Book Trailers (tm) & Author Web Sites discussion

Paul wrote: "Hi Jaimey,

Here in the UK it's something like 20 GBP to get a .com domain name for 2 years - say 25 USD?

Then you have to find someone with a machine (webserver) who will let you put the pages fo..."

Dee wrote: "Hey Jaimey,

I personally LOVE 1&1

http://order.1and1.com

I have been running four web domains (and sites) with them for the past two years. Not only do they have great deals on both domain..."

Thank you both very much! At least now I have a general direction to go...

:o)

Dee, I took your advice and decided to give 1&1 a try. I opted to go with just the one domain with no web hosting for now. My fingers are crossed...

I am confident that you will like their service Jaimey.

Let me know if you need any help with anything, or have any questions :]

Dee wrote: "I am confident that you will like their service Jaimey.

Let me know if you need any help with anything, or have any questions :]"

I think I got it all figured out. I'm not sure. I had to redirect the link, which was annoying.

Anyway...

http://www.jaimeygrant.com

Let me know if it works or if you get a "construction" page. :o)

Hmmm.

You might give them a call, and see if they can walk you through a way to directly link to your new page.

LOVE the look of the sight. I am not a huge fan of black backgrounds on websites, but it really works well on your site :]

Great job!

Hi everybody!

I am so glad I found this forum! My name is Eric Anderson and I have recently launched Living Jacket, a multimedia studio with a focus on creating trailers for books and other literary projects.

In creating Living Jacket, my goal was to help progress the possibilities of video as a promotion tool for the literary industry. With the explosion of ebooks, press on demand, and social media sites, there are many new avenues available for book promotion and it is a very exciting time for the literary community.

I hope I can make a healthy contribution to this forum, and I am excited to learn from all of you!

Our new videos can be found at: http://livingjacket.com/

Hey Eric,
Welcome to the group :]
I really enjoyed the "A Field Guide to Surreal Botany" trailer. Very innovative :]

Thank you for the warm welcome and kind words, Dee!

:)

I'm off to Wales tomorrow for a week - no phones, no Internet - but we do have electricity. So, I'll take the laptop and write a full-length film script in a week! Do some general building and gardening in the afternoons. And some reviewing as well.

Bliss! (But I'll miss you all.) I expect I'll have 9000 emails to page through when I get back ;)

We shall miss you too Paul!

I can hardly wait until you get back. Looking forward to working with you on the SOA trailer :]

I am an author and yes I have a web site and a trailer for my first novel, EYE OF THE STORM. This group looks to have a lot of info and i look forward to participating.

Take care,
James

Welcome to our group James :]

Here is James' URL

http://www.jamesaforrest.com/

For anyone wishing to visit his site :]

Welcome to the group everyone.

Hello,

I am Marsha Ward, the author of three Westerns that don't fit the general stereotype of Westerns: The Man from Shenandoah, Ride to Raton, and my brand new novel, Trail of Storms. They recount the adventures of the Owen family and their neighbors from Virginia, in a post-Civil War context.

My website is at http://marshaward.com, I blog at http://marshaward.blogspot.com, and each book has a trailer at YouTube, also linked to my website and my page here on goodreads.

TMFS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjdY_N...
RTR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRu7Pt...
TOS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh4Hql...

My WIP is another western, but unrelated to the Owen family series.

Oddly, I've been reading a lot of mysteries in the last few years, but of course, I love novels set in the Old West.

I visit authors' websites and blogs, and do watch book trailers, even though I'm also consigned to dial-up hell because of my location in a mountain valley of Arizona. I just let them load while I do something else, then enjoy them on the replay.

Thanks for this opportunity.

Marsha Ward

Hi Marsha,

Love the covers of your novels. Very well designed site and your trailers are very nice.

Looks like you have hit a home run :]

Hi, I'm Jonathan Bernstein, author of currently available YA superhero book, `Hottie'.

Here's the trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpL6t9...

Hi Jonathan,

Loved the trailer. It was just too much fun, and very professional (made me want to run out and purchase the book).

Reminded me of a trailer for a TV teen drama. Move over "Gossip Girl" here comes "Hottie."

Thanks so much for sharing!

Hi Dee, et al! I'm a first-time author. My pen name is "ZooDoc." It's nice to be part of such a friendly and helpful group.

Sad to say, my YA novel was originally written as a short story for my 20-year-old daughter who became suicidal after she learned that she was HIV-positive.

War Star Rising: The Legend of Toucan Moon is about a young Maya princess who hates war, slavery and human sacrificing. She wishes she could convince her father, the emperor, to put a ban on such socially destructive practices. But before her dreams of a peaceful world come to fruition, Toucan Moon develops a sickness in her head. The shaman informs her that she must travel alone through the dangerous jungle in search of the mysterious cave of the Wise One. In that cave, Toucan Moon will discover her destiny, and a wicked plot to overthrow her father's kingdom...and her love interest. Can she and Golden Eagle possibly make it back to her father's kingdom in time to stop the great war? And how will Toucan Moon make the most difficult decision of her young life?

