Book Trailers: 11 steps to make your own

Book trailers are videos posted online and distributed via video networking sites like YouTube. These can be big budget blockbuster movie clips, or budget MovieMaker slides to music. You can make it an advert or a social media fun clip that people want to watch. It can be a human interest story made more like a documentary. It can be a cartoon. Essentially, it is anything you want it to be. Anything that catches people’s attention.

You can get a professional to make you one or you can make your own for little or no money. I made this one with Windows Movie Maker (which is on on most PCs). It took me several hours but was essentially free, and you don’t have to be too techy to make one too. Here are the steps you need.

1. Research other book trailers that are similar to what you would like to do. Just search for book trailers on YouTube. decide what you like and don’t like (and what is within your capacity and budget)

2. Write a brief script for the trailer so you can get it straight in your head and understand what images and text you will need ( I just did this on Microsoft Word)

3. Find and download images to match your words. You can use your own or get free ones online by googling “royalty free photo”. I use iStockPhoto which I find easy to use with a variety of pictures and I did pay a small amount for some photos. You can also use movie clips (which I am still learning about!)

4. Import the pictures into Windows MovieMaker (File -> Import Media)

5. Order the pictures.Drag them into the movie bar at the bottom of the screen in the order you want. Right click and Cut to remove again. Basic drag and drop functionality. Remember to save regularly!

6. Add script by clicking on the picture in the movie bar and then clicking Edit -> Titles and Credits. You can add text in various styles, colours and transition effects here. You can add text before, on top of or after your picures.

7. Edit.Once you have got the basic pictures and text setup, see how long your movie is. Most book trailers are no longer than 1 minute 30 seconds. Edit as necessary by clicking and dragging the size of the boxes to shorten the time frame they show on the screen.

8. Find music to match the length of your movie (or cut to fit). I used SoundSnap.com but you can google “royalty free music” to find other sites. I searched on audio length within classical music and listened to a few before choosing.

9. Check you are happy with everything and then Publish your movie to your computer.

10. Find tags.Now you have a file you can publish it to the internet movie sites to get some viewers. You need to know what tags you want to add to your video when you upload it, so I suggest you also research what people are searching on in your genre. I use Google Keyword Search which has a number of tools and recommended related words.

11. Upload your video to appropriate sites.

I have loaded mine to YouTube and Google Video so far. It takes some time per site, unless you use a video submission site like TrafficGeyser which is expensive and really only for companies with lots of video. You can submit manually to sites like Revver, MySpaceTV, Metacafe, Yahoo Video, Book Trailers, AuthorsDen. No doubt there are many more! Remember to also use the embed links to post to your own website, blog and social networking sites.

It’s easier than you think to get a video book trailer on YouTube! Let us know how it goes!

Reposted from http://www.TheCreativePenn.com : Writing, self-publishing, print-on-demand, internet sales and promotion…for your book.

Skating the Promo-Annoyance Meter for Indie Authors

All authors have to market themselves. There are possibly a few newbie authors out there who have just signed their first big NY contract, who for some reason aren’t aware of how much they’ll have to market. But indies know going in. They say "Knowing is half the battle" but man, that other half…

Marketing and promoting is very hard for everyone, but it’s especially hard for an indie. Yes, a lot of the barriers are lowering and theoretically the playing field is leveling. But there is still so much noise. So many books out there being published and now with lowered barriers, even more. What makes yours so special?

Authors published by a big New York house tend to get national distribution in physical brick and mortar bookstores. Which means that some authors will be discovered just by someone browsing the shelves looking for them. They still may not earn out their advance, but a book sitting on the shelf at Barnes and Noble is a type of exposure, at least for the browsing book buyer. (Here’s a hint: If you’re going for bookstore shelving, choose a publishing name that starts at the front of the alphabet where most people start browsing. Yeah I know, Winters doesn’t exactly scream "Pick me first!")

How many people do you know who browse at Amazon.com? I know I sometimes do a search, but most of the time I go to Amazon to search out a book I’ve already heard of. And then I find out about other books judging by what other customers liked and bought besides the book I’m looking at. So how does an indie get attention for their work? A lot of it is branding/marketing yourself, the author.

I know there are people who I wouldn’t have just gone out and bought and read their book if I didn’t already have some kind of online communication with them first, or exposure to the author as themselves. The story can’t just stand on it’s own, even as a free giveaway. I do support free giveaways, but I’m still trying to figure out the best way to leverage it.

