All author videos must be received no later than
January 15, 2021.
This page is for authors already registered for the 2021 Sunshine State Book Festival who have not yet uploaded their video. Do not submit a video if you haven’t registered.
Upload your finished video by following the directions on the Video Transfer page. Click here.
You may record your own video or have someone do it for you.
Do it yourself
If you make your own recording, make sure the picture is horizontal.
Also play it back on your computer and make sure the audio is loud, clear, and without echo or wind noises.
Caution, do not make the recording on YouTube as they won't let you download the file.
Hire a videographer
Here are contacts who provide video recording/editing services:
Allison Durham Photography Fill out her contact form, and she will be in touch.
Bill Friz of Bearded Brothers Events will shoot and edit your video. Call him at 352-339-4640
Video Editing Software
If you need to edit your video. Here are two software packages:
Videos must feature the author speaking. Book trailers containing only text and images will be rejected.
Suggestion: Introduce yourself as an author and give a brief discussion about what you write and your latest book. You may wish to read a short selection from one of your books. Maximum length of the entire video cannot exceed 15 minutes. Shorter is okay.
During live readings, authors often show photos or illustrations related to their books. If you have a capable video editor, feel free to interweave these into your video presentation.
Please note that the festival cannot accept any video in which a child appears. Non-photographic illustrations of child characters from your book are permitted.
It is recommended that you do not include music in your video unless you are the composer and own the song’s copyright.
WAG does not practice censorship; however, please respect that a wide range of readers will visit our site. If your books contain strong language or racy scenes, we suggest you avoid selecting those passages to read in your video.
Festival visitors are likely to randomly click videos of various authors. A video of poor technical quality by even a single author may cause a viewer to abandon our site. Therefore, we have minimum standards for audio and video quality:
• No shaky videos—use a tripod
• Author must be well-lit from the front—no strong backlight or deep shadows; also avoid glare from mirrors or your glasses.
• Videos must be landscape mode (see photo in column 1).
• Audio must be clear and easy to hear. Disruptions such as coughing, barking dogs, and fire trucks must be edited out.
• Remove any segment of the video where you were interrupted or started over.
Authors retain full ownership of their videos while granting the Sunshine State Book Festival (SSBF) non-exclusive rights to use the video on the festival website, SSBF YouTube channels, and for festival promotion.
Note: if you hire someone to produce your video, make sure you retain the right to grant permission for the festival to use it.
Duration: Minimum length 3 minutes, maximum length 15 minutes.
File Format: All videos must be in the mp4 format (the file extension is .mp4)
File Name: The video file name must include your name. Don’t send a file named generically (i.e. my-video.mp4).
Orientation: Videos must be in landscape mode (see photo in column 1).
Size and resolution: 1280 x 720 @ 720p is preferred, but HD (1920 x 1080 @1080p) is also accepted.
Submission: Do not email video files. They are too large for email servers. Click here for Transfer instructions.
If you already have a suitable video on your website or YouTube, that’s fine. But we need a copy of the actual video file. A link to a website won’t do. If you use an existing video check that it meets the quality and technical specifications listed above.