Suck It Up And SMILE!

It happened again. Great venue. Tons of publicity and lots of empty chairs. It was last weekend in a neighboring town. 

Ironically, the book involved is selling like gang-busters, the best of the twelve other publications I have had on the market. 

Most authors won't admit this but empty chairs are the reality of doing author presentations, unless, of course, your book made it to the New York Times Best Selling list, you have amassed a huge following or this is your first book and all your family and friends gather to cheer you on. It doesn't happen all the time but when it does, it can throw you for a loop and make you wonder is it your book or you or something else? 

But don't sweat the small crowds because different opportunities come from a more intimate group. You'll get to inspire readers in a way you wouldn't have in a large group. People will feel freer to ask questions and make comments. And you never know if one of the three or four or five in the audience might have the connections that may result in future speaking engagements and opportunities far beyond anything you could imagine. 

Before becoming an author, you see long lines at book talks and signings and assume that's the way it will be for you. It might be some of the time, but I'm willing to bet that even well-known authors can remember events when the unfilled chairs out-numbered those filled. 

When the time comes and you find yourself staring out at those empty chairs, push back the tears and thoughts that no one cares, and focus on the seats that are filled. 

When the empty chair syndrome happens to you, what do you do? 

You suck it up and smile! 

And then give the same dynamite presentation you prepared for a crowd, to the few sitting before you. They showed up! They care! They want to hear what you have to say. You owe it to them to deliver what they came for--a dynamic peak into the pages of your latest work. 

Have you attended a book signing and been one of a couple in the audience? Has it happened to you? I'd like to hear your thoughts. 

Where The Writing Leads

Congratulations to Kathleen Burkinshaw! You won a book of your choice from my last blog, Your Book is Out...Scary Words. Just go to www.arliebooks.com, select a book and send me an email...sandra@arliebooks.com.

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When the writing bug hit me, I had in mind writing for children; books to inspire and entertain. Never in my wildest dreams did I think about writing for adults; parents, teachers, general audiences. It wasn't on my agenda. I never gave it a thought.

And then one day my telephone range. It was a woman, an Army Reservist, a stranger just returned from the Persian Gulf War. She wanted me to write her memoirs, her life-changing experience serving in Iraq. She had to talk me into it. I was a children's author, after all.

Another time I met an editor for a Home Improvement magazine who asked me to write an article about radon. Radon? Really? "You want this non-science minded writer to pen an article about radon?" Crazy as I am, I said "yes." I found experts in the field, talked to folks who had to mitigate radon from their homes, and wrote the article.

A good friend who is also a writer, wrote a story about a school and then was approached to write a book about fly-fishing. She knew nothing about fly-fishing but she said, "yes." Months after the book came out, she was asked to write an article for a trout magazine.

As writers, we need to be open to whatever opportunities come our way. We never know where the writing will lead.

Have you been asked to write something that surprised you? Something you knew nothing about? Did you say, "yes?"





 

Your Book Is Out...Scary Words

It’s happened, finally, the moment you’ve dreamed of. No going back now. Your book is out, delivered, on the market. Now you wait, with baited breath, hoping, no, praying that others will get what you were trying to say, relate to your characters and love what you’ve written. Maybe like would be enough. Yes, that would be excellent if everyone who reads your book likes it.

The reality is you have no control over how your book is and will be perceived. Every reader will see something different in your words; infer your intentions from their own experience, their own point-of-view. Most opinions will delight and encourage you to continue writing. The negative you may never know because readers are incredibly generous, especially friends and family. Some readers will see things in your work you never intended; things that will surprise and delight you. It’s these things, the latter, I’d like to address here.

My first book, If I Were A Road, a story book followed by questions and classroom activities, led to a series of two others, all designed to enhance creative thinking in young students. The advanced vocabulary and higher level thinking questions inside were aimed at students ready to give more than the typical, who, what, where and why answers demanded by most educational products; questions most students would find too difficult to handle.

  So imagine my surprise when Title 1 teachers began using the books for middle school students who had difficulty reading. The advanced vocabulary given in short sentences in picture book format didn’t overwhelm or talk down to the older struggling reader, I was told.

The open-ended, story-song picture book, CD and DVD, Arlie the Alligator, written for the kindergarten through third grade student became a hit with preschoolers. One mother wrote to tell me “Arlie” was her son’s first word. Another said her three year old memorized all the text and song lyrics on the word-for-word CD and demanded she play the CD every time they got into the car.

