Technology

Create Videos Based on Your Blog Posts

By Steve Laubeon August 14, 2017

Check out Lumen 5, (www.lumen5.com) a wonderful resource that can help you create videos out of your blog posts.

As a test I took my post from July 31st, “Should You Hire a Freelance Editor?” and within 45 minutes the following video was complete. (Read more below the embedded video)

Lumen 5 has a powerful AI engine that took keywords from my selected sentences and assigned most of the background photographs you find in the above video. I did add the opening photo (of stern-face-Steve), added the ending “logo” page, chose the music from their catalog, etc.

With a little work I could have done considerably more to the process. But I went from never seeing this site before to a final video in 45 minutes. Imagine what you could do.

Currently the service is free. This may change at any moment.

Once you have created the video inside Lumen 5 you can download the mp4 video file to your own computer and then upload it onto your own youtube channel, which I did.

Imagine doing this exercise and creating your own book trailer? Or a quick Facebook post? or an ad about your upcoming speaking event?

The possibilities are endless.

Are there other services that you can recommend to our readers?

HT: John Kremer

Media Changes and The Writer

By Dan Balowon January 17, 2017

The other day, a copy of the new Yellow Pages and phone directory was delivered to our house. As I picked it up off the front step, I was reminded it has been years since I even looked at one. The recycling container has it now. I suppose I will regret tossing it if I lose internet access for a long time, or if I need to level a wobbly table, but the fact a Yellow Pages edition is still produced …

Category: Book Business, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, TrendsTag: Book Business, Technology, The Publishing Life

Will Your Author Website Disappear from Google Searches?

By Steve Laubeon January 9, 2017

Last month we moved our website to a new host server. As part of the move we discovered that we needed to change the security for the site. If you look carefully at the URL when visiting the site you’ll notice that it now has “https” at the beginning instead of “http”. The “s” at the end indicates there is a level of security on the site that was not …

Category: Marketing, TechnologyTag: Author Websites, Google+, Technology

2017 Christian Writers Market Guide Now Online!

By Steve Laubeon December 26, 2016

The 2017 edition of The Christian Writers Market Guide is officially available in print and ebook (paperback $22.99, ebook $9.99). Check your favorite bookstore or online retailer for a copy. Make sure you have a copy of this book in your arsenal! We are also very excited to announce that all the content of the guide is now available online via a subscription service (click here to see for …

Category: Book of the Month, Book Proposals, Career, Christian Writers Institute, Get Published, Technology, The Writing LifeTag: Christian Writers Market Guide, Get Published

Book Publishing Before the Internet

By Dan Balowon October 11, 2016

When I first started working in book publishing, Amazon was a river in Brazil and social media was a radio DJ holding a dance party at the local mall. The word “internet” either didn’t exist or was possibly some sort of technical term known only to commercial fishermen. Did the publishing industry actually exist in any meaningful form before 1995? Cringe. Certainly, the publishing landscape has …

Category: Book Business, Platform, Publishing History, Technology, The Publishing LifeTag: Platform, Technology, The Publishing Life

Does Google Like Your Web Site?

By Steve Laubeon May 4, 2015

In case you missed it, on April 21st Google changed how they rank web site searches. If a site is not “mobile-friendly” it will no longer be ranked higher than one that is “mobile-friendly.” Some were calling this “mobilegeddon” because of the impact it would have. What Does Mobile-Friendly Mean? This refers to whether or not your site is optimized for a smart-phone screen. Sites that have what is …

Category: Book Business, Branding, Career, Communication, Marketing, Platform, TechnologyTag: Book Business, Google+, Technology, Web Sites

HAL 9000 Writes a Book

By Dan Balowon October 15, 2013

Since most readers of this blog are writers, this might just ruin your day.

A company called Narrative Science started as a research project with Northwestern University computer science and journalism students. (The Medill School of Journalism is arguably the best in the country) It was called StatsMonkey.

StatsMonkey was a computer program that automatically generated a usable text recap …

Category: Book Business, Dan, Humor, Technology, Trends, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Technology

One Day at a Time Technology

By Dan Balowon August 6, 2013

Computers are the perfect example of something we learn about and then must constantly update that knowledge. It’s like we have all had to become scientists or doctors. Just a few years ago, computer storage was measured in megabytes. Then it reached a thousand megabytes and we moved on to gigabytes. When we reach a thousand gigabytes we need terabytes.

As a public service, here is something to …

Category: Book Business, Career, Dan, Marketing, TechnologyTag: Book Business, Technology

Email Gaffes

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 18, 2012

Do you think what you send across the Internet is private as long as you're careful? Think again. Here are just a few things that have happened over the years to some of my friends, and to myself:

I didn't realize Auto-Complete would send my mail to the wrong person

We've all misdirected mail when we have people with a similar name in our address books. Steve Laube shared a story with me …

Category: Book Business, Communication, Tamela, TechnologyTag: Email, Technology