Regular readers of this blog may recall that I published an ebook and recently premiered a book trailer. Pete Dulin of Present Magazine of Kansas City interviewed me about the book and the trailer. Here’s an excerpt:
PresentMagazine.com: How long did it take to write the book?
Greenwood: “I wrote the first draft in three months – six days a week, three to four hours a day. Yes, I will cop to the cliche’: I wrote that first draft on a laptop in the Starbucks at Country Club Plaza.
The finished book people are reading today on their iPads and Kindles took about eighteen months and six drafts. I did about four “polishes” on top of that.”
PresentMagazine.com: How did the idea for a book trailer come about?
“Readers have told me they thought they could easily see Pilate’s Cross as a movie. That’s why I’m so excited I got the chance to work with the talented crew at T2 + Back Alley Films of Kansas City.
This never would have happened without the vision of T2 + Back Alley Films CEO Teri Rogers. She’s a courageous innovator, always looking ahead to that next undiscovered country. When I told her about my book, she immediately suggested a trailer. Not many firms of T2’s stature are doing trailers. I had given a trailer some thought, but never dreamed a nationally recognized digital media agency like T2 would work with me.
The trailer really transports you right into the world of Cross Township – like a movie. I wrote a treatment and a script, and then T2’s team created a concept that I think just blows away most book trailers. Their concept and screen execution was teamed with Wheeler Audio of Kansas City to record actors and mix sound.
I will also join T2’s Paul Miles Schneider (besides being a gifted graphics producer at T2 he has written the acclaimed novel Silver Shoes) on KCUR Radio’s “Central Standard” show Monday, October 25 at 10 a.m. CST. (You can stream it on the internet if you’re not in the KC area.) We will be talking about book marketing, ebooks, trailers and of course, our books!
In recent years, publishers, authors, teachers and students have been using the book trailer, a promotional video, to develop buzz and cultivate readers for a book. Some book trailers are similar to the familiar movie preview while others look like something you will see on MTV.
Some trailers focus on the story (many even tell you the whole story, like an overwrought PowerPoint book report!) some interview the author, and many more just confound me with their incomprehensibility. Of course, like anything, there’s a lot of DIY going on in book trailer production; with predictably dreary (dare I say crappy) results. For every compelling, well-produced trailer, you get about one hundred trailers slapped together with bad clip art, stock photos, bland music and cheesy graphics. Yeah, that makes me want to read the book. Not.
I don’t mean to be nasty, but if you’re going to represent your product–especially one I presume you spent years writing–do it right.
That said, I wrote a mystery thriller novel. Long story short, after a couple of near-misses with being signed by an agent over a two-year period I decided I could stick the book in a drawer forever or publish it as an independent ebook with Smashwords. I’m glad I did. Pilate’s Cross has sold more than a few copies (on iBooks, BarnesandNoble.com, Kobo and Smashwords), and hundreds more have sampled it. I still believe in the book and feel it could reach a broader audience if it could just rise above the crowd a bit.
Thinking along those lines, many of my readers told me they thought it was a book they could easily see as a movie. Well, I certainly couldn’t make a movie out of an indie novel, but a book trailer was in the cards. That’s why I’m so excited I got the chance to work with the celebrated digital media design company T2 + Back Alley Films of Kansas City.
Lead by CEO Teri Rogers, T2 + Back Alley Films is a nationally recognized digital media agency that creates all forms of new media content. Their specialties include motion graphics design, experiential design, augmented reality and other forms of new media, as well as original films and documentaries, digital production and postproduction.
The book’s cinematic structure made it an ideal project for T2, and I’m over the moon at their interpretation of the book. We agreed that it should be a book trailer that could easily pass as a movie trailer.We had some fun with the voice-over, though we resisted the urge to say “In a world…”
The trailer was truly a collaborative effort between T2, Wheeler and me. I just hope that the book lives up to the high expectations set by the trailer.
So, since the premiere on October 13, 2010 at PilatesCross.com I’ve received many nice comments about the trailer and renewed interest in the book. The trailer is now out there on several trailer sites, YouTube and Smashwords. It’s my hope that the crossover will aid in raising the book’s profile.
Book trailers are here to stay, I’d say, especially in our multimedia world. What do you think–are they here to stay or just a flash in the pan?
Most PR folks know the syndrome: we’re great at promoting and telling the story of our clients, but not so great at doing the same for ourselves. That’s why it’s important to have someone in your corner who’s a pal–and by pal I mean someone who will tell you the truth when you need to hear it.
A good pal will tell you when your breath isn’t so fresh or you have a stain on your tie. (A pal will tell you when you’re full of it, too–but that’s a different post.)
