This is the third installment in our series:  Self-Publishing Your Novel: A Guide for Screenwriters  

After you've written your ebook and set up your website, next you need to get reviewed:

Getting Reviewed

For some, self-published books have a stigma. Because anyone who could afford to could publish a book, many did without putting in the time or effort to produce a quality product. This seems to be changing as some self-published books rise from obscurity to become bestsellers.

• At this time, most major reviewers either don’t review self-published books, or they charge steep fees for it. Paying does not guarantee a positive review.
• Smaller reviewers are all over the place, some with significant traffic on their sites. These reviewers are usually hobbyists, enthusiasts, or even professionals who just love to read. Try to find a blogger who reviews books in your genre and look for their submission guidelines. If they specifically say no self-published books, don’t bother. If it’s not spelled out, query them.
• Some reviewers want e-books, others prefer print books, and some could go either way. This is usually spelled out in the submission guidelines.
• Keep in mind the internet is global. That reviewer could be down the street, across the country, in Europe or Australia and it can be very difficult to tell. With e-books this isn’t a big deal, but if you’re shipping print books, that can add up.
• Negative reviews will happen. See if you can take anything positive away from it. If nothing else, you’ll get another link to your site.

The Book Trailer

Another tool in the self-published author’s arsenal is the book trailer. This is a short video that serves as a commercial for your book. It’s essentially a short film. These can be a lot of work, but they’re also a lot of fun.

• Before tackling a book trailer, make sure you can do it right. You want the most polished product you can put out there. Buy or rent the equipment you’ll need.
• Make your script as short as you can while giving the viewer a taste of your book. Aim for one to three pages.
• Some trailers use images and text, while others use voiceover or even scenes lifted from the book. How you tackle this will depend on your budget, knowledge, and vision.
• My book involved zombies. I didn’t have the budget for a horde of decent looking zombies but I wanted them in the trailer. I decided to use comic book art with voiceover. This approach won’t work for everyone, but it worked for me. You can see the result on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYwsntQ7im4
• If you use images, make sure you have the rights to use them!
• Music is important. If you know where to look, you can get it free or at low cost as long as you attribute the source. I get a lot of my music tracks from Incompetech.com (www.incompetech.com), which licenses its music under Creative Commons.
• If you decide to shoot a scene, you may be able to find a film student looking to build a reel that can help without breaking the bank.
• There are plenty of places you can distribute your trailer for free: YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, the list goes on…most of these sites offer code for you to embed the video in your site as well.
• I found the actor for my book trailer on CraigsList. There are also regional sites for actors and film professionals as well. Casting can take time. Plan accordingly.
• When you meet actors and crew for the first time, always hold your initial meetings in a public place.

Guest post by Tim Morgan, a New Hampshire based writer, independent filmmaker, and author of the self-published zombie novel THE TRIP. When he’s not writing, Tim earns a living as a web developer. You can find out more about Tim, what he’s up to, and what he’s done, at his web site: www.timmorgan.us