Tag: Promo

First Quickie…Video Trailer

Happy Spring!  I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe the first quarter of the year is done.  It’s even more shocking for me, because my birthday is in the first couple of weeks of spring.  I always ask myself the same thing, “I can’t believe it’s April…why is time moving so quickly?  And how am I suppose to get things done, with time moving so quickly?”  Then I finish it by saying, “Yeah, thank God for another birthday.”

I’m the person that likes to do everything myself.  Let me rephrase that.  Being a small business owner, I’ve learned that if funds are tight and it’s not possible to hire someone, I need to do the task myself.  The other side of that coin is, I need to know how to do it, so when I can afford to farm it out, I know how to effectively shop for the best person.  As well as how to do it, if time doesn’t permit for outsourcing.

When I released my last book, DESPERATE DESIRE, I wanted to do a video.  I studied television production in college, but that was a while back.  Technology has changed greatly…for the better.  Hiring a production facility to create a promotional video for me wasn’t an option for several reason: cost and time.  I got this brilliant idea, a few days before release day.  So I looked at what I could do.

I went to YouTube for answers.  Turns out, I had a major tool at my disposal…Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Creative Cloud.  Adobe Creative Cloud gives you access to every piece of software Adobe provides for $49.99 per month.  I like it because it’s a month to month subscription and I don’t have to worry about buying new software.  [There are a few rules to adhere to.]  I simply install the updates when available.  In addition to Photoshop and InDesign [is InDesign to format my print books].  They recently added TypeKit…a sea of amazing fonts.  Until recently, I used Muse to create my website [the reason I changed websites is a post for another day]. The possibilities with the Adobe Creative Cloud are endless.

As I was saying.  I wanted to do a video for my book.  Armed with an few hours on YouTube and help from my godbrother, I was able to do my first video.  I’m still learning how to do these trailers, but I’m pretty excited about my first try.  I found the music on a free YouTube download and added my cover image and one from another book for the eye candy.  It’s a simple process with a little learning curve.  I encourage you to try it at least once.

If you have a problem viewing it, go to my Instagram page www.instragram.com/readtracyreed  and view it.

See you next month.

Oh, yeah, Happy Birthday to Me.

Tracy