There’s a time and a place for everything. Book videos are no different.  Let’s take a look at some different circumstances in which book video can be helpful at different points.

What benefits are there for you?

Longevity, branding, fan base expansion, cross-genre highlights, name recognition, engages the viewer, multi-utilization, cost effective, target-audience opportunity and just plain fun!

1. Longevity. When a print ad has found its way to the bottom of the bird cage, a video will still be on the internet where people who develop an interest in reading, or an interest in a topic that leads them to your book, can find it.  Video remains on the internet for an extended period of time.

2. Branding.  When doing an overall push of a brand for whatever reason (new series, switch genre, etc.) you can tie in the look and feel you’re going with through your video. It helps people visualize the brand.

3. Fan base expansion.  By utilizing video you’re letting a new group of people find out about you. People have evolved into visual creatures and they are used to having their entertainment given to them through visual means.  Where movies, video games, music and television have been able to reach these consumers, books have historically been left out. Not anymore. Those consumers are now potential readers for any author.

4. Cross-genre highlights.  It’s hard to show someone that you write both romance and suspense or mystery and comedy just by using a print ad. By using video you can get across the idea that your book is cross-genre. The benefit to that is, if someone was turned off by, say, a sexy book cover, they may change their mind when they see all the action/adventure play out on screen. And still, you can show an element of romance or some other genre as well to appeal to a wider audience.

5. Name recognition.  How many times do you have to see or hear a name before the typical person recalls it? Well, with video you have the chance of having your name pop up online more often when you have a video. Your name goes into the video description, so you can search that, and it is in the video itself.

6. Engages the viewer. Statistics from various sources tend to agree that video is more engaging since the viewer must activate a video player before they can watch the video. They choose to watch. Unlike TV where commercials are presented to you, like it or not. Then, they are engaged by watching the video as well.  They can then choose to comment, put it on their own site or email it.  It’s a “word of mouth tool” that can be passed from one person to another, making it viral.

7. Multi-utilization.  With a COS video not only can you have it spread all over the internet and given to booksellers to use, but it can be formatted for television and movie theaters. These are some of the least expensive television commercials being made right now. And our contacts with Comcast have made it extremely affordable to buy TV spots.  A deal we have with a movie theater chain lets us put our specially-formatted videos on the big screen in such desirable areas as New York City and Los Angeles for very reasonable rates. We have one video play in NYC over 900 times for approximately $2000. Some budgets are even smaller.

The video can also be sent to sales people and in press kits.

8. Cost effective.  For the price of a small print ad in the NY Times you can have a live action book trailer. For the price of a small print ad in most magazines you can have a mini teaser (non-live action video).  It has more uses and re-uses than any print ad ever will.

9. Target-audience opportunity.  You can target established readers by putting the video on your website, blog, social media, specialty-sites (genre specific), Reader’s Entertainment TV, bookseller sites and book club sites. You can also target an audience not by what sex they are or where they live, but by what specific topics they have an interest in.  If someone is interested in cave pearls, dragons, the military, wizards, magic, playing poker, ballroom dancing, fashion, New York City or any other numerous topics of interest their search can lead them straight to a book video.  Here you have someone already interested in the topic the book is about, or has elements of.  People searching for specific interests but not specifically books, are what we term “potential readers”.

Imagine how the book industry would do if more people turned to books for entertainment! We now have a tool that can help that happen.

10. Fun! Music videos are ads. People tend to forget that because of how entertaining they are.  Book trailers are not meant to look like commercials. They are meant to appeal to a person’s sense of fun and entertainment. That’s why people are willing to pass them around or put them on their own sites. Anyone putting together a commercial that is nothing but a book cover and an announcement has missed the boat entirely!

Watch a COS Book Trailer here-

The post Book Trailers: When, What, Where and Why? What’s In It For Me? appeared first on Storyteller.

If you’re spending more time on social media than writing your book you’re doing it wrong. I know, that’s harsh, but nothing sells a book like, well, having a book. A great book. Right? So you have to make time to write that book and here’s some ideas on how to do that.

Budget Your Time

When I was asked to speak to the topic of time management for authors I was well prepared. I had learned from my own mistakes and had found some great solutions that worked well for me.
What I know is that it takes time to write a book and it takes time to promote the book. To date, if you can’t afford an advertising budget (and even if you can), you need to be out there engaging in social media. I hear about authors who don’t have to do their own social media, but those people are usually a literary celebrity. If you are not a literary celebrity, you need to be out there engaging with fans and potential fans.

