This post is music to my ears, and I gasped out loud when I read it.
Warner Bros. Pictures has announced that not only are they doing a sequel to the fantastic The Lego Movie, but they are reserving two other dates for two more Lego-themed films!
I love Legos. I have more than any person should, and I even have the sets that I built as a child back in 2001 for the original Lego Harry Potter line - admittedly, they are all mixed up, but I'm in the long process of finding all the pieces. I've got through "The Final Challenge", which was the first ever set that I built for Harry Potter, and I'm working on "Snape's Class". Yes, I am a nerd.
Lego is a brand that I have always loved. I was so pleased that their first movie was a fun and fast-paced animated feature that paid homage to a ton of their past themes and reinforced parents bonding with their kids. That's a message that I think is at the heart of Lego as a brand, and I support them fully in their film projects in the future.
Now, to find those new Star Wars sets at my local Target...
Read more about the movie developments at ComingSoon.net!
This question in this post doesn't really have an answer. I'm just throwing it out there because it's been on my mind ever since I started dreaming up different ways to market my own eBooks.
Have you ever seen a book trailer? I remember they used to be part of those VHS tapes played at Scholastic Book Fairs, particularly the ones for any Lemony Snicket book or Harry Potter installment. They usually employ animated images or paintings that attempt to give the illusion of movement, combined with animated tag lines and, finally, the reveal of the book cover and where to purchase it or find out more. Check out the trailer above for Divergent, which I am reading right now.
Do book trailers really get anyone's attention? My thinking is that they might, if you are someone who browses YouTube regularly. On Amazon? I'm not so sure. There are many more ways to get people's attention on the actual merchant site including book cover and description. But, for other sites? I'm guessing that the impact of having a book trailer on YouTube isn't very large unless you're Suzanne Collins with a built-in audience who is devouring anything related to your franchise, but something is better than nothing when it comes to indie publishers.
I've been collecting materials to make my own sixty second trailer, and it's a lot more work than it seems. First off, I have no money to spend on this kind of production, but thankfully I have a background in television and editing where the actual construction of the trailer won't be too horrible. I also have some skills in animating things (see my YouTube page for some examples) and I'm looking forward to making something that can broaden the scope of my marketing materials.
What I get out of a book trailer is an atmosphere. This tiny piece of video is trying to give me visually and audibly the feeling that the book will and should instill in me, should I choose to read it. Some book trailers are really elaborate - see any of Amanda Hocking's trailers. They're basically a full-blown, cast, acted trailer that looks like it belongs in a movie theater. I wish I could do that for my upcoming work, but the resources are beyond me. Perhaps for the sequel...
So, in conclusion (though I'm sure I'm not finished with this topic completely) I'd say that a book trailer has potential to bring in people who would not browse Amazon regularly. It's a good bridge from YouTube to your book's page or your website. It also makes you look more official, since the only big name authors I've seen to get book trailers consistently are Hocking and Stephen King. Anything that King does with his enormous publishing contract that I can also do for my own work is something that I'm interested in. It's all about your preference and how you want to look visually to potential readers. Another question to ask is how much time it will take you versus how much you will get out of it. It's all up to you.
Will it be worth it for me? That remains to be seen (and I also have to make the darn thing!). Look for a super snazzy book trailer on this blog and my YouTube page in the coming months!
I've read a few different blog posts that discussed the idea of fanfiction, and with Amazon's recent Kindle Worlds unveiling, I decided I would put my own two cents in.
I am a huge supporter of fanfiction. When I was a freshman in high school I was distraught that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was taking so long (indeed, it didn't even have a release date or title at that time) and was craving something to read that was Potter related. My friend Kim introduced me to fanfiction.net, and I was in heaven. There were five or six different full-length Harry Potter Book Fives on there, and I reveled in the exploration of different themes and characters who weren't the central heroes of Rowling's work.
Needless to say, I am a writer, and quickly found myself spinning my own Potter stories. I learned a ton about writing from beginning to end, as that was how I uploaded so quickly. I started planning ahead a few chapters at a time, and found myself up to 40,000 words within a year. Better than that, I got regular feedback from a handful of fanfiction readers (I've never met any of you in person, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your criticisms and your encouragement! I hope you're all doing well and still writing your own stories!). I also joined fanfiction.net around the time that the "hits" data was being tested. I could see how many people were looking at my work daily, from which country, and which stories were most popular. What a revelation! Imagine the encouragement that people from across the ocean were reading something that I wrote. It was powerful.
As writers, we all want our words to reach many people around the world. Will my novel entertain someone riding a subway car in the UK? I certainly hope so! Will someone in Los Angeles be checking out my books while they wait in rush-hour traffic? That would be fantastic. These goals would have seemed unthinkable if I hadn't started out writing fanfiction. Exploring the craft within the confines of a pre-existing world was a great learning tool for me, and a lot of the terminology that the website used ended up priming me for a future in digital publishing. I encourage anyone in school to check out all the fantastic work on fanfiction.net and elsewhere around the net.
But, what do I think about Amazon's Kindle Worlds? I'm a little lukewarm on the idea. So far none of the franchises that are involved are ones that I am into. Vampire Diaries? Meh. They're all a little too CW for my taste. Now, if they were going to start allowing people to write Smallville fanfiction, I would jump all over that! It's a neat idea, but until they broaden their scope, I'd much rather write fanfiction for a website and learn about the craft of storytelling while getting some feedback on my writing style. Even if I'm not making money from writing or reading fanfiction, I am getting something else out of it creatively, and that's providing entertainment until a new season of American Horror Story or Downton Abbey comes out!
