I spent yesterday making my book trailer with my cousin Michael. http://colemanfilm.com/
Rather, Michael did all the hard stuff and I piped in with opinions. It was an absolutely, fantastically, wonderful experience! If I were 20, I think I would go into the profession. We started by recording the script, then went about adding layers. Michael went from word to word, finding images that fit. We had been working for an hour or so and I figured we must be at least half the way through, then realized we were still on the first sentence.
After we had a bunch of pics, we started on the music. And then he started piecing it together. It looked like a musical score on the computer screen, with lines for voice, pics, music, and then sound effects, all stacked up. He did his magic making sure that everything meshed, faded in or out, and flowed seamlessly. I am so ready to make another! Actually, I want to try making my own, but I know that would not be possible. I may understand some of the concepts, but being able to really do it would take more than a bit of training. And then there is the element of feel for the right thing to add at the correct section that cannot be learned; it is part of a person's DNA. And my cousin has that in great abundance.
With my hot trailer in the can, I then set out to work on the mass marketing of Murder, Jaz, & Tel Aviv. I am hoping that a book trailer to editors of newspapers and other publications is more appealing than a boring press release, although I also have one of those. I am a little stuck on how this whole press release thing works. Apparently, I can pay several hundred dollars for someone else to send out a mass email. Even if I could afford it, I just can't see how it is worth it. As I understand, it is a list of email addresses of people who might delete me without reading the press release whether I send it or I hire someone to send it.
I must let everyone know that if you want to self-publish, http://www.booksurge.com/ is the way to go. It was back in October and I was once again thinking about doing this and somehow ran into their site. I liked that they were affiliated with Amazon, so popped off an email. Less than 24 hours later, Shauna called me in response. I was stunned. I may even have stuttered. I eventually did get back to them and Shauna become the one who guided me through the whole process. I emailed and called and asked lots of questions and kept checking on this and that. And I always received a reply by the next day. I could even call if I wanted. They offer lots of services for people wanting to publish; some for an extra charge, but many for free. They are definitely the best deal in town.
I need to get back to all this self-promo stuff.
Kate
