Author: Carol Wyer

Carol E Wyer is a Contributing Author for Indies Unlimited and an award-winning and best-selling author of humorous novels including MINI SKIRTS AND LAUGHTER LINES, SURFING IN STILETTOS, and HOW NOT TO MURDER YOUR GRUMPY. Carol has been featured on NBC News, BBC Radio, and in The Huffington Post. For more about Carol, go to her website or her Amazon author page.

Thank You for Being a Friend

A.K.A Carol Wyer

At school I was never going to be the British equivalent of the Prom Queen but thanks to being the class clown and being able to make people snort with laughter even during lessons (I’ll save how I did that for another time) I had my fair share of friends. I was not however, as popular as blonde haired, perfectly formed Mary Rose, who was admired by every girl in the school, lusted after by every hot blooded male and doted upon by every teacher.

Decades later I find myself in a similar position. No, I have actually managed to pass through school. I am talking about social networking sites, particularly Facebook. I have quite a few friends on Facebook but as far as my fan page goes, well I am not as popular as J K Rowling who has 1,117,211 ‘likes’. In fact I am some way off. Continue reading “Thank You for Being a Friend”

Dare to Bare (all!)

Where is the centerfold?

Like many authors, I spend huge amounts of time on-line building up a strong network, getting ‘likes’ for my Facebook page, attracting followers, reading up and producing profiles on Amazon, Linkedin, GoodReads and many other sites.

I have networked so much that my typing fingers have gone stiff, my eyes hurt and I require a cushion to support my back. However, it’s what we do to get recognition and sales. You need to be ‘out there’. You need to be making your presence felt, getting people to notice you and here at Indies Unlimited we have many opportunities to help you improve your social networking skills. I have taken advantage of them all. I religiously work through each tutorial and the results are impressive.

Having now spent the best part of three years promoting my books, I have finally discovered something very valuable that I wish to share with you. To get noticed or ‘ahead of the game’ you need more than all of this. You need to be different. You need to stand out from all the hundreds of thousands of other authors there are also vying for reader’s attention. Continue reading “Dare to Bare (all!)”

Video Trailers: So Many Options!

"to set" photo by K. S. Brooks
You don’t need your own movie production company.

I have seen that many book trailers over the last month that I no longer need my subscription to Sky. They are as varied as they are entertaining and to be honest I am developing quite a penchant for them. It all started as part of my research for this article. I am, let’s face it, technologically challenged. Two years ago I didn’t know what a blog was. I had no knowledge of Facebook, Twitter or how – indeed – to use Word. My computer allowed me to shop on-line and let me send emails.

Since I became a fully fledged author I have had to keep up with the times and the latest puzzle or task has been producing a book trailer to accompany my new novel. Now this isn’t blatant promotion of my novel, it serves merely to help fellow authors who, like me, feel they should have a promotional tool: a book trailer video to help sell their book. Everyone is doing it. That’s great if you, like the Evil Mastermind, are a techno wiz but I am a middle-aged woman and videos are not my bag. Continue reading “Video Trailers: So Many Options!”

How to Make a Thirty Second Book Trailer Video Using Animoto

I have been researching book trailer videos for weeks for my post next month when I discuss whether or not we should employ experts to produce book trailer videos. I have watched so many trailers that I have started buying popcorn to eat while I browse them all. Some are brilliant. Sad to say, mine is not in the ‘brilliant’ category and I have spent hours fooling about with Windows trying to make a reasonable video.

Imagine then my pleasure when I stumbled across www.animoto.com. I am still a bit of a Luddite when it comes to technological mysteries but Animoto is very easy to use. Now, remember I am a ‘numpty’ and I am also very old, so be patient as I attempt to explain how to use this great site. Continue reading “How to Make a Thirty Second Book Trailer Video Using Animoto”