Paul Levine interview

Paul Levine, author of the terrific SOLOMON VS. LORD series, was recently interviewed by his alma mater, Penn State. It's a fun interview - check it out here:
http://live.psu.edu/story/16224

Online book videos bring words to life
By Carol Memmott, USA TODAY
So have you seen any good books lately?

When HarperCollins' Amistad imprint wanted a fresh, new way to promote Lolita Files' fifth novel, Sex.Lies.Murder.Fame, it jumped on the hottest promotional bandwagon in publishing and created its first online book video.

"Consumers are online," says Amistad's Gilda Squires, "so that's where we want to reach them."

Files' novel is a satirical look at the literary and music worlds and the lengths to which people will go for fame and fortune. Because of the novel's music industry influences, HarperCollins produced a music video that features rising pop singer Silena Murrell's debut single I Like My Man Hard. (See it at video.google.com by typing sex.lies.murder.fame in the search field.)

Advertising on the Web and through cellphones and other handheld media players is nothing new. Music videos and movie trailers are wildly popular downloads. And though it might seem ironic to reach readers through pictures instead of words, publishing industry observers say it makes sense.

"Why not use the tools and technology that all other entertainment media use to promote their wares?" says Jerome Kramer of The Book Standard, an online publication that covers publishing.

The Book Standard and Bantam Dell, a division of Random House, are sponsoring a competition for student filmmakers to create 30-second videos for three upcoming novels: The Thieves of Heaven by Richard Doetsch, Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters and Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen. And in November, The Book Standard will launch a book video channel on the Web.

Producing book videos is a fledgling business, and they are created in various ways. HarperCollins used actors, but vidlit.com creates high-tech slide shows. Vidlit videos are narrated by the authors but lean toward photos and illustrations. M.J. Rose, Bill Maher, Julie Powell and Meg Cabot have videos on vidlit.com.



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