Youtube Journey Part 2 - Adobe After Effects & InDesign - My Crash Course

Youtube Journey Part 2

Adobe After Effects & InDesign

My Crash Course

I was going to do this yesterday for Writerly Wednesday, but I was distracted by making birthday cupcakes for a friend. So today it is!

Now I threw together a banner and a logo for the my shiny new YouTube channel, Tales With Tasha, in Photoshop pretty sharpish as soon as I set it up, but I knew doing anything for actual vids would be harder.

When I started out I knew two things:

1. I didn't just want to film me reading things. I want part of each vid to be live action, but I remember the Disney page turning format very fondly and wanted something along those lines for the stories. Also helps with accessibility.
2. I wanted a short little logo animation to segue from live action to the story.

My first thought was Adobe After Effects.

Of course, then I hit my first problem - I had never even opened After Effects before 😂. However, never let it be said that this has ever stopped me in the past. I taught myself how to use Photoshop using turtorials, how much harder could this be?

Okay, so maybe a bit harder 😎. The thing about After Effects is its for animators and people who understand film terms and I don't, well I've picked up a little now. Never fear, however, because the lovely creators of YouTube have wonderful channels with step by step tutorials on just about everything. I love them.

Endeavour 1 - My Page Turning Book

So I knew I wanted a book with pages that turn, and I found one plugin and several tutorials, but none of them were quite right. In the end this one popped up, thank heavens:

It also isn't quite right, but it does have all the elements I needed so that after following it I could figure out how to create what I wanted. It also allowed me to understand how everything goes together.

For example, I had no idea that when you import images, if you change them on the disc, they are changed in the animation too. This is a revelation to me, and I assume it is actually a setting, like importing the mp3 files into Audition etc.

• Stage 1 - Follow Tutorial Exactly
• Stage 2 - Tutorial pages turn backwards for some reason, so figure out how to make them turn forwards.
• Stage 3 - Figure out how to create page content.

It was Stage 3 that was the hard part.

Page Content

First Idea - Photoshop:

1. Create a base template
2. Place text
3. format text
4. Rinse and repeat

Only problem - with 2K words per story, this was going to be slow!

Next Idea - InDesign

which I had also never used 😝.

2 most useful things about InDesign

1. We can import a preformatted Word Doc and it will automatically paginate for us.
2. We can export all pages as images.

This is the tutorial for I used to find out how to do #1 - Pretty Fabulous Designs has some great turtorials for doing all sorts of things.

The plan was growing! Mwuahahah!!!!

Third Thought - Plain White Pages are Boring

I found some wonderful page textures on Unsplash.com by Annie Spratt. She also has some other fabulous photos, but it was the large number of textures I was after this time.

For this I did use Photohop, creating a template for left and right pages with shadows in the margin so it looks a little 3D. Not a lot 3D, but a little 😉

These can then be used as backgrounds for the pages in InDesign.

The End Result

Anyway, I played and fiddled and now have a format I can easily customise for each video. This is a very short demo to show what I mean.

I can customise everything I need to:

• Background
• Page content
• Book style
• Page turning interval

So it should do as a template.

The Plan

1. Format the story to be animated in Word with the correct size font (I have to play with these anyway to get them ready for reading, so it's only a tiny little step more).
2. Set up an InDesign layout with the background of choice depending on story content.
3. Import Word file into InDesign.
4. Add any extra formatting.
5. Export pages to PNG
6. Import into After Effects project and set pages to have the correct content.
7. Use recording to set page turn intervals.
8. Add pretty background behind the book to please YouTube's algorithm.

Endeavour 2 - My Animated Logo

This one was actually much simpler - I went through Youtube looking at tutorials, found one I liked and went with it.

This was the tutorial I chose in the end:

And here is what my animated logo looks like:

Now I just have to teach myself how to use After Effects in Premier Pro 😎.

Oh and actually film the bits and format all the stories I have planned etc, etc, etc ...

So, y'know, just a bit of stuff. 😂

How is everyone else doing? Any interesting projects going on? Do you have a YouTube channel?

My Shiny New Youtube Channel #WriterlyWednesdays

Now as I mentioned in last week's writerly Wednesday post, I have decided I need a Youtube channel. So I have been thinking about it all week and trying to plan, which involved a lot of watching Youtube vids on how to set up a Youtube channel etc. 😁

First of all I had to decide what I wanted to put on it and this is what I have come up with so far:

• Story narration
• Novel excerpt narration
• Book trailers and other Wittegen Press news vids

Other suggestions of things you might like to see, gratefully accepted.

