Passing Strange Trailer Contest!!!!!

Check out http://www.girlslife.com/post/2010/06/10/passing-strange-contest.aspx by clicking the blog title above!


Here's your chance to direct your own mini-movie!


GL and Hyperion Teen are looking for you to showcase all of the exciting drama of the new book Passing Strange by creating your own video trailer.



Give readers a taste of the conflicts and drama awaiting Karen in the book, and all of the inevitable complications for this not-so-typical high schooler. The top video selected by Girls’ Life and Hyperion Teen will premiere exclusively on Girlslife.com! Plus, the lucky leading lady will score a makeover from a MAC artist!


ENTER TO WIN:


Do you ever wake up and just feel like a zombie? Uh, yea—everyone's had one of those days (or try several)! The winner of the Passing Strange Video Trailer contest will score a makeover fit for a starlet. She'll get her makeup done by a professional MAC artist and will pick up up to $200 worth of MAC product. The best part? Your video will be featured on Girlslife.com in a video poll. Now a prize like that is sure to zap a zombie back to life.



ABOUT THE BOOK:



In Passing Strange (out now wherever books are sold), all-American teenager Karen DeSonne faces more than the usual high school drama—she happens to be dead. Her troubles only multiply as she finds herself caught up in a high-profile scandal— new anti-zombie regulations that have forced nearly all of Oakvale’s undead into hiding.


Obtaining enough evidence to expose this sinister plot means doing the unthinkable for Karen: Betraying her true love and becoming the girlfriend of the one guy she truly cannot stand—Pete Martinsburg. Karen’s only hope is that the enemy never realizes who she really is—because the consequences would be even worse than death.


HOW TO ENTER:


What is a book trailer?

Videos are the newest way to promote the hottest reads. Called book trailers, they are similar to movie trailers, in that they are designed to build interest in an upcoming or current novel and are used to encourage people to buy the book the trailer is about.



What’s the difference? A movie trailer already has visual images to work with—clips from the film. With a book trailer, the maker (that’s you!) has to convert the written words into a fun visual.


How to create a great book trailer:


The trick is to convey a sense of what the book is about without giving away any juicy deets away.


Most book trailers run from one to two minutes and can be anything from someone reading a passage from the book to an elaborate mini-movie.


Here are some links to book trailer examples we like:
Generation Dead trailer by the author
Generation Dead trailer by a fan
Another Generation Dead trailer by a fan


Here’s how to make yours, step by step
1. Get your BFFs together or go solo.
2. Learn it! CLICK HERE to download the script for the Passing Strange trailer.
3. Decide how you want to put your trailer together.
4. Video your best one to two minute book trailer by following the script You can use the video cam on your cell phone, digital camera, camcorder or computer.
5. E-mail the file (10M or smaller, please) to passingstrange@girlslife.com or upload to facebook.com/girlslife.
6. HURRY! ALL VIDEOS MUST BE IN BY 7/15/10.


THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:


We’ll announce the winner on 8/1/10 by featuring the trailer on every page of our site! So put on your director’s hat, get in the zombie mindset and good luck.

The Making of a Book Cover

I've been very fortunate in that I've worked with absolutely brilliant people on my books. Two of those brilliant people are the photographer and the designer of thebook covers, Ali Smith and Elizabeth H. Clark, respectively.

Would you like to see a brief video on the making of the Kiss of Life and Passing Strange book covers? Of course you would! Who wouldn't? Go to the March 31 entry on Ali's blog HERE. And stay tuned, because I am hoping to get Ali to do a guest blog here at some point.

You'll notice, upon watching the video, that everyone at the shoot is gorgeous. Everyone. Models, artists, editors; all are drop-dead (har har!) gorgeous.

This may be why I have never been invited to one of the photo shoots.

I think that the fear--the altogether justifiable fear--is that I might possibly scoop one of the participants up, sling them across over my broad and hairy back, and then scamper Quasimodo-like out the window to shimmy up the side of the building. Once I reached the relative safety of the rooftop ledge where my gargoyle brethren await, I'd do nothing more harmful to my shrieking captive than read tender love sonnets and stare mournfully first at them, and then at the setting sun, with my one lazy puppy-dog eye.

Sigh.

Go watch the video!

Multimedia Fun Day: Generacion Dead Trailer

Some brilliant person or people made a book trailer for the impending release of Generacion Dead, and, having ascertained my boundless love for the Rosedales, used their music as the soundtrack. I think it goes together like peanut butter and chocolate!



Also found this cool trailer (and many others) created by the University of Central Florida: Generation Dead Trailer.

The book description says "Generation Dead by Suzanne Collins", though. Sigh. I assure you that I am a real person and not a pen name for Suzanne, who, as I'm sure you know, is the author of the wonderful Hunger Games series, among others.

A Face Made for Radio

Whoah! Check out the book trailer for Kiss of Life!



See if you can figure out the exact moment I am replaced by a Disney animatronic!

***OOOPS! I forgot to mention that the website mentioned in the video gendead.com, isn't live yet (but it is awesome!) Stay tuned!