WritersDo you ever wish you could have a Hollywood style trailer for your book complete with sound effects and action? Do you have the perfect story but no illustrator to accentuate your words? You might need to get a life – a Second Life.

Yesterday I wrote about how a virtual self can help you break the ice into readings and public appearances and look good. Today’s post is on how to make your books and promotional campaigns look good.

In a virtual world, the sky is the limit and it’s all yours for a screenshot. You can pose on the Eiffel Tower, in a dystopian nightmare or a sweet country house at the edge of the woods. See for yourself in The Destination Guide.

What Did the Cat See?
What Did the Cat See?

I used virtual areas to create the art for my first children’s book, What Did The Cat See? It was my first experiment to see if I could create my own illustrations. In another of my books, Don’t Worry Star, I used real photographs and a virtual cat that I could pose how I wanted it.

Don't Worry Star
Don’t Worry Star

In the past I made my virtual avatar look like my real self so I could create easy graphics and I used a virtual world for promotion was having a book trailer created in world, complete with actors and set.

Whole films are being created in World of Warcraft, Second Life, Lord of the Rings… and they are an easy way to create high interest visuals that you control, limited only by your imagination. Looking for an example? Here’s a book trailer created entirely in Second Life for End of Mae…

By Angela Yuriko Smith

Angela Yuriko Smith is a third-generation Ryukyuan-American, award-winning poet, author, and publisher with 20+ years in newspapers. Publisher of Space & Time magazine (est. 1966), two-time Bram Stoker Awards® Winner, and HWA Mentor of the Year, she shares Authortunities, a free weekly calendar of author opportunities at authortunities.substack.com.

2 thoughts on “Creating Real Readers from Virtual Worlds pt. 3”
  1. With all my time in SL, you’d think I’d’ve created trailers for my books…

    Nope…

    Probably ’cause my time used to be all spent with managing events and now is all spent socializing—for at least six years now, SL has been, almost completely, where I socialize…

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