Visual Book Marketing

Despite the fact that I dabble in the written word, truth be told, I'm visually oriented. You may have noticed that all my posts are headed by an image as striking as I can find. A visual draws people's attention.

For a time, I was fascinated by Whisk.ai, Google's free-for-now image creator. So fascinated, in fact, that it turned into a short-term addiction. Initially, I only wanted a handful of character images to use on my Running From Herself webpage, but once I got hooked I kept flashing on different scenes from the story that I wanted to see "come to life". I ended up with tons of images I held onto, plus a bunch more that weren't right, which I trashed. I had so much character art that I settled on photo collages for my website. That isn't ideal, because the images within them are too small. But nothing is ever set in stone and I may go with something different in the future.

But is there any application for my unused images? There could be. As you know, I've stepped away from social media, since it's both a drain and an aggravation; but if I end up going back, I could perhaps choose a few of my AI buddies to post. I'm thinking a presentation with the book cover image upfront, backed by a tantalizing scene shot. (Why didn't I think of that before?) Video is preferred by most social media users, of course, but Whisk's free animation allowance is extremely limited. I believe I've exhausted my allotment, and I only managed to produce two or three "moving" images. 

I've plucked a few images from my files as examples:

 

(Paula is tipsy, and Leah's holding onto her for dear life.)

 

 

This is but a minute sampling, but the images remind me of how much I love this story. See? That's what visuals can do.

Naturally, if someone hasn't read the book, these won't necessarily mean anything to them, but if an author chooses an image that evokes emotion, such as the sad goodbye (third from the top) it could spark interest. Or perhaps the angry argument--people love a good fight. 😏

There are other uses for AI character art in book marketing, such as when adding A+ Content on Amazon, which I'm still a novice at, but which will be a future topic we can explore together. (Feel free to contact me with your tips--use the contact form at the bottom.)

It would be great if I was a filmmaker, so I could highlight my books with all the requisite bells and whistles (and make a decent book trailer, even though they really serve no purpose). But I'm just an amateur marketer looking for any free advertising I can get my hands on. My collection of character art has potential.