Book Trailers. Why and What For ??

Our new book "A Crabby day in Maine" was just released last night and I have to tell you I absolutely love this book !
Growing up on the coast of Maine made this a natural next step for me and I believe it really shows threw this book.
I really wanted to take some time in representing this book to the reader to draw interest. One of the very best ways to do this is to create an awesome book trailer.
I have created book trailers for " Rainbow Roosters " and " Sheep Dreams " , I'm not an animation expert or even a particularly techie person, and with no budget to pay a pro this thus far is my option. With that said I'm getting better and better at this! As with everything in this adventure of being a children's book author, practice makes perfect.
I make my book trailers on windows movie maker. Most PC's come with this program but if not you can download it off cnet.com for free. Take some time, and play with the movie maker features, make the trailer uniquely yours.
You may need to resize or tweak your movie content to make everything thing run smoothly. I use PhotoScape for all my editing. Its free and easy to use and offers pretty much all your editing essentials,
When creating your trailer on movie maker you can also add music. There is a ton of free public domain music out there, you can search the internet or find free music on YouTube.
One thing I'm finding is if you time your transitions to your music, the end product looks a lot more professional. When selecting music for your trailer take a long look at its relevance to the story line and if it is able to communicate the soul of your book.
Here is my newest Trailer :

A Crabby Day In Maine Trailer:

Now looking at this I am realizing that I did cut it a little short on the end. Otherwise I am quite happy with myself and see a bunch of improvement sense my first video. 

Today is the release date of " A Crabby Day In Maine"    So I am off to spread the word. Feel free to comment below if you have any questions or feedback. Thanks a bunch !!                              

A Crabby Day In Maine

I love the title of the new book we are working on ! Oh and the pictures, I can't wait for you to see them, but the words at this moment seem to be eluding me. I mean I have a bunch of great ideas swirling threw my head but none of them have clicked. There is no flow to them. I'm not in a writers block ...I would guess it would be more of a writers pause.
Oh how I long to take a trip to the ocean, that would definitely inspire words for a children's book about Maine crabs, and I will of course, as soon as I dig myself out of this giant snow bank. With a Northeaster on the horizon for Saturday that might take a while !!
So here I sit in front of my fireplace sipping tea, and living the dream of being a children's book author. Really it was my dream my whole life. I thought of this very moment as a child. Snow blowing outside, the polar vortex overhead and me sitting with a comfy quilt and fluffy slippers as words magically flowed from my brain, through my finger tips to the world inspiring everyone in their path to reflect and smile.
Well ok let me rephrase that. Here I sit drinking my tea in front of the fireplace as fast as I can so it doesn't get dumped by the three year old hanging off my neck , the fire place is cranking because the polar vortex has planted its self directly over our house,and it is our only source of heat. I am sitting in front of the fireplace with quilt first because it is bleeping cold, and second because I am terrified that my three year old is going to spin himself right into the fire. I am at this very moment on the verge of those magic words that will inspire the world to smile, but as I break to pull a mini minion out of jr's nose it is my hope that you all will take a moment appreciate my dry, slightly morbid humor while you wait.
No not exactly the plan, but I do believe I like this plan better. Really how do we write about things we have no clue about ? I firmly believe there has to be an experience to inspire any book . "A Crabby Day in Maine" is inspired by the many days I spent as a child exploring the endless puddles in the rocks at the beach. Each puddle had it's own little world and each world had their own little inhabitants but of these inhabitants there always seemed to be a crab.
"Sheep Dreams" was inspired by a time we lived on a sheep farm and particularly a sheep little lamb named Clover. I do believe you will see her again in my books.
"Rainbow Roosters" was inspired by a combination of a few Roosters I've known in my life. With each ruling their kingdom's and their broods differently.
Having a three year old brings me back to a time were the world was magical and dreams came true, he inspires me !
Last but not least being poor and cold inspires me to dig deep to make a living out of all I really have... my imagination.
So Be inspired ! Dig deep ! Remember the magic ! Write, write ,write !!!!
 

