It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - Aug 19

 Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.   

Welcome to The Book Connection. So happy to have you here! 

Life is a whirlwind of activity for us. Summer went by in a flash. I've ordered the fall vegetables--because killing a few summer ones wasn't fun enough--and the Lil' Princess is back in Wilmington for junior year. The Lil' Diva celebrated her birthday, and suddenly I have numerous properties under contract that are expected to close within the next few weeks. Oh, and I finished an editing project, took on two new ones, and submitted my seasonal small town romance to a publisher. Phew! 

Happy birthday!

Black Cat Appreciation Day was August 17

Car packed and ready to go to NC

Evening on the Riverwalk in Wilmington

Driving to Myrtle Beach for the plane ride home

Reading has been moving along faster than it was before. Time in North Carolina and the plane ride helped with that. I'm also back to using Audible, which I hadn't listened to in a few weeks. 

My review is scheduled to appear on August 23. It is already on Goodreads. You can check that out here.

My First Chapter Review of this one appeared last Monday. You can read it here.

I finished this book on Sunday. 

I finished this one on Sunday as well. Look for my review on August 22. 

I downloaded this one from Netgalley. Look for my review at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection soon.

I am reading these two and listening to the last one on Audible. 

Upcoming events:

• The Righteous Arrows by Brian J. Morra - August (Review)
• Long and Short Reviews 17th Anniversary - August 19
• Knowing by Mark Cox - August 22 (Review)
• Death in St. George's by M. A. Monnin - August 23 (Review)
• Hollywood Underworld by Lindy S. Hudis - August 30 (Review)
• Side Launch by Brock Martin - October 2 (Review)
• The Merry Matchmaker by Sheila Roberts - October 16 (Review)

You can read the latest Christmas news at the Christmas Year Round blog. Click here! Hopefully will have to post at least twice a week at this blog through the end of the year. 

That's it from my little part of the world. I will be back this afternoon to check in with all of you. Thanks for visiting!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - Aug 5

Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.   

Welcome to August! How was your week? Busy one for me, but sure beats being bored. Posting early because I have appointments Monday morning. 

We had family over on Sunday because the Lil' Princess is headed back to college next Monday. Feels like such a short summer. We had a BBQ... at least before the rain came. Now, I don't have to water the garden. I was cooking, so I didn't take any photos, but here are a few from the week.

Toured a house built in 1723. Not often these come up for sale. Check out the wooden tools and the coffee grinder. 

Theo sitting on the deck that needed replacing years ago.

I have managed to keep this plant alive and thriving since February. You have no idea how tough that is for me. 

Had more reading time this week. Hope to post my review of this one soon. 

I continued with this one. 

Didn't start this one yet.

Hard time getting into this one. Maybe it's because of the stress that I only have five days left on NetGalley.

My first chapter review of this contemporary romance will appear today.

These are next.

Upcoming events:

• The Righteous Arrows by Brian J. Morra - August (Review)
• Truth and Dare by Ann M. Trader - August 5 (First Chapter Review)
• Fresh Grown by Andrea Kristen - August 7 (Review)
• Affiliate Marketing for Beginners by Audrey K. Andado - August 12 (First Chapter Review)
• Dishing Love Daily by Susanne Clark - August 14 (Book Blast)
• Knowing by Mark Cox - August 22 (Review)
• Death in St. George's by M. A. Monnin - August 23 (Review)
• Hollywood Underworld by Lindy S. Hudis - August 30 (Review)

You can read the latest Christmas news at the Christmas Year Round blog. Mariah Carey made this week's news. You can check it out here.

That wraps it up for me. I will be on the road in the morning, so I'll check in with you in the afternoon. 

How to Create a Trailer for your Book by Hank Quense, Author of How to Self-Publish and Market at Book

If you use a Mac computer, you have all the software you need to create a trailer.  How to use that software is described below.  If you have a PC, you can follow the details but you’ll have to figure out what software to use.  A web search will reveal lists of programs available.

