I needed a book trailer
Book trailers are the literary equivalent of “coming attractions” at the movies. (Remember going to the movies? Sigh.)
Maybe you’re a potential reader who wants a taste of the story before you go out and buy it. (Seems fair.) Say you don’t feel like reading the back cover blurb. Maybe instead, you’d like to watch a short video that introduces the main character and central conflict of the story, conveys the mood, hints at the plot points. Maybe you’d like to be entertained for a minute (or less).
A book trailer can be a great marketing tool for an author – if done well. Ay, there’s the rub! (Thank you, Hamlet.) Because your trailer, like everything else you put out there about your book, is a reflection of your storytelling chops, your narrative style, your skill with the medium, and your commitment to professionalism. If a potential reader’s first encounter with your book is less than excellent, you may not get another chance.
Indie authors are Jacks- & Jills-of-all-trades
Could I do this well (enough)? I’m no movie producer. I have no fancy movie-making equipment or experience at this. And yet, I wanted that trailer.
Hey, didn’t I say the same thing to myself back in April of 2020 when I decided to publish my series without an agent or publisher to stand behind me? (Yes, yes I did.) I didn’t know much about printing or distribution or promotions (Good God!) or placing ads on Facebook or Amazon. I’d never done a Goodreads giveaway or set up my profile on a site called Bookbub, which is kind of the mecca for finding genre readers. I didn’t even have a TikTok – GASP!
I figured that stuff out (to varying degrees), and I became determined to figure this out, too.
Fortunately, I’m not the first author to take a stab at this. There’s a wide world of amazingly creative folks who are killing it at marketing their own books. And the best part? They’re incredibly generous about sharing ideas and experiences and resources. So I knew it could be done – in theory.
Research first
With a blank piece of paper and pen at the ready, I started my research. What makes for a good book trailer? In other words, what was the end product I wanted? I like to start with the BIG DREAM and whittle my ideas down to what I’m actually able to manage both in terms of my own “skill” and a reasonable budget. Sometimes that gets me into trouble, but that’s a post for another day. Actually, that pretty well describes my book cover design process!
I watched many, many trailers to begin developing the answers for myself. As you can imagine, I found a wide range from slideshow-style image and/or text sequences to cinematic video filmed by folks who actually know what they’re doing. Soundtracks, too, vary widely from “stock” offerings on different platforms to purchased or composed music with or without voiceovers. Length varies too, but this medium caters to a shorter attention span, so most of the good ones keep to under a minute.
Next, I researched how to write the trailer “copy” – the storyline to represent my series. The sources I found generally offered the same advice as for writing a good book blurb. I already had mountains of great advice stashed away on that topic. Introduce the character(s), the conflict, the stakes. Whet the ol’ appetite.
I wanted a rhythm that would feel like poetry. When set to a soundtrack, it’s basically a song. I’m no composer (understatement!), but this seemed doable. Time to put all that microfiction contest experience to good use!
Creating the book trailer I’d envisioned
While studying my options, I also thought hard about the tone I wished to convey. The sweeping cinematic trailers with realistic images can be really beautiful if you’ve written a series like Outlander, but that wouldn’t match the rom-com style of my series. In keeping with the whimsical feel of my books, I decided on a cartoon style in the same vein as my covers. This translated to an animated slideshow, which was something I felt pretty comfortable I could create on my own.
Using both the original photoshop layers that comprise my covers and Picmonkey, the online photo editor I use to create my Instagram and Facebook posts, I was able to create all the still and animated graphics for the individual “slides.” Text was easier to add in with the video-making app – Adobe Spark. It was all quite easy to assemble, and there were enough style choices in their gallery to satisfy the need without feeling overwhelming.
All I had to do now was put all the slides together, decide how long each needed to play, add the soundtrack, and BOOM!
And now, to get my trailer in front of eyeballs
A new challenge! I posted my trailer to my social media accounts (including my TikTok). It lives on my Amazon Author Central page and here on my website’s BOOKS page. If you joined my newsletter list recently, you may have seen the trailer there. Tell me please – have you seen it yet?
If you have, I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you haven’t, just scroll down one more click! It’s only 43 seconds!
Watch the trailer right here:
As always, I love hearing your thoughts. Feel free to comment below or shoot me an email. If you enjoyed the trailer, please share this link with your friends!
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