Book
trailers have come out in the last decade. From novelty item to common
device used by publishers and authors to pique interest, generate web
presence and platform. Even used in school classrooms by teachers to
entice reluctant readers or prompt discussion, designed by students as
part of arts-and-communications curricula.
Are
you excited about making a book trailer? Authors Juliann Rich and Aren
Sabers, creators of their own successful book trailers, share their
best tips in this guest blog. Their websites and trailers are listed at
the end of their post--be sure to check them out. Fun, entertaining,
and moving--and hopefully offering excellent reasons to read their new
books!
Are You Ready to Make a Book Trailer?
When
making our first book trailers, we learned to consider the audience for
each book. What are their expectations as readers? There are far fewer
trailers for literary novels than for, say, young adult novels. Young
adults are an ideal audience for a visual, sharable representation of a
book, because they gravitate toward media. (If you don't make a trailer
they may just make one for you. Or several!)
But
the down side: your genre welcomes or expects book trailers, but your
trailer will be one in an ocean of book trailers. What will it take to
rise above the noise? This was our second big question.
Book
trailers also create a certain relationship with an audience. It helps
you establish your voice, introduce you as author to your readers. We
love middle-grade author Kurtis Scaletta's trailer for his book Mudville and the Vlog work of John Green.
Book Trailers as Social Media Tools
Trailers occupy a unique niche in social media. Following the "rules" of this form of publicity, trailers need to:
1. Entice (by being funny, visually arresting, fresh, clever, or surprising)
2.
Inform (give readers the information they need to know only to convince
them they want to read your book--a trailer is not a book synopsis or
even a pitch).
3.
Be sharable (the holy grail of book trailers--make it entertaining or
interesting enough for readers to share with other readers, initiating a
viral publicity campaign)
If
you search on YouTube, you'll quickly be inundated with book trailers:
author-made, fan-made, and even professionally shot and directed.
Higher-quality trailers can leave you feeling intimidated. Fear not.
There are plenty of creative ways to represent your book on a budget.
The Cinematic Book Trailer
Book
trailers that are cinematic--emulating movie trailers--often don't work
very well on a budget. Good ones are worth watching, such as The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin and The Women by T.C. Boyle. Another favorite is the trailer for Skagboys by
Irvine Welsh. It's simple, cinematic, moody, but reveals nothing about
what the book is about while making you want to race out and buy it.
Book Trailers That Celebrate the Power of Text
On the other end of the spectrum is a trailer which makes brilliant use of voice and text only. Check out this one: Blackbirds and Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig. Another great example is Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Book Trailers That Use Animation
A beautiful example of a simple, powerful, homemade trailer is Steve Brezenoff's The Absolute Value of -1. Author-drawn, simple text, and his own guitar for the soundtrack. A more complex example is Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala, which uses illustrations from the book itself, set to haunting music for a memorable effect.
As production budgets increase, we see some examples of book trailers guaranteed to cause trailer envy, such as Leviathan by Scott Westerfield, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, and Going West by the New Zealand Book Council.
Book Trailers for Picture Books
Even picture books have book trailers, which may seem strange until you see something like Green by Laura Seeger. Gorgeous.
Trailers That Put the Author Front and Center
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a nonfiction book that simply shows the author, Rebecca Skloot, discussing her book. Her passion is infectious.
Many author-in-real-life trailers take the opportunity to show the author's humor. For example: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart, Lowboy by John Wray, and Tasteful Nudes by Dave Hill.
But
if you don't know Zack Galafiinakis, James Franco, or Dick Cavett,
check out what you can do in your home with your own kids running around
in the background: Got Milf? by Sara Maizes.
How to Get Started: Copyright Issues and Movie-Making Resources
The
most important consideration when gathering images, video clips or
music for your book trailer is the issue of copyright. Because your
book trailer will be used to promote your book, you must have commercial
copyright to anything used in your trailer.
You
can avoid legal issues by generating all the material yourself. This is
great IF you're a photographer, videographer, music composer, and
musician.
But
if you're not a Renaissance person, you can hire someone to create your
trailer for you--which can get really pricey really fast. Or you can
do it yourself!
That's right. You can do it yourself even if you've had zero training.
