C. M. Skiera's Blog

Video Trailer for Crimson & Cream For all you DIY'ers out there, here's how I made this video for free (i.e., at no cost to me): I used Windows Live Movie Maker software (but any good movie editing software will do). I used CCFinder (free version) to locate online photographs that are free under the Creative Commons (CC) license.  Obviously, you can also use your own art, which I did as well. I used  Photo Pos Pro to edit enhance the images I used (this is an optional step). I selected a song from the excellent composer Kevin MacLeod, who has a large collection of royalty-free CC licensed Music available at Incompetech.com . It takes some trial-and-error to get the music to sync with the photos, but with a little tinkering, it's not too hard.  I spent an evening after work putting this together (roughly 3-4 hours, I would estimate). Basically, all you need is movie editing software and images and music that you can legally use.  I...

Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.

Here's a little statistical research-in-progress, just to give you an idea of what to expect, should you do the same.  I've e-mailed approximately 25 requests to online book reviewers to see if they would be interested in reading and reviewing Crimson & Cream.  So far, I've had 2-3 people e-mail back politely declining for various reasons.  I've also heard back from 7 people indicating they were adding my ebook to their list.  So far, no reviews, but it's been less than two weeks since I started soliciting for them.  Many reviewers estimate a backlog of a month or more before they can get to your book.  Patience is key.

I mentioned in a prior post that I used the AutoCrit Editing Wizard for my novel Crimson & Cream.  Before I purchased the service, I did some research on online editing tools.  They seem to be very polarizing to people, with a lot of haters.  Personally, I thought it was a helpful tool and I feel like I got my worth $77 for a year's subscription.  I'm not going to walk you through the mechanics of the service (that's all available on their website), however, I will mention some of the features I found useful: