Creating a book trailer is one way to promote a book to readers. This type of promotion can make a sale, or hurt it.

When making the trailer, it’s very important to keep in mind a book trailer is like any marketing strategy, it should be carefully planned. The artistic skills and marketing talent are the foundation of creating a successful video that will present your book in a fascinating style.

Few points you should consider as you create your trailer:

While I create book trailers, it is important to make the trailer short, not more than two minutes, so the trailer won’t bore the viewers.

Words used are so crucial to the success of your video; it shouldn’t be more than one short sentence per frame, to be able to read it comfortably. I work with authors to come up with tweaked sentences or words to convey the right amount of information, enough to capture the reader’s interest.

How you construct your video is essential when you are marketing your book. If your video isn’t fascinating enough, it can hurt you more than help you sell your story.

The use of suitable video effects/pictures is essential part in making your trailer more professional, it’s not how many effects/pictures you use, but what and how you use these effects/pictures.

The trailer should give a different peek into the story, and compliment the blurb, not repeat it. One of the mistakes I see, in my opinion of course, is that some authors use the trailer as a blurb, and the mistake in using a blurb in the trailer is that you are giving the readers one chance in liking what they are watching, and if they didn’t find it intriguing, you lost them. From your trailer readers need to get to the blurb to learn more, then to your story to know the answers.

Using the trailer as stage one, and the blurb as stage two that’s two chances the reader may comeback and buy your book, which is the final stage you want the readers to reach. Just like a book cover, some readers if they were not attracted to it, they leave the book, some go to the blurb, and from there they will buy the book or not.

Same works for the book trailer, you must attract readers enough to get them to your story, and if the book trailer failed to attract readers, and wasn’t up to their standards, then you lost the sell. Cluttering the book trailer with many words will put readers off.

Book trailers and book covers fascinate me, and graphic design always drew my attention. And as an artist, I started one day and never stopped. To me, creating Book Covers and Trailers is an art, a passion. I created Book Trailer Design Company in 2009. Please visit wwww.design.suzannahsafi.com and check the videos created, I hope you’ll enjoy your visit.

I always welcome any comments, suggestions, or questions; please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Suzannah Safi

http://www.suzannahsafi.com/

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Sentences are good. Longer sentences are even better. And when you combine two independent thoughts, such as the two above, you have a compound sentence. Or, you can create a run on sentence.

Like this:

Sentences are good longer sentences are better.

or

Sentences are good, longer sentences are better.

Both of these are run-on sentences, because each independent clause could stand alone. Instead it’s “spliced” or joined to its buddy with a comma.

The proper punctuation could take several different forms.

Sentences are good; longer sentences are better.

Sentences are good. Longer sentences are better.

Sentences are good, but longer sentences are better.

Sentences are good; however, longer sentences are better.

Your characters can run for fitness. And you can run inside when it’s raining, or run to the store. But please, don’t have running sentences. Because then your editor has to stop them.

More reading: http://www.towson.edu/ows/sentelmt.htm#comma%20splices

I don’t think there’s an author out there who doesn’t loathe the thought of edits. Opening the file, seeing all the “track changes” on it and realizing that most likely there will be a few hours’ work in getting the manuscript ready to return to the editor. Surely, if there’s one thing that authors could get rid of in the process of publishing a book, edits would be it.

However edits are done to make the book better and improve the author’s craft. Editors, while we may joke about editorial whips, don’t undertake our work with cruelty or torture in mind. Seriously. It’s all done to produce a better book, and hopefully, the author learns in the process.

The truth is the publishing industry is changing. The barriers to entry for self-published books are becoming lower, and in the consumer’s eyes, the lines are blurring between self-published, vanity published, and commercially published. Frankly, the consumer doesn’t care. To them a good book is a good book, except when it isn’t.

Those edits sitting in your inbox are the editor’s attempt to help your book hit the former category, good, instead of the latter, bad.

So while there is some level of craft and growth that comes with each books, and authors may be at different levels in their writing career, there should be some edits, especially for newer authors and smaller presses. The editor who accepts a mediocre story and gives it only a cursory edit isn’t doing anyone any favors, least of all the author.

I’m not sure what the answer is, except perhaps to open up communication with the editor. If an author thinks her edits are easy, then she needs to seek out critique partners, maybe even discuss her concerns with the staff at the publisher. And if the author is published with another publisher who has “tougher” edits, maybe pay attention to them, apply them to the writing with other publishers, and hopefully, continue to grow as an author.

Because that’s what this is all about. Making sure the next book is an even better one than the previous. That way the reader will keep coming back for more.

When self-editing, it’s important to make the writing as clean and tight as possible. One of the best ways to do this consists of removing extra words. Writing casually makes for a great voice, but it also introduces a lot of little extra words into the prose, most of which can be removed without harming the meaning.

Take for example actions. He can stand, or he can stand up. The latter is redundant. If someone stands, they’re already moving into a vertical or “up” position. Same with sitting. She can sit, or sit down. They both have the same meaning, but the first is tighter writing.

Of course, those examples preclude any modifying phrases. If someone sits down hard, that has a different meaning than just sitting. Standing in a rush, is different than just standing. But again, even with those phrases, there’s the opportunity to refine, to ask if another word would serve the same purpose. Maybe instead of standing, he bolts to his feet. Maybe instead of sitting, she slams her ass into the chair.

Tighter writing also means that the author enters into an understanding with the reader. If the character turned to face another character, it’s understood that if you simply say “the character faced the other one (with names, of course. LOL), that the character had to turn, or shift position to face the other character.

turn to
stand up
sit down
looked over

Look for phrases such as these in your writing. Sometimes they’re necessary. Other Times, there are tighter, easier ways to say what you mean. You’ll be rewarded with tighter writing and a better story.

Flowers by Color

The next time you plant a flower garden you may want to consider the meanings of colors to make sure your garden reflects your personality. What is important to you? What do you want your garden to reveal about your personality? An aura of mystery? Calmness and serenity? Wealth? Creativity? Maybe you’d like a combination of more than one characteristic, for instance, a black and gold garden to represent mystery and wealth. Or you may want a pink and red garden to represent beauty, love, vitality and passion.

Below is a list of colors and their meanings. You can find flowers from each color category in Flower Power at www.jupitergardenspress.com.

Black represents both stability and mystery. It’s a neutral color that unifies. In the flower world it is used to describe the darkest color, in a specific plant, available.

Blue represents devotion and loyalty. It’s a cool calming color.

Gold represents wealth. It’s a warm exciting color.

Orange represents creativity. It’s a warm exciting color.

Pink represents beauty and love. It’s a warm exciting color.

Purple represents magic and royalty. It mixes coolness and warmth, excitement and calmness.

Red  represents vitality and passion. It’s a warm exciting color.

White represents purity, peace and spirituality. It’s a neutral color that unifies.

Yellow represents cheerfulness and happiness. It’s a warm exciting color.

 

Just for fun: This week I’ll be having a daily drawing to give away a handmade bookmark by artist Meghan Cox. To enter: all you have to do is send an email to and put bookmark in the subject line.