As my launch date approaches, I’m in a constant quandary as to where I should invest money on promotional materials and where I can get by with a little DIY-ing. The need for a book trailer falls into the quandary category. Is it crucial to have one? If so, who do book trailers appeal to and why? What are some of the key elements required to construct a compelling book trailer? Being the fact-finder that I am, I did a bit of poking around to see what goes into creating one. In doing so, I discovered a step-by-step approach to analyzing previously-crafted book trailers, or to dare to make one for yourself. I took this a step further and made a guide packet to help all of us figure this out together. (Click on the link! It’s yours for the taking.) Book trailers are short and interesting because they focus on the highlights of a book without giving the entire story away. The purpose of these mini-films is to capture the attention of the viewer and get them interested in reading the book. To make a book trailer, its creator must have a solid understanding of the story’s beginning, middle, and end, as well as four basic elements that make the project great. Effective book trailers concentrate on only a few main characters and leave the minor characters out. This technique enables the book trailer creator to focus on the most important aspects of the story. Also, it is not necessary to present characters as they physically appear in the story. Images serve as effective symbols for characterization. For example, a daisy can represent a tender personality, or a snake might show the evil side of a character. Overloading the book trailer with too many details causes it to be slow and uninteresting. It is best to choose a few plot points and then develop those through revealing specific detail. It’s best to pick a few key moments in the story and elaborate on them. Highlight what makes a key moment memorable or interesting. Perhaps, state how it creates a plot twist, or how it sets up a conflict between characters. Tell what is at stake or ask a compelling question of some sort. Pare down the plot by deciding which key scenes best represent the overall premise of the story. If you are considering making your own book trailer, storyboarding your project is a must! Storyboards create visual maps for book trailers by planning for the final book trailer visuals and script in a concrete manner. Movie makers use story boards to combine the script and the visuals together before filming the shots. Plans for sequencing and transitions are made through story boarding – be it text, sound or visuals. Once the story board script and visuals are satisfactorily completed, it is time to create a digital representation of your book trailer project. After doing the research to make the Book Trailer Basics guide, I’m seriously thinking about attempting this process on my own. Though I might make a mess of the project, I’m going to give it a whirl. How about you? Are you daring enough to take the plunge with me? Let’s do this! Debbie Gonzales is a career educator, curriculum consultant, former school administrator, adjunct professor, and once served as a SCBWI RA for the Austin Chapter. Deb currently devotes her time to writing middle grade novels, crafting educator guides with Guides by Deb, producing The Debcast (a podcast dedicated to the empowering spirit of the female athlete) and various freelance projects. She’s the author of six “transitional” readers for New Zealand publisher, Giltedge, and the forthcoming non-fiction picture book Girls with Guts: The Road to Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records (Charlesbridge, 2019). Deb currently serves as board member for the Michigan Reading Association. She earned her MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Learn more about Deb by accessing www.debbiegonzales.com.
