I’ve just volunteered to do an online workshop for the Hearts through History chapter on unusual historicals that I’m thinking of titling “Keeping Historicals Weird” — Don’t sue me Texas!
I wanted to sort of give a survey of the current market for them (highly colored by this author’s experience) and wanted to get other authors’ experiences with publishing and selling unusual historicals — which typically mean historicals with characters or settings outside of Great Britain or America. It can be expanded to mean historicals in time periods not usually seen such as the 1920s even if it is set in G.B or America.
I’d also like to mention the historical paranormal or historical steampunk market as well, so that information is also welcome. My thesis being that the same “hard sell” stigma doesn’t necessarily apply to those markets and you may have higher demand there.
My focus is historical romance, of course, but straight historical fiction with romantic elements is also welcome. I will mention upmarket historical fiction for discussion as that is sometimes a consideration if you have an unusual historical manuscript.
My main focuses are:
1. Which publishers are buying it/pushing it
2. How are sales
3. What is the readership like
4. How did you promote/build readership
I’m especially interested in small press, epublishing, and self-publishing efforts. You can chime in here or e-mail me through the contact form.
I found the website where the RT 2011 conference recordings can be purchased.I participated in three panels at the Romantic Times convention. The recordings are $8 to $15 per session. Or it looks like the entire conference is available for $99.
RTB11-649: MARKETING: Promoting Like a Big Name Author When You’re Not One Yet Stephanie Dray, Jeannie Lin
RTB11-704: MULTICULTURAL: The Next Generation Kimberly Kaye Terry, Brenda Jackson, Jeannie Lin, Monique Patterson
RTB11-640: SPECIALTY: Kung-Fu Fighting: The Rise of Action Heroes and Action Scenes Jeannie Lin, Lynn Lorenz, Belinda McBride
Our workshop covered characterization, setup and tension as well as other writing devices used in action scenes. For a great workshop that covered fighting strategy, technique, and mechanics, I attended this workshop presented by James Buchanan and Cynthia Vesper.
RTB11-384: SPECIALTY: Fight Club: Live Demonstration Cynthia Vespia, James Buchanan
Though their presentation included some video and live demos which may not translate to the recording, I feel the content they discussed is worth a listen.
I’ve updated my workshop section with handouts from the recent workshops I did. I was actually quite pleased with being able to do the one hour Selling the Hard Sell on Saturday (I only got 50 minutes) and then expanding the Keeping Them Hooked workshop on Sunday to a three hour class. We got to cover a lot more than just me barreling through the list of things to think about–plus maybe I just like to talk.
I do like speaking and don’t charge any fee other than travel expenses, so if you happen to have an open chapter meeting you’d like to fill, don’t hesitate to drop me a line. I’m what you call a cheap date. *wink*
So after having one person in the audience for my fight scene workshop (thank you Christine!!), I didn’t expect the promotion workshop the next morning to be packed. So I fully apologize for running out of handouts. Stephanie Dray and I have promised to post the handout online so here it is.
Big news: The Dragon and the Pearl has been accepted for publication. Now the cycle begins all over again.
I’m headed to the New Jersey Romance Writer’s conference. Hoping to attend some great workshops and meet up with several long distance writer buddies. I’ll also be signing on Saturday at the Woodbridge Renaissance Hotel.
Should be a good time. And then my crazy road show will slow down. Nothing more until the end of November for the Music City chapter where I’ll be opening for the lovely Barbara Poelle and Holly Root. Waiting to exhale…
Warrior Women month: Next Tuesday, I’ll be featuring an interview from Linda Heenan, a swordswoman with experience in both Eastern and Western sword forms. I want to grow up to be her–if my coordination were any better.
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This weekend is going to be a fun-filled one. I have a potluck reception tonight where I’ll be seeing Jade Lee. I have her new book, Wicked Surrender, and wonder is it gauche to ask for an autograph over penne pasta and gooey butter cake?