Step 1: Software
The
first step is to download iMovies (Mac) or a similar home-movie-editing
software for PC. Read the instructions (or see the tutorials below).
Begin gathering your materials before you begin the movie-making,
though.
Step 2: Images
Royalty-free
images and video are available from a variety of sources (iStockphoto,
Shutterstock, etc.) Read the license information carefully before
purchasing your materials to make sure you receive a commercial license.
You are promoting a product: your book, or yourself. (Consider a brief
subscription, and check for available coupons online to reduce
expense.) Opt for video, which often isn't included in monthly
subscription fees. A few moments of movement can heighten the visual
interest in your book trailer.
Step 3: Music
For royalty-free music, sites such as Audio Jungle offer
thousands of audio clips that can be used for commercial projects. You
can search by "trailer" to find shorter clips and even refine the search
further by entering other key words like "romantic" or "thriller."
Your
music will create much of the atmosphere for your trailer, and also
determine its length. Most book trailers range in length from 30 seconds
to two minutes. However, that's not a hard and fast rule. See some of
the longer examples listed above.
Putting It All Together
For
her trailer, Aren used Photoshop and iMovie with a combination of stock
photo stills altered with Photoshop to achieve the effect she needed,
stock video, and personally shot video. She also contacted a local band
and asked permission to use their music. If she completely reworked her
trailer (and she might) she would make the imagery more spare but
absolutely keep the music.
Juliann
downloaded iMovies and then purchased her photos/videos from
Shutterstock and her music from Audio Jungle. She began by putting in
the music track and then added the photos and videos, futzing with it
until she was happy with it. With her Shutterstock monthly subscription,
Juliann was able to download pictures for her first two books and was
able to design their book trailers. Her first attempt was more
straightforward with still shots and text set to music. In her second
book trailer she incorporated some elements of video, which she felt was
a great addition.
The
process of tweaking timing is too complicated for a blog post and one
that is best learned through experimentation. We recommend searching for
tutorials for iMovie or your PC software. Here are two good ones:
Book
trailers are a medium where small choices deliver big impressions. Be
thoughtful about your decisions. The more you play and experiment, the
more you'll understand your options and be able to achieve your creative
vision.
A word about timing:
matching slide transitions with peak moments in your soundtrack will
heighten the dramatic tone of your trailer. Likewise, avoiding this will
create a lower level of drama. Whichever option you choose, you will
find that your story will be told through both the images and the music
and through the magic they create together.
A word about text:
less is more. You will not be able to present the entirety of your
book's content in 30 seconds. No way is that even possible in two
minutes! You will need to focus on the heart of your book. Play with
your script. Make your narrative short and compelling.
A word about fonts:
avoid a ton of font changes. This can derail your viewers' attention,
making them miss your all-important content. We recommend choosing a
consistent font for the bulk of your narrative and only highlighting a
few key phrases through use of a special effect.
Sharing Your Trailer via Social Media
What
do you do with your stunning book trailer once you're done? First,
upload it to a video site like YouTube or Vimeo. This creates a
hyperlink or embedding ID. You can it on your website, featuring it on
your home page and also on your book page.
Then,
feel free to brag a little. You could hype this up to a "Book Trailer
Reveal" like a cover reveal and have it be the topic of a blog post. You
could even hire a blog company for a one-day reveal blitz similar to
the cover reveals many authors do. Definitely share it on Facebook,
Twitter, Tumblr--wherever you have a social media presence.
Add
your book trailer to your Goodreads Author page and your Amazon Author
page. Goodreads and Amazon are often the first places readers encounter
books and your trailer should be right there, piquing their interest and
introducing your book.
Do
your best to make your book trailer creative, beautiful,
thought-provoking, funny, or an object of art. If you do this, you will
be adding meaning to that vast social machine on the Web, as well as
enticing readers to choose your book from the countless titles
available.
Check out our websites and book trailers: Click here for Juliann's book trailer, here for Aren's book trailer. Let us know how we did. We welcome your feedback!
Juliann Rich, author of Caught in the Crossfire and Searching for Grace (Bold Strokes Books, 2014)
Aren Sabers, author of The Deadlands and Whereafter
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