It's a story rich with scenery, animals and conflict between ancient super powers, with the struggles of a young girl growing up and confronting her fears and doing something positive for the downtrodden, irrespective of her own demise.

My author's website is www.ZooDoc-Stories.com. I would love to learn how to do a book trailer for my website and for my profile page on MySpace and other places.

Looking forward to much helpful advice.

ZooDoc

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the group and my name is Penelope A. Riley, author of the newley released: Travel Absurdities.
Goodreads has so many nice groups that it takes awhile to join the ones you have interes in.
I am interested in doing a book trailer. Have an idea but would like to know how you obtain the music to go with your trailer. Since mine is on travel, I thought something like "On the road again", just the instrumental would be great but do you know of any royalty free sites to obtain it from. Any suggestions?

Penelope

Hi ZooDoc,

I am so sorry to hear about your daughter. May the memories of her happier moments be with you.

The cover artwork for your novel is beautiful! It will make an amazing book trailer.

In the book trailer section of this group there are several members who create book trailer videos that I am sure will be happy to give you some pointers.

I am in the process of working with an amazing screenwriter, Paul http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/18... , to create the first trailer for my novel, Sons of Avalon Merlin's Prophecy.

I think the most important starting point is to plan what you want from a trailer. Something simple or to the other extreme of being more of a movie trailer. Or, somewhere in between.

Welcome to the group :]

Welcome Penelope,

The important thing to always keep in mind when using music as a background for your trailer, is to get permission (in writing) to use the music...or use Royalty-Free Music.

Be aware that just because music is royalty-free does not mean that it is FREE. There is usually a small charge per song, or at the very least a promise to reference the artist on the project.

My novel was written to the sweet Celtic sounds of Loreena McKennitt. When I contacted her people, their demands were beyond reason, at least for me (for even a snippet). One of their provisions was that the song could not be posted on YouTube in any form.

So, it is very important to contact the composer and/or the artist of the song you wish to use. Some are very generous, while others are not. The last thing you want, is to be slapped with a lawsuit. And don’t think you are too small to be bothered with and can sneak by…there is no such thing as being too small :]

Some royalty-free music links

http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/

http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/

http://musicbakery.com/

Hope this helps :]

I might add here that on Flickr and Wikepedia, there are creative commons sections for royalty free (public domain) pictures, sound effects, music and so on. There could well be something in there that is suitable for all sorts of book preview videos (even the title 'book trailer' is apparently copyrighted by someone!)

Wow, I didn't realize that Wikipedia had a commons area. Thanks for the info Paul.

As to "Book Trailer" being a trademark…yippers…we have a whole discussion on this very topic in another thread of this group.

Funny how so many words that we use on a daily basis have trademark attachments. Like Kleenex ™ or Velcro ™.

I think where the book trailer trademark gets dicey, is not with the general usage, but when companies use the term in regards to making money from creating a video book preview. Within the content of their business page, they cannot legally call the video a “book trailer.”

Thanks for the comments Dee and Paul. I did go to royalty-free and found most for 60 seconds are $39 on musicbakery. Found one I like and I am gathering some photos together to use since my book is on travel. Going to use my own pics so I don't have to worry about any others. Did find one on the web I wanted to use that was ironically of my families castle in Germany so the woman was thrilled with me using it for my trailer. She just asked me to notify her so she could view it. Will of course give her a photo credit somewhere. I also printed out her consent so I will keep it in my files.
Now if I can just make something I like.
Will check out the other two you mentioned.

Thanks you guys! Me too, Penelope. ZD

Take your time and make your trailer something special. I have been looking for the perfect person to work on the SOA trailer for over six months. But, I'm over picky. Rather pathetic in fact :]

Dee, I lo-o-ove your cover art as well. Is that the eye of a great horned owl? Awesome!!! ZD

Hi ZooDoc,

Thank you so much for the shout-out about the SOA cover.

Actually the bird is a merlin. A friend runs a wildlife rehab center and they have several birds they were nursing back to health. He had a lot of owls, and a few hawks, unfortunately he didn’t have a merlin…but thank goodness he knew of someone who had one.

I was so lucky to get the close-up picture. The boy (young Merlin) reflected in the merlin's eye is an original drawing.

What is the back story of your cover? Did you commission an artist or did you design it yourself? I love the rich colors of your cover. It is very striking!

Ah yes, Dee, the "pidgeon hawk." I thought the eye was something more "menacing" than that of an owl, and now you've confirmed it. How fitting for your story! Excellent, with the boy in the osprey's eye, or focus. Thanks for sharing.

Re: the cover art for "War Star," I commissioned Jana Souflova, a fine artist from the Czech Republic. I sent Jana a synopsis of the cover scenario so she could get into the mood. I wanted certain elements in the "shot," i.e. a full moon, a Mayan temple, a toucan, and a young girl trekking into the moonlit jungle alone, wearing a jaguar hide. It was supposed to be a black jaguar covering, but the artist decided black would've been too much darkness for the midnight setting. In the story, the girl ("Toucan Moon") does not have a toucan on her shoulder when she embarks on her dangerous journey. Jana came up with that, but I think it's perfect for getting across the mood of the child being an animal lover, which comes into play during her jungle travels. Jana also came up with the face of the girl, and, after doing research, her headdress, facial paint and jewelry. And she's great with rich, "jump out at you" colors. Oh, and it was her idea to put the black jaguar's face on the moon...hauntingly. Yes, she is a wonderful artist! Wait 'til you see what she has come up with for my modern-day sequel, "Curse of the Black Jaguar."

