Creating Your Own Book Trailer

Tip of the Day: Need to get in the Christmas mood? This video from The Muppets always does it for me:

Today I'll be spending some time creating a book trailer for my Hell Bent Heaven Sent series (under my other pen name, Isobel Lucas). So I thought I'd give you guys a quick and dirty outline on making book trailers.

I actually start with the music. Why? Because the music you choose typically determines how long your trailer's going to be. My favorite place for royalty free music? Neosounds. It's amazing. I could spend all day long listening to music there. It's awesome. You can sort by length, genre, and even emotion. I love it there. I generally choose music approximately one minute in length.

Next, buy some stock photos that fit the themes of your book. I get mine from Dreamstime. This is usually where I find my cover models, so I buy additional pictures of those models, as well as generic shots that I want to use under text for the trailer.

Write your script. You want to include the pertinent parts of your book. Use your blurb, or your elevator pitch, and split it up over a few frames. Make sure you include a spot for your cover(s), as well as where to buy.

Then you just put everything together in a movie program. Okay, okay, I know that makes it sound easy. It was a big learning curve for me when I made my first trailer. It took days to make Anathema's, but like with anything, the more you do it, the faster and more efficient you become. It takes a bit of time to learn how to use the program, but trust me, if I can do it, so can you!!!!

I'm going to be using iMovie tomorrow, but for my other trailers I used the movie program that used to come with PCs through Microsoft. I don't own a PC anymore, so I can't look up the name, sorry. But if you have a PC, it should be there on your hard drive, pre-installed.

Book trailers aren't necessary, but they are a lot of fun! I haven't made one in over a year, but I really wanted to do one for the Isobel Lucas series, so I'm going to give a whirl.

Here are the trailers I made for Anathema, Oubliette, and The Initiate last year. Hope you like them! :D

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Write Like No One is Reading

Tip of the Day: If you're a self-publisher, you might not want to set up release dates until you book is actually done. It'll save you some stress. Trust me.

My newest series (under my other pen name, Isobel Lucas) isn't doing so well. I have deadlines to pub a new installment every two weeks, and now that I see sales are practically non-existent, it was hard for me to convince myself to keep writing.

Yes, I love writing for the sake of writing, but I also have this pesky left brain that tells me to manage my time in a way that will encourage a steady income. Spending time writing books for a series that isn't selling is not a good use of my time/income ratio.

There's also the other side of me (how many freaking sides do I have?) that won't give up. I'm like a puppy chasing after a big dog. I. Will. Not. Stop. Not until I've accomplished my goal. Since I promised readers a new short every two weeks, I have to give it to them - even if there's only a few out there that are interested.

So I sat down with my iPad. I stared at it for a while. I played on Facebook. Started some new Song Pop challenges. You know, productive writing things. Then I sighed and wrote some really bad words. Really, really bad ones. Words I knew wouldn't make it past editing.

Then I turned off my iPad.

When we are unpublished, writing is a joy. We have only dreams for our babies. After publication, our babies are clothed in stress and deadlines and bad reviews and rejection and poor sales. Writing loses the joy because in the back of your mind, there's always that nagging voice, "People will hate this. People won't buy this. People won't read this. Why waste your time? Write something more commercial. Stop following your muse."

I did the only thing I could. I ignored that voice in my head and I sat down to write whatever the hell I wanted. I didn't worry about everyone else, and instead I wrote for ME. And guess what? I love what I wrote. I really do. I kind of giggle when I read it because it's soooo me.

I just uploaded that ebook last night. I have no clue what people will think when they read it. Besides, there are three novelettes that come before that one. I know how sales work - the most sales are on the first book and there's always a decline after that. People drop out for whatever reason. I just hope the ones who stuck with it enjoy the ride, because Infliction is a lot of fun. ;)

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Are Serials the New Thing?

Tip of the Day: No one notices the dust in your house except for you. If someone does notice, hand them a feather duster. ;)

Last year, my good friend Karly Kirkpatrick came up with this revolutionary idea: we should write serials, like a TV show, then release them every couple of weeks.

I respected Karly's opinion, but I thought it would be a TON of work for little payment. A serial is short (7,500 - 15,000 words), so it's not worth pricing above 99 cents. For self-pubs, a 99 cent sale on Amazon garners just a 35 cent profit.

I filed the idea away  in the back of my head. I hadn't written short stories in years, even though in the late 90's I'd sold quite a few (under my real name - lol, yes, I have more names than I can keep track of too) to magazines. Short stories weren't my favorite medium. Karly had an interesting idea, but not one I was ready to pursue.

One year later, I'm doing just that. Working on a set of five novelettes. Each has its own storyline, but they are part of a bigger story that spans all five books. Starting October 23rd, I'm going to release my mini-series.

The debut is 10/23, then every two weeks through 12/18 I'll release another story.

It's been quite an adventure. I never announce release dates until I'm done editing. With this series, I have deadlines imposed on me that I must keep. It's good motivation to write, if nothing else.

And yes, I'm doing this under another pen name - Isobel Lucas. Why? The books have more language and sexual content than my readers are used to. The last thing I need are 12-year-olds picking up these books. The mom in me can't stand the thought.

Okay, so back to serials. A couple of weeks ago, Amazon announced they're starting up a serials imprint. More and more authors are taking this path. It should be interesting to see if the reading public enjoys the concept. ePublishing is a really fluid place - the rules change all the time. I'm just having fun experimenting with the medium.

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

$100,000 or bust?

Tip of the Day: Considering self-publishing? Hang out for a while at the Writer's Cafe on the Kindle Boards. It's like a crash course in self-pub.

Remember back in June when I said I'd pull down $100,000 this year, but that I wouldn't consider quitting my day job?

"Publishing does not guarantee you a steady income. I know self-pubbers who were hitting big numbers last year, numbers that still beat my current sales, who are now languishing in the low-sales club.

If they had quit their day jobs, where would they be today? Frustrated with publishing because they can't seem to get their sales off the ground? Likely. Looking for a job in a crappy economy wishing they'd never quit their perfectly fine day job the year before? Definitely."

Wow, am I glad I'm a boring, practical person. I was easily on track to pull down big numbers in 2012. On August 6th, my Amazon sales were cut by 60%. Literally overnight. And I never got up that high again. The first seven months of year were incredible for sales, then faster than Batman's dialogue bubbles can say "Boom!" "Crash!" "Smash!" my sales took a nosedive.

I wish I knew why. Maybe then I could fix it. I've tried blog hops, ads, giveaways. Nothing worked and August ended up being my worst month in more than a year. Talk about painful...

Publishing is not a guaranteed stream of income unless you find someone to offer you a salary. It has its glorious up and wicked downs.

I didn't curl up in a ball and die. I kept writing. I have a new series coming out this fall under my other pen name Isobel Lucas.

I still love writing. That doesn't change no matter how many books I sell. I hope that you feel the same way about your writing.

As for hitting the $100k mark? There's always next year! ;)

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber