Thursday, June 26, 2008

From Gripping Pages to Hot Video: The Story of a Trailer

by Nancy

Today's guests are here because a cool trailer on YouTube for a sizzling romantic suspense novel, Take Me If You Can, created so much buzz in the lair that we wanted to explore the subject in more depth. We welcome the trailer's creators, author and web designer Liz Bemis (pictured at left) and author Karen Kendall, (pictured at right) today.

To view the trailer, click on this link:


NANCY: What gave you the idea of doing this trailer?

LIZ: Uh... Karen called me and said, "Hey Liz. I need a trailer." :D (I'll actually let Karen cover this one!)

KAREN: LOL. Well, it all started with the web site, really. I had these preliminary pages for a new site geared towards the new direction I was taking in my writing career. But they weren’t quite “there” and I asked Liz for help. What she came up with was brilliant. So that was the start of our working relationship. Then we did book-marks and postcards and I wasn’t having much luck contacting the person who’d done my first and only other trailer . . . so I said, hey, how about it?

Right from the start Liz had great ideas about live actors and voice-overs, not just images with superimposed words. I was very impressed! Plus Liz was able to make me laugh while I was both on deadline and in promo hell—and that was quite an achievement!


NANCY: How did you go about putting it together?

LIZ: We had a couple of false starts, actually. We'd initially planned to do a trailer with a scene directly out of the book. Karen sent me an excerpt and I cut it down to the bare bones, and then recorded the audio. I did the part of Avy and Quinn, an incredibly gifted voice guy (and fortunately a friend) did the part of the narrator and Liam. It was... well, not very good, really. But I learned a lesson. Full scenes of dialogue don't really belong in a trailer. So we went back to the drawing board. Karen provided a different kind of script and I massaged it a bit and cut it down. We were really trying to keep the trailer to about 60 seconds. Anything longer than that and I think the message gets lost.

After that we went through about 42,847 songs trying to find the perfect one. I give Karen full props for picking the music she did! It works perfectly! Karen made suggestions for the kind of images she wanted to see and I hunted and gathered in places like istockphoto.com. Then Quinn and I recorded the new audio about a thousand times until we had exactly what we needed and I then matched the audio track to the music, and then the pictures to the audio track and... voila!

KAREN: Liz is modest—she makes it all sound so easy. And she’s also patient—not to mention non-violent. LOL. I felt like Simon Cowell when we talked about the first “false start” as she puts it. There’s nothing worse than telling someone as talented and creative as she is that, well, ah, oops, um, here’s-the-deal-but-our-visions-aren’t-gelling-here and, oh, by the way, I’m the one who probably screwed you up by sending you a terrible script which is much better read silently than aloud.

Liz handled that like a pro (me, I was almost in tears on the phone, not so pro, heh) and all she said was, “Okay. Can you explain to me more clearly what your vision is?” Wow! And she even omitted any serious cursing or threats!
So I said, hell-no, I can’t explain it—what, do you think I’m a creative or something?

Liz took a deep breath (really, I think she keeps a tank of patience right next to her desk and regularly inhales from it when dealing with idiot clients—I won’t speculate on Xanax).

LIZ: No Xanex. But there's a bottle of good Cabernet and a wine opener on hand at all times. In case of emergency... break fill glass. Repeat if necessary.

KAREN: Then she asked somewhat plaintively (can you imagine the nerve?) for just a single, solitary, flea-sized clue.
Okay, I said. Take this capsule summary of the book, this sketch of hero and heroine and go watch the trailer for the Thomas Crown Affair re-make . . . never mind that we don’t have a Hollywood budget, I know you’re brilliant. You can do this, Liz!

Even then, she didn’t come after me with a knife. Amazing. She just pulled it off. And to this day I don’t think she’s told anyone what a pain in the patooty I was—I figure that’s my job.


NANCY: Karen, Take Me If You Can is a departure from the romantic comedies that launched your career. What motivated you to move in this direction?

