Friday 17 September 2010
Wednesday 26 May 2010
One Day by David Nicholls
I finished this book yesterday, I was crying my eyes out in the middle of the night. Found out today they produced some beautiful trailers for the book:
O
http://www.oneday-twopeople.com/home.htm
Makes me want to read it again.
O
http://www.oneday-twopeople.com/home.htm
Makes me want to read it again.
Thursday 18 March 2010
The Future of Publishing: created by Dorling Kindersley UK
Nice work guys!
150 blog posts and 100,000 views so far according to the Viral Video Chart.
The concept behind the video is 100% copied from 'The Lost Generation,' a viral video made by a student which has generated an unusual pattern of attention, with little spurts of interest every few months. The video was uploaded in November 2007, and yet appeared in the top 20 in the Viral Video Chart only a few weeks ago.
Absolutely nothing wrong with creatively recycling a fantastic concept, it's the lifeblood of viral video.
Now it is somebody's turn to do a spoof version.
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Viral Video Legacies Part 2: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
There was a big surprise for me in the ViralVideoChart today - a book trailer in the top 20!
It takes a real bookworm and webgeek to get excited about this, but I am both and I'm proud.
At its peak it reached number 17, with 51 blogs and Tweets today. Most of the views came from blog posts like these:
Topless Robot
Scifi Wire
Reddit
Popwatch
Viral pass on (email, IM) accounted for about a quarter of the views, and a spot on the YouTube homepage give it a medium-sized boost too.
It looks like once again, that story of a famous director (Tim Burton in this case) interested in making the film is what gave the video the biggest viral push, but I'm certain that the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters book trailers built up a fan base that made for a fertile seed-bed for this new video, just as all those other viral video celebities did.
So, without further ado, here is the video:
Well done HachetteBookGroup and well done Seth Grahame-Smith - I salute you both! And hurrah for the power of bloggers!
It takes a real bookworm and webgeek to get excited about this, but I am both and I'm proud.
At its peak it reached number 17, with 51 blogs and Tweets today. Most of the views came from blog posts like these:
Topless Robot
Scifi Wire
Popwatch
Viral pass on (email, IM) accounted for about a quarter of the views, and a spot on the YouTube homepage give it a medium-sized boost too.
It looks like once again, that story of a famous director (Tim Burton in this case) interested in making the film is what gave the video the biggest viral push, but I'm certain that the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters book trailers built up a fan base that made for a fertile seed-bed for this new video, just as all those other viral video celebities did.
So, without further ado, here is the video:
Well done HachetteBookGroup and well done Seth Grahame-Smith - I salute you both! And hurrah for the power of bloggers!
Viral Video Legacies Part 1: OK Go, Dancing Matt and Evolution of Dance
The new OK Go music video went online yesterday, and is number one in the Viral Video Chart today. Oh my God, that is fast.
This band has a long history of creating viral videos to promote their songs. In this latest, they use the traditional 'domino effect' trick to create a video that is difficult to stop watching (unless you're me and you've seen two hundred similar videos.) But is it really that good? Judge for yourself:
Time will tell whether the world considers it as good as the first, but one thing I do know - it was the brilliance and originality of their first videos that brought this new one to the attention of 1.2 million video viewers and 2,622 bloggers/Tweeters today.
Here was their first:
The success of each video builds on the last. Even if the subsequent videos aren't as good as the original.
This is why Dancing Matt has released no less than three versions of his Where the hell is Matt? videos so far.
And why poor old Mr 'Evolution of Dance' (this web-celeb had the top spot in viral videos for years before Susan Boyle kicked him to the kerb) still manages to get about 50,000 views per day.
Last year, VisibleMeasures, (one of the most reputable sources of information on viral spread along with my own lovely Unruly Media) wrote a blog post on the new phenomenon of sequels appearing in the viral video world, and how they boost views of originals too. Even if they are never as good.
I draw your attention in particular to this quote:
Before the launch of the sequel, the original Evolution of Dance clip had settled in to an average daily viewership of 130,000 views per day. Since the sequel was released, this daily viewership has surged over 75% to more than 240,000 new views everyday.
So where is all this leading? To the first book trailer viral video legacy, to be discussed in Part 2, coming soon...
This band has a long history of creating viral videos to promote their songs. In this latest, they use the traditional 'domino effect' trick to create a video that is difficult to stop watching (unless you're me and you've seen two hundred similar videos.) But is it really that good? Judge for yourself:
Time will tell whether the world considers it as good as the first, but one thing I do know - it was the brilliance and originality of their first videos that brought this new one to the attention of 1.2 million video viewers and 2,622 bloggers/Tweeters today.
Here was their first:
The success of each video builds on the last. Even if the subsequent videos aren't as good as the original.
This is why Dancing Matt has released no less than three versions of his Where the hell is Matt? videos so far.
And why poor old Mr 'Evolution of Dance' (this web-celeb had the top spot in viral videos for years before Susan Boyle kicked him to the kerb) still manages to get about 50,000 views per day.
