Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Blowing Your Own Horn

By Catherine Bybee (Guest Author)

Thanks for having me here today, Lisabet. This is the final week of my blog tour for Binding Vows and I’m going to talk a little bit about promotion for authors and the making of a book trailer.

When I decided to finish my first book and begin another, I truly thought I’d only have to work on editing my manuscripts to perfection and finding an agent or publisher to agree that my book was worth publishing. After these accomplishments, I’d be home free, right?

No way!

How is the world to know about Catherine Bybee and her latest release? How is any author, even those who’ve made it to the bigger houses and have their books sitting on shelves right now, stand out among the rest? They promote. They blog. They work hard to have their names on the tips of reader’s tongues. They tweet. They facebook, and they Myspace. If they’re lucky, they have a little help from their publisher… sigh. Not me. I do it all myself.

I’ve found plenty of social loops and sites to talk with writers and readers about books and promotion and truth be told, I spend entirely too many hours yakking up a storm on the subject. I’ve also learned how to work my computer in ways I didn’t know possible. I started making book trailers as soon as I received my first cover.

Book trailers are a wonderful promotional tool. They are a one-minute commercial for your book with the flash of pictures and the drama of music. With a little creativity, your book trailer will capture the gist of the blurb on the back of your book and draw in your readers.

I love book trailers… I love watching a snippet of a book rather than reading it via a blurb. Can you think of a book you’ve read that was made into a movie? Didn’t you love seeing the trailers to these movies? You were able to picture the characters you read and fell in love with which made the trailers come alive for you, right? Book trailers work much the same way. So if you’re a writer and you haven’t attempted to make a trailer, take a leap and try. You just might find a whole new way to promote your book.

For more trailers and video blogs to help writers check out my youtube page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CatherineBybee

For information on my latest release, Binding Vows… or earlier releases, Kilt Worthy or Soul Mate, stop by my website.

www.catherinebybee.com

Thanks again for having me, Lisabet.

16 comments:

Jennifer Mathis said...

I love the trailer very good muah - jennifer mathis

Catherine Bybee said...

Thanks for watching, Jennifer.

Mary Ricksen said...

Great trailer Catherine, I love it.
I'm lucky I just pick out my music and my pictures and write a script, then my talented BIL puts it all together. He's a photographer so he has artistic ability. Much easier than me trying to figure it out!

Genella deGrey said...

Hi Catherine!
Congrats on the end of your blog tour. :)
I wish you many many sales for all your hard work.
G.

Rebecca J. Clark said...

Hey Catherine,
Nice trailer! I haven't tried putting one together yet. Do you have any words of wisdom for a total (and tech-challenged) beginner?

Good luck with book sales.

:)Becky

Tiffany Green said...

Book trailers are such a great invention. I've even learned how to make one. They're really not that difficult to learn. Thanks for the great advice, Catherine.

Estella said...

I enjoyed the trailer. A lot of info in a short span of time.

Catherine Bybee said...

Trailers are really easy. Finding the pictures and writing the scrips for them are a bit harder.

Margaret Tanner said...

Hi Catherine,
You are so clever, I can write the stories but as for making a video or book trailer, I am completely out of my depth.

Regards

Margaret

Angel Martinez said...

I've been wondering why no inventive soul has put together a 'trailer park' yet. *g*

Sherry said...

I loved the book trailer. I can still remember the first time I saw one it was love at first sight.

Catherine Bybee said...

Oh, Angel... how fun that would be. Considering the content of some of our books... a Trailer Park trailer would be fantastic.

Kathy Otten said...

I guess I'm still a bit intimidated by the whole book trailer thing. I also have a limited budget and I'm not sure how many of the people who buy books have done so because of the book trailer. I'm still considering how cost effective they are. Maybe I'll give it a shot for my next book.

Catherine Bybee said...

Kathy: Hon, I've spent zero dollars on my trailers. I'm not sure how many books my trailers have sold, but do think they are a way to promo your work in a way many people identify with.

Anonymous said...

Binding Vows movie trailer is effective and beautiful. I want to read the book! There is supposed to be a free movie trailer maker you can download--but it doesn't work with
windows 7. *Sigh*

Lisabet Sarai said...

Hello, Catherine,

Welcome to Beyond Romance and thanks for sharing your lovely trailer as well as your experiences with promotion.

I did a contest where I asked entrants to tell me whether they liked trailers and whether they influenced readers to buy a book. About half of the people who responded said that they loved them. The others said that they'd rather be left to imagine for themselves the way that the characters look. I found this fascinating and unexpected.

By the way, if you like trailers ;^) -- check out mine for Necessary Madness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVZjWpvJEo

Best,
Lisabet

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