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This month, THIS BOOK IS SPINELESS will hit the shelves (Feb. 19!). It is as much my book baby as it is Alice Brereton’s. Alice is the super talented illustrator who brought THIS BOOK IS SPINELESS to life. Her quirky style combined perfectly with my quirky writing. I had a chance to ask her a few questions, so without further ado … : How did you find your way to illustrating children's books? The first things I drew were pretty Cat Ladies with big ears and poofy tails. From middle school to high school I drew Anime and when I went to community college I started trying to find my own style. But the first time I knew children's illustration was the way I wanted to steer my portfolio was at the Academy of Art University in Children's Illustration 1. My teacher Julie Downing was lecturing about what a children's book was and wasn't and as she showed slides of beautiful, insightful, and cheerful illustrations my brain latched on. It had everything I wanted to draw! After that first class I started adjusting my portfolio to follow that idea. What/who inspires you? Stuff... Things? If I am feeling uninspired, cracking open an art book might help, but I've noticed I usually get my best ideas from nature documentaries and everyday life events like hanging out with friends, grocery shopping, or driving. My best ideas come from everywhere I am not looking for them. My favorite artists (for this moment) are Eyvind Earle, Hayao Miyazaki, and Bob Ross. What were your first thoughts when you read the manuscript for THIS BOOK IS SPINELESS? My first thoughts were all about me! I was so excited that I had been chosen for this story! My second thoughts were that I loved the idea of the story and the way it was clearly written. My last thoughts were "Soooo. What am I drawing exactly?" Tell us a bit about your process with this book, the routine you go through to start creating. The first part of my routine is to, of course, read the story over and over again until I really have a feeling for how it works, what it wants, and where it needs to go. Then I forget about it for a week and work on something else completely different. After a week I go back to the story with a familiarity but also a more realistic view on it--less cheerleader, more critic--and I start doodling little ideas, very sketchy and loose. These are the sketches no one sees! Not even the cats. Sometimes I take out my pencil and sketch in my sketchbook; other times I doodle with my mouse in Photoshop because I'm lazy. On very rare occasions I actually take out my WACOM to sketch!? The 2nd pass of sketches I do use my WACOM and those are the sketches I send to the editors to review. I usually try to complete the final sketches in two days so I don't get distracted or lose focus of the book world I'm trying to explore. Then after a few or several revisions my sketches get approved and I can start finals! Finals go much easier because I have the sketches as a blueprint to follow and I try my best to address all the problems in the sketch phases so I don't have to worry about it later in the finals. Any challenges? Yes. The biggest problem being "how do I draw the main character" and then realizing the entirety of the book is the main character. The kid holding the book is holding the character? And we're looking into the book's mind as it's imagining its own story? Wooaaaooooh. Do you have a favorite illustration in the book and why is it your favorite? My favorite spread is the Ghost spread! The Librarian and the Ghost are totally going to fall in love! What do you wish authors knew about working with you or any illustrator? Hmmm. That's tough. I can't think of anything big I want to rant about. If the Author does their job "write" I can do my job right! So I suppose all I want the author to know is that I will obsess over their story as much as they did. I've got to know what you love so much about pickles or anything pickled! I wish I had a more interesting story. I had to pick a website name for a website design class and I figured I'd just buy the name, get the grade and pick a new name later. But I never got around to doing that... Now I'm stuck! I really do love pickles though. Highly recommend "Wickle's" if you can find them. You have a free Saturday to do whatever. What do you end up doing? If the weather is warm and dry, I like to go Lakewood Cemetery and play boardgames with my boyfriend! And if the weather is cold and wet, I like to stay inside and play video games with my boyfriend and the cats! Thanks for joining us, Alice! ------- Alice Brereton grew up in Minneapolis, MN, and is absurdly proud of that fact. Her artwork is colorful, textured, shape oriented and always strives to be quirky or “smile inducing”. Alice has won a slough of awards from her school, the Academy of Art University, and Adobe, and keeps them in a nice humble pile next to her collection of dinosaur and donkey figurines. When Alice was nine, her imaginary friend was a gigantic Tyrannosaurus that she liked to imagine eating her best friends. Her favorite food is “pickled anything” and if she were not an illustrator, Alice would be at the bottom of a sea in a submarine