My Author Concierge

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An Author Assistant in Seattle

Hello, everyone. Jacki Delecki is currently recuperating from knee replacement surgery so she’s invited me to write this week’s blog post. Since I just returned from my first visit to Seattle, where I (finally!) met Jacki in person after working with her for two years, I thought I’d share my impressions of the The Emerald City.

The first thing I learned upon my arrival in Seattle is that the city lies on Puget Sound, not the Pacific Ocean. By car, it’s about four hours to the coast. Mt. Rainier lies south of the city and visibility depends on the weather. The day I arrived was 75 and clear as a bell so I was treated to a panoramic view of the region. I’m not a sports fan, but I was impressed by Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks football team. It’s huge!

I spent the first few days in Seattle with a friend at the The Arctic Club Seattle. This hotel is situated in a historic building, a former men’s club, that dates back to the early 1900s. Our room on the fourth floor offered cozy window seats, the perfect place to curl up on a rainy Seattle afternoon and watch the city life below.

In keeping with the period charm of our hotel, we had dinner at The Metropolitan Grill steakhouse. We splurged and ordered the Chateaubriand, which was carved table-side. Definitely planning another visit there on my next trip to Seattle.

I was most eager to visit Pike Place Market. On our walk to this waterfront marketplace, I visited the Gum Wall, had fish and chips at Ivar’s and became addicted to Ellenos Greek yogurt (we went back twice in two days).

Jacki’s fans know that one of her favorite activities is guiding children’s tours through Pike Place Market. She gave me a private tour and amazed me with her knowledge. I learned that there are red musical notes painted on the ground throughout the market which indicate where musicians and street performers can set up and entertain the crowds for a two-hour block of time. Sometimes they post their business cards on a nearby pole to claim a certain day and time. The market also features colorful murals and odd light fixtures suspended at odd angles–even upside down!–around the marketplace.

Coming from Florida but growing up in Michigan, I was thrilled for a few days of cool, overcast, rainy autumn weather.

My trip to Seattle included attendance at the Emerald City Writers Conference in Bellevue. Jacki and I presented a workshop on working with an author assistant, but the best part was working the Passport to Romance reader appreciation event with Jacki. I got to meet some of her fans, as well as Pearl Hewitt, who narrates Jacki’s Code Breakers series.

If you’ve never been to Seattle, put it on your Bucket List. The city vibe is a funky mix between New York City and San Francisco, located in one of the most breathtaking regions of the U.S. Now that I’ve been there, I can’t wait to re-read the Grayce Walters books to find some of the actual locations Jacki incorporates into the stories and say, “Hey, I was there!”

The making of a book trailer

My name is Maria Connor, of My Author Concierge, and I am Jacki’s assistant. Jacki invited me to write a guest blog on our recent experience in creating the book trailer for her new audiobook release, A CODE OF THE HEART.

There are many services available that will create book trailers, but in reality, these video teasers aren’t that difficult to put together and it’s fun to occasionally venture into a different creative sphere. Assembling visual and audio elements requires a different perspective than working with words, but it is no less rewarding.

Join me now for a behind-the-scenes look at creating book trailers.

Developing a book trailer starts with a script. This can be the book cover copy (also called the book blurb or book summary), an excerpt from the book, or something entirely different. For A CODE OF THE HEART, we used a brief excerpt that reflected the storyline, plus the tag line for the Code Breakers series. The script can either be narrated or added as text.

The next step in the process is to assemble the graphic and audio components. This can be a challenge, as you must comply with copyright laws. You must have permission or be authorized to use the content in your trailer. To avoid any problems, I either use images owned by myself or the author, or stock art/music I have purchased. You can also use material under a Creative Commons license.

Finding licensed images for Regency romance can sometimes be a challenge. One of the images we considered using for this book trailer was discarded when we realized the male model–posed in a classic historical romance cover embrace–was wearing a gold chain necklace. We didn’t want any readers complaining about the historical inaccuracy of such an image so we selected a different graphic. Another way to solve the problem of limited Regency England images is to look for photos that reflect the story elements without specifically portraying them. For example, in this book trailer, the “spilled” tea cup represents the poisoning, danger and betrayal incidents in the story, while the British flag was selected to signify the intrigue and danger to the British monarch.

I use Windows Movie Maker to assemble the audio and video elements into a finished product. For the audio “mixing,” I use Audacity, a user-friendly program that is essentially just cutting and pasting portions of sound tracks together.

A Code of the Heart Book Trailer from Jacki Delecki on Vimeo.

For a sample of Jacki’s new audiobook, listen HERE.

I hope you enjoy our creative efforts and that we’ve made you curious to learn more about Jacki’s Regency romantic suspense! If you’d like more information about Jacki’s audiobooks, you can find A CODE OF LOVE and A CODE OF THE HEART on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.