What do authors do at bookstore events, like recording a reading video?When Utsudo released a new book in 2016, she was invited to an event by Kingstone’s online bookstore to film a 5–30 minute video reading from her new book. Not yet willing to show her face, she paired photos from a photo shoot with her narration — and ended up reading an entire chapter and recording over thirty minutes. An unforgettable experience.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

Invited to an event by Kingstone’s online bookstore

　　I think it was 2016. I had a new book out with a certain publisher, and since the timing lined up with an event at Kingstone’s online bookstore, my editor asked if I’d like to take part.

　　The event involved filming a video of yourself reading from your new book, about 5 to 30 minutes long. You could show your face or not, and apart from it being a video, any format was fine.

　　I hesitated a bit, but I took it on.

　　I hesitated because back then I wasn’t very willing to show my face or put myself out there — hiding behind the screen felt safe. But I also thought it was a rare opportunity, and I wanted to leave a good impression on the editorial team.

　　Because I hadn’t shown my face yet (honestly, back then I never imagined I’d later show my face so naturally XD), and I was still very awkward in front of a camera. Later I made another video for a Kingstone event about first love or something — so embarrassing (covers face

The embarrassing challenge of recording a reading video

　　At the time I was also doing amateur outdoor photo shoots with friends, so I thought: why not use my photos to “fake it,” paired with my reading voice, and call it a day! That seemed like a safe way to show my face with less awkwardness (clenches fist

　　When I first started recording, hearing my own voice played back from the computer made me hesitate — it didn’t sound like the voice I hear myself XD 

　　And most importantly — it was so embarrassinggggg!

　　Reading characters’ dialogue, sound effects, shouting and so on made me so embarrassed that it sounded no different from chanting sutras. I was just too shy and couldn’t let loose back then — if I read it now, I could go way more chuunibyou!

　　Anyway, bathing in the psychological attack of my own voice, I finally completed the great recording project. All that was left was to add the photos to “fake it” and I’d be done — little did I know the recording came out toover thirty minutes long!

　　And it was only when the Kingstone event launched and everyone’s videos went up that I realized how short everyone else’s were. I’d recorded an entire chapter… My editor probably hadn’t considered the length either and just told me to read Chapter 1 XDDD

　　Hmm, finding that out made me even more embarrassed (covers face

　　But it was already posted — too late, boo hoo

　　It’s still a bit awkward to think about now, but it was an experience XDD

Other authors’ creativity and later events

　　Some authors played it straight with videos of themselves reading, while others brought in friends to play characters from the story — all kinds of creative ideas. Everyone was so talented (hangs head in shame

　　Such opportunities come by chance. I took part twice; the third time I gave up because I didn’t know how to approach it, and could only write a short story on my fan page to help promote the Kingstone event. After that I didn’t receive any more invitations, though over the next few years I took part a few more times alongside new-book promotions~

　　As for the videos, they’re too embarrassing to post here — don’t you dare google my dark history ˋ//皿//ˊ

FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #13 (in Chinese)
• Next: #15 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.

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