Published:
03/14/2011 11:01pm
5 Tips to unleashing your inner Lady Gaga to pimp your book
Like most authors, I blog www.cleopatrasperfume.wordpress.com and use Twitter www.twitter.com/jinabacarr, but I’ve found the videos are a fun way to connect with readers everywhere (I also do videos in Italian since I have a large readership in Italy). It’s an opportunity to give them something different in an era where the book tour doesn’t exist for most authors. An “up close and personal” look for the reader to get to know the author.
And it costs less than a book tour. Way less.
For my video series, I read a short story or book excerpt and use my book covers and photos that I’ve taken as background for my voiceover. I add royalty free music, titles and credits and you have what I call a “story vid.”
All it takes is a digital camera, your book cover, and a little imagination! For example, when I put together photos using fun things that pertain to the story for my Naughty Paris video, I included a red satin garter belt...
Want to give video a try for your books?
Here are my “5 Tips to unleashing your inner Lady Gaga to pimp your book”
1. Be bold. No, you don’t have to put on the platinum Lady Gaga wig and dark sunglasses, but you have to go where no author has gone before. This is no time to be shy.
2. Find two or three things that work for you, whether it’s Twitter, blogging, Facebook, etc, then be consistent, leaving one footprint at a time. They will follow.
3. If you choose to go video as I’ve done, make sure you have permission to use your book cover and always use royalty free photos, royalty free music, and photos that you’ve taken yourself.
4. Invest in a good microphone, sound card for your computer, video and audio editing programs. Windows comes with a video editing program, but you can buy a good one for under $70.
5. And most important of all, have fun! Be “in the moment,” whether you’re reading an excerpt from your book or writing about a subject you feel passionate about. Don’t forget to edit your video as you would your book for the best results, then promote it. Who knows? You may become the Lady Gaga of the book world.
And finally, here are examples of my videos (I’ve produced more than 50 videos) to promote my novels:
“Go to Naughty Paris this Halloween” promotes my novel, Naughty Paris, a sexy time travel about 1889 Paris http://vimeo.com/16081045.
I put together a special 4-part video series for the holidays to promote my books using my original short story, “A Naughty Christmas Carol”--a sexy take-off on the Dickens classic in Victorian London. Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc-qDfpUaHU
I’ve also done a 3-part series called “The Berlin Sex Diary of Lady Eve Marlowe” (18+ over) to promote my WWII spy novel, “Cleopatra’s Perfume,” http://www.viddler.com/explore/Jina/videos/56/
Here is a special Veterans Day tribute video to mothers (pre-war Berlin) to promote “Cleopatra’s Perfume” http://vimeo.com/16641598
I put together a 10-part series on my trip to Venice where I participated in La Biennale arts festival to promote my books “The Blonde Geisha” and “The Japanese Art of Sex” (both have been translated into Italian). http://vimeo.com/225484
You can check out all my videos on various sites including Daily Motion http://www.dailymotion.com/Jina_B and Vimeo http://vimeo.com/user216350