Now, because of this forum, I'm working on a short screenplay for my trailer. Fun! Can't wait to start shooting. I'll probably have a lot more questions along the way, but thanks again for your encouragement and everyone's fine and helpful comments here.

ZD

We look forward to viewing your finished trailer :]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Tanya Egan Gibson. My debut novel, How To Buy a Love of Reading, will be published by Dutton on May 14, 2009.

I have a website, http://www.howtobuyaloveofreading.com, and a book trailer, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrQ_o7...

I love visiting other authors' sites and watching book trailers!

Hi Tanya. Pretty cool trailer! ZD

Thanks, Zoodoc!

Hey Tanya,

Your trailer was so just too much fun! Almost shorted-out my laptop, cause I was laughing so hard I was crying :]

Easily the best trailer I have seen this year...and I have seen thousands of trailers.

Thanks for making my day.

Oh, and here is the link to your website (Goodreads is funky, you have to have the full URL and make sure there that you do not add a period or comma attached to the end of the URL.

http://www.howtobuyaloveofreading.com

Great website as well :]

Thank you so much, Dee! (For the compliment, the Tweet, and the fixing of my website address!)

Oh no, Tanya, I just threw my book trailer out the window. Got to rethink it. Yours was great. Did you do it yourself? Thanks for sharing it with us.

My husband and I did it ourselves (except for a couple of special effects -- having the book superimposed in 2 places -- that a close friend of my husband (who does film for a living) put in at the last minute as a favor. It cost us about $250 for the stock footage we used near the end of the trailer, and the black and white archival footage was free (public domain) from the Prelinger collection at archive.org. There is TONS of cool, free footage there in the Prelinger collection, by the way.

Hey Tanya, seen your trailer and it's cool. Better, it rocks!

Penelope, let me finish doing Dee's trailer for SOA, and let her comment here, and then perhaps I could do something with you.

(No double-entendre intended)

Thanks for the address, I will search it out.

Hey Paul,

I know that the trailer that you are creating for SOA will Rock! How could it not, with your creative force behind the project.

Tanya,

I checked out your book trailer. That is great! Thanks for the url for archive.org for available footage.

Hey all, Just wanted to let all of you know that my book trailer for Bad Company will be done soon. I've seen the draft and it's awesome!

Way Wonderful Sheila,

Be sure to post the link to your trailer when it is posted to the web :]

My name is Simon Vincent which is a pen name, my given name is Angel Vicente Fernandez, Jr. I was born in Cuba in 1951.
I am the author of “Waypoint 90-In the Chambers of The Sea” my first novel published in 2003 and republished in 2008. I edited and published, “Memorias De Un Taquigrafo”, my late fathers memoirs, in 1993.
Following my family’s exile from Cuba in 1960, I lived in New York City, Austin, Texas and Miami, Florida. I attended the University of Texas at Austin earning a B.A. in Government in 1973. For over twenty five years I was devoted to a career in International Banking and Finance.
At present I'm almost finished with another novel “The Weight of Sin” and seeking a publisher for it.
Just recently I published “Sea Lust”, a collection of poetry.
I live between Miami and Key Largo where I spend my time fishing and writing, not always in that order and working on some new story or some abandoned poem.
I love Goodreads where I have found a community that finally understands my "brain-cage", and validates my passion to write.

Kudos to all.

Simon

Simon again, my genre is literary fiction with action romance and spirituality, in other words, Love, Hope and Faith.

I have my authors website, http://www.simonvincent.com and I am working on a video trailer. I visit other authors sites and constantly pick-up ideas and inspiration.

I would love to sell more books on very limited budget. But I can see that we are all in the same boat.

Simon

My name is Iris Karas and I have just published my first novel Organizing Elizabeth.

It is a contemporary story about an unusual love relationship between two people who are polar opposites. Elizabeth, a compulsive professional organizer, embarks on a life-changing journey as she comes up against her “polar opposite,” Joe Laloggi, a grocery store owner. Elizabeth and Joe find themselves drawn to each other as they adjust to their opposite natures…all while being thrust into a confusing and dangerous scene of murder and intrigue.

I have posted an excerpt of my novel on my newly launched website and I would love your feedback. http://www.iriskaras.com

Many thanks,
Iris

Hi Simon and Iris,

Welcome to the group :]

Hello, everyone my name is Ivy Newton-Gamble and I’m the author of three cookbooks on African cooking:

A Field of Greens: Gourmet African Slow Cooker Soups and Stews

A Sweet Taste of Africa: Everyday African desserts made from ingredients found at your local grocery store

My newest book Ja!: Everyday African spice blends, marinades and relishes add zest to boring foods

My website is www.TheAfricanGourmet.com and my blog http://TheAfricanGourmetBlogspot.com

Hi Ivy,

Welcome to our group. I really like your cover artwork :]