Jeremy Scott, cofounder and co-creator of the YouTube sensation CinemaSins, has a good thing going with a website that has more than four million followers and 40 million-plus views a month. When he finished writing his first novel, The Ables (Clovercroft Publishing, May), nine years ago, he tried the traditional route to get it published. “I was trying to find an agent and sending out query letters. And it was so hopeless because that never gets you anywhere.” Then he and his business partner, Chris Atkinson, started CinemaSins in 2012, a YouTube channel that humorously documents film errors. “Once that hit a million subscribers, I said, ‘I think I’m going to put my book out and market it to these people. Even if the general publishing world doesn’t hear about it, we should sell enough copies to at least get it read and maybe get it talked about.’”
To say that was a pretty smart idea is an understatement. He partnered with Clovercroft Publishing, a custom publishing house, and Ingram for distribution. With all his ducks in a row, he posted a video about The Ables on YouTube, advertised it on CinemaSins, and within 24 hours his book hit #1 on the Barnes and Noble bestseller list, was the #1 Amazon Hot New Release, and was #1 on the Amazon Movers & Shakers list. There are 25,000 copies in print with a second printing in the offing, and Scott is flying high.
Scott says the inspiration for his novel, which is about a group of unlikely superheroes, all of whom are disabled in some way, “I initially had a comic book in mind and all the characters were senior citizens—one was a judge in a wheelchair. As I tinkered and wrote, they became children, and then I fell in love with them. From there I did draw some inspiration from people that I had known in my life, but it’s just little bits here and there.”
Known for his somewhat sarcastic and humorous approach on his YouTube channels, Scott says his followers might be surprised by the hopeful message in The Ables. “For me the main themes are about not letting anybody tell you where you fit in this world. You determine what kind of individual you are going to be, which side of light or dark you’re going to live on.”
He signs finished copies today at 10:30 a.m. in the autograph area at Table 8. Later today Scott signs books at the Clovercroft booth (1168B) in the Ingram section, 1–2 p.m. He and his CinemaSins partner, Atkinson, appear at BookCon on Sunday for a discussion entitled, “Everything Wrong With: A Day with Cinema Sins,” which will focus on book-to-film mishaps, 6:30–7:30 p.m. in Room 1A21.
This article appeared in the May 29, 2015 edition of PW BEA Show Daily.