KAREN: I’ve been fascinated with art crime for a long time and I have an art background. But when I conceived the idea for this series, romantic comedy wasn’t doing so well in the market. And when my agent, editor and I talked about the story concept of TAKE ME IF YOU CAN, we all agreed that we didn’t want it to devolve into farce or a complete caper (though I love those old art caper movies like To Catch a Thief and How To Steal a Million). I can’t entirely repress my warped sense of humor, but art crime is a very serious subject with growing repercussions for our world. I wanted to delve into the danger of it, the suspense, and it seemed to fit.


NANCY: Will you continue to write romantic comedy, or are you taking a break from that?

KAREN: Any time I make plans, especially plans in the publishing world, God laughs and derails them, so I can’t speculate on that. There are still comic touches in these books, though.


NANCY: You have several recovery agents in Take Me If You Can. May we assume they're set up to appear in a series of such books?

KAREN: Yes! So far there will be at least three. I’m revising the sequel, Gwen’s story, right now and have written the proposal for book three. Avy, Liam, Sheila and even Sid will be back in book two, which is fun.


NANCY: Liz, how did you become interested in doing websites? What's your foremost consideration in author promotion?

LIZ: Web design is a pretty natural fit for me, actually. I've been a computer programmer since the early nineties, and before that, I did a lot of graphic design. It ties in both the creative (making it pretty) and the technical (making it work fast and have lots of bells and whistles). As for my foremost consideration, I'd have to say the author's personal brand. I want to create a site that's not only functional and visually appealing, but also one that really tells a story about who the author is and what kind of books she writes.


NANCY: When you set out to do a new website, what factors do you consider?

LIZ: First, what (visually) appeals to the client's tastes? I want to find a design that the client will love, so I make them look at a gazillion different sites and find about five that they love and five (professionally designed!) sites that they... well, don't love, and to tell me what they do and don't love about them. That gives me a really good indication of what works for that particular client.

Next, what is the author's writing style and brand? There are a lot of great sites out there that absolutely do not belong to the author whose name is at the top of the page! I never want a visitor to be confused about what kind of book an author writes when he/she hits a site that I designed.

Finally, I work with the author to develop content that will bring visitors back and then put it all together.


NANCY: Was any redesign of Karen's site necessary to launch Take Me If You Can.

LIZ: Actually, Karen's website was the first step in the promotion of Take Me If You Can, in addition to launching a new MySpace design and a lot of printed items (bookmarks, postcards, excerpt booklets, etc). Her old site worked well for her romantic comedy, but didn't really speak to her new "brand" as a writer of romantic suspense.

KAREN: Yes, as I mentioned, the new site was the first project that Liz and I worked on. Then the printed materials, the My Space site and the fabulous, high-octane trailer. I highly recommend her!

NANCY: Liz, in addition to your promotions business, you also write. Tell us a little about your work.

LIZ: I am currently in the final editing stages of the first book in a Romantic Suspense series. The entire series focuses on the Cincinnati FBI Field Office and each member of the office gets their own book. I'm pretty excited about it! This is the first true Romantic Suspense that I've ever written. It's a lot darker, deeper, and more emotional than my previous fifteen books which were all Romantic Comedy (though a few of them had light suspense-y elements). Quite hopefully, this will be the one that sells, because after sixteen books and two Golden Heart finals, I'm ready for it. :)

I've done a video trailer to my most recent book. (To continue the shameless self promotion.)


Liz Bemis is the owner and creative director of Bemis Promotions (http://www.bemispromotions.com/). She has worked in the Graphic Design and Information Technology fields for more than fifteen years and is responsible for all creative aspects of all projects produced by Bemis Promotions. Liz is also a two-time Golden Heart Finalist (http://www.elizabethbemis.com/) which gives her unique insight into the business, branding and promotional requirements of marketing books.

