Book Trailers
Book trailers are to authors what music videos were to the rising musical talents in the early 1980s. Why were music videos so successful? They were innovative and engaged the viewer using the power of site and sound. Although we see more and more book trailers being used today, they are still a popular 90 second book promotional tool that has the same power to draw a viewer in and capture their imagination. The question is, if the video is bad, can it hurt the success of the book? There are thousands of samples to view. Take a few minutes to view a selection and make note of what attracts you to each sample and what turns you off.
An effective book trailer will stimulate viewers through pictures, text, color, and music.
Don't try to fit the book blurb into the trailer. Consider the recent movie trailers you've watched. They only hit on the key points of the film, not every detail of the action. Highlight the major plot twists without giving the story away. Another reason to avoid lengthy narratives is that viewers want to watch the trailer, not read long sentences. Use 2-3 key words per frame tops. A 90-second trailer can have anywhere from 18-21 frames depending on the viewing length of each frame or how long each frame will remain on the screen. Decide on key words or phrases that will peak the viewer's interest. Make every frame count with appropriate, thought-provoking photographs or other images. Choose color(s) that reflect the mood of your book and use it as a theme that ties it all together along with an appropriate piece of music.
Pacing is a crucial component of matching the images and text to the music. Just as the writer uses pace to slow down the action or build suspense, the tempo of the music should be used in the same manner. The right combination can spark an emotional reaction from the viewer which is the goal of any such promotional tool and will hopefully trigger the impulse to buy the book.
Possibly the hardest part of creating a book trailer is timing -- make sure every frame fits the music within 90 seconds or less. Be sure you use only copyright/royalty free photographs and music. Here is one site to find free downloadable photographs http://www.sxc.hu/home. There are similar sites for music too.
Of course you could pay to have a book trailer created, but Microsoft Word has a feature called Movie Maker that works just fine for those who are interested creating one themselves. Once the trailer is done, save it to the web using one of the servers that supports Movie Maker. Mydeo is one of them and costs less than $3 a month for unlimited viewing. Once completed, the book trailer can be downloaded onto your website and any number of websites sites that allow authors to download videos, such as, Gather, Myspace, your personal blog(s), Youtube, and Google. Add a link to your signature line on e-mails, etc. It's another great promotional tool to save on a CD to include with your media kits.
The next article: Spread the Word
Marta Stephens is a crime/mystery author of SILENCED CRY
View the SILENCED CRY booktrailer on my page here in Gather or follow the link from the home page on my website.www.martastephens-author.com
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Comments: 22
Check the next to the last paragraph; I think the Gather editing software replaced a dash with a question mark : )
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Thanks Ron for featuring my article again in the Sunday Writing Essentials and for pointing out the question mark. Yes, I noticed in some of my other pieces that some symbols didn't quite translate.
For those interested, the first and second articles in this series are posted on my page here in Gather as well as on my website! :)
The main problem I would say is that many of the components that make up the trailer are the filmmakers clichés. The music, the sliding letters, all cliché. Instead, I would take a lesson from the work of Ken Burns. He is able to make static pictures look interesting. He uses a verbal overlay to give the picture some life. I think you would be better served by taking a fifteen to thirty second piece of dialogue (using professional actors) as the core of your trailer. Then find a few pictures you can slide over, crop, zoom, etc. over to illustrate the dialogue ending in 5 or 10 seconds of the title.
Book Trailers are no more than a novelty item if all you're doing is putting on your site or making it for your fans.
If you don't have distribution for it that will reach readers and potential readers, why bother? Would you put a print ad for your book in a magazine for fly fishing if your book is about cars? Where you put the trailer is as important as what the trailer looks like.
Some trailers look great, some don't, a lot of that is subjective just as book reviews are subjective.
You need to state the goal of your promotion, then see where the trailer fits in, and then create a way to measure the success of the trailer in relation to your stated goal.
We have our trailers taken routinely by booksellers. We've been picked up by NPR and Newsweek Magazine. People are paying attention to book trailers. Why? Because they work. If they didn't we'd be paying for placement and not being picked up as content.
What you can do with it is as important as what it looks like.
As a side note, we're able to track number of views, comments, etc. but we are also able to see who the viewer is, man/woman, what age, where they live, etc. Anyone in marketing can tell you that getting that kind of information is invaluable. So, not only do we use the video as an ad, but we use it as a tracking device and a way to monitor the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. If the number of views go up during a specific campaign that is an indicator that what you did was effective.
You know what they say- "50% of all marketing works. You just don't know which 50%"
Great post Marta!
A couple of points though: Movie Maker is just a Microsoft product (included with Windows XP), not actually a part of Microsoft Word (which is just a word processing program, and is often part of the Microsoft Office suite of programs). Also, there are free programs available that can convert the Movie Maker file format into a more widely accepted format (.avi or .mpg for example) and then upload directly to Youtube or Google Video and not have to pay for hosting.
And I personally think 90 seconds is way too long for a book trailer. A movie trailer in front of a big screen movie at the theater can be as long as you want (captive audience). A book trailer on a website should be as short as possible. Website visitors have a short attention span, so I would think a 30-second trailer would be as long as you would want to go. Remember, though, that's just my opinion; I'm not an author (published or otherwise), I'm not a professional. So keep that in mind.
I love the idea of putting the link to your book trailer in your signature line. Seems like people in-general love to click on Youtube links, even without knowing what they are!
J, thank you!!
But I'm storing this info away for the future!
Thanks, Marta!
This is such a cool series. Thanks for reaching out to others when you really didn't have to. :)
And P.W. when I found MM it was an "Aha" moment for me too. LOL I had great fun playing around with it. The trailer actually took several months to do. Give it a try and let me know when you have something put together. BTW, you made me smile with your "... cool series" comment. :) Believe it or not, I enjoy writing "how-to" articles. It's not only a good way to journal my steps, but it's a great feeling to share with others. I've been incredibly blessed -- lots of selfless folks have helped me along the way. Just my way of giving back. ;)
You're articles are something I feel will help if I'm ever ready to promote something I write.