Professionally, a pal will also tell you that your website needs work or to get your butt in gear and start blogging (in my case, that honor goes to Ms. Shelly Kramer at V3 Integrated Marketing). In that vein, I created a Keynote slide deck for my media training seminar and found it was okay, but more often than not it impeded the flow of my presentation. I showed it to Shelly–and she gently (!) told me that my media training slide presentation needed some…er…okay…a lot of polish.
Shelly recommended I show it to Al.
Al Bonner of Presentation Transformations evaluated my lackluster presentation and told me a number of ways to make it more effective. He zeroed in on the elements that were holding back my presentation (and yes, I am using bullet points–it’s a hard habit to break, Al):
Too many bullet points. Heck, I had bullet points with bullet points under them.
Images that were hackneyed and tired.
Colors and fonts were inconsistent.
Audio and video slides were clunky.
I also went a little crazy with the animated transitions–a lot of fancy flights and typewriter effects. I needed to go to Animation Abusers Anonymous.
All of these issues conspired to distract from my message rather than enhancing it.
When Al kindly showed me how distracting those elements are, I blushed a little. I’m a professional communicator for Pete’s sake! (Though he did say he had seen worse.) But Al was right. He was that pal who tells you when you’re wearing one brown shoe and one black shoe.
So, Al took my clunky Keynote presentation (he can do PowerPoint, too) and smoothed out the rough spots, cleaned up the transitions, fonts and multimedia elements. What he gave me was a consistent, creative presentation that enhanced my message and will help me focus on sharing information rather than fooling with a gimmicky, clunky slide show.
I’ve posted a truncated version on Slideshare (see below). The limitations of Slideshare prevent you from seeing the video, hearing the audio or experiencing the transitions; but what you do see is a clean, easy to follow slide presentation. Have a look, and if you want to see what Al can do for you, email him.
If you’d like to see the entire transformed presentation live with the video, audio and wisecracking PR dude, contact me and we’ll schedule your very own media training seminar.
Acclaimed singer/songwriter Dan Coyle takes a break between sets at KCRiverFest in Kansas City to talk about his use of social networking and PR to market his music. More about Dan’s music and touring schedule at www.DanCoyle.com
You may recall a recent post about a fairly clever, attention-grabbing way a car dealership is is trying to entice existing clients to bring in service work. (I’ll spare you the rehash–just click here to read that post.)
Kandi, a faithful AlexanderG Whiz blog reader tells me she also received this postcard:
“I think overall it was a great piece of literature and like you said a great marketing tool for them if they follow through on the promise. I’ve owned a Honda since I was 16 and have had nothing but great service from coast to coast at any dealership I have been too, but rarely take advantage of all the mail items I get from them other than the occasional oil change coupon. So it will be interesting to see their approach to this ad.”
Well, Kandi, I booked our second car–a decidedly older, non-Honda Saab. When I checked the car in, I asked the service rep if this was a new promotion. He said yes, and that they had so far received a healthy response. He said it was “Their way of saying thanks to their loyal customers.”
I said that it was also a great way to potentially double their business, and he didn’t disagree. In my previous post, I speculated upon some reasons why this campaign was worth a shot:
The dealership probably sent these cards only to active customers–those customers (like my wife) who bring in their Honda for regular oil changes, tune ups, etc. They want to double their business from these presumably satisfied customers; guessing that most customers have two cars (like us)– and that if they don’t have another car on their service roster from that family address there’s a reason. The reason is likely that it’s a different make of car, purchased elsewhere (Yup, that’s us); therefore it’s being serviced elsewhere. Of course, the Honda dealership wants that car in their service bay.
They find your alignment indeed does need work, and true to their promotional material they do it for free. That makes you happy and predisposed to coming back, right?
There’s every chance that they may find something else wrong with your car and offer you an incentive to fix it while you’re there–the classic up-sell.
If they don’t find anything wrong, they’re banking on their service personnel’s professionalism, the shuttle service or the coffee in the waiting lounge to make you think of them when your car does need service. Heck you might even kill time and wander the lot looking at the new Hondas…
If nothing else, they have touched a regular customer with a generous offer–this increases brand loyalty. As you know, the news media is rife with stories of automobile companies across the board scrambling to retain market share.
After my experience, I think these are all valid points addressed in this marketing strategy. By the looks of the packed waiting room at the dealership, I’d say the promo and their other efforts are paying off.
All in all, it was good experience–they found several things needing attention on my car, but didn’t hard-sell me. In fact, on one particular repair they said I would be better served taking my car to the Saab repair shop. They did find my rear alignment was off and fixed it for free, along with topping off fluids and getting me a price on new tires. If nothing else, I left feeling very good about the dealership and even more disposed to buying a new Honda when the time comes.
