best it can be before
sending it to an agent. Get a free lance editor to look at
it when you are thoroughly sick of it. Put the book on the
shelf for at least a month to gain some editorial objectivity.
Critique groups are good but tend to become too polite and
disband after awhile.
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Get an agent who will hustle and negotiate
the best advance possible. Go to conferences to meet them and
network. Advances are not based on your last book or the quality
of your writing. They are based on sales potential. Keep in
mind that they are advances against royalties and that you
may never see a royalty when you are planning how long that
money will last.
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You can make money selling to Hollywood even
though your book never makes it to film but be aware that a
screenplay will only use about 10% of your book.
Frank got about $35,000 for writing his own screenplay, but
he warned that anything you do will be redone many times by
many others.
Frank Baldwin grew up in Japan. His father was an academic,
so they enjoyed the true expatriate experience and lived in
Japanese houses (tatami floors, sunken baths, no central heating)
in Japanese neighborhoods. In 1981 he graduated from the American
School in Japan, an international high school, and left for
America and college. In 1985, Baldwin graduated from Hamilton
College, a liberal arts school in Clinton, New York. He had
no idea what he wanted to do with his life, worked in a Wall
Street law firm, then travelled through Europe. When he returned
he moved to Atlantic City, determined to make a living playing
blackjack. He lost everything. After a stint as a bartender
and construction worker, he interviewed for a $15,000-a-year
job as a copy editor. He started writing in 1994. He received
his share of rejection slips, but stayed with it. On February
4, 1996, Simon & Schuster brought his manuscript of Balling
the Jack. His second book, Jake & Mimi, an erotic thriller,
was published by Little Brown. He's now working on his third
novel.
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