Laurie Reads

Here are a series of videos I’m producing to share my books with you. After sharing, you can access them under the Laurie Reads page.

The Prophecy: or how the mythical Artania came to be.

A Mystical Adventure, Free!

For a limited time you can get The Kidnapped Smile for free. Venture into a land where paintings speak with sculptures and collages work alongside sketches.

Get Kidnapped Smile Here

Book Trailers in 6 Easy Steps

Are you looking for new ways to market your book? Would you like to share your story with a wider audience? Have you wanted to make a book trailer but thought it was too expensive or complicated? Lots of authors find the idea of making a book trailer daunting. But with just a few simple tools, and programs like Animoto or IMovie, you too can make book trailers that shine.

Step 1: Think of your elevator pitch. How can you condense your story into just a few sentences? Write them out.

Step 2: Download IMovie, other movie making software, or subscribe to a service with built in templates like Animoto which is just $8.00 a month.

Step 3: Make a file of photos that convey the mood of your book.

Step 4: Begin to add photos and captions to the templates.

Step 5: Watch your movie, make changes to scenes that feel off.

Step 6: Share on social media.

Here’s my first attempt with an Animoto template.

I like how it conveys the book in a gentle way. However, it didn’t have quite the excitement I wanted.

So with my second novel, I went back to the drawing board. How?

I took my book cover and cropped a a few elements to make multiple images like this:

2. I browsed through the Animoto templates. I watched dozens until I found one that felt right for me.

3. I began to drop in photos with captions, watching the video multiple times with the preview button until it felt right.

Here is the final product.

I was pretty jazzed about how it came out. Not to mention how friggin’ fun it was to create in a new medium.

I hope you all enjoy making book trailers a much as I did!

Laurie Reads Chapter 1

I want to share Artania with the world. So decided to start posting videos of readings on You tube. Here’s Chapter 1 of The Pharaoh’s Cry.

Hear Chapter 1

I’m a Dork

I’m a dork. I’ll admit it. Always have been.

While others lounge in bed snoozing away as long as they can, what do I do? I roll out of those warm, cozy covers just to set my fingers on the keyboard. Just to pretend I’m 14, skateboarding the streets of Santa Barbara, hoping my latest crush notices me. Or that I’m a slime-covered creature bent on invading dreams. Or, sometimes, a lonely alien anthropologist seeking to understand the human’s world.

I’m a nerd.

I don’t know Gucci from garage sales or microblading from microwaves. I hate to shop and never paint my fingernails. While other women accessorize with French knotted scarves, spring purses, and bright rings, bracelets, and necklaces I leave the jewelry in the box, having no idea where to start.

I’m a poindexter.

My t.v. has 1 channel, Netflix, that I only watch when I’m too exhausted to read which culturally leaves me out of the loop. While my coworkers chat about the latest show to binge watch or which star is dating who, I smile, and nod, and think, Who the heck are they talking about? All the while wishing we could talk Latin roots and word derivations in 19th century literature.

I’m even a dork at the gym.

While other gym rats reach for the weights, their brows drawn together in consternation as they lift another twenty pounds, I tap my feet to I tunes. Some might read while spinning on the stationary bike. Not me. When I’m on the elliptical, I put on “Dancin’ With Myself” and try to sneer like Billy Idol or slide my hands over air pretending to be a rapper on stage. Fun!

I’m a freak for music.

While others drive the California freeways as if trying to win a race to nowhere, I crank the tunes and steering wheel dance while singing off-key to a rocking beat. Not just one type of tune either. Any genre of the last sixty years is fair game for my happy gyrations. From David Cassidy to Dion. Red Hot Chili Peppers to Rage Against the Machine. Elvis to Eminem. Bee gees to Boys to Men. I love them all.

Yep, I’m a dork.

And you know what?

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Artania II is Here!

View Book Trailer

Mona Lisa kidnapped? Her father, Leonardo, in tears? What will the Deliverers do?

It has been a year since Alex and Bartholomew first ventured into the mystical Artania. Once again they are called upon to keep this art-created world safe.

But peril waits at every turn.

Traitorous Pirates. Fearful gods and goddesses. Monsters of the deep. A world’s safety lies in the hands three twelve-year-olds. Alex and Bartholomew, with their spunky sidekick Gwen, return to Artania to wrench the kidnapped Mona Lisa from the hands of ruthless pirates.

Buy the book!

Artania II: Soon to be Released

Mona Lisa kidnapped? Her father, Leonardo, in tears? A land on the edge of destruction? What will the Deliverers do?

It has been a year since Alex and Bartholomew first ventured into the mystical Artania. Once again they are called upon to keep this art-created world safe. For if they don’t rescue Mona Lisa from the pirates before she is taken to Subterranea. the Renaissance Nation will fall.

But peril waits at every turn.

Traitorous Pirates. Fearful gods and goddesses. Monsters of the deep.

A world’s safety lies in the hands three twelve-year-olds. Alex and Bartholomew with their spunky sidekick Gwen will venture into Artania again and try to wrench the kidnapped Mona Lisa from the hands of traitorous pirates.

Will they be successful? Read The Kidnapped Smile and find out.

Coming Soon.

Kidnapped Smile Book Trailer