In the story, Arlie the Alligator tries to talk to children on the beach but bellows and scares them away. He vows to someday figure out how to talk to the children. During a whole school assembly in a public school, a little boy, probably a first grader waved his hand madly as I spoke. When I acknowledged him, the little boy shouted, “I know what Arlie can do. He can praise the Lord!” Talk about an unexpected surprise.  

My newest book, We Bought A WWII Bomber, about an incident that took place on the home front during the war, is impacting veterans, especially WWII veterans, in ways I never anticipated. In the few short months it’s been on the market, I’ve heard from several readers who shared it with their ninety plus year old parents and grandparents with the following results; veterans, who never spoke of their war experiences, began speaking of them for the first time. One acquaintance shared that he and his brother sat mesmerized for over two hours as his ninety-five year old father began talking about his WWII experiences. The acquaintance said neither he nor his brother had any idea what their father had lived through. 

It never occurred to me that one of my books would help another writer better define the actions of her characters. A writer colleague mentioned in a recent blog - http://tinyurl.com/gs2ka27 - that, “I knew that Kate and Lillie, the protagonists in my book, Half-Truths, would have been in elementary school during World War II. Reading this book made the time period come alive for me and helped me think more deeply about how those shortages affected them."

An idea hits you. It twists and turns in your brain until the story begins to emerge. You write and write some more. Then, after multiple revisions and edits, you send it off hoping for publication, believing all along that it’s worthy of a contract. The contract comes. The word comes. The book is finally out, delivered, on the market.

It’s not yours anymore. You’ve given it to the world. No reason to fear. Let the real adventures, the surprises begin.

Have you been surprised by someone’s reaction to one of your books or an article you may have written? Something totally unexpected? Something you never imagined in a million years? I’d love to hear about it. 

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Share your experience by February 1st and WIN a book of your choice from Sandra Warren's website. 

www.sandrawarren.com    

www.arliebooks.com
http://sandrawarrenwrites.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/SandraWarrenNC

Book Trailers Made Easy

The word is out—books with book trailers, like movies with movie trailers, get more attention than those without. So how do you go about getting one made? Where do you start? It's not as hard as you may think. 

When the concept of using book trailers to market books first came about several years ago, I created one for my children’s picture book, Arlie the Alligator. It’s still on my website but it’s full of errors, the number one being, it's way too long. (An updated version is in process.) 

I am no expert, but I thought the process I went through to create a book trailer for my latest book, We Bought A WWII Bomber, might help those thinking about making one.  

Begin by clicking the link below. If you like what you see, if it holds your interest and tweaks your curiosity, continue reading. 

              

                                   http://tinyurl.com/nfdd9xs       

                                            

Here are the things I’ve learned about making a book trailer:

Do your homework! The size of your wallet will not necessarily determine the quality of the end product. Knowledge will.

Research book trailers and you will find the full gamut in length and format;  a simple book cover with text super-imposed to music, to full productions featuring actors performing on elaborate sets with music and sound effects. Don’t be intimidated.

Take a webinar on the subject. When you Google “book trailer webinars” you’ll find multiple choices. Many experts will whet your appetite with a FREE session which almost always is followed by a pitch for more in-depth sessions for a fee. The FREE sessions, however, usually contain great basic information.

Google “book trailers” to find multiple links designed to help you create your own. Most folks will hire a production company but for those who are tech savvy, directions for how to do them yourself are also available. I hired a production company called, PhotosInMotion.  

Study basic information and various opinions on what to include and what to avoid.

Here is a link I found particularly helpful:  

                                          http://library.conroeisd.net/book_trailers  

It, not only gives rational for having a book trailer, the basics about them and how educators can use them in the classroom, it also includes multiple examples to view. Take a look at the book trailers for The Spider and The Fly and Where The Wild Things Are, given at the end of the above link.  

1. Study the use of illustrations/photographs/setting

2. Study the use of camera angle and motion

3. Study the use of voice over or mix of text and voice

4. Study the use of music and sound effects

5. Study their length

7. Study the use of text: scrolling in from one side or another, boxed on its own, or superimposed           over illustrations

8. Study the text itself. Did it come directly from the book? Was it more like a pitch? Did it reveal too     much of the story or just enough to entice? Did it ask a question? Did it hold your interest? Did it       make you want to read the book?