Just like you budget your finances to keep yourself out of debt, you need to budget your time in order to make deadlines and keep your sanity.

Setting A Weekly Time Budget

I set the goal for the week. I’ll have my “main goal” which is the goal that I know needs the majority of my time and then I will have a minor goal or goals.

I work 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week. So I have allotted 50 hours for work. If I don’t work all 50, that’s fine. But, I want to be sure not to go over that limit.

Of those 50 hours an author might allot 30 hours to writing, 20 hours to promotion including social media.  It may be you only have 10 hours to work on your writing, so write for 7 hours and promote for 3 hours. But, give the majority of your time to your main goal. If the goal at that time is writing, that gets the lion’s share of your available work time.  If you need to flip that and promote as your main goal for the moment, still find time to write.

Be flexible. Know your main goal for the week may change according to circumstances. If you are falling behind and are deadline you may need to spend more time writing. If you are not on deadline and your book releases next week, you may want to have your goal be promotion. Still work within your allotted time.

Only YOU can determine how much time you have to give each week. If you work another job, have children and/or other obligations you must take those situations into consideration as you look to budget your time for writing and promoting.

Setting a Daily Time Budget

Once you budget your weekly time and determine your main goal, determine how much time you will work on any minor goals.  It may be that you must work at different times on different days. Once you know your hourly budget, set up times to work. But again, the word of the day is, “flexible”.  Don’t be too hard on yourself if you have to adjust your time. But, even if you adjust it, try to stick to your weekly allotment.  Being disciplined is one of the greatest challenges for any writer.

What to do with your Budgeted Time

You work on your main goal and now you have several minor goals. One of them is to work on promotion and within that you have set aside time for social media.

Make a list of the type of promotion you plan on doing for the week.  Be clear on what your goal is and how you will achieve it.  Set small, achievable goals that you can complete. Having goals you never quite complete can be detrimental to your overall wellbeing. So, set some goals you know you can complete. When you complete them you will have a sense of accomplishment which will help feed your emotional wellbeing and help you stay positive.

So you made a list of goals. You’ve defined how you will determine the goals were met that week. Next,  you want to break it down even further. Of your allotted hours for social media how much will be spent on Twitter and how much on Facebook? Do you spend time on GoodReads or Instagram?

Which Social Media Sites are Worth my Time?

Knowing how many sites to participate in, which ones and for how long is something you can determine as you create your budget. Some sites might be fine to visit and engage only once a month. Some may be once a day and others could be none at all. That’s right, none. You do NOT have to participate in everything.

Currently, I participate in the following:

My blog (weekly)

My website (weekly)

Facebook (daily…okay, full disclosure, I am probably here WAY too much)

Twitter (daily)

YouTube (daily)

Instagram (weekly)

Goodreads (weekly)

To determine which sites you should be investing in the best thing to do is to listen and learn. Learn from your audience. Where are they? Where do they normally engage with you? Go where they are, not where you want to be. Not unless you have a plan so diabolical that it can Jedi mind trick thousands of fans into going somewhere they don’t really want to be so they can do what you want to do. Some of us are able to do this to an extent. Like to our spouse or our children, but for the masses, you are better off going where they are.

Gather data. Who do you want your audience to be? Where are those people gathering? How can you engage with them there? One you determine where to be and what to do there keep an eye on your return on investment. Yes, your time is an investment.  You may like it there, but if you get no engagement, no chance to build relationships and no interest in your book, you need to find somewhere else to spend your time.

Realize this is ever-evolving. Remember the days when MySpace was the big thing? Don’t think Facebook will be immune to epic fail. It is not. Anything can happen. Don’t put your promotion all in one place. Or, at least have a back-up plan for if and when the social media landscape changes yet again. Always be open to new ideas and opportunities.

Tips, Tricks and Cheats

Buy a timer. Set the timer for 20 minutes, an hour, whatever you’ve allotted for your time on a specific project.  When the timer goes off, switch projects. Go out for coffee. Water your plants! Do something else that needs doing.

Go elsewhere.  Working from home takes discipline. Not just from you, but from your family.  Sometimes the needs of the household become a tractor-beam to your guilt-magnet and you put off work on your book to do something for your family. That’s admirable and all, but the only way you can keep adding to your day is to stop sleeping. So, instead of taking on even one more thing, it might be a good idea to leave the house and work elsewhere. You might leave for an hour, a day or go on a writer’s retreat for a week.  Get away to a place that leaves you guilt-free and allows you to concentrate on your book or promotion.

