Guest Expert: Joel Friedlander
My roots in publishing are firmly planted in the print world. Paper made from trees, books bound in boards covered with cloth, signatures sewn together with thread.
Books have always been–until recently–very solid physical objects. You can use them as weights, as doorstops, you can throw one (I don’t recommend it) at a noisy cat. Generations of people have used books as safes, or to press dried flowers between their pages.
So the transition to digital books has taken quite a leap for those of us tied to the idea that a book has pages, that it’s typeset in a specific typeface and all the other attributes of printed books.
But we’ve done it.
Now, authors who blog–and that should be most authors, don’t you think?–are faced with another leap, from words to pictures.
This is no small transition for most wordsmiths. Here is some information about getting started with video blogging that might help make the transition a little smoother.
Video Explodes Across the Web
More and more websites, including blogs, are using video to communicate, and it makes sense. Video is the preferred way for many people to take in information and training. Sites like Lynda.com and Khanacademy.org that provide video instruction are incredibly popular.
Many authors have already dipped a toe in the video waters by producing video trailers for their books to help in marketing and promotion. And people love video.
- It makes the author a more immediate presence, they become a real person when you see them on video.
- It allows authors to offer a much higher level of engagement with their readers and fans. People who will take time out of their day to watch a video are engaged.
- It makes it much easier to communicate visual information or instruction.
But “I” can’t do that!
Video production has been the province of corporations and media companies for a long time. Like book publishing, the tools of production and the skill needed to use them were clearly beyond the reach of individuals.
And just like book publishing, that picture has changed radically in the last couple of years and continues to change today, for two good reasons:
- Widespread availability of broadband internet access
- Cheaper, easier and more user-friendly hardware and software to produce good-looking videos
It may take another leap for an author to start to think of herself as a video personality, so it’s fine to go slowly with video.
And if you are horrified by the idea of appearing on camera, realize that you can create videos for your blog or website without having to show your face at all.
Kinds of Videos You can Make for your Blog
There are three basic types of videos you can make, and each has strengths that you can use depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.
- Full-motion video—A recor Add a Comment
