Those of you who visit on Saturdays have already met today’s guest blogger, Susan Kearney. Sue and I have been critique partners for…gulp…over 15 years! I watched her children grow up and she’s watched mine (though mine’s not done yet!) We’ve edited each others books, watched each other move from genre to genre and from publisher to publisher. She’s a tell-it-like-it-is kind of gal, and I’m happy to introduce her to those of you who aren’t familiar with her work.
She has a book out this month, SOLAR HEAT, and I’m thrilled to have her here today to talk about book trailers, the newest craze in book promotion. So, please welcome Sue to the jungle!
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The extremes that an author will go to just to sell a book . . .
Even as I wrote Solar Heat I was imagining how we would make the book video. Most authors do something to promote their books and since I like making the videos, I knew I wanted to do another one. But my last video, KISS ME DEADLY a romantic suspense set on Earth was way easier to figure out than a book that didn’t have one scene on planet Earth!
We needed sets, costumes, makeup and special effects—a tall order for someone who didn’t know anything about this technology three years ago.
I decided to start by hiring a specialist to create the spaceship bridge. That had to be the central piece in the video. Next we had to create a giant green screen as a background so we could pop out the actors and replace the green background with otherworldly pictures and videos. To make the greenscreen, my husband painted a bunch of 4 foot by
8 foot pieces of Styrofoam and taped them together. We ended up with a stage about fifty feet long and thirty feet high. For the floor, we painted a huge piece of canvass green.
During this process I sat down and wrote a script. The hard part was trying to write a story that represented Solar Heat when I didn’t know what we could do technically. I hired a male and female actor to play the parts. Luckily these same models were also on the book cover (thank you Tara—my daughter the photographer) so we had continuity. For costumes, I found these wonderful shirts that looked like uniforms and I lucked out when the female model had a friend who designed clothing that looked futuristic.
We actually shot all the scenes in one day. My son and his friend filled in as the bridge crew. All the scenes were shot in front of the greenscreen, except the boardroom scene, the bar scene and the couch scene.
And then a very talented friend Mike, who has a camera shot the scenes.
For the shower, my husband rigged a hose in front of the greenscreen and we dropped in the background later. The bridge scene where the ship is under attack was interesting. My son and the hero stood on a trailer. We put green canvas under their feet and behind them. Then my husband used a forklift to lift one end of the trailer and dropped it. Where the actors are catching their balance, they look real because we actually dropped them. Later Mike popped the actors out of the green background and put them on the bridge. And then with some technological wizardry, he shook the ship to match the actors’ motions.
And Mike did all the special effects and the sound. Some of the scenes that flash by in a second of viewing take weeks of work. And all this was done to grab readers’ attention so they will buy the book. I’ll bet you didn’t know it was so hard to sell a book!
Here’s the video trailer for Solar Heat!
All of my book videos are posted on my website. You can see them at www.susankearney.com
By all reports, Julie Leto was a sweet child once, somewhat shy, preferring to play quietly in her room making up stories. However, being raised with three brothers in a loud, primarily Italian household did have its influences and Julie discovered her inner tough girl. That’s probably why most of her heroines kick serious butt. Writing sassy heroines has worked out, as she’s sold over forty books to four publishers featuring strong, confident women. Julie lives in Florida with her daughter, a spoiled dachshund, a haughty lynx-point Siamese and a wide range of relatives all within driving distance.
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Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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Sounds like an involved process, but also lots of fun. Sounds very interesting too, to put it all together and make it work. How cool that you had the same models already on the cover – how often does that happen? I bet not much.
Good luck with “Solar Heat”!
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Welcome Susan! I really like your trailer for Solar Heat. All your hard work really paid off. I guess I never knew how much work went into shooting one of the book trailers. I’ve seen several, but never really thought much about the process. Thanks for explaining the process to us readers.
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Great trailer. I never realized so much work went into making them. You had your own movie set, and you were the director, cool. Good luck with Solar Heat.
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OMG
I was overwhelmed just reading about that!! I can’t wait for hubby to wake up so I can read this to him and let him know what he has to look forward to. 
The biggest lesson here for me: Always, always, always write a book that takes place on earth!!!
My favorite part: the shower scene. That hero is really hot and I bet that scene was tons of fun to shoot!
Good luck with the book sales and you did an amazing job in making this trailer!
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Off topic: I see that all the Plotmonkeys have their tickers lined up and ready to go. Carly’s cheating, she has a head start!
I’ve signed up right below Janelle and Leslie and hopefully I’ll do better this time than last. I’m editing (as always) and it’s so difficult to really track progress and be able to say, “I did this much” each day when all it seems like I’m doing is spinning my wheels. But hopefully I’ll figure out a way to actually track the progress and be able to stick with it this time.
Good luck to everyone doing Sven!!
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That captain is
. Thtat’s all I can say.