Then I made a list of all the content I already have to choose from, well actually I made a Google Sheet (so useful). Turns out I have over 100 sources to choose from. And that doesn't include the naughtier stories, which I can't put up because Youtube does not like adult content.

In all honesty I don't have a strategy completely worked out yet, but I am plotting.

One thing I did decide is that my focus is going to be on the narration, with other things as additions, because I think that is what might bring in an audience. So I brainstormed for a Youtube channel name and came up with...

Tales with Tasha

So far I have a channel art, an icon and 2 subscribers, both of whom are other accounts I own, but we all have to start somewhere, down't we 😎.

Next I need to come up with:

• The about section
• A plan of attack so I can get the content prepared.

Apparently I need 100 subscribers and have had the channel for 30 days before I can get my proper URL. 💖So if you feel like subscribing to a completely empty channel, that would be awesome - thank you.💖 I promise there will be content.

Do any of you have a YouTube channel? What content do you put on it? Any tips? Drop me a link so I can check it out.

New Release Day

Yesterday was new release day over at VirginiaWaytes.com (my alter ego) with:

Sexy Stories 12 - The Manor s01e11 - Searching for a Mate

Josh is gone, but there is still hope to find him, even with the pack bond occluded to be useless. His connection to Pippa may be the answer and she and Lucy must work together to launch a dangerous rescue mission.

Another new cover - Myriad Imaginings - Paperback

Another new cover - Myriad Imaginings - Paperback

So we've been meaning to get the Giveaway Games anthologies into paperback for a while now, but there had never been time to sit down and give it them the attention they deserve. However, that time has finally come.

Myriad Imaginings is going through a new re-edit, to make sure it is perfect and, of course, every book needs a cover.

As you may recall I redesigned all the covers for the Giveaway Games anthologies last year, so I have a great start to work from in creating the paperbacks.

Now the current book blurb is fine for eBook descriptions, but it wasn't right for the blurb on the back of an actual book, if you see what I mean, hence I had to rewrite that too.

However, it is done and I have what I think is an almost definite cover. Just waiting for some feedback from Soph, but this is likely to be it. What do you think?

The big space on the back at the bottom is where the barcode gets put BTW. Just in case you were wondering 😄.

Cover Reveal - New Cover for Shivers: 13 Tales of Terror

Cover Reveal - New Cover for Shivers: 13 Tales of Terror

So originally Soph designed the cover for Shivers: 13 Tales of Terror - our first collection from our All Hallows Read miniature anthologies. And it was great for the eBook version, but we discovered pretty quickly that the design she chose doesn't pint well.

It's unfortunate, after all the hard work she put in, but the cover comes out virtually all black when printed, with very few of the details of the artwork visible. Hence, we decided we needed a new one. Soph doesn't have time to take on the task at the moment, so it came to me.

I've been working on it for a couple of days and it's all ready - so it's COVER REVEAL time!

Drum Roll!

Shivers: 13 Tales of Terror

Spooks, werewolves and demons haunt these 13 tales that will leave you shuddering with fright!

Enjoy the spine tingles as you read a cautionary tale about not playing with any old deck of cards, however innocent they may seem. Wallow in the horror of a she-demon stalking her victims, or a werewolf discovering there are things weirder than himself. Or maybe you'd like to chuckle at the chill on the back of your neck as you spend time with a hair-raising highwayman.

13 tales of terror. 13 scares. Read them - we dare you.

NEW eBook Cover

New Paperback Cover

Purchase Shivers: Paperback | Kindle | Smashwords | Apple Books | Google Play | Kobo | Nook | Scribd

It takes 24 hours or so for the new cover to show up everywhere, but they are now all uploaded, so, hopefully it will be in all the right places very soon.

What do you think? We had a lot of debate over the font. We knew we wanted it to be gothic, in keeping with the theme of the book, but I went through several before going with good old Plain Black, since it was the clearest and easiest to read.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Simon Matzinger on Unsplash for the background photo and Dark Indigo from Pexels for the foreground image used on the cover of this book.

Free Christmas Anthology for One and All!

Free Christmas Anthology for One and All!