Karen Kendall is the author of sixteen romantic comedies and many disasters. Awards she’s received include the Maggie, the Write Touch, the Book Buyer’s Best and R.T. Magazine’s Best Blaze of 2005. She launched her romantic suspense career in April 2008 with TAKE ME IF YOU CAN, the first in a series about an agency that recovers stolen art. TAKE ME TWO TIMES (working title) will be released by Signet in April of 2009, with a third TAKE ME book to follow. Please visit http://www.karenkendall.com/ for more information or excerpts.

Karen will be giving away a copy of Take Me If You Can to one commenter chosen at random.

What do you think of these cool trailers? What kind of book promotion do you most enjoy? What sort of web page features do you like? Is there anything else you'd like to share about reading or book promotion?

56 comments:

Natalie Hatch said...

tackle him

Natalie Hatch said...

Right, Twinling 1 sit on his head, Twinling 2 grab his feet. Mister3 stop pulling out his tail feathers... he's ours all ours mwahahahahhaa

Christine Wells said...

Congrats, Natalie! Dang! Pipped at the post for the golden rooster once again.

Loved that interview. Nancy, thanks for bringing Liz and Karen to the Lair. Welcome, ladies!

Wow, I those trailers were fantastic. Some are really dull and some are just cheesey. I really got that Thomas Crowne Affair vibe from Karen's trailer so you did your work beautifully, Liz. Love the sound of your stories, too.

Interesting you had the communication problem. I find the most difficult thing to convey to my webmistress is the feel and look I want. I think it's also hard because if you're not a web-designer, you don't really know what's possible, what images and looks there are to choose from. I'm the kind of person who knows when they see it, but that's not so helpful to a web designer.

I like the idea of 5 websites you like, 5 you hate. What other ways can you get to the heart of the kind of web page or trailer the client wants?

And Karen, how do you think having a trailer has helped you promote your book? Was it worth the agony?*g*

Nancy said...

Natalie-Way to go! You have your own control team, and everything. Enjoy the bird.

Natalie Hatch said...

He's covered in soggy biscuit and enjoying his own bottle of milk right now, being carted around in the dolls pram is a wonder. I might introduce him to the six girls I've got out the back in my chicken tractor... maybe he'll not want to come back...

I think it's a wonderful idea to put up a promo of your book. I wonder if you weren't published yet if it could help to create a blurbble like the ones you've done to interest publishers/agents? That'd be a great query letter in and of itself huh?

Anna Campbell said...

Looks like the chook comes downunder for the day. Congratulations, Natalie!

Christine, the bridesmaid for the second day in a row! Commiserations!

Hiya Liz! Are you coming to San Francisco! I remember several fun encounters with you that always involved alcohol ;-)

Karen, welcome to the lair. The new book sounds fantastic! As Christine said, the Thomas Crowne thing was really clear - how utterly cool.

Helen said...

Well done Natalie a visit to our shores and some cooler weather I hope the twins have fun with him

Loved the interview Ladies and loved the trailers I really enjoy the trailers that are being made these days I like to see them you tube has certainly made a big difference to the way books are advertised. I remember a long long time ago when I would just walk into a bookstore and have a look on the shelves I never knew when books were going to be released, now I have a list of what month my favourite authors have books released and find new authors that are added to the list so as I can order them.
I love to read about future releases and the characters in the stories thru web pages and I like to "get to know the author"and also like excerpts.
I love this type of adverising although my bank account isn't to happy about it LOL but I work hard so as I can buy the books I want.
Thanks everyone

Have Fun
Helen

Carol said...

Oh Natalie...that was so funny,LOL,LOL
The image of your little kids...holding the GR in a tackle, by his head, feet and tail! So hilarious!(imagination it!)
Well done kids!

U-tube is great, I like the way Liz and Karen didn't actually use live faces...it adds to the mystery of the clip somehow!

I think the look of a website is a very personal choice, Basically the author is the one who should be happy with it.
As a reader I like some more than others, but even if I didn't like the look of a website much, that would not stop me going there to read about the author or their books.
Julie Garwood has a lovely site, pretty and clever, probably cost a bomb!
http://www.juliegarwood.com/
But more simple ones do the trick too...I like to see a photo of the Author and a short or long Bio is great too.

