Making a Trailer

Okay. I've had book trailers before. Only thing is, I paid somebody else to do 'em. When my editor asked if I wanted to link one to LOVERS' FEUD, my next (July 18) EC release, I figured it couldn't be terribly hard to put together something using Windows Live Movie Maker.

After all, other authors have managed to make good trailers, and I'm not a complete moron--not quite.  At least I didn't think I was, until I started on this project.

So what did I need? Some royalty-free photos, preferably free ones. I found them after a few hours' diligent searching, only to discover they needed a trip through Photoshop to get them to the correct sizes for the video. Add another hour or so...and some major cropping of a Jimmy Thomas (Romance Novels Covers) shot I bought to use on a self-pubbed short story a while back. You see, Jimmy has dark hair, his female model's a blonde...but Bye and Karen, my hero and heroine, have pretty much the opposite coloring.

Next, I played with putting photos into frames in the software. That went pretty easily until I got to one crucial photo which took up only a fraction of the center of a frame. Oh well. I could live with that. Too bad it had to go into two frames to make the text make sense.

The text was easy, thanks to my wonderful editor who pretty much wrote the blurb that I shamelessly copied onto the trailer. (It wouldn't have been half as easy if I'd had to create the text from scratch, because I suck at writing blurbs and anything else shorter than a scene in a novel, LOL.)

I took a deep breath and saved the trailer. Then I played it, only to discover it was way, way longer than a single-book trailer ought to be, so I went back to the drawing board and cut the length of each frame until the whole thing played in a little over a minute. That was better.

The silence was deafening, though, so I searched out some free music. The piece I found seemed to work with the pictures and the tone of the text, and it fortunately only required a credit for its use.

The trailer was done, ready to hawk LOVERS' FEUD on Facebook, YouTube and hopefully my website. Unfortunately my website requires a different format than the one Windows Live Movie Maker produces, so the trailer is still waiting for me to find a way to convert it to whatever format my Joomla website requires. That's a project for later, after I finish edits for MOUNTAIN HEAT and turn in the next book in the Caden Kink series, SHOTGUN RELATIONS.

What do you think? Should I keep on making trailers or bite the bullet and pay somebody else to do it? Best comment, whether it's a bashing or a compliment, gets a free copy of LOVERS' FEUD on its release date!

Ann Jacobs
http://annjacobs.net
https://www.facebook.com/AnnJacobsAuthor
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 LOVERS' FEUD, book 1, Caden Kink series, coming July 18 from Ellora's Cave

Morning All Sweet and Sexy Diva Blog Readers

Hello Readers,

Its great to be back again, it seems like I have a handful of stuff to discuss today. I have must see books and I have some news myself. I will be reappearing on Radio again in March. We have 2 new books out, one of them is a re-release. We also have the huge news that my Press Release is going well and I hope to be signing the contract for my 5th book in the same series as my 2rd book in the A Different life Series that we are going to be releasing really soon. I might be having my 3rd book from A Different Life Series released this week also. Fingers crossed on that one.

On Saturday the 12th of February 2011 we re-released 'Shetlands Immortals: Against My First Love' and we also released for the first time ever 'The Immortal Chief's Christmas With King Arthur', all the blurbs are below. We will be releasing 'A Different Life: Three Lane Highway' really soon. So make sure you check out those blurbs before you stop by the MUST SEE BOOKS in my mind.


Shetlands Immortals: Against My First Love

'Carla McBain was just an ordinary sixteen year old girl, until one late night in October; Carla was murdered in her dorm room. Carla was scared until Oscar and Daryl meet her on her return to the Islands, to meet her parents. After confronting her, they realise that she is a new Immortal.

After staging her death, the pair convinces Carla to return to their Holy Ground, where they tell her everything that they know. They train her until the day comes that the Islanders grew suspicious of her presence there within the Old Viking Temple.

Deciding it’s safer to leave, they head out into the night in search of someone else who can tell them the truth about why they are Immortals. What will they find?

Can Oscar and Daryl survive outside of the Temple with a young Immortal?

How did they end up Immortal and why are they protecting her?

What happens when she meets her first love who is responsible for her being Immortal in the first place?'

The Immortal Chief’s With King Arthur

'The Immortal Chief tells the tale of his Christmas with King Arthur. How he meets Krystal-Marie, and saves King Arthur from becoming and immortal too young! What will happen between the two of these young Immortals who have walked into the unknown together?'


MUST SEE BOOK'S

1. I personally recommend 'The Cruiserweight' by L. Anne Carrington
2. The Woodlands by Christina McKee

So check those out, its been great being here and hope to see you all next month. You can check out my current releases at 9 Clouds eBook Marketing & Promotions and there link is below. If you want to see my back list then please visit www.xoxopublishing.com/shop-online
http://www.9cloudsebookmarketingandpromotions.com
Kristal McKerrington x