FAQs

A. Dr. Atchity (Yale PhD, Georgetown BA) has worked with writers since he became editor-in-chief of his high school Prep News more than fifty years ago. Hes is a writer himself (20 books and counting, fiction and nonfiction), and works as an editor, professor, publishing consultant, speaker at writers conferences, literary manager, and producer. In pursuit of his lifelong mission to help storytellers get their stories to their maximum audience and adjusting to the volatile writing marketplace, hes created a set of sister companies that serve every writers needs:thewriterslifeline.com,aeionline.com,storymerchant.com, Atchity Productions, Atchity-Wong Productions, andstorymerchantbooks.com.

Atchity has produced dozens of films to date, with a half dozen more approaching production.View Ken’s Filmography Profile here. To keep up with the needs of storytellers in a constantly-changing story marketplace, Ken believes in thinking outside the box.

Watch the video below in which Ken sheds some light on the process of how a story evolves
into a film project.gs.

A.STORY MERCHANT BOOKS is an incubator of new and remarkable voices whose primary mission is to make the stories it publishes visible to the television, film, and publishing industries.

needs:thewriterslifeline.com,aeionline.com,storymerchant.com, Atchity Productions, Atchity-Wong Productions, andstorymerchantbooks.com.

Atchity has produced dozens of films to date, with a half dozen more approaching production.View Ken’s Filmography Profile here. To keep up with the needs of storytellers in a constantly-changing story marketplace, Ken believes in thinking outside the box.

Watch the video below in which Ken sheds some light on the process of how a story evolves
into a film project.gs.

A. Its not just Hollywood thats changed in the last decade, its New York publishing as well. Both story coasts have imploded on themselveswith the big studios producing only a fraction of the films they used to (thereby giving rise to the thriving indie marketplace); and the publishers gobbled up by brand-happy global corporations with eyes only on the bottom line.

Increasingly frustrated by the sales-driven decisions of the traditional publishing community, Ken realized it was more and more difficult to find ways for new voices to reach eager readers. To create a saner, faster way to launch worthy books that he can hand to story-hungry entertainment contacts in Los Angeles (financers, agents, studios, directors, actors) STORY MERCHANT BOOKS became its own imprint in 2012. Since then, nearly two hundred STORY MERCHANT BOOKS have been published. Several of them are already in various stages of film and series development.

By the way, the traditional publishers are looking for successful new voices tooand are finding them in direct-published books!

A.Traditional Publishing (Pros):

A. STORY MERCHANT BOOKS authors receive 70% of the sales price of their books from amazon.com, as long as the book is priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Outside that pricing window, authors receive 35% of the sales price. For launching, tracking, Amazon-marketing, and administering your book, STORY MERCHANT BOOKS receives twenty-five percent (25%) of your revenues from e- and print sales. If you make an e-sale of $10, for example, amazon pays your account 70% or $7.00. Of that, STORY MERCHANT BOOKS retains 25% or $1.75. Your net is $7.00-$1.75 = $5.25 or 52.5% (compared to the 6-15% percent you might receive from the same sale via traditional publishing).

A.Although this may vary from book to book, your book will receive most, if not all, of the following:

A.No, you only sign a representation agreement with STORY MERCHANT BOOKS, which has an overall agreement with Amazon. You can review KindleDirect’s Standard Agreement, which is what STORY MERCHANT BOOKS is bound by.

A.You can! You just wont receive:

A. To protect the privacy of your fellow authors, only STORY MERCHANT BOOKS has direct access to your book’s sales reports on both e-stores. At your request, we will send you a direct screen-printout of your sales totals.

A.STORY MERCHANT BOOKS assists in many ways, including the following:

A.Good question![Click Here To Download Details]

A.STORY MERCHANT BOOKS charges:

A. On an extremely selective basis, it is.

For most first-time fiction authors who are not household names, direct publishing is generally the best launch strategy available in todays changing story market.

But if your platform is visible enough, whether in nonfiction or fiction, you may be the exception in which case, Story Merchant will represent you to the traditional publishing market (weve had nearly two dozen New York Times bestsellers, including recently 5 Days in November, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, The Kennedy Detail, and Dracula: The Un-Dead).

A.Send an email toAtchity@storymerchant.comand tell Dr. Atchity your book’s title, provide a one-paragraph pitch, one paragraph about you (your writing background, your career, and your motivation) and the status of the books rights. He will reply with “how to get started.

A. No. We accept only books that have (a) entertaining or inspiring stories or useful, inspiring, and well-organized information; (b) a high-level of professionalism in the writing; and (c) strong commercial potential for sales.

A.Here are the steps to publication:

A.Since he launched STORY MERCHANT BOOKS, Dr. Atchity has been more excited about the world of publishing than he has been for years! Finally, Ive found an efficient way to give storytellers control over their own fates, instead of seeing them with no recourse but the mercy of traditional New York gatekeepers.