Lonely Nights Productions

So I made a short film today to promote my third crime novel ‘Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere’, which was published earlier this month (April 2022).

The idea first came to me three years ago actually, when I created a similar video for Kickstarter. I was trying to raise money to get the book published, to no avail.

Flash forward to 2022, and the book has finally been released by publishers Britain’s Next Best Seller. You can find it on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle right now.

I am working hard each and every week now to promote it, coming up with different ideas to keep the book at the forefront of the public’s mind. So I resurrected the idea of the video today.

It was fairly easy to edit. I used Video Manager on my laptop and dragged into it a lot of pictures I’d taken myself of Chester, where the novel is set. (NB as I own these pictures, copyright isn’t an issue).

I started it off with a title card (simply the book’s title, superimposed over a gorgeous shot of the Eastgate Clock), and then interspersed the photos with text cards on which I wrote a simple story.

It paraphrases the opening chapter of the novel, where Detective Constable Dominic Strider of Chester CID finds a bomb outside Chester Cathedral and – with the bomb squad nowhere to be found – he takes the typically reckless decision to pick it up and race through the city centre, to throw it into the River Dee just before it explodes.

You can time the length of each picture shown (2, 3, 5 and 7 seconds long are your choices), and add some music from a pre-chosen list. This ranges from soft and romantic, jaunty and fun, right up to heart-pumping action – which I chose to reflect the desperation and great sense of urgency in the chapter.

Once done, it took a short while to process, then the work began to promote my new video. I prefer a joined-up communications approach, with my blog linking to my business page on Facebook, my Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. I also uploaded the video to my personal Facebook, my Amazon author’s page, Patreon page and my own YouTube channel – actually it’s my first ever proper YT video, and the first of many I have planned to promote my books.

The video is obviously different from my regular blog. It’s obvious to say, but it’s shorter, far more visual, fun and exciting to watch and – importantly – captures the essence of my book in less than 90 seconds.

A whole afternoon’s work for just 90 seconds, eh? But if you like it, and want to find out more by visiting my Amazon author’s page, any of my social media or – especially – you decide it looks like such fun, you want to buy a copy – it’ll have all been worth it. So please visit the video now and enjoy!