Case Studies of 3 Book Trailers
One of my interests is book trailers, especially how to create great book trailers. As the first stop on her blog tour for her new book, Tiny Nichols Coury stops by to talk about how she created these three videos for her book.
Win a Free Book Trailer from Tina’s Trailers
Comment about the book or book trailers below to be included in a drawing for a free book trailer. Deadline for comments is Wednesday night at midnight (May 9).
Book Trailer: Where to Buy Animation
If you can’t see this video, click here.
- Where do you get the animated backgrounds? I buy all royalty free video and art from shutterstock.com and edit it into iMovie 11, a Mac program.
- Where do you find appropriate music? Around two years ago I bought a music library of seven hundred songs from royaltyfreemusic.com. Always use royalty free music. I have heard many horror stories of book trailers having their audio pulled by YouTube for not having the licensing. Also there are audio predators claiming that you are using their song to try to get money out of you. They harassed me. You Tube asked for proof of my ownership of my book trailer music. I had the paperwork to prove I had legally purchased the music. That was the end of them bothering me.
- There’s a neat animation of a red line going from the New England area to South Dakota. How/where did you get that animation? The map in many different forms is a standard feature in iMovie 11.
Book Trailers: Use a Series of Trailers
If you can’t see this video, click here.
- Animated fuse: how did you get that animated image? I went to shutterstock.com and put “fuse” in the search box. The trick is to get a little longer clip and then edit to the trailer.
- Where did you get the music for this video? Royaltyfreemusic.com This was from their cinema albums. I listened to hundreds of songs before I found the right one.
- The concept is very different for this one from the previous. It doesn’t feature as many bits of illustration from the book and seems more inspirational. Can you talk about how you develop a concept? I am only allowed to use 20% of the illustrations from the book for the book trailers. This gave me a challenge. I planned to have many trailers for my book, but how could I create different views of the same story and keep them all engaging? Book Trailer #1, Intro; Book Trailer #2, Question; Book Trailer # 3, Theme Song. Book Trailer # 4 will be the Presidents on Mount Rushmore talking about the book.
If you can’t see this video, click here.
Well, it's New Year's Eve and while I'd love to do a retrospective 'Year that Was...' I ain't gonna. At least, not yet. In the meantime, I'm all giddy about some writing stuff. First and foremost...
GOODHALO II - Is done! It's done, done, done! Well, at least the first draft anyway. It's length shattered any previous records held by any books that I've ever written. I'd originally thought: Aw, it'll be like 100,000 words. No sweat. That didn't happen. I bumped up my guesstimate to around 120,000 words. Nope. This baby clocks in at over 127,000 words. Yikes! It's like an epic! And while I'd love to say that that number will diminish with the 2nd and 3rd drafts, traditionally, that's not true with me. I tend to be an 'adder.' We'll see, I guess, next year when I work on the subsequent drafts. But, I'm really pleased with it. The story is complex, follows mulitple characters and brings some pretty cool plot twists (in my opinion) to the fold. I'm really excited to get it in fighting shape and begin work on the 3rd and final installment sometime next year.
Thomas, what're you nuts? You haven't even sold GOODHALO one yet. Heck, you don't even have an agent for it yet.
Maybe I'm a little crazy, but I decided long ago that I was gonna write the entire trilogy, book deal or not. If it sells or I get a kick-ass agent then all the better, but I'm sort of in the position where I just want to write what I'm passionate about, not just what is hip n' cool this week. I can't imagine leaving Pi where I left him at the end of this book without bringing his tale to a satisfying conclusion. That's just how I'm wired, yo.
So, regardless of GOODHALO I's fate, there will be a third book. No ifs, ands or butts about it.
Mount Rushmore - Got my hands on an early copy of my 2nd book over the weekend from my editor. It's due out in April, I think and is already listed on Amazon. It's here. They're goofy and have my name listed as Thomas K. Troupe. Yuck. I've contacted them and they're supposed to change it to my full name with the next day or so. I mean, really. The coolest part of my name, methinks, is my middle name. Ya know? Anyway, here's what the cover looks like!
