Adam Collings - Novelist and You Tube video creator

For some time now I have been in contact with fellow Tasmanian writer of speculative fiction, Adam Collings. He is currently working on a science fiction novel and works as a software engineer during the day. Recently I was very intrigued to read on his blog and Facebook that he has commenced releasing a new YouTube series – Stories. 

First of all I was curious how this fits in with his desire to be a published author and then wondered just how he produces these YouTube videos. 

Adam, can you tell us why you started writing novels, why this YouTube series, what they will include and how you are creating the videos? 

Certainly, Mary. I’ve loved writing stories since a very young age. I think it was encouragement from my Mum that really got me thinking seriously about writing a novel in the hopes of getting published. Writing fiction is a desire within me that can’t be extinguished. 

As I’ve learned more about this writing world, I’ve come to understand the importance of building a platform. Social media is a great tool for this, and is a very natural form of communication for me. 

I recently read How To Market a Book by Joanna Penn. I was intrigued by what she had to say on the subject of content marketing. The idea is that you produce content which is either useful or entertaining and give it away. This helps build a fan following (who may end up being potential buyers of your book). 

The same time, I became aware of the booktube phenomenon – a community of people who review books on YouTube. This sounded like a whole lot of fun. The people I need to connect with are fans of science fiction and fantasy, particularly Christians. I decided to start my own YouTube show talking about books – both Christian and secular - but also movies and the occasional computer game, as sci-fi fans tend to enjoy all these forms of story-telling. 

I wanted to keep it simple and very quick to produce and not take time away from my writing. With a wife, two kids and a job, time is rather precious. 

Thinking about what I’m going to say is important. I wrote out a full script and tried to memorise it as best I could. In terms of shooting, you don’t need much fancy equipment. Most modern smart phones these days have decent video cameras in them. I shoot small, bite-sized segments that could be edited together. 

After transferring the footage to the computer it’s editing time. I used a package called Adobe Premier Elements, but most computers come pre-installed with basic video editing software like Windows Movie Maker or iMovie. A more powerful free solution is Blender, though it has a steep learning curve. 

An endeavour like this takes time to build momentum. I’ve only released one episode so far, but am already planning my second. Through this I hope to build a bit of a following so that when I become an author (I know I can do it) I will have a good platform. 

Thank you, Adam. I found this all very interesting. Not sure I have the equipment and tech know-how to do this, but I hope is a big help to our authors to get the information to the readers. 

I am impressed you mentioned the priority of time spent with your wife and family because I too have always found this to be an essential balancing act. 

Besides all the promotion we would like to do, most important is to make the time to write the best book we can, then keep producing them as regularly as possible to build up that fan base – or as some call them, our “Tribe”. 

All the very best with having your books published. 
While I am not particularly a reader of sc-fi or fantasy novels do add me to your fan list!

Do enjoy some of Adam's efforts by clicking the following link -.  
http://www.youtube.com/user/collingsshow
Also, don't forget to click also on the words in blue throughout the post for more information about Adam, Blender and Joanna Penn