Last year, VisibleMeasures, (one of the most reputable sources of information on viral spread along with my own lovely Unruly Media) wrote a blog post on the new phenomenon of sequels appearing in the viral video world, and how they boost views of originals too. Even if they are never as good.
I draw your attention in particular to this quote:
Before the launch of the sequel, the original Evolution of Dance clip had settled in to an average daily viewership of 130,000 views per day. Since the sequel was released, this daily viewership has surged over 75% to more than 240,000 new views everyday.
So where is all this leading? To the first book trailer viral video legacy, to be discussed in Part 2, coming soon...
Thursday 25 February 2010
Author interview spoof!
Book trailers have gone legit. Memes don't exist until they've been copied/spoofed/mashed up into meaningless meme-ery.
So I'm overjoyed to report this spoof author interview with comedian Zach Galifianakis and John Wray (author of the critically acclaimed Lowboy).
It works:
It's had 10,000 views in three days. There's a link to where you can download the first chapter for three in the 'more info' on YouTube, and a link to where you can become a fan of John Wray on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
It became popular because of this Videogum blog post and because of sharing on the wonderful Twitter.
So I'm overjoyed to report this spoof author interview with comedian Zach Galifianakis and John Wray (author of the critically acclaimed Lowboy).
It works:
It's had 10,000 views in three days. There's a link to where you can download the first chapter for three in the 'more info' on YouTube, and a link to where you can become a fan of John Wray on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
It became popular because of this Videogum blog post and because of sharing on the wonderful Twitter.
Friday 12 February 2010
More brief histories of pretty much everything
This video is currently number 1 in the viral video chart:
If I were Bloomsbury, I would contact the student who made this video ASAP and get them to put a plug in for this book at the end:
What on Earth Happened? by Christopher Lloyd
Here's the video the publisher uploaded to promote the book:
If I were Bloomsbury, I would contact the student who made this video ASAP and get them to put a plug in for this book at the end:
What on Earth Happened? by Christopher Lloyd
Here's the video the publisher uploaded to promote the book:
Thursday 21 January 2010
Thinking long-term - the "Warm Bodies" lesson
Today, people are Tweeting about this video:
So why are they Tweeting now when it was uploaded 13 December 2008?
To find the answer, I peeped under the skirts of this video, in the 'statistics and data' tab on YouTube, here's what I found:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9rUThRgLaDAzvXhOIyFhlt4g4FVdTY7BsqbLq5rWqsoYsp9Jexu1VEnjqq7DJHTIYcW4IA3cCY6A-rhTiEoDiliNU3ZtKpMB3lqht8XXdsUNnglahem9r8Y30KVpo8wgeMg3pTnah2E/s400/warmbodies.jpg
As you can see, most of the views happened in the past couple of days, because people are blogging about this book being made into a film. Important people.
So the lesson to budding book-trailer making people is...
a) don't be disheartened if you don't get lots of views at first
b) bear in mind that once it's up on YouTube, it's public property forever
c) you never know, artist's impressions of your book may be helping filmmakers visualise how well your book would translate into a film - which has to be good, right?
That's a new angle I didn't think of. Hurrah for book trailers!
So why are they Tweeting now when it was uploaded 13 December 2008?
To find the answer, I peeped under the skirts of this video, in the 'statistics and data' tab on YouTube, here's what I found:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9rUThRgLaDAzvXhOIyFhlt4g4FVdTY7BsqbLq5rWqsoYsp9Jexu1VEnjqq7DJHTIYcW4IA3cCY6A-rhTiEoDiliNU3ZtKpMB3lqht8XXdsUNnglahem9r8Y30KVpo8wgeMg3pTnah2E/s400/warmbodies.jpg
As you can see, most of the views happened in the past couple of days, because people are blogging about this book being made into a film. Important people.
So the lesson to budding book-trailer making people is...
a) don't be disheartened if you don't get lots of views at first
b) bear in mind that once it's up on YouTube, it's public property forever
c) you never know, artist's impressions of your book may be helping filmmakers visualise how well your book would translate into a film - which has to be good, right?
That's a new angle I didn't think of. Hurrah for book trailers!
You Gotta Read - Videos
Everyone looking to promote a book trailer should know about this blog.
The idea is, authors send their videos in and 20 Trailers a month will be featured. Voting from the blog readers on which one is their favourite begins on the 21st of each month and run through the 26th.
Winners will be announced on the 27th and the top three will be reposted in reverse order on the 28th through 30th.
The idea is, authors send their videos in and 20 Trailers a month will be featured. Voting from the blog readers on which one is their favourite begins on the 21st of each month and run through the 26th.
Winners will be announced on the 27th and the top three will be reposted in reverse order on the 28th through 30th.
Wednesday 20 January 2010
VLC Productions
While looking at the latest popular book trailers on the Viral Video Chart, I noticed the current second and third most popular book trailers (after the still phenomenally succussful Going West video) were both made by VLC Productions. They are doing good work in the blossoming world of book trailers.
