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Going to write a Michael Jackson book, Please read.

Tom

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Hey guys,

Im seriously considering writing a tribute book to Michael Jackson, which I could hopefully get published (I live in the UK). It will be a sort of fan tribute/beginners guide to Michael, featuring a descriptive account of his life. Also, I would love to have his discography, a lot of quotes, some lyrics, interviews and pictures. It will be completely positive too.

I would need many peoples help in terms of knowlege of his career. Also I am only 16 so I dont know if I would be taken seriously, also being a beginner author.

The only problem is I know there are LOADS of these books, with a sharp increase after his death. I am wondering what to do to make the book stand out from the others. As I say it will be heavily involved in the fans and I would like to conduct interviews with some of his friends.

How do I go about this? I will first write the career section before considering the more difficult parts but I would like help on how to contact people for interviews and quotes. I think that if this is a sucess it will be a great achievement for me.

Please help.
Tom
 
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Re: Michael Jackson book.

Awww bless you Tom what a lovely idea. :)
May I suggest that as you are so young you look into asking your tutor at school, and ask about young writer's project's, as then you can make a start perhaps?
I hope my reply doesnt sound patronising..........I mean it from a good heart. :)
 
tomthedude said:
Thank you for the advice :)
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you are welcome.

Just to add, you can do alot of research on the internet about Michael, but be selective as not everything you read is trust-worthy as I'm sure you already know. :(

There are various sources that are more reliable than others. Obviously it goes without saying that you will want to portray Michael in the truth of good light. :agree: the truth not .well you know....:doh:

Have you read any books yourself?

I recommend Michael's own works as a good place if you want to get to know the man more......... at least you can trust that!!!

Dancing the dream? read it? :)
 
I'm not wanting to be rude here, but for me, only the people who personnally knew Michael, who were always faithful to him and never bashed him can talk officially about him (now that he can't do it himself anymore).

I mean, your idea is great, I'm just wondering what new you can bring to the fans, cause non-fans will buy the crap boks like halperin, and fans, well, they already know the truth...

But whatever you do, I wish you well :)
 
Carinemjj said:
I'm not wanting to be rude here, but for me, only the people who personnally knew Michael, who were always faithful to him and never bashed him can talk officially about him (now that he can't do it himself anymore).

I mean, your idea is great, I'm just wondering what new you can bring to the fans, cause non-fans will buy the crap boks like halperin, and fans, well, they already know the truth...

But whatever you do, I wish you well :)
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The way I see it, Im writing because im not a close friend of Michael. I hope it will be a book aspiring fans can pick up and understand what Michael meant to fellow fans and the whole world.

I hope that makes sense :)
 
Good for you! Ahhhh, to be a teenager and a Michael Jackson fan in high school, those were the days! For me HIStory had hit the shelves when I was a Junior. Senior year I took a journalism class and the term's assignment was to create a newspaper, so I created "The Jackson-Ledger," lol! It had sections as any other newspaper -- editorial/Opinion, Entertainment, Sports, main news, letters, etc. Sports was tough, but I came up w/ using a file photo of MJ from Jam as the main picture, w/ a brief article about it, and I wrote brief articles about MJ's Superbowl performance and its record ratings, the J5 vs Temptations on the basketball court, and a snippet about the J5 performing the National Anthem at Dodgers Stadium.

Anyways I would like a comprehensive book of the man and his music! Part One is the music and has a section of the J5/Jacksons/MJ discography w/ chart positions, writing credits, etc. Then encyclopedia-style info on the songs, like their origins and developemnt. THEN, a list of all of the people who Michael collaborated with in any way on other people's records. THEN, a section dedicated to any information on 'unreleased'/rare tracks and demos. The last section of Part One would be the lyrics to every song.

