August 13th, 2009
You Can Do It
It’s always amazing to me what people can do when they set their minds and hearts to the task. I’m reminded of the movie, As Good As It Gets probably because Jack Nicholson, an eccentric writer, had the courage and determination to overcome his obstacles, which in his case was his own OCD. Ultimately his life was so much better because he was determined to make it happen. This movie is a favorite of mine.
Whenever I believe a challenge is too tough, or the writing too slow, I remind myself, that yes, I am capable. Whatever we don’t know, we can learn. This is good to keep in mind with any occupation, but writing especially. There are many opportunities, challenges, and disappointments which come with this gig. We win some. We lose some. And thankfully people do come along to help us out sometimes. Those who specialize in areas we have no knowledge of. We would be lost otherwise.
Recently my daughter and I created a book trailer for my novel, Jack Rabbit Moon, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. For those who already have a book in print and for those who are hoping and planning to soon, I’ll share what I’ve learned along the way.
If you plan on doing this yourself, set aside around twenty hours or more to search for images, music and wording for your story. You’ll want to capture it as best you can. Keep it short, under two minutes if you can. The advice was it’s more effective this way. The book trailer cost me a total of $38.00 dollars to make, and this was for the royality free music. Musicloops.com was where I found mine. Not too bad all things considered.
You can certainly pay to have it done if this works better for you. Apexreviews.net charges $80.00 dollars for a book trailer and review. Circle of Seven productions produces classy ones also, but I’m not sure regarding price.
Images can be found free at www.freefoto.com, www.freeimages.com, and www.imagefree.org. There are many others. You can find a virtual wonderland of information online on the topic of book trailers, free images and royalty free music.
As Bruce Springsteen says in his song, Dancing In The Dark, “You can’t start a fire without a spark.” Keep those writing sparks flying and your fires burning. Best of luck!
Official Book Trailer for novel, Jack Rabbit Moon
Click On This Link To Watch Book Trailer For JACK RABBIT MOON
August 16th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Great advice from a great writer! You always have such encouraging words Drain!
August 16th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Thank you, Robin!
August 21st, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Dorraine, Thanks for the websites. I’m sure some of the photos will come in handy with my blog. And tell your daughter she did a wonderful job.
August 21st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
I do hope it helped you, Shirley. Will look up your blog! And thanks, my daughter is a peach for helping me. I’ll tell her again! Thanks too for the Twitter shout out. Appreciate that.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I like your trailer. Thanks for mentioning the sites you used.
You’ve done a great job with your blog. I’ll be back to read more posts.
Carol Benedict
September 1st, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I saw your book trailer and thought it was great. Thanks for the great leads on how exactly to do something like that.
I just gave you the Kreative Blogger Award. Thought I should let you know.
You can pick it up here:
http://www.jmstrother.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?blogId=1&postId=285
Now you are supposed to give it to seven other worthy bloggers who inspire you. And you are supposed to list seven mystery authors you like. Yeah, yeah, yeah – always the rules thing.
Congratulations. You do a great blog.
~jon
September 4th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Thank you, Jon! This was a wonderful surprise. As soon as I get caught up, I’ll pick my seven, although I know this will be the hard part. There are so many deserving blogs out there.
September 4th, 2009 at 10:35 am
You’re welcome, Carol, and I hope this was helpful. I’ll be sharing many great writing tips I recently learned at the Hawaii Writer’s Retreat, so please stop back in sometime! Thank you.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Dorraine, this is great information. Thank you for sharing. I saw your trailer when you first mentioned it on the Writer’s Digest forum and was impressed. Thank you, too, for taking the time to stop by my blog and for your comments. I’ll be back often.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:42 am
You’re welcome, Kim. And thanks for your kind comment.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Dorraine,
I just watched your wonderful trailer. It is beautifully done and now I can’t wait to
read your book.
Blessings,
Elizabeth
September 15th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Oh, thank you Elizabeth. You are so charming.