Creating an Indie Book Trailer, Part Two

by T G Campbell

Part Two: The Power of Networking.

“It’s not WHAT you know, but WHO you know that counts,” is a phrase often muttered under our breath whenever we perceive the success of others as a result of their friend’s/partner’s/relative’s assistance. The perception usually leaves a bitter taste in one’s mouth—especially if one doesn’t have the same access to these individuals as the other person. We may feel disillusioned with—or even cheated out of—our dreams and ambitions because we’ll never have the same advantages. Contrary to what you may be thinking, I’m not going to patronise you by saying some individuals aren’t given unfair advantages over their peers due to help from a relative etc. Rightly or wrongly, these things do happen but, if you’re truly honest with yourself, you’d probably agree you’d accept such assistance if it meant getting ahead of the competition. I, therefore, want to leave this way of thinking here and politely request you do the same. This blog entry isn’t about the help we can’t get from others, but the help we can.

In part one I talked about creating a blockbuster book trailer on a restricted, financial budget. A large part of being able to do this is to enlist the help of others who are willing to offer their services either for free or at a reduced price. That being said, you have to remember we are all trying to make a living. You, therefore, can’t demand someone gives you their service for free. You may make a request, though, and offer a product/service of your own in return. On a very basic level, this may be an entry into your trailer’s final credits, accompanying description, and promotional material. By doing this, you’ll be offering the potential contributor free exposure to them and their business.

Personally, I think it’s sound business practice to always offer this reward to your contributors, regardless if you’re paying them or not. Aside from being the proper thing to do (you should never take credit for another’s work), you’re creating a solid working relationship with that contributor so you may draw upon their services/products again in the future. Put simply, it’s the old adage of “if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”. This principle is at the heart of all business networking activity. At the end of the day, you are a business and your books are your products. So, you should treat all your activities with professionalism and care.

If you’re rude, defensive, deceptive, or devious, or make unreasonable or impractical demands/slander a contributor’s name on your social media platforms, no one will want to work with you. Others—who you’ve yet to contact—may witness your behaviour first hand on social media and run a mile. Likewise, most creatives in the industry (regardless of their business type or profession) know one another. Even if they don’t communicate directly with each other, rumours about unprofessionalism and personal attacks can spread like wildfire. (Look at the situation with Terry Goodkind that is happening right now, for example. -G Dean Manuel) So, even if you decide not to hire a potential contributor because you think their prices are too high, etc., decline their offer as politely, and as professionally, as possible. Never make it personal.

Returning to my earlier point about what you may offer to a potential contributor, I think it’s always wise to throw into the mix something no one else can offer. Remaining within the realm of professional business practises, you could consider offering a free interview on your blog, or a feature in your newsletter (dependent on how many subscribers you have). I write a monthly feature for Fresh Lifestyle Magazine, in addition to my books and short stories. The magazine has 400,000+ subscribers, and all features are left, permanently, on the magazine’s website. I will, therefore, offer a free interview/feature to potential contributors when negotiating prices for their service.

As a side note, I’d always recommend you don’t state your financial budget in initial correspondence to potential contributors. In your initial email, always explain who you are, which product/service of theirs you’re enquiring about, which additional (non-monetary) rewards you can offer, and what you intend to use said product/service for. Then request a quote based on the information you’ve given. If the potential contributor is interested, they’ll reply with the price they think their product/service is worth. If you then decide to decline the offer, you have no reason to clarify your exact budget. If you decide to try and negotiate on the price, then you could state your budget but I still think it unnecessary. The most important thing is to keep your response professional and not beg for the product/service to be given for free/at a reduced price simply because you’re an indie author and you’re poor. A simple “is there any room for negotiation in your prices, given the additional exposure I may give you?” should suffice. If the response is a no, then politely thank them for their time and inform them you shan’t be hiring them on this occasion.

s When trying to find potential contributors, it’s always wise to ask around. Facebook friends, Twitter followers, fellow authors, relatives, work colleagues, and partners are excellent resources to draw upon. Twitter followers, especially, may provide you with the names of potential contributors you’d never considered before. Unknown/fledgling artists, composers, voice over actors, and editors, etc., are more willing to give their service/product for free/at a reduced fee provided you give permission for them to use the finished product on their showreels, websites etc. Websites like www.fiverr.com and www.fivesquid.com are also good starting points, as there’s already the expectation of a low fee between both parties. I’ve recently been researching voice over actors for my book trailer on www.fivesquid.com. They’re still professionals, but their fees won’t break the bank—provided I contact them through the website, of course.

Always be wary of charlatans when researching potential contributors. When they have given you a quote for their service, ask yourself “is it value for money?” Research industry pricing standards to give you a yardstick to compare the quotes against. Check the websites of potential contributors, but don’t accept what’s written at face value. Look up non-biased, independent reviews from past customers, fellow industry professionals, etc. about the potential contributor; are there any negative reviews? How relevant are the reviews to your project? How up-to-date is the potential contributors’ website? How recent was their last job? You may have thousands in your book trailer’s budget, but that doesn’t mean you should spend money like it’s going out of fashion.

Finally, think outside the box when researching potential contributors. I have a local museum with a Victorian-era parlour permanently set up. I need a Victorian-era interior for my book trailer. Rather than hiring/buying expensive antiques, therefore, and/or building my own set, I contacted the museum about hiring theirs. At the point of writing this, they’ve agreed for me to hire it for free—even if I require it out of hours. They also offered two more interiors, should I need them.