It's Christmas! So this month Soph and I have a free holiday anthology for everyone.

We want to spread a little Christmas cheer and, hopefully, bring a smile to all faces.

If you're feeling down around this time, for whatever reason, hugs to you and we hope it gets better for you soon.

Light of Christmas

Our little anthology has two heartwarming tales, one from me and one from Sophie.

Light of the World - Natasha Duncan-Drake

Kit and Sam have been together now for six years and three years ago they renovated and moved into Sam's parent's old house in a small village. Sam wants to revive the family tradition of a huge Christmas party, so what's his reclusive vampire husband to do, but say yes and try and melt into the shadows.

Winter's Curse - Sophie Duncan

Pippin is worried about her father who is deathly ill. She knows him as Papa C, the rest of the world calls him Father Christmas. Something is very wrong and dark magic is involved. Their only hope is a strange, dangerous woman who frightens Pippin, but she will do anything to save her father.

Download Light of Christmas at Smashwords

Available FREE until Jan 6th 2020

And don't forget, if you would like a free short story every month, not just at Christmas, join our Wittegen Press Newsletter. No catches, no spam.

Christmas Wishes

💖Whether you celebrate Christmas as a Christian or enjoy it as a secular holiday where people are usually a little nicer and happier, I offer you this blessing💖:

May the love of the Holy Family,

The joy of the shepherds and angels,

And the peace of the Christ child,

be with you and those you love, this Christmas time.

Have a great holiday season - best wishes to one and all.

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Banner background Photo by Paul Schafer on Unsplash

Happy Beginning of the Halloween Season - Free Fiction Friday!

Happy Beginning of the Halloween Season - Free Fiction Friday!

🎃It's October and that means ghosts and goblins and long legged beasties!🎃

Okay, so we may be getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, but it's Free Fiction Friday and we wanted to get everyone in the mood for the end of the month. This month's free short story is a ghostly one. Scroll down to check out the details.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, Free Fiction Friday happens once a month, every month where Soph and I give our Wittegen Press Newsletter subscribers a free short story on the first Friday. These stories range from ghost to vampires with fantasy and even the odd bit of science fiction thrown in.

Join the Wittegen Press Newsletter

Our Newsletter is usually very low traffic with one or two messages a month. We only ever send something out when we have something important to tell our subscribers, like new releases, competitions, freebies and, of course, Free Fiction Friday. No spam, and we're with Mailchimp, so your details are securely stored and won't be shared with anyone else.

For new members the link to this month's short story are included in the final welcome email when you sign up.

This Month's Free Story

The Storm by Natasha Duncan-Drake

Genre: ghost story
Description:
A lonely figure stands on the battlements of a castle watching an approaching storm, remembering loss. Can love reach beyond death?

Join our Newsletter to download it for free.

If you have any questions about Free Fiction Friday, the Newsletter or the story, do drop me a comment. I love to chat.

How to Format an eBook - 2019 Edition

How to Format an eBook - 2019 Edition

Technology is always changing and things have progressed since I last wrote a blog post on how to format eBooks. I have just written myself a new checklist for creating eBooks in what I consider to be the most efficient way, so I thought I'd share. Now don't take this as me saying, this is the only way to do it, but this is how I do it, and it works for me. No doubt by the time I hit publish the tech will have changed again!

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Software required:

• MS Word 2010 or above
• Kindle Create plugin for MS Words  from KDP (this is not Kindle Create stand alone, which is used for formatting and produces a KDP proprietary format and is a pain to use).
• Calibre
• ePub reader (I used BlueFire Reader)

Steps to Create an eBook:

The Kindle Version:

I start with this one because the Kindle Create Add-in makes life so much easier.

