Your SCBWI 2026 Virtual Summer Conference "TEAM BLOG" is Jolie Stekly, Justin Campbell, and Jaime Temairik. Check in here and on socials at #scbwiSummer26 for updates, countdowns, and LIVE BLOGGING from the conference!
Showing posts with label Christopher Cheng. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christopher Cheng. Show all posts
This is a special post for me, as this honor was given to me and my cohort and friend, Sara Easterly, last year.
This year's SCBWI Member of the Year Honor goes to Christopher Cheng, co-regional advisor of Australia and New Zealand.
As a former regional advisor, I have been witness to Chris's dedication and passion for this organization and industry. This award is much deserved.
Like Sara and I, Chris was surprised with this honor, and as I watched him take the stage, a lump of gratitude returned to my throat, and I knew he was feeling the same.
Christopher, in his Pro Track Session on Making Book Trailers, made the point about how book trailers share a lot with movie trailers - keep it short and don't try to tell the whole story.
"It's a teaser to get you in. Keep them really short. A minute and a half or even 30 seconds."
Books trailers. You love 'em. You hate 'em. You watch them. If they're good, they make you wanna read the book.
Christopher Cheng is an accomplished author, co-Regional Advisor for both Australia and New Zealand and was Ambassador for the Australian Government's National Literacy and Numeracy Week Initiative. He even has the #1 app for kids books on the ipad! You can check out these two trailers for Christophers books here. I'm really excited to get to sit in on Christopher's Pro Track session on creating your own book trailer.
He believes we as authors and illustrators have to get off our butts and promote ourselves.
"You gotta tell them how great you are and how great your book is - when kids see the trailers, kids take them out of libraries."
You need to make the trailer, because the publicists and editors don't have time.
He does trailers and merchandise. He advises to get your trailers on youtube (schools block this), teachertube, and Christopher is working on an upcoming kids book trailers portal. Oh, and YOUR website!
"Think outside the box - ways your trailer can get out there. Get your audiences to pick up your books!"
He uses keynote on a mac, and garageband for the audio, then imovie. (On a PC you can use powerpoint and moviemaker.)
He went over a list of do-s and don't-s, simple rules, analyzed what worked and what didn't work about a bunch of trailers, and shared some of his favorite book trailers.
Here's one of Christopher's favorite book trailers:
Haunted by Chris Eboch
Christopher is so good at teaching authors how to make trailers, here's one that an author made during a single session with Christopher (like this one!)
Ned Kelly and the Green Sash, by Mark Greenwood and Frane Lessac
He also showed us a trailer he built this morning in half an hour for his new picturebook, "One Child," and pulled apart elements to show us how it was built. Check the trailer out on his website soon... I bet it will make you want to check out his book!