At the end of the day, there’s no harm in enquiring after a quote for your costumes, editing, original music, locations, etc. from potential contributors and/or local businesses. They may be too pricey, they may decline, or they may just surprise you and offer their product and service for free/at a reduced cost. You won’t know for sure, though, until you ask and, remember, keep it professional!

NEXT TIME: CREATING AN INDIE BOOK TRAILER Part Three: Script and Storyboard.

T G Campbell is a crime novelist that resides in Modern Day England, though she'd probably wanted to have lived in Victorian London. She is best known for her Bowstreet Society mysteries. You can find out more about T G here.

Beyond the Writing

By Kimberly Jay

Almost one year ago, I embarked on the journey to become a published author. Having had plenty of experience in writing, I believed this next progression in my career would be a cake walk. I happily got to it and approximately six months later, I had a ‘finished’ product. 

I was so naïve. 

Early on, I decided against traditionally publishing, however, I was oblivious to the work required for self-publishing. I believed completing my book was the end goal; to some degree, it was- after all, you can’t publish something that isn’t finished- BUT, there is so much more to becoming a ‘published author’ than writing the last word of your book. 

As I was making through the writing process, several people told me I would need to take a month or more away from my book, before I could successfully complete any type of self-editing. I smiled politely, reminding myself that these well-meaning people didn’t know me and confidently ‘knew’ this would not be my fate.

Yet, by the time I typed ‘the end’, I had zero desire to open the document I’d poured my heart into for so many months. I sent an email to the few people who had agreed to read my book in its rough state and then I sat back and waited. I didn’t do anything related to my book, because I was confident in my writing ability and believed my circle of supporters (or some other type of book promotion fairy) would propel my book onto the best seller lists. My book was so good, I was sure it would be it would sell itself.

If everyone is giving you the same advice, you should probably pay it some attention…

Perhaps, I had a bit of a hard head, because I didn’t take heed to any of the ‘well-intended’ advice I was given. When my beta readers came back with questions, I thought they didn’t get my writing; they weren’t the readers I had originally thought them to be, and I didn’t really care about their questions or concerns-

This is of course until I revisited my beloved manuscript (nearly two months after closing the file). I was shocked at the amount of unfinished thoughts, run on sentences and missing pieces my book had. If you weren’t sure, the self-editing process is a humbling experience.

Listen to your Alpha/Beta Readers. They are only giving you information to make your book the best it can be…

There I was, going through my manuscript with a fine-tooth comb, still debating on the need to have a professional editor because I had written and edited for others, I thought I didn’t really need an outside source to provide me with that skillset. After a second run of editing, I realized how massive the task of editing your own work is and the decision to acquire an editor was solidified as a must have.

Save yourself some time and know that you will need an outside professional editor. As you are in the writing stages, think of what type of person you’d like to edit your book. Find this editor (he or she does exist) and begin to cultivate a relationship with them, so when it comes time for you to hand over your manuscript, you won’t be traumatized by trust issues. You will also want to secure a spot on your editor’s workload calendar, so you aren’t left waiting around for them to be able to review your work…

Writing and editing aren’t the only things you need to do to get your book into the hands of the masses- so don’t get comfortable! Remember that team of supporters you have? The people who have been encouraging you to write your story, telling you how great you are and filling your head with all kinds of whimsy about the measure of success you will gain because you are just that good? Well, those people aren’t going to sell your book. So, what are you going to do? Enter the tedious world of marketing…

Book marketing may seem generic, but how you implement the various marketing tools is what will make you stand out. There are so many different marketing strategies that it would be impossible to name them all, but here are a few I have found to have worked for me- using a Facebook Author page and creating genuine relationships with my fans/followers (it is more than a numbers/like game), creating a book trailer, doing a reading of an excerpt from my book, making a post card sized advertisement of my book (posted to several community boards and leaving bookmarks (about my book) on coffee shop counters, library check out counters and any other counter, where ‘my’ readers would be.

In terms of marketing your book, this is something you should start doing long before you finish writing your book- though it isn’t to late to start, so get to it! Don’t let marketing strategies stress you out, have some fun with it and like all things in life, don’t be afraid to make a mistake here and there…

Now that you’ve completed your rounds of self-edits, your alpha and beta readers have read your book and given it some stellar reviews and you’ve got your marketing road map- you’re all set to make your book available to the waiting public, right? Nope. Have you considered your book’s appearance? Whether you’re publishing only in e-book format or printed form or both, you’ll want an eye-catching cover. This is a service you can do yourself (there are any number of tools available online to aid you in this endeavor) or you may choose to hire this task out; the choice is yours and yours alone.

People judge most books by the covers, so make sure you put some time, effort and perhaps investment into yours…

Don’t get lost in the millions of books made available to the world each day- remember to stand out in the crowd, you’ll have to do some work beyond the writing! I’d love to hear your best practices beyond the writing! Leave a comment and let’s chat about it, shall we?

Kimberly Jay, also known as Kim, Specialk or Dvnmskm- depending on where you meet her- has been writing almost as long as she has been talking (which for those of you who don't know that's slightly less than half a century)! She enjoys writing across genres, preferring to let the creative juices flow instead of following the 'rules' of writing. She has held court with the Richmond City Council and Richmond City School Board, where here eloquent speeches have left many an onlooker rethinking and reevaluating their position the current topic at hand. Find out more about Kim here.