1. Make sure the manuscript is ready for publishing and has been thoroughly edited.
2. Install the Kindle Create Add-in.
3. Go to the Kindle tab in Word and click the Get Started button.
4. Choose the theme for the book.
5. Save the book file (I usually put -KINDLE on the end of my file names so I can always tell them apart). N.B. Make sure to save regularly through the formatting process to avoid losing anything.
6. Click Insert Template Page from the ribbon and choose Book Title Page - from now on when inserting a page type, they all come from the Insert Template Page
7. Insert Copyright Page
8. Search and replace Book Title with the book's title.
9. Search and replace Author Name with the author's name.
10. Edit or delete the Book Subtitle as required.
11. On the copyright page edit the Cover Designer, website, ISBN and edition information.
12. Insert Dedication page if required and edit.
13. Insert Table of Contents page.
14. Insert Other Page (font/back matter) if you wish to have an acknowledgements section or any other front matter.
15. If you book has parts insert Part Title Page.
16. Insert Chapter Title Page
17. Copy the chapters from your manuscript and paste them into a text only editor like Notepad or PSPad to get rid of any formatting.
18. Paste chapters into Kindle Create doc and make sure everything is formatted as the "Normal" style.
19. At the beginning of each chapter insert a Chapter Title Page.
20. For each chapter do the following:
21. 1. Copy the chapter title and paste it into the Chapter Title position on the Chapter Title Page
    2. If you have no chapter subtitle and no chapter quote, delete the quote and reformat the subtitle placeholder to be 8pt. Then delete the text, but leave the paragraph marker. This is to prevent the eBook preview from crashing because there is a bug. There has to be something between the chapter title and the first paragraph.
       or
    3. Copy the chapter subtitle and paste into the correct place, or delete the chapter subtitle placeholder.
    4. Copy the chapter quote and paste into the correct place or delete the chapter quote.
    5. Change the drop cap letter to be the first letter of your first paragraph for the chapter.
    6. Copy the first paragraph, apart from the first letter (not including the paragraph marker) and paste into the first paragraph of the chapter.
    7. Delete everything between the first paragraph and the second paragraph.
22. Optional - change some of the first line of the first paragraph to be all caps. If you are only doing a Kindle book the "all caps" formatting option will work, if you want to convert to ePub later, typing it in in capital letters is more compatible.
23. Insert back matter using Other Page (font/back matter) for each that you wish to appear in the table of contents.
24. If you wish to have back matter that is not in the table of contents, add in a section break to create a new page, add in your content and then create your own header style based on other back matter pages, so it will look the same, but not be gathered for the table of contents.
25. Save!
26. Check the book using the Kindle Preview from the ribbon.

This docx file should now be ready to upload to KDP. Always check in the previewer once the file is uploaded, but I have never had a problem with the conversion.

Convert to ePub:

For those who need ePub files, it is very easy to convert from the KINDLE to something that looks good in an ePub viewer and passes ePub checks. You will need your cover file ready to create this version, even though it is best to upload it separately on Google Play.

1. Re-save the file with a new name. I just add -EPUB to the end.
2. Change the ISBN and any of the rest of the copyright page that is not correct for the edition.
3. Delete all the drop cap letters from the beginnings of chapters by clicking on their containing box and deleting the whole thing. (They often screw up so it's not worth the risk).
4. Replace the missing letters with normal ones at the beginning of the paragraph.
5. Load the docx into Calibre.
6. Edit the meta data to have the correct title, author, cover and description.
7. Click convert to ePub - make sure to check the "maintain aspect ratio of cover" on the ePub OUT tab.
8. Save the ePub to disk.
9. Check the ePub in an ePub reader and with an ePub checker.

Smashwords:

I always create a Smashwords version from plain text because I like their "meatgrinder" conversions, but you can upload the ePub straight to their site with some limitations. You also need to make sure you follow their conventions and have Smashwords Edition on the copyright page as well as an ISBN just for them, if you are using your own. I only create the ePub for Google Play or if I need to put it up for download like in Free Fiction Friday.

For Smashwords, their Smashwords Style Guide has everything you need to know - and yes "The Nuclear Method" does work best.

I have a MS Word template that I've set up with all the front matter, back matter and styles I use for Smashwords and then copy and paste the content in from text only.

Summary

And there you have it, all the steps I take to create my eBooks for upload. I find it the most efficient to start with the Kindle book because of Kindle Create and I work from there. Smashwords is a matter of starting from text again, but with a Word template, it's much quicker than doing it from scratch. If you've used the captials on the first line and typed the capitals rather than using the font format in the Kindle version, that also comes across for the Smashwords version.

The next step after this is, of course, the paperback, but that's a post for another day.

I very much hope this is helpful to some people. Let me know if you have other tips and tricks.

All the new covers!

First of all the Eros covers:

And now the other covers I have updated for Wittegen Press:

With some of them I've just rearranged a few things and changed fonts, and with others I have completely redesigned them. It was mostly fun, but a couple of them really gave me the run-around!