Looking For The Magic

Ok, I get it. It takes time to become a famous author. Yes there are over night sensations but most of of us will not be that lucky . So I am putting my nose to the grindstone and pushing "The Rainbow Rooster"  and "Sheep Dreams " as hard as I can. Next week we will be launching book number three " A Crabby Day In Maine". My illustrator (Ealine Niemi ) and I are in hopes of being able to publish two books a month. Check out Elaine and her artwork out on Facebook she is an absolutely amazing Maine artist and it appears that everyone knows it but her, because she has original painting for sale for as little as 35.00 !! Trust me they will not stay that cheap :)

                                                                       

I could talk about Elaine all day, I love that lady to pieces and she does an excellent job  on her illustrations , but back to the topic. Marketing ! I know I have wrote a lot on marketing but after writing a great book , nobody will know it even exists until they see it. So your first goal is to get your book seen. Second, Being seen is not enough ! Think about it, how much do we see all day everyday in the way of advertisements,ideas, video's,pictures. There has to be something in that moment that in what ever modality you are using to market your book  that get a persons eyes stop scrolling long enough for their brains to say, "Hey there's something cool, lets look at it "! To make that happen you have to have not only a great idea , but the skills ( or someone who does )to actualize that idea or like me you have to be tendentious enough to to hunt for ways to build your skills to actualize your ideas . Unless of course you have a budget and you can hire someone to do it for you (how fun would that be ). I myself have started with a platform I am relatively comfortable with. I make my book trailers in moviemaker. I use a free photoshop type program for any tweeking I want done one my books or to make comment to share on social media pages. Now I'm not saying that is ideal, what I am saying is, it is what I know how to so I do it and keep looking to improve my skills instead of not doing it at all. Starting somewhere is waaaay better than not starting at all.               

As far as the results go, I am feeling really encouraged that "Sheep Dreams" is getting a lot of shares on Pinterest and I am loving all my readers her on the Rainbow Rooster Blog ! So that you are here with me right now says that that we are doing something that is working ! Like always I love forward to your comments and ideas,so be sure to leave them below ! Talk to you tomorrow !!!                     

                                                                            

PARTY DAY !!!

Its been a few days !! Missed everyone !! I kind of set my self up at times, and let me tell you how. New Years resolutions. That's it, January 1 rst every year I fall right into the trap. I promised myself this year I wasn't going to do it.... but here I am again ! On January 1 rst every year a make a solemn swear to quit ALL my bad habits at one time. My reasoning is, that if I do it all at once it may be absolutely GRUESOME (and it is) but I have killed all the birds at one time as opposed to a long drawn out process of elimination, RIGHT ? Well I'm not so sure at this moment. Its been 5 days without flour,sugar,soda,juice and the list goes on, and I feel like...hmmm...well enough of that.
           The good news is that even threw my haze of withdrawal symptoms and fuzzy brain, today is our big launching for "Sheep Dreams " !!! I am so excited !! Like I said before, I did a lot of things different with this book then with "Rainbow Roosters" . First I really did some reading on the optimal formatting for Amazon . On the "all in the know", blogs and discussion boards the standard is 1200x1920 but that made my last book look a bit stretched, but I did it anyway thinking they should know, they are the pro's and maybe Amazon would fine tune it a bit.. well they didn't.. At any rate I found the optimal size thus far for me is 1200x1597.(subject to change)
The second thing I did was give my readers the chance to vote on the cover. You can see these on our Facebook page at :  https://www.facebook.com/rainbowroosterpress/     or find us on : Twitter https://twitter.com/Rainbowrooster1. I just had to slide that in there. Another thing as you might have just noticed is if you get the chance to drop your links anywhere do it ! I actively look for places to leave my links, especially if I have a free book promotion, I mean really who could say no to a free book ? Now who would give their book away for free ? Me, and here is the reason why:
1. It promotes your title.
2.Great marketing tool
3.Get you reviews
4. Good to promote new authors
And million more reasons I am sure but those I just listed are plenty enough for me !

The other thing is I launched the book trailer BEFORE I launched the book this time ( I know Duh )

Check it out !!

I am still working on a good book trailer format. I just used movie maker and found some free public domain music online. I have looked at the professional video's and I know they probably beat the snot out of mine, but I like this video. I would love to hear what you think int the comments below.

So yes I have plastered the trailer all over Pinterest , Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. I have dropped all my links everywhere (make sure your links are webbed together). Plus I have included them in discussion groups and on every review page I can find.
Now if you don't want to have to do all that work, then you might consider advertising. I have read in much of my studying that facebook gives you the most bang for your buck. You can also advertise threw Google adds.
Another way you can generate income on your book is to monetize all your associated pages. /as you might have noticed my pages are not monetized, but that is only because I have yet to figure that out yet hehehehe.
When I do figure out the advertising piece you will be the first to know.

