Black Friday & an Indie Giveaway!

Welcome back!

I'm writing a little blog post to ask you all to help me spread the word of fantastic news! This Friday and for the whole Black Friday weekend, my eBooks are going to be 99 cents apiece!

This is your chance to get the entire trilogy for a great deal!

Also, please check out the #IndieBooksBeSeen first Secret Santa's Indie Book Giveaway!

My first book, Witch In The Woods, is included in the giveaway, and you could win a copy of my, or any of these other author's great books!

You have to be 13 years of age or older to enter, and the drawing is on December 15! So get in on the action, and see if Santa will be gifting you with an indie surprise! Follow the link below to enter!

Secret Santa's Indie Book Giveaway!

Please help spread the word of this Giveaway, and of my Black Friday sale! Ebooks make great gifts, whether its a gift for a friend, or yourself! What could be better than a wonderful fantasy series for a present?

I am very excited about both of these things, and I want to thank you all right now for your help! Thanks for spreading the word!

Thanks for reading!

Check out my books on these great sites!

Witch In The Woods trilogy on Amazon

Witch In The Woods trilogy on B&N

Witch In The Woods on CreateSpace

Witch In The Woods on Smashwords

Don't forget to like my Facebook page, and follow me on Twitter and Goodreads to stay updated!

My author page on Facebook

@ann_bunker on Twitter

Taylor Ann Bunker on GoodReads

How I Made A Book Trailer

Welcome back,

A while ago I made a book trailer for Witch In The Woods. It was actually fun and easy too! Did I mention I did it for free?

I decided I should make a trailer for my book after reading blogs by other indie authors. A few of which claimed that stupelix.com was the best place to go as a free option. After checking out the site, I found that they did have free options, however, for what I had planned, I would have had to pay to make my video.

Sure, I could spend the few bucks to achieve my vision... Or, I could check out what other sights had to offer.

Research pays off! I decided that YouTube was the best option. You can either make your video through their creator studio, which works wonderfully, but then you can only choose from the music which they provide, which wouldn't have been bad if I was making a video for a modern times novel.

Then I found a way that I could make my video and use the music my brother had mixed special for it, and download it to YouTube! All I had to do was make my video with Windows Movie Maker. The whole process was easy too!

Before you can just dive into making your book trailer, you first have to figure out what you want to tell your potential readers. You must give the main point to the book, what genre and age range is it intended for, and where they can purchase, if they so desire.

I began by making notes on what I wanted in the video.

Since this is a trailer, it is very important to keep your video short.

Viewers do not want to spend more that 2 minutes watching a book trailer. This is the video synopsis of your book, so don't tell the whole story. Your goal is to make your viewers want to know more.
I decided to put in bits of Victor's journal entries to add a sense of mystery.

When making your video, use pictures you own. Don't just download any picture off of Google. Those picture may be copyrighted, so you do not want to use them without permission. I recruited my mom and my sister to go around town with me, to take our own pictures. You can even buy pictures, online, or purchase public domain pictures if you can't take them yourself.

When you have your pictures, put them in the order you want them to appear in the video. Since you will have text with most of your pictures, make sure you give each picture enough view time. You want to make sure everyone has enough time to read it!

At the end of your trailer, as I mentioned earlier, tell viewers what genre and age group your book is intended for. Inform them where they can purchase it, and don't forget to give the title and your name! It is a good idea to add the cover of your book, so they know what to look for!

Here is my book trailer:

Thanks for reading, and as always, keep writing!

Interested in a fantastic Dark Fantasy read? My book are available on these great sites as an ebook, or as a beautiful paperback!

Witch In The Woods trilogy on Amazon

Witch In The Woods trilogy on B&N

Witch In The Woods on CreateSpace

Witch In The Woods on Smashwords

Don't forget to like my Facebook page, and follow me on Twitter and Goodreads to stay updated!

My author page on Facebook

@ann_bunker on Twitter

My author profile in Goodreads

Writing A Synopsis

Greetings!

About a week before the release of my latest book, Witch In The Woods: Blood Moon Ritual, I realized that I had forgotten something crucial... My least favorite part of any book to write, but it is the most important as well. The synopsis. There are some writers out there who write their synopsis first, and build their story around it. I, on the other hand, wait until the last possible second to write it. 

Here are some tips that help me when writing the dreaded synopsis!

How many books have you decided not to read, just because the synopsis didn't capture your attention? The first line in your summery is your hook. That is the part which must catch the potential reader's attention. If the first line in your synopsis isn't catching, that possible reader will most likely put it down.

Some books I personally can't even get through the whole summery, which is terrible, because as an author, I would hate for that to happen to my books. Here is the problem: if I, an author and avid reader, can't even get through the synopsis, then how are other readers supposed to? You have a good book waiting to be read, you just need to find the right hook.

I find it helpful to have examples, so I look at the summery to other books to give me an idea on how to write my own. It kick starts the brain storming process! Remember to include the important things in your synopsis.You want the readers to know what your story is about, and to draw them in enough to want to read your book. What's the main plot? Who is/are your characters? What are your characters trying to achieve, and what do they risk losing if they fail?

As an example, here is the synopsis to my first book, Witch in the Woods.


When twenty year old, professional witch hunter, Victor Steep is summoned to handle a case; he travels to the town of Beth's Hollow to find residing in the vast woods surrounding the town, a witch with a deadly obsession.

In the woods, Victor meets a mysterious and beautiful lady named Clearly, and her kind, but cursed brother Fabian. Promising that he will look for a cure for her brother, Victor soon questions if he can keep that promise, for killing the malicious witch he was hired to hunt, became more complicated than expected. In order to defeat the witch, Victor now must find a book that has been missing for nearly twenty years, or risk the fate of Clearly, Fabian, and the entire town of Beth's Hollow. Not to mention, if he should fail, losing the possession of his very own skull to the witch's disturbing collection.


As my first summery, I am very happy with how it turned out! It let's the reader know that Victor hunt's witches for a living, and is risking his very life to save Clearly, her brother, and the town of Beth's Hollow.

What do you think, are you ready to write your synopsis?

Thanks for reading, and keep writing!

Feel free to check out my Witch In The Woods Trilogy!

WITW on Amazon

WITW on B&N

WITW paperback on CreateSpace

WITW on Smashwords

Don't forget to like my Facebook page, and follow me on Twitter and Goodreads to stay updated!

My author page on Facebook

@ann_bunker on Twitter

My author profile in Goodreads