Self-publishing - creating your own book trailer

One of the things I love about being a self-published author is there are a host of creative aspects - not just writing - that I can be involved in. For example, I draw all the maps for my books and although I hire a graphic artist to do my cover art - I work closely with him on the concept.

One thing I really enjoy doing is making book trailers.

I also write historical fiction (under the pen name Jayne Castel, www.jaynecastel.com), and had so much fun creating a book trailer for the novel Dark Under the Cover of Night, that I decided to do the same for my epic fantasy novel: Journey of Shadows. These are two very different books but I like how their trailers effectively highlight each novel's central theme and tone.

I think with a little creativity, it's possible for most self-published authors to create their own book trailer. You see some high budget trailers on You Tube, with animation, actors and loads of special effects - however these books are backed by big publishers who can afford to spend a ton of money on them. At first glance, it may appear that these slick trailers are best, but I feel that too many of them look like movie trailers. You're not selling a movie, you're selling a book! Aren't books exciting enough to stand on their own?

So, if you're thinking about making your own book trailer, here are some tips on making an effective one on a tight budget.

1. You will need a video maker - many computers have Windows Movie Maker on them. I downloaded AVS Video Editor (and paid $37 for a one-year license)
2. Remember that LESS IS MORE. Keep your trailer under a minute and a half - any longer than this and you'll loose your viewer's attention
3. Write out a story board for your trailer, along with ideas on the types of images that would suit it - before you go buying images/video clips. 
4. Once again, lean towards simplicity with regards to the storyline. Tantalize! Don't be tempted to tell the whole story, or to use your Amazon blurb either. Think of your trailer as a 'taster', something that will entice potential readers to buy your book.
5. Avoid the overuse of adjectives and pumping your book up, without showing the viewer what it's about. For example: "An exciting, adrenalin-fueled adventure that will have you on the edge of your seat" tells me nothing and sounds cliched. It would be far better to use strong verbs to describe the adventure. For example: "Hugo must sail through treacherous oceans and battle armies of the dead, in his quest for the lost talisman." (not award-winning - but you get the picture!)
6. Think of your novel's themes and imagery and highlight them through strong statements in your trailer.
7. Use royalty-free pictures. I buy images from www.istockphotos.com but there are plenty of other image libraries out there. Don't be tempted to use pictures off the internet without having permission first, or it will only come back and bite you!
8. Use video clips sparingly. I do use video footage (which I also buy off www.istockphotos.com), but I tend to be careful not to overdo it. For example, a moody backdrop with grass waving in the wind at sunset, or flying like a bird through clouds over mountain peaks work well with text. Subtle video footage, coupled with strong subtitles can be very effective.
9. Use royalty-free podsafe music. I use www.musicalley.com - when choosing music I feel that instrumental, rather than songs with lyrics, work better. Finding lyrics that perfectly match your story is difficult, plus they can distract the viewer. It goes without saying that you should try to find music which best suits the genre and mood of your book.
10. Use the 'animation' function for text - this will make the text slide in and off each frame more naturally, rather than static text, which can appear stilted and boring. Play around with the colours, font sizes and types to find the right ones for your trailer, but don't use more than two types of font as it can make your trailer look 'bitsy'. Keep colours neutral and, once again, keep the font-style in keeping with the genre and mood of the book.
11. Use scene transitions. These help make your trailer flow smoothly - I find 'fade to black' and 'zoom in' or 'zoom out' work well.
12. Finish the trailer with a close up of your book's cover, as well as information on where they can find the book for sale and your author's URL.

Here are examples of two book trailers I made for my novels. These were both created on a limited budget - and a fertile imagination!

Journey of Shadows BOOK TRAILER

 Dark Under the Cover of Night BOOK TRAILER

New Zealand's South Island - an inspiration for epic fantasy!

I love creating worlds for my epic fantasy novels. Blessed (or cursed!) with a vivid imagination, there's nothing I like better than sitting down with a sketch pad and building a world that has never existed previously.

When creating a fantasy world, I firmly believe that you should have a reasonable sense of geography, as well as some knowledge of history and culture. I recently read a fantasy book that had the main character traveling from icy tundra to searing desert in just five days on horse-back! I've also read far too many rip-offs of clearly recognisable settings: ancient Rome and medieval Venice come to mind here. My favourite fantasy worlds are all richly developed; you believe that they could actually exist. Thought has gone into the details.

I had great fun creating Isador for my first epic fantasy, The Children of Isador, but I wanted something different for my next book. I wanted a landscape I could recognise, and sights and smells that were familiar to me. With this in mind, I created Palâdnith. Take a look at the map I drew - those familiar with New Zealand should recognise it!

I grew up in the South Island of New Zealand - in Dunedin (or Dunethport if you're looking for it on the map above). Palâdnith shares many similarities! Although the people and culture of Journey of Shadows are firmly rooted in epic fantasy, the landmarks, flora and fauna are distinctly New Zealand's.

