Guest Author: Anya Bast

Today, I get to welcome the amazing author Anya Bast to Literary Escapism. Anya is getting ready to celebrate the release of her second Dark Magick novel, Cruel Enchantment.

Even the most powerful hands need a delicate touch…

Emmaline Gallagher is a master of wielding personal glamour. As a free fae who lives among humans, she must hide her true self at all times as she works undercover within the powerful Phaendir—for if certain factions within the Phaendir gain control, the fae will be wiped from existence. Now, an object of fae power lies within a locked ancient box. And there is only one fae who can forge the key.

Known as “the Blacksmith” Aeric O’Malley can create or destroy almost anything with his forging skills. Emmaline has come to him in need, but he and Emmaline have a past—and he has spent centuries wanting to take revenge on her for her transgressions. But now that he has her within his grasp, something about her keeps him from exacting his vengeance—or is it merely her glamour blinding him?

Trapped by fate, Emmaline must hope that she can reach Aeric’s furious heart before it’s too late….

Make sure you stick around, we’re giving away a copy of either Wicked Enchantment or Cruel Enchantment – winner’s choice.
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A few years ago book videos were the big new thing and it seemed like every author was making them or having them made. The craze seems to have died down a bit, but book videos are still definitely on the scene. They can be as fancy as the ones made by Circle Seven Productions, some even with live actors, or as simple as a few second vid of a book blurb set to music.

I’ve done numerous surveys of my readership to see what people think of book trailers and have come to the conclusion that they’re not really a cost effective method of book promotion. I’ve definitely sold a few books thanks to the videos I make, but probably not enough to justify the cost. I still make them anyway because I love them, and life is too short not to do things I love. They’re really more of a hobby than anything else for me, but if one of my vids should tempt a reader into buying one of my books—well, then, score.

The book videos I do for my books cost an average of $100. That cost is stock music, stock video footage and stock photography. Notice the term ‘stock’. I buy licenses for everything in my book vids and never, ever infringe anyone’s copyright. You can’t just pluck your fav song off your iTunes list; you need a royalty free piece.

Music is the most important element in my opinion. Very rarely do I easily find the right bit of stock music. The search for the right music is the most time consuming part of book video production because music invokes emotion, and that emotion you’re invoking in the viewer needs to fit the feel of the novel. I used high-energy goth type music for my Elemental Witches series. For my Dark Magick series, the music I search out is dark and mystical. Once I find the right music, it’s (pretty much) downhill from there. My favorite place to buy stock music is www.stockmusic.net.

Creating the storyboard with stock photography/stock video is my next step. I plan out the text for every “scene” and find the images that work best to tell the story. When I’m texting out the book video I distill the novel down to its very basic parts, pretty much just down to the main conflict(s). That’s not an easy thing to do (as any author who has ever written a synopsis or a book blurb will tell you).

I love to use little bits of stock video to add movement and give the vid a more polished feel. My fav find was the section in my Wicked Enchantment video that depicts my villain, Gideon Amberdoyal. I could never have found a more perfect bit to depict him. In my Cruel Enchantment video I used an approaching thunderstorm with sound effects to symbolize the coming conflict between my hero and heroine. My favorite place to buy stock photos/video is www.istockphoto.com.

After that I decide which image to use to open the vid and put everything together using Windows Movie Maker. I hear there are more complex programs to use, but Movie Maker is simple, has always worked well for me, and it came free on my computer, so bonus.

Below are a few videos I’ve made. If you’re interested in seeing any others, here’s a link to my channel on YouTube.

So, how do you feel about book vids? Do you love them? Hate them? Has a book video ever convinced you to buy a book…repelled you from buying a book? Below are a few examples of books videos I’ve made recently. I’ll give away a signed copy of Wicked Enchantment to one commenter.

Cruel Enchantment, by the way, releases on September 7th. It’s the second book my Dark Magick series.

Visit my web site for an excerpt.

Cruel Enchantment: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp7zbg4TFE0)

Wicked Enchantment: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MvMFjvP1bA)

Witch Fury: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5DhT2Fgh3Q)

)

My YouTube channel with all my book videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/anyabast

~ Anya Bast

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Want to purchase Anya’s novels?

