Some people love video trailers, others
prefer to read excerpts. Personally, I love ‘watching’ an
excerpt over reading it. With so many new authors coming on board
and new promotion groups springing up every day, I feel like my words
get lost in a sea of others. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve
become frustrated over scrolling through a digest that is nothing but
excerpt after excerpt with little or no explanation about the
story—no scene setting, no dialogue. Why would I want to buy that
book, I ask myself. The author clearly didn’t care enough to stick
around and discuss her/his work. Probably off doing more
‘drive-by-posting.’
*Hanging head*. I’ve been guilty of
it myself by trying to cover as many loops as possible on the days
they offer open promotion. But, I now realize I was doing myself a
disservice by using this tactic. I’m looking for a way to initiate
discussions with readers about what they truly appreciate and/or hate
in a book. The secret is finding a way to ‘delurk’ them.
*smile*
In the meantime, I really enjoy the
technology that allows me to bring my work to life in a one-two
minute video. I’m a fan of short rather than longer because
sometimes too much information becomes boring or overwhelming. I’ve
done several trailers now, and I think I’ve finally hit upon giving
just enough information to whet someone’s appetite and make them
want more. At least, that’s my hope.
The cost of having a professional video
done is prohibitive in most cases which is the main reason I learned
to use the Windows Movie Maker program on my computer. It’s time
consuming, but for me, fun because it gets my creative juices
flowing. The hardest part is perusing royalty-free sites, looking
for inexpensive pictures and music. You must be very careful about
what you use, making sure you’ve purchased the appropriate license
to display the photo or sound. People get really picky when you use
their stuff without permission. As authors, we should all understand
this. We don’t like anyone selling our books without permission. I recently discovered Animto.com and pay for a very small free and they do all the hard word...mixing, coordinating the transitions...things that continually made my Movie Maker freeze up. I really, love Animoto.
Not all my friends are computer
literate or have the time to devote to making their own trailers, so
I’ve had the privilege of creating one or more for them. My
options are limited to the program I use and can’t compare with the
big gun companies, but given what I have to work with, I’m proud of
my accomplishments. Here’s a look at one I did for a recent release,
You can find all my videos at
http://www.youtube.com/mizging and all my books on my Amazon author's page.
Please visit my blog at
http://mizging.blogspot and say hello. Right now I’ve been on a
political rampage, but I’m taking prozac and drinking vodka to cure
it and not vent on Dishin' It Out. *big grin*
I'd rather read excerpts but that's because for me pictures mean little. I'm a word person. Even my dreams are generally in words like someone is telling me a story.
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