Reward yourself. Yes, there really is a reason for chocolate. Or a pajama day. Or wine before dinner.  If you do not reward yourself for attaining your goals you can become negative when you have to work.  Keep yourself positive and give yourself something for meeting those deadlines.

Take care of yourself. This is the one that seems to be the hardest.  You work, you write, you take care of your home, your kids, your dog. The very last thing we tend to take care of is ourselves. You must schedule time for yourself when you budget your weekly goals.  Go for a walk. Go out to a movie. Meditate. Eat right.  Think about your needs and take care of them. Don’t think someone is going to see how hard you’re working and offer to give you a break. It could happen. But, don’t hold your breath.  That’s not good for you either!  You are the only person who can really take care of you.  So schedule time for yourself!

Hire a professional. Have you maxed out and now you’re losing sleep? Your hair? Your sanity?  At some point time will be more valuable than money. When that happens you will need to let go of one or the other.  If you don’t hire a personal assistant to help with your career, then hire a housekeeper to come in once a week and do the chores you hate to do.  If that doesn’t work for you, wait until cloning has been mastered.

Write several blogs at once.  If you don’t have time each week to blog, you can sit down for one or two hours and write several short blogs. Blogs are not novels. Two or three paragraphs can fit the bill as long as the material is interesting.  Schedule those blogs to release once a week and then schedule yourself blog-writing time again the following month.

Keep your eyes open for new trends or opportunities to save you time! A new trend I’m seeing is http://paper.li/ where you can use other people’s news to help you create a daily or weekly blog/newspaper.  It’s a great way to acknowledge those you respect or what to help promote while benefiting from other people’s great material.

In a nutshell:  Identify how many hours a week you work on your goals.  Discipline yourself to work within that budgeted amount of time. Make sure what you spend your time on is paying off for you.

The post Time Management- Is Doing it All is Doing it Wrong? appeared first on Storyteller.

Writing Is A Business?!!: How To Create Your Business Plan

You’re an artist. I know that. You write wonderful stories to thrill and entertain the masses.  But, if you would like to do this for a living you need to treat it like a career. Like a business. And, yes, you need a business plan.

If you Google “Business Plan” you’ll find some decent free templates out there. It is worth your time and effort to go through the exercise of creating a simple business plan so that you can add focus to your career path.

Most business plans are for small businesses, corporations and non-profits, but you can create one that is specific to your career.  The overall idea of having a business plan is the “plan” part. You want to be organized and focused with a clear line of achievable goals that further you along toward success.

Many people pass on doing a business plan because it can be time consuming and cumbersome. It doesn’t have to be. Keep it simple to start. Answer the following questions for yourself before you create your business plan:

1.  Do I want to be a career writer or write in addition to another job or career?
2. What do I need to do or obtain in order to get started and stay successful in achieving my goals?
3. What are my assets and resources? (List them. You will need this later).
4. What genre or type of story will I write? Research this genre.
5. What do I need to study, research or master in order to achieve my goals?
6. What equipment or services will I need? (list them)
7. Where will I find support, both personally and professionally?
8. How will I find the time or make the time to be successful in completing a novel and marketing it?
9. What is my plan of action should I receive a rejection?
10. What is my plan of action should I succeed in publishing?

Always start by learning, listening and listing.

Take an aspiring writer’s course or college course in creative writing. Perhaps you need a refresher course in English? Join a writer’s group that openly welcomes aspiring authors. If you are a published author, ask yourself where you could use some additional assistance with craft.

Listen to those with more experience or expertise than you.  Determine if you trust the information and then decide what to do with that information.  Join online groups that speak candidly about writing, the industry and reputations of those whose services you may one day want to enlist.

List an honest accounting of your needs and goals.

If your goal is to be a #1 New York Times bestselling author then you need to have a long-term set of goals with a detailed path of how you plan on making that happen. And if you don’t know the importance of a print run, go back to the “learning and listening” stage for a bit.

BUSINESS PLAN

What’s your plan? Start by looking at your overall goals. Have short term, achievable goals and long term goals you are willing to work hard to achieve.

Short term goals are important. It helps keep you motivated. It helps you learn how to complete a task and it gives you the opportunity to enjoy a moment of success.

It’s important to identify your needs and set goals to ensure your needs are met. Needs include equipment. If you’re still writing with a #2 pencil you need to upgrade. You may need to arrange for childcare to carve out time to write. Your needs may include taking classes on craft.