Cheers Carol

Jane said...

Hello,
When trailers first came out I wasn't too interested in watching them. Now I'm a fan of them. As Christine said, some are too cheesy for them to be effective and enjoyable. I always hear that authors don't have any say regarding the cover. Do authors get to cast their trailers? Book excerpts are a must for me on an author website. WIP and upcoming books are also appreciated. ARC and book giveaways are my favorite promotion. Bookmarks and coverflats are also nice. I agree with Caro, Julie Garwood does have a lovely website. Cherry Adair has a great one, too.

Congrats on the GR, Nathalie.

Margay Leah Justice said...

I think the trailers are pretty awesome and a great way to get the word of mouth out for a book. So they have to be my new favorite promotional tool right now. But I do still love the bookmarks because you can just never have enough - especially if you're like me and have more than one book going at the same time!

Deb Marlowe said...

Hi Lizzie!

Liz does my website too, Banditas. I wanted to use my English garden pictures and she came up with the coolest way to use a bunch of them! I love it!

Hi Karen! Your new series sounds fabulous. I love the Thomas Crowne Affair--and it's awesome that we'll get a series of recovery agents!

The trailer is fab--the best ones are fast paced and snappy, IMO--and this one is a perfect tease!

hrdwrkdmom aka Dianna said...

Congrats Natalie! Did the little ones put a nappy on GR before he went for a ride in the pram??
Loved the trailer. What I think is so cool about Liz and Karen's relationship is that Karen has lots of input. She got to help pick the pics and everything. That helps put her personality stamp on the whole thing. I also think it is great that the sites are tailored to the author's style of writing. I have seen lots of sites that don't "match" the author.

Terri Osburn said...

Trailers seem to be the wave of the future and these are examples of why. Great job and great interview.

How long does it typically take you to put a trailer together? And that would be the hardest part for me as well, trying to explain what I want it to look like. I can see it but I can never explain it.

Congrats on the GR, Natalie. Though I'm not sure it's fair that you had an entire team on the mission...*g*

Karen Kendall said...

Hi, everyone!

Thanks for the nice comments on the trailer. Liz says I really wasn't that much of a pain to work with, LOL.

Natalie, your baby is adorable, btw. Hmmmm, does he need his own video trailer? Liz? Hey, Liz! Can you set that little guy up with some promo? Not that he needs it--he's too cute.

Nancy, thanks for having us on the Romance Bandits Blog! Lots of fun.

All the best, Karen K.

Liz Bemis said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Liz Bemis said...

I like the idea of 5 websites you like, 5 you hate. What other ways can you get to the heart of the kind of web page or trailer the client wants?
Christine--The 5 you love/5 you hate thing has served me very well, particularly when the client tells what they like/don't like about the sites. In addition, I always try to read my clients' books, if possible, or if not, then I make them tell me what other authors their books are simiar to.

Liz Bemis said...

Nancy--Thanks so much for inviting us to join you at the "lair"!

Liz Bemis said...

Hiya Liz! Are you coming to San Francisco! I remember several fun encounters with you that always involved alcohol ;-)

Anna-I will be in San Francisco with bells on! Or at least all happy and relaxed since I'm spending the week BEFORE the conference relaxing in San Diego.

And why is it people always remember me in alcohol-related events?!? I look forward to catching a drink with you in the bar...

...

...

Oh, wait. I think I get it. ;)

Louisa Cornell said...

Wow, Liz and Karen, that is some great work! I am always blown away by these book trailers. It just boggles the mind what you can do on a computer! I love the feel of yours!

Natalie, you rustled the GR from poor Christine with your gang of Wooster Wustlers! Too cute!

I am fortunate that my webmistress is also my CP so she totally GETS my work. And working with her we already have the sort of relationship where we can be brutally honest "I love that. I hate that." It really helps!

Liz Bemis said...

