OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
I love book trailers. I think they are an awesome way to gain attention for your book. They are evergreen and keep selling while you are sleeping BUT they are also hard work to put together!
Here's my book trailer for Pentecost and below are the steps I went through to make it. Please let me know in the comments what you think, remembering that it is a thriller trailer! I realize that book trailers are a bit like books i.e. not everyone likes the same thing.
Plan the script, look and feel.
I took the back blurb of the novel and edited it down to a few key sentences for the script. I did try reading it aloud but my voice just isn't suitable for the serious tone I wanted to strike so I decided to use plain text on a visual background. I also used video clips, not just stills as this looks more professional and holds reader attention. I wanted the impression of a blockbuster movie with big sound and vision. It is meant to be over the top, as movie trailers for action/thrillers always are.
Choose Images and Video
I wrote down a list of the images I wanted to use to convey the main ideas i.e. cross, fire, stone, blood, guns and more. Then I searched iStockphoto.com for images and video to use that would be suitable. I built a Lightbox with ones I liked. This is like a folder you can add clips to in order to choose from later. This part took me 5-6 hours as there are thousands of images and video clips to choose from. I also surfed other sites but in the end, just used iStockphoto as it had the easiest search with the best results (although you need a budget for this). I didn't buy the clips until I had worked out exactly what I needed.
Choose Music
I have used Soundsnap before but Darcy Pattison who I interviewed on book trailers suggested 300 Monks. This is an awesome site with audio based on types of movies. I searched for thriller, action and suspense and then listened to each of the tracks, narrowing down the selections until I found the perfect track. I wanted a movie style theme with a crescendo for the final explosion. Remember to ensure your music choice is royalty-free.
Editing
This is the hard part!
Once you have video, audio, images and a script, you need to put it all together. In my previous post on how to make a book trailer, I was on the PC and used free software Windows MovieMaker. Now I'm a Mac user and currently use ScreenFlow to create/edit movies but you can also use iMovie. For more video editing options, check out this interview with Gideon Shalwick, expert on video marketing.
I imported all my media into ScreenFlow and then played with it. I started with the audio and tried to match the images/video to the sound adding appropriate text on the way. Choosing a font was a pain but I went with Papyrus for the ancient look. The editing took around 4 hours to get exactly right.
Distribution
I'm a YouTube fan so that's my main site for video. It means you can embed the video on your blog (hint, hint!) and also share with others. There are stacks of other video sites but YouTube is owned by Google, so you need to be there for search traffic. Make sure you include a description with the link to your book and also the text of the video (or more).
You should also tag appropriately. I also uploaded the video separately onto Facebook which has it's own search engine and is worth doing separately, rather than just embedding. I am sharing the link through my networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads. The usual suspects! I'll continue using the video through the launch process (more details on that to come shortly!)
How you can create a book trailer for free
You can create a trailer for free using Creative Commons images, video and audio as well as free editing software MovieMaker or iMovie.
However, I decided to pay for my media this time. Why?
Well, I started to look through the Creative Commons sites and while there is gold in there, it takes a while to sift through. Right now, I'd rather spend a bit of money than the extra time going through many more sites searching for the right images. So I stuck with iStockphoto when I could have used Flickr and creative commons music. If you do go the Creative Commons route, please check the licensing and attribute the creator.
For loads more information on book trailers, definitely check out my interview with Darcy Pattison, author of the Book Trailer Manual.
What do you think about book trailers? Did you like the Pentecost trailer? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Louise Toth says
Your book trailer is EXCELLENT. The music, images, fonts and story are very impressive. I made a video for youtube, from my illustrations in my book, THOTH & Jesus of Egypt. Now, I need to make a more exciting one like yours. I believe you have put your energy into the universe of film production. I am proud of you!!! Louise Toth
Bren says
I enjoyed your trailer with one exception: It was a wee bit too fast. I couldn’t read all of the whole text on some of the images.
wil forbis says
I’ve made several of my music compositions free for use in book trailers. Many of these would work well in horror, suspense, and sci-fi genres. As I mention on the page I’m willing to do some basic tweaks for free.
https://soundcloud.com/wil-forbis/sets/book-trailers
C says
Hi!