The hardest thing, the biggest hurdle is to actually complete the book.  You have to be creative when maybe you don’t feel like it. You have to work when you’re sick or heartbroken. You have to find time to write when really you just want to sleep, or eat, or vacation.  Finish the book. Know how you are going to make that happen.

1. Have a plan on how you will find time to write.

Knowing your assets and resources is extremely important to your business plan. It helps you to identify what you have and what you need. It helps you see strengths and weaknesses.

Assets are items you have such as a laptop, a book on grammar, a babysitter willing to work weekends, money.

Resources are similar to assets but are usually service-driven. A resource may be a brother who can do video and make you a book video. People you network with, work with or friends willing to help you edit or critique your book.

2. List all assets and resources.  Identify strengths and weaknesses and needs.

You need a support system.  Your support system may be friends who are willing to read your work and give honest feedback. Or perhaps a group of people there just to encourage you, no matter what. A critique group. Your spouse. Without the support of a spouse your work is harder. Not impossible, but harder.  Support could be monetary.  Perhaps you can get a loan so you can work full time. Is that truly feasible for your situation? Perhaps you can apply for a grant? Support could be hiring a housekeeper so you have more time to write. Anything that allows you to feel success is attainable is part of your support system.

3. Identify, establish and nurture your support system. Know who to turn to for your needs.

Establish long and short term goals. Know why you want to be an author. What you want to get out of your author career. For some it is to share their stories. For some it is for fame and fortune. Yet for others is may be intrinsic, like the need to share a memoir. Or, it could be to establish an expertise in a field so you can get speaking engagements or television appearances.  Know yourself.

Be honest with yourself.  Do you need more education on craft? Is your mother the only person who thinks you will be a #1 bestseller immediately? Be honest when you set your goals. Make them attainable.  Set yourself up for success. Learn what success if like and strive to repeat that again and again.

4. Set short term goals to help you attain the long term goals. Set long term goals to help you achieve career success.

Last, but certainly not least, you want to have a clear idea of how you will manage your career.  From managing your time, to managing your income and managing your marketing, determine what your management strategy will be. Will you do everything yourself until you hit a certain level, write a certain number of books or get a certain royalty amount?  Will you hire a personal assistant? Set up a project management system online? What part of your marketing will you do and how will that be managed?

Know who, what, how and why as you set up your career management goals and define how they will be carried out.

5. Write up your management goals and how you will manage yourself and your career so that you have a clear picture of what needs to occur, when and how.

You can certainly find a business plan template and follow that. Do you analysis, write up who your competitors are and make charts and graphs. If you love to be that detailed it’s a gift. It’s an asset. But, if you’re more like me, you just want to feel organized and prepared so that you stay focused on your goals that will bring you closer to the success you’ve defined for yourself.

Tips, Tricks and Cheats

Start small. Create immediate goals, one year goals and maybe one or two career goals. You can always change it or update it as time goes on, but you want to at least have thought it out enough to write something down.

Write down your resources. Keep your list handy so you can add or alter as necessary. Be sure you keep in touch with people who you consider resources. Give to them, too!

Look for ways to save time.  There’s a chapter on that so be sure not to skip that part!

Interview an author. Get an idea of what an author’s life and career is really like.

In a nutshell:  Set goals. Know how you will obtain those goals. Stay focused by being intentional about your writing career.

The post Takin’ Care of Business – A Writer’s Business Plan appeared first on Storyteller.

I am my Darker Self

Exposed and

Hidden

What you see

And the invisible

A shield of apathy

A blade of words

Bleeding heartache

And rage

Caged chaos

Tattooing myself with life’s ink

“Help me”

by: Sheila English

The post My Darker Self – a poem appeared first on Storyteller.

The post Come to Kill You – A Poem by Sheila English appeared first on Storyteller.

Not everything that is dark

Is dreary

Not everything that is horrific

Is scary

Not everything that is ghost-filled

Is haunted

Not everything that is known

Is understood

Not everything that is dead

Is gone

The post The Misrepresentation of Ghosts – A Poem by Sheila English appeared first on Storyteller.

I’ve posted about my digital art, but I wanted to include my photography as well. I have an artist page on my website now which highlights my digital art and photography. I wanted to share some of this with you. You can also follow me on Instagram to see more.

All art tells a story. It may be the story of the artist and their life and interests. It may be the story of the subject being utilized for the art piece. It may be a combination. The best stories are those that hit all the right notes for the person looking or interacting with it. They have their own story for the piece as well. That or they are interested in the story being shown or told to them.