Many indie authors are starting to give out work or part of their work for free as a promotional strategy. Unfortunately a lot of it is bad. That’s just the statistical reality. So right now free is almost a “gimmick.” But how long before readers just get tired of downloading free, just because it’s free and giving out endless chances? How long before you have to stand out, above and beyond just having a free ebook? I’m thinking not that long since many have decided “free” is the panacea for the writer masses. Again, not saying it’s not a great way to build an audience, it is. But there is still competition for time and attention.

This is especially true in light of larger publishers starting to get on the free-train too. (Harlequin is doing a lot of this in the romance genre.) Fictionwise also has free e-reads. (And indies need not apply.) So this leaves us at the question of HOW do you get someone interested enough in you to read your book? Whether they pay for it or download it for free, you still have to get someone to take a positive action toward your work, instead of someone else’s work, or a video game, or TV show, or just playing on the internet, or the other zillion things they could be doing for entertainment right now. And a large part of the problem isn’t getting them interested, but getting them interested enough to take the step "right now."

I have 30 books on my shelf right now, novels I haven’t yet gotten a chance to read. The authors have all been paid for my purchases (well depending on payment schedules and advance earn out and blah blah blah), but most of them are still just sitting there. Then I have a larger "to be read" pile. But I can’t really justify buying more books until I finish reading the ones I’ve already paid for but haven’t read yet. I also have limited reading time. So it may take me awhile to get through those 30 books. In order to sell me a novel right now, you have to have something compelling. Otherwise it’ll be added to the TBR list, and other books will be added to that list. And your book may always be on that list of good intentions, but never quite make it out to a purchase.

So what makes the difference in being 1 of 500 books on a list of books I’d like to read, and being the book I push ahead of the crowd to buy? If I’ve communicated directly online with an author and I like that person, I want to read their book, and they automatically zoom to the top of my list.

Web presence is crucial. You gotta have a website. A blog is good because it offers you a communication forum and level of interactivity. You have to get out there and mingle and communicate with other people in a “real” way. Constant direct promo won’t cut it. Because people get tired of hearing the same message over and over. People hate being advertised to.

Though as I say this, I’m breaking my own rule. Because I have been a direct promo marketing monkey of doom this week. And I almost never do this, but this week (through Sunday February 8th, 2009), is Semi-Finals week for an erotic short story contest I’m in. The grand prize is $3,000, so I’m pretty intense about this right now. Any promo opportunity I can find to get this in front of other people so they can go vote, I’ll take it. Which means that right now I’m skating that very thin line on the annoyance meter.

Just engaging with people is great, and over the long term it will build you an audience. But if you have a deadline, and you have to make something happen, you just gotta go for it. Be bold. Fortune favors the brave. But don’t make it a habit. If you promote everything directly with the same level of urgency, at some point people’s eyes glaze over as the "blah blah blah" goes past them.

Zoe Winters is an indie author writing primarily paranormal romance and dabbling in erotica. Go here to vote for her short story, A SAFER LIFE.

The Double-Edged Sword of Self-Publishing

By Kat Meyer Originally published on The Bookish Dilettante Being the bookish dilettante that I am, I tend to wear many hats. There are ones—like this blog, that are frilly and fun and not very practical, and then there are the ones that pay the bills. Those hats are not necessarily flattering, but they do keep the chill off. For example, I make a sizable portion of my daily bread providing book marketing services to self-published authors. And, though the authors I meet doing this are almost always interesting and lovely people (and to be fair, most of them have already had a certain amount of sales success with their books), I generally do not enjoy this part of my job. In fact, on any given day, at any given moment, you might find me quite vocally damning the inventor of Print-on-Demand.

Why? Well, it’s complicated. But, in a nutshell, I think many self-publishing authors look upon the self-publishing route much as they would a very shiny sword – say, Excalibur. And these authors, who really want to get their book published (but who have either given up on or don’t want to be bothered with “traditional” publishing) see that gleaming sword stuck in that rock, and they hear it beckoning to them, “Hey, you, author – come and get me. You can do it. Give it a try.” And they figure, “Why not?” “Why not just take a chance and self-publish my book? I mean, I know I’ve got what it takes, and my manuscript is terrific, so it’ll all work out just fine.”

But, most of those authors soon find that they are not able to pull that sword out of that rock – their book does not fly off the shelves—why, it doesn’t even make it onto the shelves in the first place. You see, self-publishing services are about one thing – they are about getting books published. The better self-publishing firms will offer some copyediting and design services, and see to it that the book is made available by online retailers, but they will not create a demand for that book, nor make that book worth reading.