See You All Tomorrow :)

Away We Gooooo ! Book #2 "Sheep Dreams" How To Self Publish A Children's Book

Busy holidays really put a chaotic spin on being a children's book author/ Blogger. WHEW !!!
With the launch of our new book coming in just a few days I have really amped things up .
So I plugged baby into videos and away I go.
As I spoke of in my previous post, I had made a few mistakes in the launch of my first book " The Rainbow Roosters" and from those mistakes I have learned. I am sure mistakes will be abound in this new adventure but I continue to read all I can about writing, marketing and blogging. I will be sure to bring everything I learn (good and bad) back to you my readers.
So today I started the voting campaign on the cover . Take a look and see what I have :

Which one would you pick ? Feel free to share in the comments below.

My current project is to push the voting campaign and to launch a book trailer video to build excitement and awareness. I have spread the voting campaign all over social media and Pinterest . I will also add that I have created independent pages for Rainbow Rooster Press on all the social media platforms. So Rainbow Rooster Press is its own entity.

I got to tell you, I am really excited about "Sheep Dreams" as now I am not completely flying by the seat of my pants( Maybe just a little ) . I am feeling a bit more confident. Not to mention THIS LITTLE BOOK IS AWESOME ! Wait to you see the illustrations !
 I do need to admit that my illustrator is a very well known Maine Artist, her name is Elaine Niemi  be sure to double click on her name and check out her work on Facebook.
So as I sit here and type this I am feeling very optimistic, I'm having fun and I know regardless of the outcome or how many books we create or sell this is already a huge success !

Marketing a children's book

Some more on marketing. I am becoming enlighten to the facts when it comes to being a children's book author. First comes the fun of creating the book, next comes the work.
Not being Dr. Sues or any of a handful of children's authors who have struck it big means that I also don't have a advertising agency or a publisher who spends a billion dollars on marketing. So whats a girl to do ?? At this point in my career I am still working it out.
The last few days I have discovered a herd of people who promise to give good reviews if I join their groups or like their pages ect.. So far I joined a few million groups and posted my book for review on every one of them (I'm tendentious if nothing) and so far no reviews. Maybe there is a turn around time, or maybe there are more people on these sites or pages that are seeking reviews rather than giving them, I'm not sure but hey its worth a try right ?
The second thing I have discovered is homeschooling sites, now I think I might be on to something with the home schooling crowd. I'm going to keep plugging away at that and I will let you all know how that is working out.
The other thing I have discovered is free or sale sites on facebook. Because I am offering my book for free for a limited time to kind of getting us known, this seems to be a relatively productive venue and will also boost my listing placement.
Next I will be launching my new book. Armed with what I've learned with this book ( mistakes and all) I will start before my book even comes out and build anticipation. My first thought is to pump everyone up by asking people across the social media world to vote on a cover, FUN, then send the book trailer out to the crowds (this is going to be a good one ).
I am also developing bunches of funny quotes and pictures with the website (www.rainbowroosterpress.com) and my social media addresses attached to them. Now I'm not sure if these are all new ideas or if I am recreating the wheel but this is where I am at for the moment.
I would love to hear your ideas, critiques or advice !! See you tomorrow :)

My blogging initiation

So far I have been working in the evening as much as I can because quite honestly multitasking is not one of my strengths (as much as I would like to think so ). Yes its hard to run after a rambunctious three year old while teetering my laptop on one arm. Its not ok to be typing on my iphone while jr is hanging helplessly from the monkey bars. I get this ! What is this magic that work at home blogging /book writing moms have ?
Since I've started this venture my house looks like its been inhabited by apes. My husband is beginning to get that neglected, survivor husband look (that's the worst) and baby has been living on a steady diet of cheeze its and Veggie Tales.
With all of that said, though this is a LOT of fun, it is also a LOT of work.
I mean really ! Who actually spends 60 hours in four days working their tooshie off to only possible get paid ??? Crazy I know !
BUT then again who gets to pull nothing out of thin air and make it into something that may make them a paycheck ? OR BETTER, who gets to create whole new worlds out of thin air and then introduce those new worlds to the masses ? ME !! Well at least I hope me anyway :)
Now I'm not saying I am all that, and when the grammar police finally get a hold of me then I am sure the battle will begin BUT I'm not wondering anymore if I can do this, I'm just doing it.