YA Indie Carnival: To trailer or not to trailer

I'm a HUGE fan of the book trailer. In fact I'm so obsessed with them that last year I created two separate sites for my two loves: YA and Chick Lit. Both sites are exclusively for the promotion of book trailers. The Chick Lit Trailer Park isn't quite so popular as the YA Trailer Park but both have some fabulous trailers on them, and more and more go up regularly. Have a look for yourself:
YA Trailer Park
Chick Lit Trailer Park
So why do I love book trailers so much? Because they help to convey the feel of the book. The essence that doesn't usually come across in a simple description or the blurb that you find on the back of a book (or on screen). You can be so much more creative visually, which is so important for those that have difficulty to visualise what a book is all about (if that makes sense!?).
You can also use music to create an atmosphere. The kind of atmosphere you hope will come across to your readers as they begin to read.
Check out the book trailers I created for my first two books, Raven and December Moon. I think I managed to create a certain 'something' for both of them.... what do you think?

If you have either a Chick Lit (it can be any genre as long as its aimed at female readers), or a YA book trailer and you'd like to submit them to either (or both) of the sites, just follow the instructions on the sites.

Click here for more Indie News:

Check out more about trailers by my fellow Carnis:
1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series

2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self

4. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga 

6. Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog 

8. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9. Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series 

10. Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11. Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews 

12. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
13. M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping 

14. Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind
15. Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls 

16. Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
17. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter 

18. TG Ayer
19. Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy 

20. Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
21. Roots in Myth, PJ Hoover 

22. Courtney Cole Writes

Q&A with author Abbi Glines

A very warm welcome to Breathe author Abbi Glines...

Have you ever read a book that made you think 'wow'? If so, what book was it and why did it have such an effect on you?
Yes, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. I am a big fan of the “happily ever after” feel good stories. However, I believe everyone should read Before I Fall, especially teenagers. It makes you think “what if this were my last day?” Would you act the way you’re acting. Would you take for granted friendships? Would you hold grudges? It is extremely eye opening. One of the best YA books I have read to date.

Who is your favorite author and why?
This question makes me smile. I have so many favorite authors. However, if given the chance to meet only one of them it would be J.K. Rowling. I’m still awaiting my Hogwarts letter. I stop for owls and I could live at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter located in Universal Studios and be quite happy for the rest of my life.

Who, or what, inspires you?
Music. The lyrics in songs cause my imagination to go into over drive. I can hear one line to a song and have an entire story working itself out in my head because of one tiny idea.

Where is your favorite place to write? 

The beach or sitting out on a pier over Mobile Bay. I am surrounded by bodies of water where
I live. I have yet to write a story where the Gulf of Mexico wasn’t involved.

What is your book about?
Breathe is about a young girl, who hasn’t been handed an easy path in life, finding herself immersed in the private world of America’s favorite teenage rock star. Sadie has a pregnant irresponsible single mom who relies on her to fix all their problems. Jax Stone is the golden boy of the music industry who has escaped for the summer to the coastal southern town of Sea Breeze, Alabama. Jax knows Sadie will never fit into the life he leads but he can’t seem to stay away from her. When his fame splashes their “summer fling” all over the media, Jax leaves in hopes of saving Sadie from the harsh spotlight. Broken hearted Sadie’s life spirals out of control. However, she holds the rock star’s heart in her hands and he soon realizes without Sadie he can’t breathe.

What is your favorite film that was based on a book?
Pride and Prejudice, the one with Keira Knightley. I have MANY favorite books that have been made into movies but I tend to not like the movie after having read the book. The 2005 release of Pride and Prejudice, however, didn’t let me down.

If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the main characters?

HA! I love this question. No one has asked me this yet but I so have the answer!
Sadie - Emilie de Ravin (this one was suggested by a reader. I thought it was spot on)
Jax - Chace Crawford
Marcus - Alex Pettyfer
Jessica - Reese Witherspoon (not only does she have the look she has the accent)

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I’m obsessed with thrift stores. Like totally addicted. Don’t get me wrong, I am by no means a hoarder. I actually haul bags off to the Goodwill monthly. I just like searching through stuff to find that one awesome deal. For example: sleeveless Under Armour shirts (my son goes through these like crazy during football season) for $1. Or the time I found a Vera Bradley backpack in great shape for $5. Getting stuff cheap gives me a crazy high.

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live.
We are the home of the Jubilee. A Jubilee is the name used locally for a natural phenomenon that occurs sporadically on the shores of the Mobile Bay. During a jubilee massive amounts of fish literally leap out of the water and onto the shore. There is no warning. It just happens. Although similar events have been reported in other bodies of water, Mobile Bay is the only place where the regular appearance of this phenomenon has been documented. When you get a call in the middle of the night around here you have to be ready to grab your containers and run to catch a load.

I 'met' Abbi through my other blog http://yatrailerpark.blogspot.com, I was so moved by her book trailer that it almost brought tears to my eyes!

Trailer Parks: YA and chick lit

I adore book trailers, especially YA book trailers. There are so many different varieties of them yet sometimes they can be a little hard to find so.... drum roll please (!).......

I've created a blog dedicated to all those wonderful YA book trailers out there. I already have about 15 trailers on-site and they were all sent to me yesterday (the wonders of twitter, eh?!)

So, if you have a YA book trailer you'd like to add, send me an email with the link to the Youtube video and a link to your own website. All I ask in return is for you to follow me on both blogs, twitter and facebook and spread the word about the YA Trailer Park wherever you can.

I will obviously continue to promote it and hopefully gather as many YA book lovers to check it out as often as possible!

I spent many hours yesterday trying to find the perfect template for the blog. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I've settled for this, for now. But expect it to change in the future.... to something that'll knock your socks off!! (ok, ok, I'm just getting a bit carried away now!)

http://yatrailerpark.blogspot.com/

Since I wrote the above, I decided we needed the same thing for chick lit (another passion of mine!) so I've gone and spent a few too many hours today coming up with the Chick Lit Trailer Park.
Any chick lit / romance writers that have book trailers they would like featured, please send me the links!
http://chicklittrailerpark.blogspot.com

NB. Since posting, I've re-designed both sites because I wanted them to be more unique... I decided to try and create my own headers and I got a bit carried away but it was fun. I hope you like them both!