Who ever would've thought I'd write a (gasp!) non-fiction picture book? And about Mount Rushmore, for cryin' out loud. Who? Not me! Regardless, I've gotten nothing but really strong feedback with how well it turned out. The editor said it's easily her favorite in the series. Sweet!
Here's something even sweeter...well, at least funnier.
Yep. It's my little bio, complete with an illustrated picture of yours truly. I cut off the illustrator part, which is below my blurb. I wasn't sure if Matthew Skeens wanted his illustrated moniker out in Bloggy-blog land. I can't decide if the picture looks like me. My wife was quick to inform me that the bio is already outdated. You know, since by the time this comes out, I'll have TWO sons. *sigh* Next book, next book.
Fact or Fiction: Trolls - Well, now that GOODHALO II is going on ice for a bit, I'm going to spend the next month (you know, between diaper changes and what-not with the new boy) working on the first of the three new books. They're supposed to be fun little books about mythical creatures and stuff. I'm doing one on trolls, one on elves, and the last will be about knights. One is due on February 1st and is meant to be a prototype for the series. I think it'll be a blast, but I'm already thinking...Dang, that's not too far away.
ANNA 2.0 - I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to get to work on the next draft of my little fast-draft book I wrote last October. I've often joked that it would be hilarious (as in, not at all) if this book ended up being the one that swept an agent off their feet and not the insane GOODHALO trilogy. My wife claims it's the best book she's read of mine (she still refuses to read Goodhalo or anything with zombies in it), but I know that and about $3 will get me a small coffee, which I wouldn't drink because I hate coffee. So, you know... Anyway, I'm hoping to get to work on ANNA 2.0 right away as it's been soooo long since I even looked at it.
That's all I've got for right now. Hope y'all have a rootin' tootin', pistol-packin' New Years!
See you in '09, doggs.
Well, that's that.
I've sent off my draft of Mount Rushmore to my editor just minutes ago and I sort of feel like I miss working on it already.
Is that crazy? Me!
Mr. Fiction!
Mr. I Want To Do Important Books About Zombies!
Mr. I Never Liked History In High School!
Mr. I'm Going To Wait Until the 11th Hour To Write It, But Dang It Was Sort Of Fun!
It was fun. I learned so much crap about Mount Rushmore, I'm actually frightened by it. And (allow me to pat myself on the back, here) I packed it all into 801 words! The word count limit was 700-800 words, but I suspect there'll be some edits, y'all.
So yeah, what is to be Published Book #2 is off to that magical place where books are scrutinized, torn apart and reassembled into something sort of like what I wrote in the first place. Kind of cool.
Now, to get friggin' Goodhalo all done. It's taking waaaaay longer than I'd like...
Hey Tappers,
Just a quick little bit of info to pass on. I was just officially 'assigned' a book from the people at Picture Window Books (the same cats who published Patrick's Super Socks) to write a non-fiction picture book about Mount Rushmore. The kicker? I've got to have it ready for action by May 15th.
It should be interesting considering:
- I'm not a history type of guy
- I've never been to SoDak to see ol' Mt. Rushmore
- I'll need to do research and all kinds o' stuff
- They'll do an illustrated picture of me for the backflap. THAT should be hilarious.
- I'm still in deep with my current projects
But, who doesn't love a challenge? I sure as heck do! It'll be nice to work on something different when GOODHALO is out on the streets, shaking hands with agents and wooing editors with its zombie-esqe qualities.
Agent: Hello! Goodhalo, is it? I don't think we've met.
Goodhalo: Braaaains...
Agent: Indeed.
Anyway, the Mount Rushmore book is slated to be released early next year, I believe. I'm of the firm belief that even though it's not THE BOOK or even THE BIG ONE, it's another tick mark for me to have a published work out there in the world.
Hey...it can't hurt, right? Holler!
Lotta Anderson featured in Blueprint
First of all Bradley's reaction to my living room "reveal" was very good, I think he said "holy smokes!" and loved it. The place is feeling much homier these days with just a bit of sorting, cleaning and lots and lots of painting.