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Stacy,
http://www.plotmonkeys.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/multiplespotting.gif
I lucked out because my daughter is a photographer and the models are either local or fly in to see family. And yes, it’s a hard job, especially putting makeup on the models, but someone has to do it!
http://www.plotmonkeys.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/multiplespotting.gif
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Lizahttp://www.plotmonkeys.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/thanks2.gif
http://www.plotmonkeys.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/thanks2.gif
You’re welcome. It’s a lot of work but I like dragging my family in. Also, it’s a team effort. Everyone has an opinion.
Susan Kearney
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Thanks Patty,
Funny thing about books. We never really know how the book is doing sales wise until about two years later. That’s a long lag time because we write the books two years before they come out.
Susan Kearney
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Katie,
The captain is jimmy thomas. You can see more of him in my Kiss Me Deadly video or on jimmythomas.com.http://www.plotmonkeys.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/thanks2.gif
http://www.plotmonkeys.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/thanks2.gif
Susan Kearney
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Welcome to the jungle, Sue! It’s always a pleasure having you here. Very interesting process — thanks for sharing it with us!
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katie, Carly’s not cheating! She and Leslie have already started writing, but will begin in more earnest next week, I believe. I just entered my second book. I’ll be splitting my time between both. I’ve done this before and it worked out nicely. One I just started yesterday (Phantom) and the other I started last summer and need to finish by this June.
I’ll be blogging about it next week!
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Wow what a cool trailer!! And that shower scene…
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All I can say is WOW! Great trailor!
Cher :banana:
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Great trailer, great amount of work that went into producing this project! How lucky you are to have
the necessary people available to put this plan into action. Thanks for blogging with us today!!
Pat Cochran
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That was amazing! In a good way! :flower4you: Thanks for sharing your video and for giving us insight into the creativity that produces one. Welcome to the jungle! I’ve read your books in the past but I think it has been awhile. I’ll have to see what you have on your website that I’ve missed. Thanks for visiting with us today.
Plotmonkeys are all writing new books—yea!
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Janelle, thanks for the welcome and thanks to Julie for the invite. i know my books are way different than what you ladies write. Lucky for us so many readers have a wide taste in books.
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Tina, Cher, Pat and Donna,
Glad you liked the video. The shower scene was the last scene we shot. Once hair gets wet, we didn’t want to have to deal with it twice. Our original plan was to make the hero and heroine appear nude without the towel. But swim suits kept getting into the frame. So we improvised with the towel and I think it ended up sexier.
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Julie: It was Jodie who said you were cheating…I am still stuck on that Captain man….holy cow…I gotta check out the other videos…
:flamer: :flamer: 
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Oops! Sorry, katie!
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Great trailer! 1 love the shower scene.
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Thanks so much for visiting Sue–we love having you here!
Nice to get an inside glimpse of other authors’ promo efforts!
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hot cover
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Katie – I was going to jump in here and confess it was me…didn’t want you to take the heat for my comments.
And I was just teasing Carly… 
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Susan, as you are an “Author” can you tell us where you learned how to do “Book Video’s?” I am assuming you learned from someone or somewhere or from others….. Did you take classes? Do you have advisors, consultants, production companies that you work with? Did you use a “Talent Agency” to find the talent? Curious minds want to know….. Also, how much did it cost you to do this – total?
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Hi, Sue. Sorry it’s taken me so long to say hi! Thanks for coming back to the jungle. I know our readers loved seeing your video and learning about the process!
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I’m not sure if this came up but it’s worth mentioning that Sue’s process differs from other authors in that she takes a much more hands on approach in the process.
I hire someone to do all the work. So far I’ve only done the still videos/pics but you can also hire someone to do the actual movie trailer work too. FYI.
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Thanks for having me here Leslie and Carly–it’s been a blast! you have a great bunch of readers. :heart1:
Tio, As for how I learned to do this. I hired another company and helped write my scripts. Then I started finding the actors and found a friend with a camera. We did a few outdoor scenes ahead of time with another company because we feared the weather might be bad when their guy flew in.
I don’t know how to do the technical stuff. I found people to do that. I write, help edit, produce and direct. I don’t film or do special effects. The cost depends on so many variables that it’s impossible to give you a dollar figure. I don’t pay for sets, warehouse space, or extras. And it’s still expensive!! But in the end I get what I want–or what we can do technically. I suppose I’m a frustrated film maker.
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Jodie and Julie, don’t worry…..I am still thinking about that guy….he’s made me smile all day (sort of like Carly’s “Seduce Me” guy). I probably need a life, no, I know I need one!
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Thanks for the excerpt. Great cover—Love Jimmy Thomas–just to look at–not much of an actor, but YUUUUUMMMMY!
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Hello everyone….I love guest bloggers…welcome to the jungle Susan…I know it is kind of late, but I wanted to let you know that I appreciate you stopping and swinging with us…
I loved your blog today…it is interesting how becoming an author and promoting your book as changed so much…you now have to wear numerous hats, as you have explained…
That is an interesting video…it reminded me of Star Trek (the original)…who is the actor who plays the lead? He is hot…Your hubby and the rest of your family are very talented…maybe you could branch out and start a second career with the family…you never know…I will look for your book and pick it up…
I have to go now…I hope you guys had a wonderful day today…ttyl…sleep well…
Peace and love,
Paula R.