It’s like that shiny, gleaming, rock-stuck, double-edged sword just sitting there for the taking – it certainly looks easy enough; and there are very few barriers to getting your book published (money being the main barrier, though there are options where not even money is required). But the barriers to getting your self-published book read? Those barriers are real and they are many. This is because the so-called “barriers” that the self-pubbed author managed to avoid by circumventing the traditional publishing route, were not simply barriers. They were check points. They were safe guards. They were opportunities for a lot of industry trust agents to jump on board and show they not only believed in the book, but were willing to risk their own money, time, and/or professional reputations to see that book make it in the world.

Of course, you can call this process whatever you want. Some cynical types refer to it as “gate keeping.” Social media “experts” would call it establishing an author’s platform. I prefer to call it book curation. What it all comes down to is this: those barriers provide some assurance to the prospective reader that the book is a good investment of their time and money before they fork over any of either. Especially time, because life (as I’m becoming ever so increasingly aware) is just too short to be spent reading crap books. For traditionally published books, this vetting manifests as a byzantine process where millions of seemingly unconnected people work together, but apart — each taking some kind of personal and/or financial risk on a title. Agents, editors, designers, marketers, publicists, sales reps, reviewers, TV show hosts, bloggers, booksellers, librarians, etc., (I’m sure I’m forgetting a few people here) – boldy stand up and put their money where their mouths are, all so a traditionally published book can have a chance of making it in the marketplace.

And usually, these players are not just idly signing on to support a book because it’s "popular" or "trendy" (i love these "scare quotes"). They are often supporting a book because they are quite passionate about it. Their love for, and belief in the book is worth a lot to others in the list of industry players, and eventually enough people willing to risk enough time and money on that book translates into readers being willing to risk their time and money on the book.

On the other hand, for the majority of self-published books, there is no vetting, or gate-keeping, or author platform building, or curation process. And, the majority of self-published authors will find themselves trying to gain the trust and willingness of readers with no collateral to offer in return. That is usually the point at which such authors will turn to someone like me, hoping they’ll be able to drum up interest in their book via clever marketing campaigns. And, this is when I usually have to tell them that they need to go back to the beginning and start looking at those “barriers” they were avoiding in a new light.

They need to create their own platforms, find their own trust agents and listen to what their vetters might have to say about their book. That’s not to say self-published books can’t be commercially successful. But, I guarantee that if you look closely at the paths taken by books such as The Shack or Eragon, you will almost always find that their authors had the good sense to seek out vetting, and build their own author platforms, and gain the enthusiasm of trust agents of their own, early in their publishing processes. Because that’s the thing about great publishing – it’s very seldom done by one’s self. Successful books are a result of a lot of players being committed to, and passionate about a book.


Publetariat Editor’s Note: two days after the above column was published, Kat posted the following addendum:


Books Are Books, And It’s About The Reader

Well. I guess my writing is not as clear as I’d like it to be. And, in some ways it is clearer than I intended. But, No matter. The beauty of the Blog is that at any point in the online conversation I can tell you what I meant, what I really, really meant. Which, right now would be that I am not in any way shape or form against the idea of self publishing. I adore the concept. I exalt the concept. I think self-publishing has the potential to be the best thing since sliced bread (though, in the interest of transparency, i must herewith express my lack of enthusiasm about sliced bread cuz i think it’s kind of meh– however, i AM hugely impressed by spreadable butter – go figure).

My point was that there are a lot of blood and guts human beings who make their (usually quite modest – from a monetary standpoint) livings by being a part of what has been until recently, the way (for better or worse) book publishing worked. My point, dear readers was that most of the people who are in the business of (for lack of a better word) "traditional" book publishing are in it because they love good books. They love reading, they love making, they love SELLING good books to the world.

My point was – there really are legitimate reasons that the book world has worked the way it has, though it won’t likely continue to work that way. Things are changing. And to quote Lev Grossman from his article "Books Unbound" (btw, thank you, @jafurtado and Hugh McGuire for tweeting about it), "None of this is good or bad; it just is."

My point was – what will not change is the fact that readers will not read unless they have a reason to read. READERS will not invest their precious time and money in an unknown quantity unless there is someone or something compelling them to do so.

My point is: IT’S ABOUT THE READERS! It’s about engaging with the readers. If you are a (pardon the term) TRADITIONALLY published author, a self-published author, a non-published author with an inkling of an idea to someday BECOME an author of some sort — please please please — do yourself, and all of us potential readers a huge favor and think about US before you publish.