The second thing that I wanted to tell you is that I picked up the September/October Blueprint and found an article about Lotta Anderson (of Lotta Jansdotter). I'm a big fan, as I'm sure many of you are as well so I thought you might like to know. I scooped up a copy and am so inspired by the stylish and artistic decor in her home and her work space in particular. The pendant lamp in her living room is exactly what I had in mind for our living room:
Lotta's living room featured in Blueprint
Now I just have to find it. If anyone knows somewhere in Toronto that stocks them please let me know!
Thirdly, I was surprised yesterday to find some clothes at Gap Body made with Liberty fabric! They also had some headbands and hair elastics with flowers also from Liberty fabric. I bought a nightie made with the gorgeous (poorly photographed) pattern above.
And finally our bathroom is not ready for a "reveal" but is dramatically improved so I'll give you some glimpses. First of all, here are some snaps of the "before". There was a bulky melamine cabinet over the toilet, bright yellow walls and matching shower curtain, with peeling paint revealing a Pepto-Bismol pink layer of paint underneath. There was a caramel colour shelf along one wall, and we put up a plain mirror temporarily. There is also an old washing machine and very old clawfoot tub. I love the clawfoot tub but it will need a bit of work - more on that in a later post.
First of all we replace the box flourescent fixture with a simple round flushmount. Then we painted the walls cil's "wedding white" which I think is the perfect white, not too creamy/yellow and not too cool/stark. Very similar (I can't tell the difference from the chip) to Benjamin Moore's "swiss coffee". We removed the extra shelving on the walls throughout and lots of odd hooks that were stuck on the walls to hold clothes drying lines, etc. The shower curtain and red rug are from IKEA. We also installed a nice new chrome towel bar and toilet roll holder.
After a surprising amount of effort we finally found a medicine cabinet we liked, this one is from Home Sense. I'd like to add a glass handle to it later, but it has a nickle one now that is perfectly fine.
And finally, the nice plain wall over the toilet (that's right I'm showing you a picture of our toilet). We may add artwork here later but for now it's nice to have an uncluttered wall. The cabinet that was there seemed to kind of be looming if you know what I mean. For storage there's a linen closet in the hallway - a new luxury for us! So I can pretend I'm a minimalist...
Still to do: window curtains, new plumbing for the tub (it leaks and has old wonky brass piping), including a new tub faucet (the old one is chrome laminate and a bit peely) a new showerhead, and a new pedestal sink/faucet to replace a melamine vanity. Also we'd like to do new flooring and install a new washer/dryer (there isn't really another place in the house to put them.) Finally if possible I love the look of beadboard wainscotting and light sconces - but we'll have to see how we do with the budget!
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Here's to a fantastic 2009, Thomas Kingsley Troupe. :)
Your 2009 sounds fantastic already, with a new baby on the way and all those other "babies" (books) in the works. You're amazing, TKT! Happy New Year!
Have a great 2009! I've got high hopes for our books this year, buddy!
Well, the bio could've said "lives with his wife and child(ren)" but that would've been weird. Congrats on the book!
Sorry for being so...well, absent. I'll be trying to catch up on your stuff in the coming days, but for now it looks like I have a new book to buy from Amazon. I'm trying to get back into the blogging thing. We'll see if it takes. For now, I have a sarcastic review of the Tinkerbell movie as my first try back. let me know if it oozes with enough hatred.
Oh and gratz on the enw baby I haven't read about yet. Hope it's a ninja.
Hey DJS, been meaning to ask you, did you ever catch up on the Walking Dead series? The last TPB, was a roller coaster of insanity. To the point where I have no clue where the book will go now. Robert Kirkman is a twisted man.
Walking Dead? I think so. I've read up through Book 8, which I think is the latest one. But yeah...it's crazy & twisted. I'm just wondering how long he can keep it up.
I think herecognizes the campy ature of the genre and knows that it's basically a neverending cycle of losing cast members and replenishing them with new ones. The problem is that the artist is weak when it comes to distinguishing between characters. Without a hat, a scar or a unique hairstyle, there's little difference between characters so I think the well might run a bit dry as far as new character concepts. Still, there are so many new avenues for locations and such that Kirkman has yet to explore. I'd like to see his take on a School setting.