Hosted by Cyrus A. Webb of Shadow Play Entertainment and Conversations Book Club, 14 candidates from across the country will compete for the chance to have their literary dreams come true! Week by week they will go through challenges that highlight what it takes to be successful in the business.  Winners of each challenge will be rewarded while the weakest is eliminated.

The competition will culminate in Atlanta, Georgia where the three finalists of the competition will host a once-in-a-lifetime meet and greet with New York Times Bestselling authors Steve Berry and Scott Sigler.  Berry and Sigler will also be among the guest judges that will decide who has The Write Stuff!

At stake for the winner is a one-book deal and virtual copies of their book on cd compliments of AG Press. Additionally they will receive a detailed marketing plan written specifically for the winner to make their book a success, a print and online marketing campaign complete with promotional materials to assist in their advertising, a brand new Dell Laptop and much more!

With the title also comes features in Conversations Magazine, Crunk Magazine, Hype Magazine, Poetic Monthly, Industry Standard Magazine, other print and online publications across the country, a monthly column in Poetic Monthly Magazine, a one year subscription to Poetic Monthly Magazine,and the winner will be equipped with everything they will need to take their careers to the next level.

Executive Produced by Shadow Play Entertainment President Cyrus A. Webb along with producers Cheryl Pillsbury of AG Press, Stanley Clark of For The People Productions, Derrick Hargrove, Nikki Shallwani and Herschel Dixon, “The Write Stuff” will air as an educational primarily on select CW Networks (as well as some MY Networks and ABC affilliates) throughout the country, reaching over 30 million households weekly!

The website itself features a gallery of contestants for Season 1, and a countdown clock for the first show airing.

LinkMe: The Write Stuff

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Borders UK recently launched a fortnightly podcast series, on top of the Borders TV broadcasts available online.

The debut podcast featured interviews with author of The Kite Runner, Khaleid Hosseini and best-selling crime writer, Jeffrey Deaver. Borders hasn’t constrained itself to book authors, either, with the first podcast also featuring a live session from singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright.

The second podcast is now available as a download from the Borders online website, or from ITunes (UK). This second episode features Lonely Planet travel writer, Tom Hall; James Frey talking about his run-in with Ophra; other interviews, and details of two competitions.

Link : Borders Podcasts

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My problem with this subscription format is – for me – the pricing in cohesion with a time limitation. One video costs $14.99 – of which you can access that one video for 6 months. You can buy a package of videos (all available onsite) for $69.99 but for that you again only have access to those videos for the six months online. Note that you are subscribing to a series on this later option – new videos put up by WritersDigest.tv during this 6 month subscription period will be available to you also (they intend adding two new videos per month) but only if within the series of the initial subscription. If you want to access different conferences or genres you will need to subscribe – and pay – separately for these.

According to the FAQs found online, it appears that WritersDigest.tv intends providing straight workshops (possibly from outside of real-life conferences also) as writers who conduct these are paid royalties with each subscription or video purchase.

I think it’s an exciting opportunity to see the conference lectures online like this – I’ve never had the opportunity to attend a writing conference myself, and several of the videos available appeal to me and I would like to watch. However I can’t afford the cost of one video let alone the package, when I know that once I’ve watched the video(s) I will rarely need to watch them again, and certainly not get my six months value out of it. If I were studying for some writing certification with the videos as part of the course curriculum,  perhaps, but these are conference videos, without swat sheets.

As someone who does occasionally pay for subscription videos downloadable online (particularly how-tos and training videos) I also consider that once paid for, I get to own my copy – these are not enforced to being watched online. I can download them in various formats and watch them at my own leisure without a time limitation expiring my viewing pleasure at a later date. If I have to pay another subscription at a later period, to access more content then so be it.

But perhaps I’m misunderstanding the service being offered here. Perhaps I should be looking at the WritersDigest.tv ThrillerFest videos as a video rental agreement, like going down to my nearest video hirer, and checking out a DVD over a rainy weekend (or hiring a video over the internet for a week or month). The price isn’t exactly comparable however. Even Netflix in the U.S. has much cheaper memberships – but then, they’re on a monthly basis, and WritersDigest is for six months.

Back we are, to the six month time allocation,  and I can’t step away from the conference side of all of this. WritersDigest.tv does start off advertising this as something a little different -

Writer’s Digest brings the best writing conferences straight to your computer via WritersDigest.tv, an on-demand, online video network featuring writing advice, tips and instruction from best-selling authors, agents and editors.

On-demand, online advice, tips and instructions. Those would be helpful, yes I agree. And I again admit I’d love to attend such conferences myself. And quite rightly, the pricing of the WritersDigest.tv videos is simply not comparable with actually attending such conferences, especially when you factor in accommodation, meals and the conference pricing itself. Not to mention the T-Shirt.

But sitting in front of a laptop screen watching a video isn’t interactive or indeed dynamic enough a learning experience for me, no matter how long I can access it. The many I.T. conferences I have attended (the only comparison I have with a writing conference, unfortunately) have not only included such lectures (where I’ve sat down and watched people saying things at me) but crib notes -  entire folders of them, and two things even more important – the ability to ask questions myself of the speakers, and the ability to network.

However, I am not against the WritersDigest.tv offerings at all. Unless a successful author, I would never be able to attend such conferences in another country myself, nor probably hear the speakings of some of my favourite authors in a genre I’m interested in. So, despite the fact I’m not crazy about having to rent such videos and the pricing involved, I could well see myself saving up for a month or two to be able to watch one of those currently offered.

The .tv website is a division of F+W Publications Inc, and holds the name of the U.S. magazine, Writer’s Digest. They obviously must know their market and price accordingly, and I can certainly not question this from a U.K. basis. I might hope that another pricing policy is someday offered, perhaps at a cheaper option for a month’s access. As an on-demand service, normally I know that if I’m demanding – and paying for something – then I usually want to download or in this case watch the thing I’ve demanded and bought – immediately or very close to that purchase point. And if I can do this within a less expensive option, all the more motivation for me to subscribe and pay for it.

WritersDigest.tv currently offers nine videos of around 45 – 55 minutes each from the ThrillerFest and will shortly be offering other videos from the Maui Writers Conference. On the homepage, you will find one free clip to watch, which may give you a good idea of the visual and sound quality of the videos (both excellent, even at fullscreen mode).

Link : WritersDigest.tv

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