I think I'd better begin with the story behind Writing Is Acting because it's being sold on Amazon and other sites for prices like $125.00. As much as I'd squee like a bunny to receive that amount, it's just a 163-page book!

 

Writing Is Acting (I refer to it as WiA) was published by Heinemann, a well-known textbook company, in 2006. When it first sold, I was so excited! It was my first sale of an original book, and my Heinemann editor, Lisa Barnett, seemed really nice. She was the head of Heinemann's Drama Department, which was the department that would publish WiA.

 

Well, not long after the sale, Ms. Barnett passed away. I was shocked. It just came out of nowhere, though I suspect that the Heinemann staff knew she was ill. I was never told details, but production of WiA went forward. After some months, I received a box with a bunch of copies in it. Heinemann had created a great cover design and interior, and I was ready to start promoting!

 

Except that Heinemann had decided to dismantle the Drama Department, which left WiA without any support. I don't blame them -- apparently Lisa Barnett was the core of the department in the first place. I think the company would have tried to help me promote at least a little bit, but then, as luck would have it, my personal life got a bit dramatic. A lot of misfortunes and problems and bad yadda yadda.

 

Needless to say, Writing Is Acting was the last thing on my mind. So it sat there. And sat there. And I only began to pick up the pieces of my life a few years ago. So I called Heinemann and got the rights back for WiA, and I bought all the printed copies. Now I'm selling it myself.

 

But because of those weird few years when the book was out but nobody was promoting it, retailers started to jack up the price because it became harder and harder to find copies. HA -- it's because I bought them all! I'm currently figuring out how to supply Amazon and other retailers with copies so that they can sell it at it's intended cover price.

 

So that's that. Writing Is Acting is currently available through me for $12.95, but with a little work and luck, it will be in stores soon. Again. It may look like your usual book of writing advice and exercises, but it's quite different, full of stories from my own experiences in Hollywood and the publishing industry, plus exercises that I made up myself, so they are unique. Give it a look. The "creative method" I present isn't theory — I made it up for myself and used it to bring my craft to the level it is now, so I know it works!