Part II is about 'the man' and collects all of MJ's print interviews. THEN, a section that transcribes all of MJ's television interviews and acceptance speeches. Then a fashion icon section that defines the unique style of the KOP, w/ photographs and interviews w/ fashion icons about MJ's unique stle. Then a "Michael-Mania" section that has pictures of all of the officially licensed items that MJ released, rare collectibles, artists interpretations of Michael (Andy Warhol etc), and their value today. Finally list all of the awards and humanitarian work.

So basically something that ties together everything, based soley on the man and his music!
 
I think you should gather stories of fans who have actually met him, even if it was for just a brief amount of time, and gather stories of fans who have been to concerts, the trial, award shows, and others. I would LOVE to read stories of how people met MJ. Then you could even ask if they have a picture with MJ and ask permission to have their picture on the book. Maybe you could also talk about his fan clubs around the world. ;) Nice idea, go for it. :) It may take some years to accomplish, but go for your dreams. :)
 
I wouldnn't try to write as an authority on MJ, but writing from a fan's perspective is the best bet. Do you want it to be personal or a collection of fans' impressions and such?

Btw, I'd love to contribute. :)
 
tomthedude said:
The only problem is I know there are LOADS of these books, with a sharp increase after his death.
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So don't join the 'lets make some money over MJ bandwagon'. If you want to write it from the heart, for fans to enjoy instead of just to make money off it.....wait a few years.

Just my opinion. Good luck.
 
for those who want to write books about Michael:

make use of the articles written about Michael in the last three months , there were stories and articles from friend , old fans and ppl who worked with Michael .who gave their stories for some $$$ and they won't help you if u do not do them the same ...
it is easier for you and more economical to use these stories.


there are many stories about kids who got to meet Michael for many reasons (sick kids young fans, and some parents of dead kids who met Michael for support)

if you include these stories Michael will be so proude of you.


God bless you all and Thank you.
 
What about a children's book about Michael? I don't think that has been done before. It might work, in a Michael Pan kind of way, just with real stories as the basis. :)

ETA: I'm a mom, and I'd buy it for my kids ;) hehe.
 
Dutchie said:
So don't join the 'lets make some money over MJ bandwagon'. If you want to write it from the heart, for fans to enjoy instead of just to make money off it.....wait a few years.

Just my opinion. Good luck.
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By that I meant that I was wondering how to make it different from the rest so I didn't jump on the bandwagon. I think a book with a lot of fan comments, quotes, stories and praise is a good idea.

Ohood said:
for those who want to write books about Michael:

make use of the articles written about Michael in the last three months , there were stories and articles from friend , old fans and ppl who worked with Michael .who gave their stories for some $$$ and they won't help you if u do not do them the same ...
it is easier for you and more economical to use these stories.


there are many stories about kids who got to meet Michael for many reasons (sick kids young fans, and some parents of dead kids who met Michael for support)

if you include these stories Michael will be so proude of you.


God bless you all and Thank you.
Click to expand...

Thanks :)
 
:)

I think there were some good ideas there Tom. I'd try to start with collecting as many accounts as possible of fans that actually met Michael, talked to him, stayed in touch with him, were witnesses to his personality etc. I have not seen anything like this ever, just stories in a few places - I would LOVE a combination of this all.
Granted it would probably be very difficult. For a lot of these people those are personal memories. Also, probably some of them might want to protect their identity. But I think this idea is awesome.

If the span is too big at the beginning, start with the UK fans and work only on that section. Later on you can try to include fans from other parts of the world - or something along those lines.

The second step in the book could be people that worked with Mike - as mentioned before as well. Like the whole sound engineers thread on gearslutz..? Stories and memories combined.

This sounds like a life project ;) rather than just a book :clapping:
I think the idea of writing something is simply awesome but the different approach than in most publications VERY NECESSARY to make it stand out.
Campari's idea of a kids book is great too, and if you're not inclined to do this, I bet there will be someone picking this up. I think it's awesome, to take the connectivity that Mike had with kids and try to make something out of it.

I did not add much, just my thoughts.
If you do that you'll make your WHOLE APPLEHEAD FAMILY VERY PROUD! :cheers:
 
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