Julie Garwood has a lovely site, pretty and clever, probably cost a bomb!
Julie/Jane. Yes, Julie Garwood's site is great... As is Cherry Adair's. Both done entirely in FLASH, which does, indeed mean extra pricey! (And before I continue, let me just say, the above sites do NOT apply to what I'm about to say, since they are both done very well!) However, sometimes less is more, especially when you're working on a limited budget. A BAD flash site can almost be worse than no site at all. The point to any promotion is NOT to annoy the visitor! Just beware that when Charlie, your weird second once twice removed, takes a flash class that his first project should not be YOUR site. ;)

Liz Bemis said...

(er make that Carol/Jane, not JULIE and Jane)... There's too much blood in my caffiene stream this morning. :)

Liz Bemis said...

Do authors get to cast their trailers?
I'm guessing this depends on who your trailer designer is. I certainly give my clients as much input as they want to give. After all, this is promoting THEIR book, not mine. I have a limited amount of voice actors to work with, but if I'm using live models or stock imagery, I give them full input. In fact, In our early forays into this video, the initial actors... well, weren't part of Karen's vision. :D Hence why we ended up with a lot of headless torsos. Though I've heard a lot of people say (since then) that they kind of like the trailers without the faces, since it doesn't mess with the picture the reader has in her head about the hero/heroine.

For my trailer, I couldn't find anyone who looked like my hero (who's pretty much Dwayne Johnson --aka The Rock) So I ended up with someone younger and blonder, in the interest of not being able to afford to hire My Boyfriend Dwayne™ to do the photoshoot. :D

Hellie Sinclair said...

I love book trailers...esp if they're well done book trailers like these! I was so reminded of the Thomas Crown Affair! Awesome! And I think it was wise that you went away from the scene that should be read SILENTLY. I have seen some trailers include the "dramatic" and it FLOP horribly. I just snickered rather than wanted to read the book. So it's a careful mix.

Kimberly Killion's debut book (Her One Desire) has a trailer--and it's fabulous! I can't wait to read it--and the trailer just clinched it for me.

Liz Bemis said...

How long does it typically take you to put a trailer together?
Terrio--The length of time varies from trailer to trailer.

The first piece is writing the script and conceptualizing the video on paper. Like any writing, the amount of time this can take can vary wildly.

Then we look for background music that fits the style of the story we're trying to tell (and the music needs to be long enough and have enough variance in tone that it will allow me to cut and splice it into something that works for the whole video).

The sound is really what takes the longest. Not just recording the voice track (and since we record it about 852 times [only a slight exaggeration] that's a significant investment of time) but also making the music match up to the words, which means cutting up the background music and splicing it in a way that no one notices.

Finding the right images and editing them into the right format (which frequently takes some photoshop magic) can also be a time killer.

The easy part, matching the pictures to the audio tracks and creating the final output only takes a few hours.

Terri Osburn said...

Wow, that sounds complicated. LOL! I used to be in radio and had to make commercials. Some of those readings would take many takes (as you mention) but I loved the software that let me go in and take out all the stops, starts, breaths and such.

Now, to do all that and then line it up with visuals, I'm not sure I'd have the patience. So kudos to you for that and for getting in as a front runner in what is sure to be HUGE here real quick.

Donna MacMeans said...

Hi LIz! Hi Karen! Great videos. Your friend has a fantastic voice (though it was a little wierd watching two different trailers with the same narrator *g*)

Trailers really are the hot thing right now, and they're perfect for suspense. Historicals...haven't seen so many good ones. (Maybe cause the technology hasn't been invented yet *g*)

I think RT had trailers flashing on screens during the booksigning - what ways do you see trailers being utilized beyond the website?

Caren Crane said...

Hi, Liz and Karen! Two of my favorite people in one blog post. I love this trailer and have directed lots of people to it. Karen, I'm excited about this new series. It's a great blend of new story but familiar and fabulous story telling!