Here they are:
"Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (with 23,270 views, this is very good for a book trailer):
"The Body Finder" by Kimberly Derting:
I like the style of these - eerie music, fast-changing snapshots interspersed with intriguing snippets of scenes, high-quality imagery. The style works well for the subject of the books.
The YouTube uploads are tagged properly, with all the information about the books' availabily and links to sites about them in the 'more info' section. VLC Productions reply to comments, another sign of someone who knows what they are doing.
This is what Vania says about book trailers on her blog:
Book trailers consist of still images set to custom or stock music in a video format. I plan a storyboard, style and shoot original photos for the trailer. I will work closely with you to ensure the trailer captures the essence of the book. The book trailers I do are unique and tailored to your book with no limit on the scenes I shoot for it.
Non-exclusive rights to the photos from the trailer or extra outtakes from the shoot can be purchased for additional fees.
You will receive a CD with five digital images of your choice. Additional images may be purchased for an additional fee of $25 per print
Prices: Teaser Trailer with Custom Mini Shoot and Stock Music starting at $850
Custom Shoot with Music starting at $1350
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
She has a new YouTube channel for all her book trailers - I'll be keeping an eye on this!
Here they are:
"Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (with 23,270 views, this is very good for a book trailer):
"The Body Finder" by Kimberly Derting:
I like the style of these - eerie music, fast-changing snapshots interspersed with intriguing snippets of scenes, high-quality imagery. The style works well for the subject of the books.
The YouTube uploads are tagged properly, with all the information about the books' availabily and links to sites about them in the 'more info' section. VLC Productions reply to comments, another sign of someone who knows what they are doing.
This is what Vania says about book trailers on her blog:
Book trailers consist of still images set to custom or stock music in a video format. I plan a storyboard, style and shoot original photos for the trailer. I will work closely with you to ensure the trailer captures the essence of the book. The book trailers I do are unique and tailored to your book with no limit on the scenes I shoot for it.
Non-exclusive rights to the photos from the trailer or extra outtakes from the shoot can be purchased for additional fees.
You will receive a CD with five digital images of your choice. Additional images may be purchased for an additional fee of $25 per print
Prices: Teaser Trailer with Custom Mini Shoot and Stock Music starting at $850
Custom Shoot with Music starting at $1350
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
She has a new YouTube channel for all her book trailers - I'll be keeping an eye on this!
Monday 18 January 2010
How exclusive online content boosts book sales
I bought a non-fiction paperback the other day called 'What on Earth Happened?' by Christopher Lloyd, and my mind was blown by the account of how the Earth, life and humans evolved.
What blew my mind even more was all the excellent additional things I found out I had access to after reading the book and the impressive online support it has.
Firstly, there's the original hardback version, which is more detailed and has lots more photos and this has gone straight onto my birthday wishlist. Next, I saw there's an online quiz, a video, a forum... though the site housing all this isn't exactly glamorous, it is simple and un-gimmicky, quick to load, easy to navigate and I love it.
The 'about' section answers many questions about the book such as:
What is the book about?
What makes this book different from other world histories?
Why is this book so important?
The answers to these questions really sell the book. I'm very pleased there's a second book in the series for me to buy - "What on Earth Evolved? 100 Species that Changed the World."
It makes me think that one day, there will be a site like this for every book.
When I finish a book I loved, I want to talk about it, Tweet and write about it, recommend it, maybe review it on Amazon - this is all because I want to connect with other people who love the book as much as I do. If you can get these people connecting on the site dedicated to the book, owned and run by the publisher, then you have a valuable and useful site for the reader, author and publisher. Mo Hayder's site is another good example.
Can you imagine if Twilight had set up a site like this right from the outset, with a forum? By now it would have millions of unique users per month, creating thousands of pounds worth of advertising opportunities to book addicts. Wow.
Here's the Chris Lloyd giving a three-minute demonstration of some of the ideas in the book:
What blew my mind even more was all the excellent additional things I found out I had access to after reading the book and the impressive online support it has.
Firstly, there's the original hardback version, which is more detailed and has lots more photos and this has gone straight onto my birthday wishlist. Next, I saw there's an online quiz, a video, a forum... though the site housing all this isn't exactly glamorous, it is simple and un-gimmicky, quick to load, easy to navigate and I love it.
The 'about' section answers many questions about the book such as:
What is the book about?
What makes this book different from other world histories?
Why is this book so important?
The answers to these questions really sell the book. I'm very pleased there's a second book in the series for me to buy - "What on Earth Evolved? 100 Species that Changed the World."
It makes me think that one day, there will be a site like this for every book.
When I finish a book I loved, I want to talk about it, Tweet and write about it, recommend it, maybe review it on Amazon - this is all because I want to connect with other people who love the book as much as I do. If you can get these people connecting on the site dedicated to the book, owned and run by the publisher, then you have a valuable and useful site for the reader, author and publisher. Mo Hayder's site is another good example.
Can you imagine if Twilight had set up a site like this right from the outset, with a forum? By now it would have millions of unique users per month, creating thousands of pounds worth of advertising opportunities to book addicts. Wow.
Here's the Chris Lloyd giving a three-minute demonstration of some of the ideas in the book:
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