Start early (before you begin writing would be ideal) by becoming a vital member of the community that makes up your (prospective) reading audience. Get feedback from us. Incorporate that feeback into your writing and, keep us involved. Make us care. Make us want to help spread the word about your work. And when you DO publish, we most likely will not give a damn HOW you publish — we will just be happy to read what you wrote FOR US!

What is Publishing 2.0 and why is it great news for writers?

Publishing 2.0 is changing the way books are written, published, sold and promoted over the internet utilising Web 2.0 technologies.

Authors can now use these tools to self publish and get their message out there themselves. You do not need a publisher to write and sell your books, and you are not confined anymore by space or somewhere to store your books. You are not confined by price either. Here’s why.

Writing your book has changed

Traditional publishers will assign you an editor and proof-readers, as well as a cover designer and type-setter. They have professionals to do this for you. However, these people also work as freelancers and there are people all over the world who you can employ to do this for you as a self-publisher writer. Sites like http://www.Elance.com and http://www.Guru.com have people who can do these jobs for you so your book is as professional as a “real” publishing house.

The ways of writing have also changed with technology. You can speak your book into a hand-held recorder and send it to a transcriber to put into words, then send that to a freelance editor. You can use a tool like Dragons which turns your words into text as you speak.

You can blog your book now. Write a post every day of 500 words on a related topic and in 6 months you will have substantial book. Setting up a blog is now so easy anyone can do it for free at sites like Blogger.com or WordPress.com.

Printing your book has changed

Print-on-demand (POD) technology is when you load a print-ready file to a POD publisher online. When an order comes in for your book, they print the book and send it to the customer directly. You get a smaller cut of the sale price but you have no stock to store, no postage hassle or costs and no up-front print costs. If you are a self-published author, you have the global rights to your book. You can have multiple POD publishers in order to lower costs from postage e.g. use http://www.Lulu.com in USA and http://www.Pothi.com in India.

Another new technology is the Espresso Book Machine that enables a book to be printed and bound in about 7 minutes. As these machines become cheaper and easier to use, people will be able to download and print books on demand. If you think that these machines could be hooked up to Google Book Search online and print anything, people may print your book just as easily as a traditionally published book.

Alternatively, you don’t have to print your book at all. You can sell it as an ebook on one of the many ebook sites, or from your own website. The pricing of ebooks does vary but the information is still the same and sales are starting to rise. Ebook readers are available in many different formats and with the popularity of the iPhone with Stanza software, most people will soon have ebook readers in their mobile phones.

Selling your book has changed

Online book sales have changed the way people browse and buy books. Even small independent bookstores now have online sales, as well as huge stores like Amazon.com and BN.com. With Print-on-demand technology you can now have your book on these megastores alongside traditionally published books. The page is formatted the same, the availability is the same and to the public, there is no difference. When you have an Amazon page, other online booksellers will also pick up your book for their website so you get even more exposure.

You can also sell your book on your own website using PayPal to take credit card payments globally without the need for a merchant account. You can sell your ebook on Clickbank and have affiliates sell it for you. You can upload your ebook to Kindle so people can read it on Oprah’s favourite ebook reader. You can sell your book on the iPhone through http://www.Smashwords.com

Think bigger than just your local bookstore!

Promoting your book has changed

Traditional publishers have focussed on “in-person” promotion like book signings, book tours and traditional media like newspapers and TV. This is still valid promotion but can cost you time and a lot of money.

Web 2.0 changes the way authors can promote themselves for very little money.
Here are just a few ideas:

* Write a blog about your book so search engines can find you. Include links to Buy your book now.

* Submit press releases online to free (or paid) PR services that are syndicated around the world

*Make a podcast on your book that people can download to hear your voice and get to know you

* Make a video book trailer and post it on YouTube

*Do a virtual book tour and visit websites in countries all over the world

* Submit your book to Google Book Search for even more search engine traffic

*Join general social networking sites and build up a group of people interested in your topic

*Join specific social networking sites for authors or groups about your topic

*Gain a following on Twitter

*Post articles on your topic at article sites with links back to your main site

*Upload your book and author details to Amazon and syndicate your blog there

*Build your email list with a free report and market to your hungry crowd

*Make your own pages on Web 2.0 sites like Squidoo and Hubpages with links to your own website

Publishing 2.0 is the broad term that encompasses all of these new developments. It is the future of publishing and it’s here right now for those authors who go online.