Analyze the above items and make note of techniques you like. Also analyze other book trailers with the above items in mind. Try to figure out why the book trailers you like hold your interest and why others fall short?  

Preparing to make your book trailer:

Have a clear vision or concept of what you want your book trailer to look like but be open to suggestions. A good producer will be able to take your basic information and weave it into something to be proud of. For the above book trailer about the bomber book, I gave the producer a jpg of the book cover, 10 photographs and 14 lines of text. He did the rest.  

Time is money. The more detailed your concept, visuals and script, the easier, faster and cheaper it will be to produce.  

Gather visuals to enhance your trailer. They might be illustrations from the book or photographs of people, places or things or an object related to your story. Text will dictate the visuals. For my 1 minute 12 second book trailer, I sent 10 photographs taken from the book and the book cover. My producer, Doug, from PhotosInMotion, added 5 more graphics.

Instead of illustrations or photographs, you may prefer to use locations and actors. If so, you’ll need to know who, what, where and when?

Writing the text – tell about your book in as few words as possible! Use the one sentence pitch idea. Ask a question. Write out what you want to say and then cut, cut, cut into couple second sound bites.

I started with this synopsis: This is the story of students in 1943 who during WWII  raised $375,000 by selling US War Bonds and War Loan Stamps and bought a B-17 Bomber. It was flown into their home town where they had a dedication ceremony after naming it The Spirit of South High and watched as it flew off to war never to be seen again. Seventy-two years later they found it had crashed in Meadows of Dan, Virginia. Now the rest of the story can be told.

I ended up with this:

1. Can a group of students change the course of history?

2. They could and did in 1943 during WWII.

3. They sold US War Bonds & War Loan stamps

4. $375,000 worth

5. And bought a B-17 bomber

6. Etc., etc.

Fourteen (14) very short sentences or partial sentences, equal to approximately 45 seconds spoken, were used in the book trailer. According to The Writer's Digest Guide to Manuscript Formats, 130 words of text will take approximately 60 seconds spoken.  The exact word count for the bomber book trailer is 93 words, equal to approximately 45 seconds spoken. The remainder of the 72 seconds (1 minute 12 seconds) is filled with book cover images, purchase information and company identification. 

The type of font selected can detract or enhance your book trailer. Does your story dictate a swirly romantic font or something more formal? Will the font look better regular, bolded or italicized? A consistent font throughout is best. My producer presented four fonts embedded within the sample trailer so I could actually see which ones I preferred. Make sure the font used enhances your book, matches the flavor of the story and what you want to say?

  

How will text be used? Will it scroll across each page or frame, be spoken or both? If you want the text spoken, you will need to either hire someone or do the voice-over yourself. Make sure the person who does the voice-over understands the concept of the “smile.” You can hear a smile. If the voice-over person speaks without smiling, the dialogue or spoken text will sound flat.

Before hiring a voice-over person, I was shown a book trailer where the text slid smoothly across each frame backed by music and powerful images. The movement of the text forced me to interact with what I was watching as it captured my attention. Reading the text myself was so powerful, I knew that’s what I wanted my audience to feel as they watched my book trailer. 

I had no idea what music to use. I left that up to my producer. The company, PhotosInMotion, as would most production companies, owns the rights to hundreds of royalty free music samples in any style and tempo. My producer edited four different pieces of music into four versions of the trailer and let me choose which I liked best. The particular piece in the final bomber book trailer was the only one of the four that crescendos to the end.

The production company you hire doesn’t have to be in your town. Most if not all of your communication can and will be done electronically. PhotosInMotion, the company I used, is in Michigan. I live in North Carolina.  

If you're wondering how to approach a production company, what to say, what to ask (?) read on: What follows is a list of questions to get you started.

1. What does your basic cost cover for a 1 minute book trailer?

2. What information do you need before you can begin?

3. Do you have royalty free music to use? If so, will you give me options to choose from?

4. Do you have someone who does voice-overs?

5. Is voice-over talent included in your basic cost? If not, how much extra will it cost?

6. What additional hidden costs are likely to occur?

7. Once I hand in all the requested information, how long will it take?

8. Do you require a down payment?

9. What is my recourse if I’m unsatisfied with the final product?

The above information was compiled from my personal experience. I in no way claim to be an expert on this topic.

I hope this post tweaked your interest in making a book trailer.