Liz, you know I love your work. Though she's ashamed to claim it because my content is always outdated, Liz designed my website as well. If I had, you know, book covers and things it would be more exciting. As it is, it's just me, a couple of excerpts, photos and articles. *sigh* Guess I really should update the front page once a quarter. But the site is beautiful! You can go and admire the colors and pictures, even if I rarely update my message.

I really need to work on that...

Oh, and Liz is rightly associated with alcoholic beverages for a reason! I actually met Liz at a breakfast, I think (maybe) at Moonlight and Magnolias. Yes, I met someone at breakfast and made conversation! And she liked me anyway. Who knew?

I'm still in Hilton Head, Sc and about to take the daughters for their first parasail, so I'll check you guys later. Have fun!

NATALIE: Please make sure there is enough of the Golden Rooster left to hand over at midnight. I'm sure he can handle the kids. I mean, he survived maneuvers with P226, so what's a little feather snatching and snack stealing? *g*

Nancy said...

Christine, that's close-but-no-cigar two days running. Better luck next time! I'm also the sort who knows it when I see it but can't always describe it. Liz is my webmistress, and I think we went through a couple of designs before we settled. The one we ended up with is one she devised entirely on her own before sending me a "check this out" email. She'd nailed it perfectly.

Helen, I admire your list. I'm not good at keeping one, but I try.

Carol, I've only recently begun exploring YouTube. There's some fascinating stuff there.

Margay, I use a lot of bookmarks, too. My mother told me my grandmother had a book in every room, all in different states of being read, and I seem to have inherited that tendency.

Liz, maybe can actually meet face to face in San Francisco. With or without alcohol *g*.

Terrio, I worked at the radio station in college--actually had a (now defunct) 3rd Class Operator license. We used to say a sentence you couldn't deliver in one breath was too long. Since I tend to write long sentences (LOVE those subordinate clauses!), I've tried to use that as a writing guide. Did you carry over anything from your radio work?

Nancy said...

Kudos to Liz, BTW. She sent me the blog with the video links already coded in HTML into it. Without those, the links to the trailers would be a "click here" with no graphic. Amazon click-throughs are about as techie as I can manage.

Minna said...

I never watch book trailers since my internet connection is on the slow side.

jo robertson said...

Hi, Liz and Karen, welcome to the Lair.

Wow, those are way cool trailers! I loved the discussion about how you came to create Karen's trailer and the way the two of you worked together.

I love trailers. When I go to a movie, the trailers are my favorite part of the show LOL. And book trailers are a great way to get my attention and pique my interest about a book.

Great interview, Nancy. Thanks for inviting our guests today.

Natalie, sounds like the GR will have a wonderful day today!

Nancy said...

Caren, I don't update as often as I should, either. Gotta get that done this week. Sounds as though you're having a great vacation. If I can ever push through my fear of heights, I might try parasailing. It looks so fantastic.

Nancy said...

Minna, we still live on Planet Dial-Up. However, I have access to high-speed at work, so I watch trailers and other video content (Stargate previews, for example) there.

Jo, do you ever watch the trailers on a DVD? I do, though usually not until after I watch the movie. They're one of my favorite extras, though. I keep trying to learn from them since writing one-paragraph summaries is hard for me.

Minna said...

Hmm. About web pages... here's one pet peeve about some web pages I have come across: pages that are packed so full of stuff that it takes an eternity to open them. All those animations and stuff don't look so nice anymore if you have to wait for an eternity for the page to open.

Terri Osburn said...

Nancy asked:
Did you carry over anything from your radio work?

I think radio work is the reason dialogue is where I do well. I used to do a segment everyday with a co-worker and in order not to talk over each other and make it interesting, you have to really get a rythme for the conversation.

And I always read anything I write out loud. You learn when reading copy for commercials or on air that it has to read right. I think that helps me quite a bit.

Nancy said...

Minna, I think that's the bane for those of us with slower internet. Those chock-full pages take so long to open that I frequently just don't bother.