I tried 300 Monks but it said 403 Forbidden. Help, anyone?
Thanks
C
Flossie Lowrance says
Evidently it is just something about that link. I got the same error message, but when I went and googled “300 Monks”, it came up and I was able to get into the site fine. All the best to you!
Flossie Lowrance says
Thank you so much for this informative post. I am just getting started, having just self-published my first book, with not much of a budget to work with right now, and was looking for an inexpensive way to do a book trailer! This helps a lot!
Flossie Lowrance says
Oh, and very impressive book trailer! Love it! Also, my book is a Native American Saga/family adventure, which involves a journey to the past and back to the present, where as teachers, a couple decide to take their children somewhere “educational” for their vacation, and end up in the same area where these tribes were supposed to have been years ago. I am wanting something of a “Dances With Wolves” nature, like the score that was done for that movie by the late John Barry, for the music for my book trailer. If anyone can help me out with this, please let me know or post here.
Rich Helms says
I have used this trailer in my course on writing book trailers for some time. Nice job.
You can see my analysis of it at http://booktrailer101.info/course/project/pentecost-joanna-penn-104/
Tina says
I thought you did a great job on the book trailer, and I really enjoyed your hints and tips. I have an idea in mind for a trailer for my book, I just needed a place to start. Your article is a big help. Thanks!
Jason McCoy says
Great trailer and post! I recently put together a resource about how to find free creative commons music. I hope it will help others save some search time.
http://mccoyproductions.net/free-music-for-videos/
Keep up the great work!
Lily Iona MacKenzie says
Thanks for taking the time to explain this process. Your end product is sophisticated and impressive.
Jan Raymond says
This will be the bible for my book trailer. So useful and informative. Thanks. Will come back and leave a note on how it went.
Jan
Kitty says
Great tutorial, but I have a few questions. Can you still use stuff under creative common licence for marketing your book? One of the requirements is that the photos/videos are used for nonprofit purposes, and while you technically aren’t making money from the video itself, you’re using the video to promote your book which (I assume) you’ll be making money off of. Would that still count as a nonprofit work? Also where does Flickr say that its photos are free to use?
Thanks!
Rich Helms says
A book trailer is a promotional video promoting your book, thus you’re using it for a commercial advantage and should not use a work with a Creative Commons NonCommercial restriction.
https://wiki.creativecommons.org/NonCommercial_interpretation
Concerning Flickr – you have to select images that have a creative commons license appropriate for using.
https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
Jennifer S. Alderson says
Fantastic trailer, Joanna! And wonderful tips for building a unique one for any type of book. Thanks! Jennifer S. Alderson
John McDonell says
Excellent Trailer Joanna! I want to take a second and say thanks so much for everything you do on your website to help authors. I friended you a couple of years ago on FB and Twitter and I have taken your advice and recommendations countless times. I recently published my first book and you are my “Go To” resource on how to do anything publishing related. I built my website by following your step-by-step process and have followed countless links you have provided. So thanks for being so savvy and thanks for sharing your knowledge! Have to go. I have trailer to build 🙂
Aria E. Maher says
Awesome! I’m definitely going to look into making one of these for my book. Thank you so much for these great tips.
KEITH POTT TURNER says
Joanna, this is right up my street and I think it is something I can maybe do myself to help publicise my new book TURNER TREES, even though it is a family history book, this trailer thingy might just work, you have inspired me madam, now where’s the harmonica?!
P.S. Thank you for your advice about the global marketing.
Liz says
Hi, very informative. I’m just starting out and have produced a trailer in powerpoint 2010. This allows you to convert to video. But I’m finding it increases the file size. I have compressed the media but still large on conversion. Has anyone got any tips for uploading to youtube and free video compression software?
Edwina says
Thanks for sharing your excellent book trailer.
Jim Aikin says
The trailer is well constructed. It made me want to read the book, even though it’s probably not quite my sort of book. One note, however: The YouTube banner ad that pops up, saying, “Meet Russian women online,” is a bit distracting. If there’s a way to host the video for your own site without doing it as a link from YouTube, I think you’d be well advised to do it that way instead.