Have you done a book trailer? How does my experience compare to yours? What else would you recommend? I’d love to hear from you.

Sandra Warren is the author of Arlie the Alligator and other books for children and adults.

We Bought a WWII Bomber: The Untold Story of a Michigan High School, a B-17 Bomber & The Blue Ridge Parkway!  "This bit of local history is a reminder of unheralded resolve and determination by students during WWII" Publishers Weekly/BookLife 

Available: Amazon.com - www.arliebooks.com – Ingram - Road Park Books, Charlotte

www.sandrawarren.com    

www.arliebooks.com
http://sandrawarrenwrites.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/SandraWarrenNC

When Christmas Feels Like Home!

Christmas, more than any other season, finds our minds
wandering back to our growing up years and special Christmas memories with family and friends. It happens no matter your years or the miles that now separate you from your loved ones. It's a time when a picture or a song or a smell can transport you to grandma's kitchen where you helped bake cinnamon cut-out cookies or the whiff of pine needles transports you to the farm where you'd tromp through the snow to find and cut the perfect tree.

Creating new memories from the old is not always an easy task when you're an adult. It has to be doubly hard and confusing for a child. That's why the wonderful story book by Gretchen Griffith, When Christmas Feels Like Home, is a must read for children and grandchildren who have been uprooted and moved away from all things familiar. This important book will open the door to conversations about those feelings children have difficulty expressing.

A Goodreads review puts it this way: "When Christmas Feels Like Home is more than a Christmas book. Children who have moved to a new home, across the street, across town, from town to town or country to county, will relate to Eduardo as he attempts to understand the unfamiliar, find new friends and make his new house or apartment feel like home. Ms. Griffith's use of language is both beautiful as well as visual. Children will delight in trees that stand like skeletons, pumpkins that smile, words that float on clouds and trees that ride on cars. The cute illustrations are guaranteed to capture a child's attention. When Christmas Feels Like home will surely open up communication between parents who have moved their family from place to place, and the children they love."

Nine years ago my husband and I moved to the mountains of North Carolina. Each year since, we've tried to recreate the spirit of the season in our log home. It will never been the same as the years we spent in Ohio rearing our children, but now, after nine years, we've established new memories and transported our traditions to a new location. This was something that evolved over the years until finally, in our new location, Christmas does feel like home. Still, to our daughters, now married with their own families and scattered to Alaska, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, their idea of home for the holidays will never be the same. But, with the decorations they grew up with, now hanging on the tree in our log home, they get a small sense of that feeling of home when they visit.

What do you do to make Christmas feel like home?

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For more books by Gretchen Griffith
http:www.gretchengriffith.com
http://www.gretchengriffith.com/blog.htm

The Ebb & Flow of Writing

The mountains are back. They disappear every spring when tall trees explode with foliage, then reappear in the fall, slowly, day by day as leaves, tired from months waving in the hot summer sun, cascade down quilting the ground with reds, yellows, and browns.

October South Mountains View

While watching this daily transformation from my office window in my log home in the North Carolina Mountains, I’m reminded of the ebb and flow of all living things, even the ebb and flow of my writing life. One minute my mind bursts forth with ideas coming at me so fast my fingers stumble over the keys, while other times I sit and stare wondering if I’ll ever have an original thought again. One moment my current WIP consumes me. It’s all I can think about. When it’s done, finished and ready to submit, there’s a let-down that often affects my ability to move forward to the next project, at least for a little while. 

It's the letting go, somewhat akin to sending your baby off to kindergarten or to college, that puts you in a tailspin. Perhaps that’s a little melodramatic but if you’re a writer you understand that when you spend hours upon hours with certain characters in certain locations, close ties develop. These characters become real, are real, at least to you.

The same is true when writing nonfiction. You become close to certain researchers or interviewees or people important to helping get the information straight, the story right. The almost daily contact fosters relationships beyond the facts of the story as conversation drifts to more personal subjects, family and daily struggles. You don't intend it but friendships develop after days of contact. When the manuscript is finished, the book out, daily contact ceases.

I'm feeling a little of that right now--the separation from daily contact. My nonfiction is out and I'm missing multiple folks who helped me along the way; folks from my high school (the book is about an event that happened there) and folks from Virginia, where my story ends; folks I've known for years and those who are new but feel as if they've been friends for years.

