Let's Work Together: Part Six--Conclusion

This is a very long blog entry, in six parts, about how indie writers, musicians, and film people need to work together and support each other. (Scroll down to see Parts One though Five.)

Part Six and Conclusion: A Call to Action

Here's a call to action:

Writers, musicians, filmies, now that we’ve got the means to produce on our own and to promote ourselves via the Internet, let’s all work together.

(I’m not a big “team player” or “people-person” person. I’m an introvert, and slightly reclusive, and I like the solitude of writing. But even I can see that, instead of staying in our own little boxes (lit, music, film, whatever), we need to cross the boundaries.)

We must reach into the other side of the lifeboat and give the person a hand, or we risk having the whole boat sink.

This means the following:

1. Even if you’re not a reader, read eBooks—especially those by unknown or little-known writers.

Mark Twain said, "A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read."

If you think you don’t have time to read, consider Wrath James White’s Vicious Romantic, an 88-page book of haiku and other short poems. How much time does it take to read a haiku? And it costs less than three bucks!

Christian Jensen’s werewolf eBook The Bitch is available at Amazon for 99 cents. I know there’s a recession on, but who doesn’t have 99 cents?

2. Even if you’re not into rap or hiphop, check out what the newest artists in those realms are doing. (Find them by searching topics like “rap” or “hiphop” on Twitter, or Facebook, or YouTube.)

Here are three artists, chosen at random from among those who’ve contacted me on Twitter asking for a follow or a shoutout:

Darius Daquan, a16 year-old member of the trio Do it Big District in Hendersonville, NC. (info at http://www.reverbnation.com/doitbigdistrict).

J-Serius, a hiphop artist from Syracuse, NY (video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0vFNVrjXGs).

Duo Lil Chuckee & Pryce (video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqQQ4Wz1OGE)

3. Promote indie films; encourage new screenwriters. 

This one’s a little trickier, because screenwriters don’t sell their product to the public like novelists and poets do.

But attending indie films and local indie film festivals (every town seems to have one!) is a step in the right direction.

A few years ago to help Bernadine Santistevan, the director of an Indie film called The Cry, I signed up at her Web site (http://www.lallorona.com/) for updates, and I bought the film when it came out on DVD.

More recently, I’m following on Twitter a filmmaker named Keya Morgan who’s working on a movie about Marilyn Monroe (info at http://www.keyamorganproductions.com/index_flash.html). I also Twitter-follow Zac Sanford (http://zacsanford.com/), the co-moderator of #Scriptchat on Twitter. You should follow these people, and/or others like them, too!

I like the approach I saw from William Potter of New Westminster, Canada (http://wrpotter.blogspot.com/) who says in his Twitter profile: “I support/tweet Indie & self pub authors.”

Most importantly, for all of these:

BUY WHAT THEY’RE SELLING!

We have the power to take control, and the easiest way to do it is to join forces. United we stand; divided, we risk falling (or sinking).

So let’s work together.