The Road to Publication: A Writer’s Navigation Guide
Written by a research scientist, author Claire Gem’s book The Road to Publication: A Writer’s Navigation Guide, will be released Friday, March 17, 2017. This is a book all writers must own. Claire is an excellent teacher and has shared her knowledge with me. I benefited from her expertise. She is a driving force, doesn’t give up, and isn’t satisfied until she reaches her goal. She creates fantastic book trailers to accompany all her books. Please find links within this post.
Book Trailer Magic
Those of you who know me at all, know that I have a penchant for designing book trailers to go along with my novels. 
I guess perhaps in another life I might have been a movie director—maybe I still have that to look forward to in the next! In any case, after my initial struggling for several weeks with the iMovie software on my Mac, I hit a rhythm. I learned the ropes. And just like that, voila, my first book trailer came to life.
I honestly believe the trailer for my debut novel sold more books for me than any other marketing ploy I used. Even though I cheated a bit on that one. You see, iMovie has two facets: An option to produce a Trailer, and one to produce a Movie. The Trailer function is pretty much automated, with templates you simply use to produce the trailer. There are pre-programmed themes, accompanied by music. All you do is drag and drop in the images, determine how they will be viewed (movie clips, still-shot photos, or panned to appear in motion), and type in the script you want to use. This worked fantastic for the first trailer I ever produced for Phantom Traces.
But as those of you who know me also know: I don’t like to do things via template. I like scribbling outside the box. So, I made it my goal to learn how to use the iMovie function for “movie.” This one wasn’t so easy.
Thanks to Google searches, a dozen or more very informative Youtube instructional videos, and about a thousand hours of swearing at my laptop screen, I produced my second trailer, sans template. And the next. And the next. I even produced a trailer for my gracious blog hostess, Gail Ingis, for her debut novel, Indigo Sky, which you can view HERE.
The takeaway? I love producing book trailers. Almost as much as writing the book itself. In fact, the practice has actually helped me when I’ve been stuck on a novel—when I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. In that case, I crafted the trailer before the novel was complete. The process of choosing the photos and condensing my story down into a handful of words helped me figure out how the plot would progress.
So, did I design a trailer for my nonfiction, Author Resource craft book coming out this Friday, March 17th? Yes, and no. I wasn’t sure the book needed one, being nonfiction and all. But my sister, dear friend, and cover designer, Terri DelNegro, disagreed. She put together what she called a “trailer kit” of uniquely designed images to describe the contents and purpose of The Road to Publication. Then she sent those images and word snippets to me, saying, “My movie software can’t handle putting this together and adding music. You’re the expert. You do it.”
And so, I did. You can view that joint effort book trailer HERE.
Book trailers are not only fun to produce, they help in clarifying the story you are trying to tell, helping you distill the plot or details into their pure essence. I highly recommend the practice.
The Road to Publication: A Writer’s Navigation Guide
The Blurb: “This is the book I wish I could have found at the very start of my career as a novelist.”
The multi-faceted, complex, and somewhat mysterious world of the publishing industry can quickly turn into a maze, ensnaring aspiring or new authors within the twisting alleys of its labyrinth.
Multi-published, award winning author Claire Gem spent the first five years of her career floundering, wandering through a tangled jungle without a guide. In “The Road the Publication,” Ms. Gem takes charge and assumes the duty of cartographer—map-maker for the aspiring author.
You know your goal, right? You want to publish your book. Ms. Gem provides a comprehensive, entertaining tour of the publishing industry and its many facets. It’s then up to you decide which route you’re willing to take to reach your pot of gold—your published novel at the end of “The Road to Publication.”
“This is a great book, and I believe a necessary one…so much more entertaining to read than a straight how to guide.” Allie Rottman, Editor
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2njGmjm
Book Trailer: http://bit.ly/2ntPBg
About Claire Gem:
Strong Women, Starting Over
~Redefining Romance~
Claire is a multi-published, award winning author of five titles in the genres of contemporary romance, supernatural suspense, and women’s fiction. She also writes Author Resource guide books, and presents seminars on writing craft and marketing.
Her supernatural suspense, Hearts Unloched, won the 2016 New York Book Festival. The manuscript for her women’s fiction, The Phoenix Syndrome, won FCRWA’s The Beacon Contest in 2014 before it was even published.
Books by Claire Gem: Phantom Traces, Hearts Unloched, A Taming Season, The Phoenix Syndrome, Spirits of the Heart
A New York native, Claire has lived in five of the United States and held a variety of jobs, from waitress to bridal designer to research technician—but loves being an author best. She and her happily-ever-after hero, her husband of 38 years, now live in central Massachusetts.
You can get in touch with Claire here:
Website: http://www.clairegem.com
Blog: http://www.clairegem.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clairegem.author
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/gemwriter
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8284235.Claire_Gem
Ask Claire!
Indigo Sky available on Amazon buy link: http://amzn.to/2j0LXLE
Author page: http://amzn.to/1K4GVQA
Gail Ingis’s Indigo Sky
“A beautifully spun tale of love, heartache, adventure and sinister perils….” – David S. http://ow.ly/Ntwy307sqQf #bookworm #greatreads
In a whirlwind romance, a lovely New York socialite marries a fêted, debonair author. But beneath the charm is a cheating husband addicted to hasheesh. Her dream marriage turns sour and the simplicity of her life runs amok when a handsome stranger, her husband’s business partner, threatens her staunch loyalty to her wayward husband. When she faces the ugly truth about her marriage, her need to finalize her divorce sends her on mad chase across the wilds of nineteenth century America with a handsome stranger—she learns hard lessons of murder, kidnapping and more that almost destroy her.
Website: http://www.gailingis.com
https://www.facebook.com/gail.ingis
Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/1K4GVQA
Trailer: http://bit.ly/29xUJ1H
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2j0LXLE
Audio (bit-ly) http://amzn.to/2ji2Gda
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Super Fantastic posting!! Beautiful trailer!! Thanks for sharing and there is a lot to learn from your post. I’ll be buying the book, too! Thank you!
M. Kay, I’m sure Frances will be pleased with your comment and will respond. It was a delight for me to share this with our group. The book is more than fantastic.
I’m excited to read this and wish I had Claire’s technical abilities to make trailers! Thanks for the helpful info.
Beth, my pleasure. I will tell Claire that she has two comments here.
Thank you for the informative blog post. I ordered the book. 🙂