How to Make a Book Trailer

I’ve just completed my first “book trailer.”  What’s a book trailer you ask?  Never heard of one?  Well, a book trailer is just like a movie trailer, except that it is a “preview” of your book.  They are quickly becoming a popular way to market and sell books.

A couple of weeks ago, while researching book trailers, one of my favorite, helpful tweeps, @winsloweliot, started sending me links to various book trailers.  While watching one of these book trailers, I witnessed first-hand the impact that trailers can have on book buyers. I was watching the trailer Lethal People by John Locke.  My husband happened to be looking over my shoulder and within the first 10 seconds said, “I have to buy that book.”  It taught me (1) trailers make a marketing difference and (2) I better get working on making the trailer for Death of a Cure.

So, after a lot of very late nights and about 50 hours later, I uploaded my first book trailer to a test page on my company’s website. I received some excellent, and more importantly, helpful comments from my “tweeple.”  Twitter is a great resource for getting help and opinions from those that are neither close friends nor family.  And believe me — they are much needed and appreciated honest opinions.  After I made a few changes, I uploaded the video to YouTube.

Since the upload, I’ve had people ask me, “How did you do it?” So is the reason for this post.  Included are two .pdf files that I used to script the trailer. These files are how I began the process.  They ended up with lots of pencil scribbles, but the notes helped keep me organized and focused (it’s easy to get off track – for me anyway – when you start looking at pictures).  If you stay focused you will keep your expenses under control.

Here are the steps I took to make the book trailer.

1. Read the book.
2. Think about the concepts or the point that you are trying to get across.
3. Make a Book Trailer Scene List, scenes from the book, that will communicate your concept.
4. Write a Book Trailer Script. I used  a spreadsheet with columns for subject (content), file name and description of the file to help me keep focused and stay on track with the story. This was also important when buying images in that I would write the file name down on the spreadsheet, next to the subject while purchasing the files. I also recorded the cost of the file every time I purchased the image so I could see how much I was spending. Stay organized – there are lots of pieces and parts to keep track of.
5. I went to iStockPhoto.com and purchased all the images first.  The video images averaged 25 credits each and the stills averaged 3-6 credits each. OK, except for one, I “bit the bullet” and paid 20 credits.  You purchase credits ahead of time in bulk and then you can “go shopping.”  The more bulk credit you buy, the cheaper the images get.  My credits averaged around $1.20 each.
6. I also purchased the audio in iStockPhoto.com – 25 credits
7. Because I have a MacBook Pro, I used iMove to make the trailer.  An amazing tool. If you have a Mac, it is part of the iLife product line.  If you have a PC, I have recently seen “Adobe Premier” bundled with “Photoshop Elements” for a very cheap price (as far as software goes).  Adobe Premier is used for making movies too.
8. Then, I spent about 50 hours of labor making the movie. My time was long because I had a learning curve as I had never done this before.  Boy, was it fun!  OK, and I have OCD with this kinda stuff (just ask my husband).
9. I spent around $400-$500 in materials (photos). And I bought about 2 videos and 3 images that did not get used.  I also cropped a lot of the footage of the video that was used.  As far as the cost of the software?  iLife was already on my MacBook Pro.

You may begin to notice that POD and self-publishing companies are now offering Book Trailer services. I’ve seen them priced between $1,200-$5,000 depending on the length and complexity of the trailer.  My company will be offering that service too, of course, but I hope that this post will show you that you can also DIY. Nobody knows your book better than you do.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to drop me a note.  ~ Claudia