Embraced

  1. Blood Of The Rose at Amazon or the Book Depository
  2. Blood of the Raven at Amazon or the Book Depository
  3. Blood of an Angel at Amazon or the Book Depository
  4. Blood of the Damned at Amazon or the Book Depository

Elemental Witches

  1. Witch Fire at Amazon or the Book Depository
  2. Witch Blood at Amazon or the Book Depository
  3. Witch Heart at Amazon or the Book Depository
  4. Witch Fury at Amazon or the Book Depository

Dark Magick

  1. Wicked Enchantment at Amazon or the Book Depository
  2. Sweet Enchantment (in Hot for the Holidays) at Amazon or the Book Depository
  3. Cruel Enchantment at Amazon or the Book Depository
  4. Dark Enchantment (2011)

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Thank you Anya for taking the time to visit Literary Escapism!

Contest Time! Anya has graciously offered to give away a copy of either Wicked Enchantment or Cruel Enchantment – winner’s choice. All you have to do is answer this one question: What is your take on book trailers? Or simply ask Anya a question.

As always, there’s more ways of getting your name in the hat (remember, these aren’t mandatory to enter, just extra entries):

  • +1 for each place you post about today’s contest on your blog, social network, or anywhere you can. Digg it, stumble it, twit it, share it with the world. Wherever you share it, make sure you add a link to it along with your answer.
  • +1 to any review you comment on, however, comments must be meaningful. Just give me the title of the review and I’ll be able to figure it out from there.
  • +1 If you are a follower of Literary Escapism on Facebook and/or Twitter
  • +10 Purchase any of Anya’s novels (listed above) or any novel through LE’s Amazon store or the Book Depository sometime during this contest and send a copy of the receipt VIA email for your purchase to: jackie AT literaryescapism DOT com. Each purchase is worth ten entries.

There is one thing I am adding to my contests now…the winner must post a review of the novel someplace. Whether it is on their own blog, Amazon, GoodReads, LibraryThing or wherever, it doesn’t matter. Just help get the word out.

The contest will stay open until September 7th, at which time I’ll determine the winner with help from the Research Randomizer and the List Randomizer.

I have not been contacting winners, so you will need to check back to see if you’ve won.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

22 Comments

  1. I enjoyed Anya’s trailers. In general, I enjoy book trailers, they increase my interest in a book. I think they’re a great tool to spark interest and excitement about a book. I enjoy the trailers with narration the most. If they have captions, I like the captions to be there long enough to actually read them. It’s frustrating to have them zoom by and you have to rewind to figure out what they said. I don’t think a book trailer has actually ever made me decide one way or the other to purchase a book, but they have made me want to find out more about books that I ended up buying.

  2. I LOVE book trailers and Anya, your’s are fantastic!
    Has a book video ever convinced you to buy a book…repelled you from buying a book? yes and no, I bought a book because the trailer was the icing on the cake, but I’ve never repelled one because of a trailer… music is the most important part for me and with good pictures the overall image will be perfect :)

  3. Honestly, I never watch trailers. Up until a few weeks ago, I had such a slow computer that I couldn’t download and view them anyway, so I never got in the habit of watching them. Even if I did watch them, they are pretty unlikely to sway my buying decision. I have a kindle so I usually download a sample if the plot catches my interest. Then I buy if I like the sample.

    Jen at delux dot com

  4. I honestly don’t care one way or another about book trailers. I have all I can do to work, read, scrapbook, and keep up with my blog and reading other blogs lol. I really love this series. And was wandering how many stories do you have have planned in it and will the fae ever be freed.
    +1 If you are a follower of Literary Escapism on Facebook and/or Twitter

  5. I’m not crazy about book trailers. I’ve watched too many that don’t really give me a feel for the book.

    +1 facebook follower

  6. I enjoy trailers when I do watch them once in awhile, but it doesn’t affect whether I buy a book or not. For me, covers are a great attention grabber and if the blurb sounds good, I’m interested. Then when I’m in the store I’ll usually read the first paragraph or two and if I like the authors “voice”, I’m hooked. Of course, once I find an author I like, then I have to get all their books! (Hence the near toppling TBR stacks I have, lol).