On your Mac, you’ll use iMovie and Keynote to develop the trailer.  iMovie is a powerful software program that can be used to make a trailer and other video productions.  Keynote is a presentation program similar to Powerpoint.

To get started you need to create a series of slides describing your book project.  I’ll use a novel in my example.  Besides the body of the slide (what will show on the screen) use the Presenters Notes to write the script you will record later on.  Try to keep the trailer length less than two minutes.

Here is a workable set of Keynote slides you can use to build a simple trailer:

    ◆      Slide 1: Show the book cover image in the body and paste your book blurb in the Presenters Notes.

    ◆      Slide 2: Create several bullet items about your protagonist.  Write about the character’s motivation in the notes

    ◆      Slide 3: Create several bullet items about the antagonist.  Write about the character’s motivation in the notes

    ◆      Slide 4: List the main plot events: Write about how the two characters engage in conflict.

    ◆      Slide 5: List book buyer sites.  The trailer can’t have active links and you don’t have any right now

    ◆      Slide 6: Book cover image.  Write a call to action. (Buy now!  Don’t miss this thrilling whatever! Etc.)

Once you complete the Keynote presentation, export the slides as images.  This will produce a folder with a png (or jpg) file for each slide.

Open iMovie and start a new movie.  Now drag the slide images into the middle of the iMovie screen.  Next, drag each image into the bottom part of the iMovie screen.  Each image you drag down there will be set to show for 4 seconds.  That’s the default value.

For the next step, you’ll record an audio track to go with each image.  Highlight the first slide (It should be the book image).  The image will also show up in the small viewer on the upper right.  Click on the microphone.  You’ll get a countdown clock.  Record the message.  Put some enthusiasm into it.  Your audio track will appear under the image on the bottom.  You’ll notice the audio is much wider than the image.  Drag the right side of the image to increase the time the image shows on screen.  Make it the same length as the audio clip.

If you put the cursor over the first image/audio clip and press the space bar, iMovie will play the video.  Press the space bar again to stop the playback.

Now record all the other audio scripts and adjust the images to match the audio. 

In the viewing screen (upper right) you’ll notice the current slide is partially grayed out.  iMovie, by default, tries to make the video look sexy by moving the slide viewing area around.  To change this and make the slides static, click on the ‘fit’ button.  Do this for each slide. 

Play the video several times (use the space bar) and make adjustments as necessary.

When you’re satisfied with the video, click on ‘file’ (in the toolbar) and ‘share’.  Select ‘file’ and pick a place to stash the movie on your computer.  iMovie will work for a few seconds (or minutes, depending on how long the video is), and the final trailer in mp4 format will be ready for use.

Click on the video and Quicktime Player (another Mac only program) will open and show the trailer.

Once you have the trailer ready to go, you can upload it to YouTube, embed into your website, and post it online.   If you upload it to YouTube, click on the ’share’ button and grab the link to the video.  Paste the link everywhere so others will find the trailer.

Once the book is published and you have your ‘buy links’, go back to YouTube and put the links into a comment text box.

~ ~ ~

This article was taken from my material in my new book, How to Self-publish and Market a Book.

Here is the book blurb:

Are you considering self-publishing your first book?  Naturally, you have questions and concerns.  This book has your answers.  It integrates both the publishing and the marketing to provide you with a complete project plan to market your book while you publish it.

The book is available at:

Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2Zbrx54

Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/2Y2rewE

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/949789

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2ltLzbU

And other online book sellers

Hank Quense writes humorous and satiric sci-fi and fantasy stories. He also writes and lectures about fiction writing and self-publishing. He has published 19 books and 50 short stories along with dozens of articles. He often lectures on fiction writing and publishing and has a series of guides covering the basics on each subject. He and his wife Pat usually vacation in another galaxy or parallel universe. They also time travel occasionally when Hank is searching for new story ideas.

Links? You want links? Here you go:

Hank’s website: http://hankquense.org/wp

 Hank's Facebook fiction page:

https://www.facebook.com/StrangeWorldsOnline?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hanque99

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanque/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hankquense/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3002079.Hank_Quense