November South Mountains View

Letting go is hard. But just as trees release the leaves with the changing seasons, so to we must release our work, at first to the agent or editor or publisher and then to the world so our book can do its job inspiring, teaching, influencing and entertaining readers.

That's what being a writer is all about.

Have you ever had trouble letting go when you've finished a manuscript or a book? I'd love to hear your story.

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Website: www.arliebooks.comBlog: http://sandrawarrenwrites.blogspot.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/SandraWarrenNC

The Perfect Venue

Is there a "perfect" venue for holding a book launch or autograph signing? I don't think so. But you can find a unique place if you think outside the box.

Gone are the days when a bookstore is where you go to sign books. Today, authors need to be creative, right from the start, when getting the word out. I'm not talking to the 1/2 of 1% of author folks who are published with huge advances and publicists at their disposal. I'm talking about the rest of us, the 99% who have to be creative to keep our books bringing in the sales numbers.

So think outside the box.

The location that comes to mind first and foremost is a bookstore or a library. For your particular book those choices might just be the best, but maybe not.

McDowell Public Library 

I had my previous book signing in a library. Their meeting room is downstairs in the back of the children's room. It should have been a perfect spot because of the children's section, but on the day of my signing only a couple of families came to the library. If it hadn't been for a group of friends and neighbors, it would have been a total disaster.

My best book signings have been in a donut shop in Michigan, Marge's Donut Den. Yes, you heard me right. A donut shop. I've been privileged to have held three there. The first one was for my children's book, Arlie the Alligator. That day I sold $1500 in books & CD's in about three hours time.

The next book signing held at Marge's Donut Den, was for two biographies. I didn't sell $1500 but sales did come close.

In September I held my third book launch/book signing at Marge's. We Bought a WWII Bomber. Approximately sixty people attended the presentation but well over a hundred came and went throughout the launch. They all bought at least one book, with some buying more than one.

The proprietor of Marge's Donut Den in Wyoming, Michigan is a book lover as well as an exceptional donut baker. She has two large events rooms where she holds poetry readings, book discussions, writing and art classes as well as other events. It's safe to say there are few donut shops around like hers.

Marge's Donut Den Events Room - Wyoming, MI

Last week, I held a North Carolina book launch for We Bought a WWII Bomber, at a local arts association that has a storefront presence right on Main Street in the town near where I live. From the street it appears to be a store that sells local crafts from talented artists, but inside is a large space for small receptions and a theater that seats about one hundred people.

MACA - McDowell Arts Council Association

I was quite taken aback when I arrived and saw about a dozen hand-crafted, beautifully made quilts hanging from the ceiling in the very room I thought I had contracted to use. At that point there was nothing I could do but setup as best I could on the tables that I had requested in advance. As it turned out, the quilts provided an interesting backdrop for the event. Folks off the street could come in, vote for a quilt, look at the crafts and buy a book. It turned out to be okay even though numbers in attendance could have been much, much better. It was noted that everyone who attended bought a book and several bought more than one, so the percentages associated with sales vs attendance were high.

We tend to measure the success of a book launch or autograph signing by the numbers in attendance and numbers of books sold. Of course we want to be able to autograph many, but success doesn't always come that way. The poorest attended just might be the most successful because you never know if that one person who comes and loves what you've got to say has the connections or means to get the word out or offer you an opportunity to speak at a much larger venue. That one person might have the connections to make your book and your career soar.

So think outside the box. What is your book about? Is there a location in it you might capitalize on? A famous place? A farm or park? One writer friend wrote about an historic school that had been renovated, so her book signing was in that school. Think about organizations that may tie into something that happens in the book. Offer to give a percentage of sales as a donation.

Also, consider the location and the type of room. Is it off the beaten path or in an area that might draw walk-in or walk-by traffic? Will the room accommodate a crowd comfortably?

Think also about doing a presentation. People are curious about writers. They love to hear about the process more than having your read a section out of your book--where your ideas come from and how you put the story together. Did you have to do research? How long did it take you? That kind of stuff. Presentations excite readers to purchase.

There are many places to hold a book launch so think outside the box and find a unique venue to show your book off to its finest.

What is the most unique place you've hosted a book launch or been to a book launch? I'd love to know.

Share your unique place in the COMMENT box and I'll put your name into a hat for a copy of We Bought a WWII Bomber: The Untold Story of a Michigan High School, a B-17 bomber & The Blue Ridge Parkway. 

www.arliebooks.com