New Zealand's landscape is varied, and can change dramatically in just a short distance. The climate is temperate; mild-maritime on the coast and continental inland. I centered my story around the Realm of Omagen, in reality the province of Otago - an area of New Zealand that I know very well. The coastline around Dunedin is lush and green, with silver beaches, the deep blue Pacific Ocean and extinct volcanoes. A couple of hundred kilometres inland, the landscape changes to dry, rock-studded terrain with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. You can see such landscape is an ideal setting for epic fantasy!

Landmarks such as the Rock and Pillar mountain range, with its unusual topography: stacks of stone and great rock tors, make a special appearance in the story - as do the Canterbury Plains, the Southern Alps, Central Otago and Southland. The next book in the series will take place in the temperate rainforests of Fiordland (or Westhealm if you're looking at the map above).

Basing a fantasy world on a place I know well, was a great help to the actual writing. As I based my novel on a real landscape, I feel that my depiction of this fantasy world is all the more credible for it. I tried to remain true to the geography - although I definitely let my imagination loose when it came to creating the cities, towns and people who inhabit Palâdnith. I also had a lot of fun creating the place names within this fantasy world - once again the product of a fertile imagination!

I hope that if you do read the book you enjoy Palâdnith, and appreciate its inspiration!

Archetype or Stereotype - Character Development in Epic Fantasy

One of the criticisms that epic fantasy receives, is that the characters are often stereotypical and two-dimensional. Fans of the genre will know the tropes well: the stern dwarf, the distant elf, the cryptic wizard, the naive farm boy, and so on. Part of the reason why lovers of epic fantasy read these books is because they enjoy these characters - but there are times when the portrayal and development of fantasy characters gets so hackneyed, that even hardcore fans get bored!

The trick with epic fantasy is to create characters that fantasy-lovers can recognize, while giving them a twist that makes them unique and fresh. If I think about recent epic fantasy with excellent well-drawn characters, Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire series comes to mind. The central character in this series (Prince of Thorns and King of Thorns), is an anti-hero. The main character is a violent, immoral young man with a massive chip on his shoulder. Jorg is certainly not the bright-eyed hero you often see in epic fantasies. But, love him or hate him - you'll never forget him!

From a writer's point of view, epic fantasy has great scope for character development. You have life and death issues here, and events that can change, or destroy, the world. Surely, a writer can show some serious character development in such a story? In his book, Story (a must-read for any aspiring writer), Robert McKee writes about the difference between an archetype and a stereotype - an important distinction to keep in mind with a genre like epic fantasy. To quote the great man himself:

"The archetypal story unearths a universal human experience, then wraps itself inside a unique, culture-specific expression. A stereotypical story reverses this pattern: It suffers a poverty of both content and form. It confines itself to a narrow, culture-specific experience and dresses it in stale, nonspecific generalities."

There's no reason why characters in epic fantasy shouldn't have the same hopes, fears, dreams and neuroses, as the rest of us. The trick is to make sure they are unique to the time and place they are set in, and not merely modern-day people in fancy dress!

I love creating and developing characters. It's what I look for in the novels I read, and its what I focus on in the books I write. In my new epic fantasy novel, Journey of Shadows, I centre the story around three brothers. Unbeknown to them, their mother was a witch - who sacrificed her own life to save theirs. They grow up, unaware of their legacy. This idea isn't a new one, but my telling of it is. The first difference to a lot of epic fantasy is that my three protagonists are men - not boys. Reading stories about yet another callow youth who learns about his true destiny, makes me want to spork out my own eyeballs! My protagonists are in their early to mid-thirties; they are well-entrenched in safe, uneventful lives that are going nowhere. They also all have serious 'issues' when it comes to forming emotional attachments. The youngest brother is a dreamer who took the first job offered and never embarked on the adventures he'd dreamed of; the second brother is a workaholic who has sacrificed everything for his craft; and the third brother is a reclusive librarian who has chosen the company of books to people. I enjoyed kicking these three out of their comfort-zones and into a grand adventure!

To celebrate the launch of Journey of Shadows, I am running a contest. It runs until Thursday 28 February 2013- and the winner will receive a US$30 Amazon gift card (that should buy you a few more Kindle books!) and a copy of Journey of Shadows (Kindle Edition). To enter, you don't need to buy a copy of the book - you just need to share your thoughts on your favourite fantasy character!

Here's how to enter:

1. Comment below about your favourite epic fantasy character, the book he or she appears in, and why you loved him/her. A paragraph is sufficient! I've already told you about mine - Jorg from the Broken Empire series.
2. The best comment will be announced on 1 March 2013 and the winner receives a US$30 Amazon gift card and a Kindle Edition of Journey of Shadows!

 Available now on Amazon for US$2.99 (Kindle Edition).