Book Trailers

Have you ever made a book trailer?

I’ve seen several and they intrigue me. Basically, they’re taglines paired with photos and set to music, and they’re used to illustrate your book. Like a movie trailer.

I’ve attended conference workshops about them and people pay good money to have them made. While marketing does require investment, trailers were never something I was going to spend money on, because I’m not sure it’s the best use of my resources. The problem is I’m really not a graphic person or a videographer—I should probably make use of my kids.

But then I discovered this free program/computer app. It takes you step by step through the process of creating the video. It can even create one from a blog you write. You can choose images to use and music, colors and fonts and it puts it all together for you.

So I tried it. Once I got the hang of it, it was super easy to do. My biggest problem with trailers is that they’re static, like a slide show. And because I’m not spending money, I’m making do with the images I have access to, as well as the music. But I don’t think it’s a terrible trailer, and I certainly don’t think it’s doing me any harm.

What do you think?

Book Trailers

Jennifer learned about book trailers...

I attended my local chapter’s writer’s conference this past weekend and I learned a lot. One of the best workshops I attended was on making book trailers.

I’ve seen authors promote their books with trailers, but I never knew how to do it, or even if I wanted to do it. So I went to this workshop, hoping to learn more about it. And I did!

The author, Susan Ann Wells, taught us how to make a book trailer using PowerPoint, which is pretty much on everyone’s computer. The most effective ones seem to use a few lines of text about the hero, heroine and the premise of the book. There are plenty of free images and music on the web. The workshop was only 45 minutes, so we zoomed through what to do, but she was really smart. She took her notes, self published a how-to book, and also sold it for $5 at the book fair. So now I have her notes, and her more detailed book for use later.

What she showed us looked pretty easy, and I think I might try it as soon as I have some time—probably not until December at this rate.

I’ll be sure to show you my results!