I’ll be making a baked squash casserole from a Paula Dean recipe. The butter makes it better…
Then I’ll be heading off on a road trip to Tennessee for a “Keeping Them Hooked” workshop Saturday morning. I think I’m less nervous now that this is the third go. By third period, my lesson was usually going very well. If anyone happens to be near Bartlett, TN, you might want to check out the local RCRW chapter there. Guests are welcome!
I was asked to teach an online workshop for RWA-PRO on how to make book trailers, which made me think about book trailers and what makes them effective or not. I wanted to have a clear line of sight on the subject before I started advocating that authors spend hours of their time or too much money on producing trailers.
I’ve heard a lot of opinions from writers (but not purely readers, per se) about book trailers. Most have said that they’re cheap, cheesy-looking and ineffective. A book trailer would never make them want to buy a book. They rely on things like the blurb and cover, and reviews or word of mouth.
Years ago, when I first started seeing book trailers appear on YouTube, I was intrigued. Admittedly, there were a lot of rough ones out there with random images and text set to music. They had the production quality of a high school Powerpoint presentation. But when looking at a medium, it’s important to see not only what people are doing, but what people could do. There was potential there. A lot of potential. My mind started spinning.
So I’m going to come out and speak about what trailers CAN do.
We are now marketing to an increasingly visual generation. A generation used to watching videos, not only on TV, but on laptops and ipods and phones. This means that visual media will soon be at consumers’ fingertips all the time. The synchronization of images and music evokes an emotional response in us.
It’s not learned behavior. Music and sound naturally causes your heart to beat faster. We physiological respond to it. That’s why muzak is used to calm people down in elevators. That’s why drums are used in battle to gear people up.
Let’s look at the evolution of ads and music videos. At the beginning, advertisements were trying to be informative. If you look at old commercials for soap or Hershey’s chocolate or cars, they contained a lot of text explaining what the product did and why you’d want to buy it. Eventually, advertisers realized that the power of a magazine ad wasn’t to replace the verbal spiel of a door to door salesman, but to present an exaggerated image of the product and create an aura and specific emotional message. If you want to sell a guy a car, you don’t show the car and regurgitate the owner’s manual. You take a glossy photo of it in dramatic lighting with a gorgeous woman sitting on the hood. The ads aren’t selling a vehicle with four tires and a steering wheel. They’re selling image and sex appeal. Extreme example, but you get my meaning.
Music videos. Early music videos showed the bands usually in a concert setting, playing their instruments and singing. Again, video producers quickly realized that the power of music video wasn’t to recreate the concert setting on the television screen. You get none of the energy and fandom of a concert that way. Instead, music videos have become mini movie productions. They often tell a story or present some wonderful eye candy meant to evoke an emotional response.
Many authors are trying book trailers out, but most admit they don’t know if it really helps increase sales. Some companies can charge $50 on the low end for a trailer, hundreds of dollars on the high end. Big bestsellers have book trailers that use actors with costumes and stage sets. Some feature digital animation and effects. I’ve heard the bill can be as high as a thousand dollars or more. EEK! There goes most of our advances!
But is all of this useful?
I think it can be. I think there are still only a few trailers that are hitting the mark. Even the ones that look really good are sometimes too much buck and not enough bang.
The biggest way trailers miss the mark is by using the video merely to present a text heavy blurb and cover along with some pictures of the hero, heroine, and setting. It’s not that this can’t have some use — but like magazine ads and music videos, authors were trying to transfer the old tools of advertising – the cover and book summary – directly to video without using the true power of the medium.
The second way that many very impressive trailers miss the mark for me is by their length. Think of how long a television commercial is. Think of how long a movie trailer is. Not a lot of people without vested interest in the book are going to sit through a two minute trailer. Even a one minute trailer (which I have) is pushing it.
