Book videos or video book trailers aim to do what movie trailers do for film, or music videos do for song - aim to get your message out there using video, the all powerful captivating moving image.

With the rise of the video on the web, the Internet is a natural medium for book trailers, and a great way for authors to promote their books, their art, their speaking abilities…and build relationships with their fans.

Book videos can take many forms:

• Author Biographies
• Video Book Trailers
• Themed Book Series
• Book News
• BookShorts Films - fully realized short films meant for the festival and/or TV broadcast.

What do you do with your book video? You distribute it and spread it around. Put it on your author web sites, your Facebook fan pages, YouTube and MySpace pages. Use Tubemogul to distribute to up to 20 other video and social networking sites.

Ask your fans to put it on their blogs.

Put it up beside your Amazon page. Ask your local book retailer to set up a kiosk in their store and play it.

Book trailers  can also help you build relationships with your readers, and grow your legion of fans.

In this era, authors are ever more responsible for their own publicity and promotion. Luckily with web tools and social networking this is becoming more and more accessible.

I am an intern on Ink Canada this year, along with 6 other smartypants, and am just blown away by all the really useful advice on the Facebook Group - especially the Discussion pages. That is also why I am distraught at not being able to “search” it to find threads or topics. Yup - Facebook’s search is non-functioning and has been broken for months now. Also, the threads do not seem to get indexed by Google, so you can’t use that search method either.

This sucks on quite a few levels. It makes it hard to go back and easily find a post you’d like to reread when there is over a year’s worth of discussion spread across hundreds of threads. Every new thread that is added pushes older discussions further and further back into a mire of uncategorized archive pages.

Because newbies generally ask the same questions over and over (in any field mind you), telling them that that question has been answered before and that they need only to find it in the ink archives is just a bit evil.

So, until the Facebook search is fixed, here are a few of my favorite threads. Email me to let me know if I’ve missed some.

• ink FAQ - how to use the Facebook site - an irreverent guide
• canadian writers, writer-hyphenates, story editors & intl screenwriters online
• i write *films* in & from canada: one-liners covering things i am contractually permitted to acknowledge
• for everybody who asks us older-types about agents…
• Agents
• Ink Canada Exclusive: FQU with Anthea Foyer
• Ink Canada Exclusive: FQU With Jim Henshaw
• FQU: screenwriter TONY ELLIOTT
• FQU: JACOB & KEVIN TIERNEY on THE TROTSKY
• Intern assignment - Telefilm Atlantic Region
• Intern Assignment - Writer’s First
• those in/interested in writing in the US of A…
• Intern Irene here with my first question: How do you BE a writer?
• How many scripts?
• What would you Spec and why?
• What is the best way for new writers to get their work (film scripts) noticed in the Canadian market?
• Book options
• Fun with Pitching!
• Selling that elusive first script
• advanced writing issues: your producers’ development budget runs out before the script is ready - what do u do?
• ladies, women & girls - the joys of scribbling when you’re like, so not a guy

I luvs it here.

I luv the sound of the fog horns blowing loudly right in my backyard, now that I am accustomed to them and know that a ship will not be crashing through my picture window. I love the view of the narrows that astounds no matter how many times I see it - or not - depending on the fog.  I even love the slugs that I find under my desk, or more frequently,  the slug trails on the carpet that just start and disappear - with nary a critter in site.

Maybe if I could learn how to do a slug call - I could call them out.

But I am here.  Hanging with the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, the musicians, comedians, and other arty members. And my new friend BABS! of moovy.ca.

Check it out. Join. Participate. Make great film.

How can you not be depressed upon returning?

Cod tongues are a regional specialty and I make it my habit to try local food.

Post Festival Depression Hits Hard After the St. John’s Intl Film Fest.I was the Official blogger of the St. John’s Intl Film Festival. Rachel Peters and I shot this mockumentary 2 weeks after the festival, about our struggle coping being back in the “centre of the universe.” That’s what St. John’sers affectionately call Toronto.

Yes, this video is full of inside jokes. So here’s a little glossary that may help.

Kelly Davis - is the unsinkable festival director

NIFCO - the Newfoundland Independent Film Coop

Snowball - the amazing dancing cockatiel that became our mascot at the fest

Noreen Golfman - is the festival CEO/founder

Panfried cod tongues - are a delicacy - and are very yummy. You missed out Megan!

“The Song” - is the theme song of the festival’s 2007 animated trailer, which was animated by Rachel Peters, and opened every screening.

Rosemary House - is a producer/director in St. John’s. She hosted a lovely luncheon at her home for all the delegates of the fest, which until we got there, we thought was the name of the Organization ( like Ronald McDonald House”. )

Barbara Doran - “Random Passage” producer whose latest film opened up the film fest.

Rachel did really eat fire.

And we hula-hooped at the closing party.
Sorry for the bad sound. We shot fast and dirty.

I also sat on the panel for the Film Byte Workshop: Artists Crossing Platforms, which was moderated by Judith Keenan with Filmmakers Sherry White, Mary Lewis, Katerina Cizek

I was also the Official Blogger of the festival. Catch up on this shenanigans at bittertonic.com.

The screening starts at 7pm and runs until dawn. It will be held on the patio at the Rhino Bar and Grill, 1249 Queen St. W. (two blocks west of Dufferin Ave.). The bar has an extended liquor license and will be serving drinks until 4am.

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is an an all-night arts festival that will be taking over the city on Saturday night (September 29, 2007). See you there!

I shot and edited this video of our “Cure Your Holiday Blues” party held at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, Dec 18, 2006. Part of the fun and games included a blues verse-writing contest, where guests submitted lyrics after getting a brief lesson in writing for the 12 bar blues from Paul Quarrington. This video shows the band PorkBelly Futures singing the winning verses on stage.

Featuring Paul Quarrington, Rebecca Campbell, Paul Reddick.

Party hosted by BookShorts.com, StrangeDuck.com and porkbellys.com.

Congrats to Joey Bechta who was the #1 lyrics prize winner.