Terrio, that makes sense, about the dialogue. Reading aloud is a recommendation that floats around, but I'm not sure how many people actually do it. I do, but only sometimes.

pjpuppymom said...

Welcome Karen and Liz! That's a very good trailer. It puts me in mind of the Thomas Crowne Affair also.

I've enjoyed most trailers I've seen and find they enhance the anticipation and excitement of upcoming releases. Unfortunately, there are also some cheesy and poorly made videos out. One in particiular was so bad it completely turned me off the book it was promoting. Yours, however, makes me want to run right out and buy TAKE ME IF YOU CAN. Kudos to both of you on a job well done!

Cassondra said...

Liz and Karen, welcome!

I am so impressed with these trailers. I remember when we were talking about them on the loop and I clicked on it and afterward said, "I HAVE to get this book."

I've seen some that didn't do that at all. They didn't point me to the bookstore or make me lust for the book.

The thing is, how did you guys know you'd nailed it? When it's YOUR book and YOUR trailer (or you're the trailer's creator), how do you know it grabs the interest of a reader? Do you test it out on some people to see if they get interested? Liz, do you have the equivalent of "critique partners" for your trailers? Or do you "just know" when you've got it right?

robynl said...

hi and welcome Karen and Liz;
Karen, Liz did a great job on the trailer. I really like trailers what with the voice and pictures it gives great insight into the book if done properly. This one was. A wealth of info about the book in a few seconds.

Jennifer McGowan said...

Great post, ladies! I love your trailers, Liz -- I think they tell the story while leaving the viewer hungry for more. Perfect!! And Karen, Take Me If You Can sounds like great fun, looking forward to checking it out! :)

Jenn

Liz Bemis said...

how do you know it grabs the interest of a reader? Do you test it out on some people to see if they get interested? Liz, do you have the equivalent of "critique partners" for your trailers? Or do you "just know" when you've got it right?
I know I nailed it when my client says "*ZOMG*!! You NAILED it!" :D My writing critique partner, the lovely and ever-so-talented Jenn Stark (www.jennstark.com)is also a very perceptive branding expert (www.knowyourbrand.com), so she serves as a critiquer in that capacity as well.

And when I'm excited about a project (either web or trailer) I generally send links to friends who I think will tell me the truth. (Or just fawn over me on those days when I'm not feeling so good about a project.) :D

Cassondra said...

Liz said:

(Or just fawn over me on those days when I'm not feeling so good about a project.)

Ha! Those are very necessary friends to have on the list--for ALL of us! ;0)

Caffey said...

Hi Karen,and Liz!! I so love Karen's books and excited about this one! I don't have a clue how to do a trailer, but I love to watch them! Its so neat how you put this all together!
As a reader, I love to get a 'smooth ride' through the trailers so that I get a glimpse of what the book is about, get a touch of the hero and heroine in what the theme will be. I like to have some captions on them to give me some info too. I know there is sound on trailers, but with being unable to hear, I miss out on any of whats said. Nothing can be done about the music, if its there, but I like to know whats played because I love to look up lyrics. Hope that helped a bit!

Natalie Hatch said...

Ah ha... well the GR is feeling a bit worse for wear. The kidlets have carted him around, then fed him their veges etc that they didn't want to eat, he wasn't too impress, but when they showed him the chicken legs they were also having for dinner he about freaked. I think he's wanting to leave very soon.
Oh and whoever snatches him tomorrow, if he asks for his dummy (pacifier) it's a good thing to coat it in vegemite before you give it to him, he's acquired a taste for it.

Beth Andrews said...

What a great blog! Thanks so much to Liz and Karen for the wonderful info and for visiting us in the lair *g*

The book trailers are great and so are both of your websites! And Karen, your new series looks fabulous :-)

Thanks again for joining us *g*

Wendy said...

Hi Liz and Karen! Book trailers can be great promotion, along with excerpts and 'behind the scenes' features on the author's site.

Great post! :)

Trish Milburn said...