discovering new kinds of sea life and naming them ridiculous names … one day the “Tooty-McFlippery-Banana Butt” will be found! Lindsay Leslie is the author of THIS BOOK IS SPINELESS, her debut picture book (Page Street Kids, Feb. 19, 2019). By Sandra Sutter It was the Fall of 2016. I was a children’s book writer who had been misplaced in the legal profession for almost a decade. A few lousy manuscripts sat in a drawer and I knew I wanted to do something more. Using my trusty research skills, I stumbled across registration for the 2017 SCBWI Winter Conference. After some encouragement from a super supportive spouse, I signed up and headed for NYC. What was the worst that could happen? I decide not to write anymore and go back home? No. The worst that could happen was I would fall in love with it and want to quit my job. Two weeks later, I was turning in my keys and working from a new office with a much shorter commute and extremely casual dress code. I discovered rather quickly I had NO idea what I was doing. All I had were ideas and the desire to write. Oh, and those research skills too. Which landed me in an on-line course on writing picture books at the Children’s Book Academy. It looked legit: comprehensive, great track record, and an enthusiastic instructor with years of experience in the business. Was it all that I dreamed of? Yes! Did I meet others in the Kidlit community who were kind, helpful, giving, and welcoming? Yes! Did I get a picture book contract with that amazing story I worked on in class? No … but I was one step closer. During that first course, I found out about a similar one for illustrators (which I am not, but I signed up anyway). I thought maybe, just maybe, I could learn to think like an illustrator and get better at “showing” rather than “telling” in my own manuscripts. Was it all that I dreamed of? Yes! Did I meet others in the Kidlit community who were kind, helpful, giving, and, welcoming? Yes! Did I get a picture book contract with the amazing story I worked on in class? Yes! Yes, I did! Say what? A book contract from an illustration course? That is exactly what happened to me. When the editor critiquing my thumbnail sketches saw my story, she was hooked. She asked to show the manuscript to her publisher. And several days before Christmas 2017, I got the call that changed everything. Of course, I did not end up illustrating my book (no surprise there). But I get to work with an amazing publishing team, and a close-knit group of talented authors and illustrators that support one another on this journey. It seems that it happened so fast, and in some ways it did. But there is still more to do! I feel compelled to work harder and stretch myself more than ever. One thing I know is if I can do it, so can you. Be persistent and give it all you’ve got. Stay open-minded and learn from everyone you can. Give back, and be patient. That next opportunity might just be “the one” for you. -- Sandra Sutter lives among the beautiful Kentucky horse farms with her husband and two young children. Having grown up in Colorado, she left a piece of her heart in the Rocky Mountains and often daydreams of permanently returning one day. Her upcoming debut picture book, The REAL Farmer in the Dell, was in part inspired by a love for the West. A former attorney and therapist turned children’s book author, Sandra is grateful to be on this amazing journey. When not writing or researching a new project, Sandra is likely planning fun adventures with her family. It almost always involves mountain biking, skiing, hiking, or water. Although a trip to the big city is often in order! She is fueled by coffee and enjoys really good chocolate chip cookies. Find out more about Sandra at www.sdsutter.com or follow her on Twitter @sandradsutter. Thank you to everyone who participated in our #19Hours of #NewIn19 Giveaway! We are very excited to announce the winners, so without further ado ... (drum roll!)
BUNDLE #1 goes to ... KARI A.! FIVE On-the-Serious-Side #NewIn19 Picture Books HONEYSMOKE (signed copy) by Monique Fields, illustrated by Yesenia Moises HER FEARLESS RUN by Kim Chaffee, illustrated by Ellen Rooney PIPPA’S PASSOVER PLATE by Vivian Kirkfield, illustrated by Jill Weber SMALL WORLD (signed ARC) by Ishta Mercurio, illlustrated by Jen Corace WHEN GRANDMA GIVES YOU A LEMON TREE (an F&G copy) by Jamie L.B. Deenihan, illustrated by Lorraine Rocha BUNDLE #2 goes to ... CAROLYN L.! FOUR Get-Ready-to-Giggle #NewIn19 Picture Books CAVEKID BIRTHDAY (an F&G copy) by Cathy Breisacher, illustrated by Roland Garrigue NOAH NOASAURUS (an F&G copy) by Elaine Kiely Kearns, illustrated by Colin Jack PIRATES DON’T GO TO KINDERGARTEN (an F&G copy) by Lisa Robinson, illustrated by Eda Kaban UNDERWEAR! (signed copy) by Jenn Harney BUNDLE #3 goes to ... JENNIFER B.! THREE All-the-Feels-and-Funny #NewIn19 Picture Books LET'S HAVE A DOG PARTY (an F&G copy, bookmark and signed print) by Mikela Prevost NOODLEPHANT by Jacob Kramer, illustrated by K-Fai Steele THIS BOOK IS SPINELESS (a signed F&G and swag) by Lindsay Leslie, illustrated by Alice Brereton ***CONGRATULATIONS!!!*** A New In Nineteen representative will be reaching out to each winner to coordinate fulfillment of the prizes.