If you’re trying to judge the effectiveness of book trailers with a direct tie in to book sales, then they may fall short. There is no way to measure that right away. People are not likely to see a book trailer and run and buy right away, much like people don’t see a Coke commercial and immediately run out and grab one. The commercial is there to create an image for Coca-cola, tie the product with an emotional message, and foster brand recognition. That’s the same goals you want to aim for with book trailers.
A truly effective book trailer should align itself with the rest of the book’s marketing message. It should not just “look cool”. It should enhance the current marketing plan. It should bring additional exposure and buy-in to the product.
That being said, book trailers are not necessarily cost effective for all authors, depending on their marketing plan. Superromance author, Liz Talley, had a great point in that she doesn’t see the use for book trailers in marketing her books right now because she writes contemporary romance. Her stories don’t lend themselves to these huge theatrical book trailers and she can get more mileage out of interacting with readers on blogs and forums.
That’s not to say book trailers can’t be very effective for contemporary stories. But the point is, Liz identified her market and her marketing plan and made a decision that was aligned with that. An ineffective trailer is a waste of time and money. Worst case, it may turn readers off.
To end this reflection, I’m posting two book trailers I’ve made so I can point the workshop participants here. One if for Inez Kelley’s Salome at Sunrise and one is for my upcoming release, Butterfly Swords. Both of these books have very strong visual elements, so a book trailer works very well in deepening that experience. The trailer is able to present the book in a way that a static web page couldn’t.
These are both low budget efforts, costing about $50 to produce. However, they were quite time consuming!! That’s why when people have asked me if they could pay me to do a trailer, I’ve always declined. I only do them out of love for the story and geekiness. But there is a method behind my madness and I hope I have something to offer the RWA-PRO workshop participants this week!
So don’t everyone rush out and make a book trailer. Think carefully about what you want to achieve first.
For those of you who couldn’t make RWA conference, the Dress For Historical Success workshop was, well, as success. We had a full room despite going up at 8:30am on the last day of conference.
Here’s my best shot:
The judges say:
Nigel Barker: “I love the pose. You evoked the sense of confidence and grace of the Tang Dynasty, but I’m not in love with the face.”
Miss Jay: “Girl, you are closing your eyes again. Get some sleep or something and bring it.”
Jeannie: “But I was up late last night at the Harlequin party. There was a DJ and pink drinks with orchids in them–”
Miss Jay: *rolls eyes* “Excuses, excuses…”
Tyra: “The women of the Tang Dynasty were FIERCE. I see a pretty picture here, but I’m not seeing fierce.”
You know the movie where Jim Carrey has to say “Yes” to every request? Well, apparently that’s what I must have done earlier this year because for August, I find myself scheduled to teach two online classes and coordinating the historical category of the Gateway contest. And judging for the Golden Pen.
I’m not complaining. I’m actually smacking myself on the forehead. *smack* I must fire my personal assistant. (My personal assistant is myself — as I try to answer writing e-mails in between day job conference calls and activities.) I must also install a physical calendar in front of myself instead of the virtual one that I have in my head that I THINK is always open.
Speaking of classes: I promised the people who attended my workshop at Nationals that I would post the handout online for those who didn’t get it. Well, here it is: Selling the Hard Sell handout.
It’s starting to be a tradition that I fly to another state after conference rather than returning home. This year I’m in Philadelphia, PA with my hubby, so it’s going to take a bit longer to return to normalcy. I’m just checking in for a couple housekeeping items so to speak.
First of all, a HUGE thanks to everyone who came up to me to express their encouragement and enthusiasm for the October release of Butterfly Swords. The most common thing I heard was, “Are you the one who wrote that book with the beautiful cover?” So big kudos to the Harlequin art department!
Thanks to everyone who showed up to my “Selling the Hard Sell” workshop and/or the “Dress for Historical Success” workshop. I’m avidly looking for photos from those events or from the Awards night ceremony when I was presenting to post here. I don’t have them on my camera so it may be a hunt.
I ran out of handouts at the “Hard Sell” workshop, so I’ll be posting a copy on the website as soon as I get home to my writing computer.