Liz and Karen, welcome to the Lair! I loved both of your trailers. So well done. I think if someone is going to go to the trouble of doing a trailer, it should look very professional and not cheesy and amateurish.

Liz, here's hoping you get the call very, very soon! And sorry I missed you when you spoke to MCRW. I was out of town. :(

Nathalie said...

Hi,

I have to be honest and say I have never seen a book trailer in my life!!!!!

I prefer reading about a book on a blog.

Nancy said...

PJ, I've also seen some videos that didn't impress me. I'm sort of thinking that if it isn't atmospheric, it may be a detriment? In this case, the book and the trailer complement each other perfectly. I think you'll like the book.

Caffey, you make an interesting point about the music and about captions. Thanks for that insight.

Natalie, sounds as if you have the GR under control. *g*

Nancy said...

Natalie, we all have our preferences. As I said, my trailer interaction is limited by my internet speed. For me, a trailer is a pointer to a book, not an automatic sale.

Suzanne Ferrell said...

Hey Natalie, congrats on getting the GR...uh did you hold the baby in one arm while snagging him? hehehe

Nancy, great interview and thanks for bringing Liz and Karen to the lair to visit!

Since I'm the resident Book-Pimp of the lair, I personally love book trailers if they're done as well as the one Liz created for Karen. Jane Graves has dabbled in this and made a few trailers for friends, who've posted them on their websites.

She and I've discussed many a time how one good viral video can really put a book out among the internet reading and buying community. This lets the book reach more than your regular romance-buying pulic.

I've referred many a non-reader to a website or You-tube to view a trailer, then watched as they wrote down the name to go buy the book! And the videos especially help get the young teen to mid twenties crowd (which is an almost untapped market) interested in books.

Pat Cochran said...

Excellent trailer, the kind I really love to watch more than
once!

I'm a scripture reader in our church and have been for over 30 years. When attending a training session, we were instructed to
read our lessons out loud and to record them. Listening to the recordings helped us to learn to
"breathe properly." Also taught
us to "space" the readings correctly.

P.S. The voice of the gentleman
heard in the trailer is absolutely
lovely!!

Nancy said...

Suz, I think you've hit on something. What drew my attention to both the trailer and the book was the buzz about it in the lair. I keep an eye out for Karen's books, but I'm not always on top of things. I bought the book that week, and I did it because of the buzz the trailer generated.

Pat, that training sounds like a great idea. My last experience with anything like that was junior choir, (a group in which willingness was more of a prerequisite than tunefulness, or I wouldn't have been there) and I remember the choir director drilling us on where to breathe and break.

There's a storm coming in, so I don't know how soon I'll get back. In case it isn't soon, I'll go ahead and say thanks to Karen and Liz for joining us and to everyone who stopped by.

limecello said...

Oh my goodness - those are great trailers - and that's saying something because... well... to be honest, I don't like book trailers. It's hard to get me to watch one through - I hardly even watch movie trailers (and really, that is the point of them - and movies). Very impressive, ladies!
Book promotions, excerpts are the #1 most important thing to me. If I'm uncertain about reading/buying a book, a good excerpt [of a reasonable length] is what clinches the deal. If the excerpt is just a blurb... I'll still be uncertain. Book contests also are big book promos that work for me - and then blog tours, and I suppose reviews.
:P I'm picky, aren't I.

J said...

Your trailer is awesome. The truth is though, don't often watch trailers as they are quite time consuming and I get more info from reading the blurb, excerpts and reviews online for the same time spent. I'll watch a trailer only if it looks very interesting, has generated a lot of buzz or if it's by authors on my auto-buy list.

Fedora said...

I'm with Limecello--I don't usually bother to watch book trailers. Since I rarely even watch movie trailers, why would I watch a trailer... for a BOOK? But these, these I could watch again :) These are terrific, Karen and Liz!

Anyway, so I usually don't spend much time on trailers, but I can see how a good one would generate good word-of-mouth, and that would really do the trick :)

Ooh, congrats on the GR, Natalie--sounds like he had a very exciting day with the kids!