Illustration by Mikela Prevost
It’s World Read Aloud Day (#WRAD)!!! And, we couldn’t think of better day nor better way to celebrate. So, throw on your party hats and let’s get ready for a GIVEAWAY! For the next 19 hours (you heard us … 19 hours!), you will have a chance to enter our #NewIn19 giveaway. What’s up for grabs, you ask? Lots and lots of the latest and greatest in picture books by some of our wonderful and oh-so-creative members. Some of these books aren’t even on the shelves yet, but will be soon! There are three #NewIn19 Book Bundles to win. So, check out each Rafflecopter below and enter. Good luck! You’ve got 19 hours and counting. Giveaways end at 1 a.m. on Feb. 2, 2019. We will announce the winners here on Feb. 4 and contact them via Twitter. Also, please make sure to read a book aloud to a child today. Bundle #1: FIVE On-the-Serious-Side #NewIn19 Picture Books HONEYSMOKE (signed copy) by Monique Fields, illustrated by Yesenia Moises HER FEARLESS RUN by Kim Chaffee, illustrated by Ellen Rooney PIPPA’S PASSOVER PLATE by Vivian Kirkfield, illustrated by Jill Weber SMALL WORLD (signed ARC) by Ishta Mercurio, illlustrated by Jen Corace WHEN GRANDMA GIVES YOU A LEMON TREE (an F&G copy) by Jamie L.B. Deenihan, illustrated by Lorraine Rocha
Bundle #2: FOUR Get-Ready-to-Giggle #NewIn19 Picture Books
CAVEKID BIRTHDAY (an F&G copy) by Cathy Breisacher, illustrated by Roland Garrigue NOAH NOASAURUS (an F&G copy) by Elaine Kiely Kearns, illustrated by Colin Jack PIRATES DON’T GO TO KINDERGARTEN (an F&G copy) by Lisa Robinson, illustrated by Eda Kaban UNDERWEAR! (signed copy) by Jenn Harney
Bundle #3: THREE All-the-Feels-and-Funny #NewIn19 Picture Books
LET'S HAVE A DOG PARTY (an F&G copy, bookmark and signed print) by Mikela Prevost NOODLEPHANT by Jacob Kramer, illustrated by K-Fai Steele THIS BOOK IS SPINELESS (a signed F&G and swag) by Lindsay Leslie, illustrated by Alice Brereton
Terms & Conditions
Giveaway begins February 1, 2019, at 6 a.m. CST and ends on February 2, 2019, at 1 a.m. CST. Winners will be selected randomly via Rafflecopter.com and notified via Twitter or email. New In Nineteen blog reserves the right to publish winner’s first name and last initial. Each winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. New In Nineteen blog also reserves the right to choose a different winner in the case that the randomly chosen winner refuses to cooperate with rules, reply to winning email in 48 hour time period or does not have verifiable entries. Each author will ship their book to each winner directly. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery of prize, unless otherwise noted. Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads are in no way associated with this giveaway. By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to New In Nineteen. New In Nineteen will not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Open to US residents only, ages 18+. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. If you have any additional questions – feel free to contact us: https://newin19.weebly.com/contact.html |
Who's #NewIn19?We are a group of authors and illustrators with trade picture books debuting in 2019. Find out more about us here and about our books here. Archives
November 2019
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