Thursday, August 13, 2009

You Can Do It

It’s always amazing to me what people can do when they set their minds and hearts to it. I’m reminded of the movie As Good As It Gets probably because Jack Nicholson, an eccentric writer, had the courage and determination to overcome his obstacles, which in this case was his own OCD. Ultimately his life was so much better because he was determined to make it so. This movie is a favorite of mine.

Whenever I believe a challenge is too tough, or the writing too slow, I remind myself, that yes, I am capable. Whatever we don’t know, we can learn. This is good to keep in mind with any occupation, but writing especially. There are so many opportunities, challenges and disappointments which come with this gig. We win some. We lose some. And thankfully people do come along to help us out sometimes. Those who specialize in areas we have no knowledge of. We would be lost otherwise.

Recently my daughter and I created a book trailer for Jack Rabbit Moon, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. For those who already have a book in print and for those who are hoping and planning to soon, I’ll share what I’ve learned along the way.

If you plan on doing this yourself, set aside around twenty hours or more to search for images, music and wording for your story. Keep the video short, under two minutes,if you can. The advice was it’s more effective this way. The book trailer cost me $38.00 dollars to do, and this was what I paid for royalty free music. Musicloops.com was where I found mine. Not too bad all things considered.

You can certainly pay to have it done if this works better for you. Apexreviews.net charges $80.00 dollars for a book trailer and review. Circle of Seven productions produces classy ones also, but I’m not sure regarding price.

Images can be found free at www.freefoto.com, www.freeimages.com and www.imagefree.org. There are many others. You can find a virtual wonderland of information on the topic of book trailers on line.

Once the Book Trailer is done, you can post it everywhere. Here are just a few: Utube, Link on AuthorsDen.com, Link on Amazon Associates author page, Goodreads author page, My Space Tv, Yahoo Video, and posted as an announcement on LinkiIn.com.

As Bruce Springsteen says in his song, Dancing in the Dark, “You can’t start a fire without a spark.” Keep those writing sparks flying and your fires burning. Best of luck!

To view the Official Book Trailer for novel, Jack Rabbit Moon, look in the upper right hand corner of this page!

8 comments:

  1. Fantastic trailer, Dorraine! I'm glad it worked out so well. Love the music and the text, it made me want to read the book again!

    Jai

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  2. Thanks for your kindness always, Jai!

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  3. Did you change the look of the blog in the last couple of days? It feels different somehow.

    Jai

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  4. Yep, sure did. I've never really had enough free time to actually mess around with it the way I wanted, so I finally took some time to do it. What do you think?

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  5. Its nice now but I quite liked the way it was before. Maybe I'm too conservative and I don't like change. I liked how your latest post was right at the top, but that's just my opinion and I could be wrong.

    Jai

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  6. Thanks for the feedback, Jai. Appreciate that. Think I'll see about moving the blog archive. That might be better.

    You sound like my oldest daughter regarding change. She likes everything to remain the same. But you know what? She is moving to LA in the Spring to pursue her playwriting career. I'm encourging her, although it will be so hard to let her go. She is so entertaining.

    She said, "Mom, you were right about change. It finds you. Might as well greet it at the the door."

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  7. Ha ha, you're right. Ultimately we're all creatures of habit but the way I've had to deal with change at every corner of my life, you'd think I'd be used to it by now.

    Much luck and good wishes to your daughter on her move to LA. That's so fantastic that you're supporting her and encouraging her to pursue her dreams.

    Jai

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  8. Thank you, Jai. It will be hard letting her go, but I feel if she doesn't do it, she will regret never trying. I wouldn't want that. Now when it comes time for her to leave, I'll be crying rivers. But not in front of her.

    Change is hard on people. We like our comfort zones. I don't mind it as much, maybe because being an Army brat, I was used to moving around so much. It made me tough in a way that I'm now thankful for.

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