    Your trailers were awesome Anya! I just usually don’t have the time to hunt down or watch book trailers. I can appreciate the hard work behind putting one together though. The majority of my time is spent reading, reviewing, studying, blog hopping, watching tv, spoiling my pets and wrapping my head in cold packs and black towels on my migraine days, lol.

  7. I’ve been seeing them popping up everywhere lately, but have never watched one, mostly because after having my daughter I rarely get to watch anything online with the sound turned on. They’re a neat idea, kind of like a book having it’s own commercial, but I don’t know if I’d personally like them. I try to avoid starting a book with any preconceived notions, and I feel like if there was anything off-putting to me in the trailer, it might skew my enjoyment.

    shared on fb- http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=1625972197&v=wall&story_fbid=141006462608313&ref=mf +1
    tweeted- http://twitter.com/bcardoo79/status/22756524670 +1
    follow LE on fb and twitter (bcardoo79)

  8. I’ve seen a couple of book trailers but it doesn’t do much for me. It won’t make me buy or not buy a book.

    +1 LE facebook page fan and twitter follower

  9. Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your responses, they’re very interesting. I figure book vids probably don’t gain me many readers…but they’re a lot of fun to make!

    Thanks so much for having me on, Jackie. I hope you’re getting some sleep. :)

  10. I don’t always watch book trailers, but I do like how they often give me a chance to see what the author’s vision for her story and characters looks like. And I love how often the trailers are very good indicators of the whole mood and feel of the story–I’ve never made one, but I can imagine how time-consuming it can be to choose just the right images and music! I know some authors turn over the making to others, but Anya, I can imagine the satisfaction of putting your own together, and really having it reflect your book. Congrats on those and on Cruel Enchantment!

  11. I don’t bother with book trailers. To be honest I prefer to picture the characters in my head. Once I see a trailer then I associate that face with the character and it can interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

  12. I think book trailers are awesome – and Anya has some great ones :)!! I really enjoy watching them, it really adds to the interest of the premise/blurb.

    I’d pick Cruel Enchanment if I won. Looking forward to Anya’s latest release!

    Dugg –
    http://digg.com/news/entertainment/guest_author_anya_bast_literary_escapism

    Facebook –
    http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1329505888&v=wall&story_fbid=136905189687969&ref=mf

    stumbled –

    http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.literaryescapism.com/11686/guest-author-anya-bast

    tweeted –
    http://twitter.com/Skaketgirl/status/22992604797

    already a twitter follower (pams00)

    already a facebook friend (Pamela Sinclair)

    commented on –

    http://www.literaryescapism.com/12733/water-bound-by-c-feehan

    Pam S
    pams00 @ aol.com

  13. I really love book trailers. Just as movie trailers have a say in whether I will go see a film or not, book trailers are a definite factor for me in deciding what order to put something on my reading list. If a trailer has the power to make me squee out loud (or even give me chills — it’s happened) than I know that book is going to be something I long for and count the days until I can buy.

    +1 tweeted http://twitter.com/raoreviews/status/23083084433
    +1 follower of Literary Escapism on Facebook (Chrissy Conner) and Twitter (@raoreviews)

    misled.ghosts(AT)gmail.com

  14. I usually only look at book trailers of authors I am already familiar with. I don’t think a book trailer has ever swayed me one way or another but if I am anticipating a release, a great trailer only heightens the anticipation. Thanks for a great post.

    jenma76 at hotmail dot com

    +1 follow LE on Twitter (@scorpio1m)

  15. I love to watch book trailers. I have bought more than a book because of them. Thank you for the interesting post and giveaway! :D

    +1 follower of Literary Escapism on Facebook and Twitter (Giada Mariani – @hatshepsut0011)

    Giada M.

    fabgiada (at) gmail (dot) com

  16. I hardly ever watch book trailer because although some are well done, I don’t really get a sense for the book from its trailer. I’m usually just content in reading the blurb and if available a sample of the writing.

    +1 Teitter: http://twitter.com/jmspettoli/status/23880112467

    +1 Follower on both Facebook (Jessica Spettoli) and Twitter (@jmspettoli)

  17. I love Anya’s books. I have mixed feelings about book trailers. If they are there, I will sometimes watch them but I don’t intentionally go looking for them. They really don’t influence my buying one way or another.

    I follow Literary escapism both on twitter and facebook.

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