Art is a social experience in many ways. It should be thought-provoking, emotion-provoking and sometimes even challenging.

Below are some examples of some of my photography that I’d like to share.

This is from one of my own typewriters in my collection. I have over 70 typewriters. I love them. Seeing these keys inspires me to tell stories. Or maybe to write poetry. Or a letter.

I see this every time I go visit my father in Lakeport, CA. I think it’s a brilliant piece and often wonder what it took to make it.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love and adore dogs. Especially my own. But I love ALL dogs.

This is Bella. When I got her from a shelter she was very tiny. I got her home and the next day the shelter called to have me return her. All the dogs had distemper. It was so bad they planned to euthanize every animal in the shelter. Over 100 animals. I was devastated to hear that. I took Bella to the vet to be tested. No way was I going to return her. She tested positive for distemper. She was small, young, the vet offered to euthanize her before things “got bad.” I declined.

Things never got so bad that she was in pain. But she was sick for three months. A friend of mine gave me goats milk from a goat that had a baby. It’s very nutritious. I wasn’t sure she’d make it. For a time she went blind. But she rallied, because she’s a little fighter, and she lived. The only dog to live out of over 100 dogs. They even had a write-up about her in the local newspaper. She’s my little miracle. And a mischievous little thing who loves to hoard toys and steal socks. I love that little face so much. And that big heart of hers.

More from my personal typewriter collection. To me this picture makes me think of blogging. You tell stories from the road or about your journey.

This is Manhattan, which I love. New York City is in my bones, even though I’m a California native. The city has energy and beauty unlike anywhere else on earth.

I was invited to a fancy party for a big magazine. It was in a skyscraper and I had this amazing view.  I love how half the picture is the park and the other half is the city. Is nature trying to consume the city or is it being eaten by it?

Last, but not least, another from my collection. A Royal blue “candy” typewriter. I love the color so much.

I hope you’ll check out my artist page from time to time to see the stories I have there.

The post Photography and Storytelling appeared first on Storyteller.

A couple of years ago I discovered a love for digital art. I’ve done photography for years.  I’ve never done professional photography, just stuff for myself, but I feel I was relatively good at it, just not an expert. But, then I saw some digital art on etsy that I loved and thought I would take original photographs and then alter them into art.

I’m super excited about the artwork. I now have a page on my website just for my art- https://sheilaenglish.com/artist-page/

Currently, I’m working on a set of Gothic-themed artwork. I have the art on my Instagram and sometimes I ask people who follow me to help me choose the piece that will go on my artist site.

I wanted to share some of the artwork on my blog.

I took a picture of the Golden Game Bridge in 2019. I love San Francisco and go there as often as I can.

I have a typewriter collection and took several typewriters with me for photographs and later, to digitally enhance the image. This was taken at the Headlands in Fort Bragg, CA. I blacked out the background and highlighted the typewriter for a lonely effect.

This started out as a photograph of a dead raccoon’s carcass I came across while walking my dog. I took a picture of the skull and then layered it and colored it red through an app called Photoleap. I have several apps that I use, plus software like photoshop, but Photoleap is my favorite.

These are new and I’ve not decided which I’ll put on my artist website.

I took this at the headlands in Fort Bragg where there is a tiny and ancient graveyard. I call this piece Horror-Novel.  Not only does the tombstone look evil, but the typewriter appears to be disintegrating… dying.

Last, but not least are these dolls with a Photoleap filter that I’ve layered. Dolls can be scary in the right context.

I update my website periodically when I have enough new material to warrant that. I plan on continuing on with the Gothic theme, but from time to time I change things up, as with the Golden Gate Bridge which is more science fiction.

The post Storytelling Through Art appeared first on Storyteller.

The post Loving Gothic Fiction Reviews! appeared first on Storyteller.

So happy my Adam Frankenstein: Search for a Soul got 4 out of 4 stars from the Online Book Club!

This is one of the best-written reviews I think I’ve ever seen for anyone. Very thoughtful, well written, and clear.  You can read the entire thing HERE.

Here is a snippet of some of the review-

“I am hopeful that this book is the first of many from Sheila English about the exploits of Adam Frankenstein, as I look forward to more tales about the classic monster. A riveting and highly entertaining read for fans of the classic horror genre or fans of great literature about Frankenstein’s monster.”

The post Online Book Club Reviews Adam Frankenstein: Search for a Soul appeared first on Storyteller.