I’ve been getting this come-on in my emailbox for days now:
Why join BooksToFilm.com? Some of the best movies have been based on
books – Cold Mountain, The Godfather, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Midnight in the
Garden of Good and Evil, Prince of Tides, Forrest Gump, L.A. Confidential.
Your book could be next! Wouldn’t you like to have your book or screenplay made
into a movie?BookstoFilm.com publishes 2 catalogs per year which are
distributed to over 2500 film producers, directors, studios, and film agents
nationwide. Get your full-page color ad in our catalog containing book
summary, book review, book photo, book ordering information, author bio, author
contact information, and representation information.Email us today at
info@bookstofilm.com to get your listing in our Catalog.
It’s a fascinating bit of bullshit. They list a bunch of books that have been turned into movies, the subtle implication being that this catalog had something to do with it.
It didn’t.
None of those books became movies because of this catalog. In fact, the folks at bookstofilm don’t list a single book that has sold to TV or film because of the catalog.
Gee, I wonder why…. could it be, because there aren’t any? Studio & Production Company execs find out about books the old-fashioned way…they read bestseller lists, they read reviews, they talk to agents, they read book industry trade publications, they attend the BEA, they talk to publishers, and they walk into bookstores.
If you visit the bookstofilm website, they make a big deal out of saying they are based in Wilmington, NC…
…fondly known as "Hollywood
East" and home of Screen Gems Studios. Screen Gems is the largest full service
motion picture facility in the United States east of California. Wilmington has
been the heart of the North Carolina film industry for over two decades. A few
local projects have been Domestic Disturbance, Year of the Dragon, The
Hudsucker Proxy, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles, Billy Bathgate, Day of the Jackal, One Tree Hill, Matlock
and Dawson’s Creek .
They say that as if mere proximity to the Screen Gems soundstages, or just breathing that Wilmington air, gives them legitimacy and insider access to Hollywood. They list no other qualifications or credits…what a shock.
Only a fool would read this material and think that they are paying for anything besides an ad in a piece of junkmail that’s going to end up in garbage cans throughout L.A…. assuming the catalog is actually sent out to anybody besides the suckers who take out ads.
Pity the poor, self-published author who falls for this transparent scam.
Rose at todays-woman.net reports that bookstofilm is being run by John Weaver, the same guy behind WritersUniverse.net, a program that purports to get "book store orders" from brick-and-mortar store for self-published authors (I talked about WritersUniverse.net here a few weeks ago). Do you see a trend here? I bet it’s only a matter of weeks before Weaver launches a service to get self-published authors publicity in 100s of publications and thousand of TV and Radio broadcasts.