The Birth Of a Book Trailer
I knew I needed a book trailer to help promote my debut YA novel Winnemucca. First of all, I love movies. Heck, I live in Los Angeles. And, I worked in the entertainment industry. I knew the power of the trailer. Plus, how much fun would making my own trailer be?
But still, I didn’t know how to make one. Hmmm. I’d incorporated videos in my designs for years at E! Entertainment Television and at The Los Angeles Times. But they were provided to me by amazing teams of award winning videographers. And the photos I worked with were shot by Pulitzer Prize winning photographers. Who did I think I was trying to do this all on my own?
Well, that’s the best part. We aren’t on our own! Writers are some of the most generous people. And so I kept my eye open for trailers that I loved. Enter the wonderful writer Rebecca Rasmussen [@birdsisters] author of The Bird Sisterspublished by Crown/Random House. I was surprised to find out she made her own trailer. Rebecca was very generous with her support and advise. Thanks Rebecca!
So after a load of conversations I managed to conjure up a recipe for book trailers:
- iMovie application.
- A killer soundtrack.
- stock videos.
- stock photography.
and WaaaaLaaa! You have your book trailer.
A Recipe For Book Trailers
iMovie is a very easy application to work with. It’s drag and drop so no worries there. And it comes with every Mac.
A killer soundtrack is so important. I don’t mind book trailers where the author reads their work. There is something very pure about that. But, like I said, I love movies. Music that evokes your story is compelling and can draw a viewer into the trailer in a unique way. I used www.productiontrax.com. Most of the audio clips are very reasonable priced. [I splurged on this and purchased sound for $60 because I loved it and am a music junkie.]
Stock Videos. I’ve seen a lot of trailers that try to tell the story with static images and scrolling or rolling text. It’s a great effect. But, the medium is meant for video. And, if you don’t have any that you’ve shot yourself, stock video sites are great ways to add some punch to your trailer. Sites I like include istockphoto.com andpond5.com. Both have great selections and great ways to save multiple videos for your consideration so if you are busy, like who isn’t, you can come back later and make your final cut. Again, most videos are very reasonably priced, but watch it, some aren’t. And don’t worry if your video has a soundtrack with it. iMovie let’s you separate the audio channel out and you can use whatever audio you want with any video. My average purchase for a video was $15.
Stock Photography. I use the same sites I recommended above to find images for book covers and for book trailers. Again, stock photography is reasonably priced. But be sure you check prices.
As always, have a budget in mind and stick to it, mine was under $90. It’s really important to get the word out about your book, but what’s more important is how much fun you have doing it!
The Book Trailer
Winnemucca is a young-adult small-town fairy tale about a teenage girl awakening to her own intuition on an enchanted road trip. One lie will change Ginny’s life forever. The truth will will set her free.
Over To You
Did I miss anything? Do you have any tips or tricks from making your own book trailers? If you have anything to add to this article, or even just want to share your own book trailers, then please add it to the comments below…
This week for Fun Friday the YA Storytellers are dishing embarrassing moments. There are sooooo many to choose from for me. But the one that just cracks me up is the one that happened to me in Houston. I hadn’t flown very far, it was only a four hour flight. So I can’t blame this on jet leg or even exhaustion, I guess I could try and blame it on what I call travel haze. Overstimulation. Rushing. This thing and that thing on the mind. I was not quite where I needed to be CLEARLY.
See, I had to pee. Yeah. And so I did. Only, as I did, a very deep voice in the stall next to me said in a southern, very gentlemanly accent, “Ma’am, I believe you are in the wrong bathroom.” He must have seen my pink painted toes. You know those moments, the ones where you’re like, REALLY? It sort of hits me between the eyes and the center of my stomach at the same time and I alternate between wanting to laugh and disappear. I didn’t laugh. I remember that because I was so gobsmacked, as a good friend would say–it actually is the perfect word to describe how it felt for me. So I sort of doubled over on my half-naked self and swore silently. Then he added, “I’ll make sure no one else comes in while you are in here.” And my rescuer was a very wonderful man who asked me if I was okay. And I thought I was, but maybe deep down I really wasn’t. Anyway, looking into his deep dark eyes and seeing his white smile made whiter by his chestnut skin, I felt certain he was an angel watching out for me. A perfect stranger’s kindness is usually what meets my embarrassment every time. I guess fast friends are formed in the intimacy of being vulnerable, being human. And for every time I’ve wanted to disappear when I’ve been embarrassed, I’ve been given a measure of magic too.
Ginny, in Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale has an embarrassing moment when she realizes she’s falling for the local axe-murderer…at least that’s what her best friend Lizzy calls him. Of course this happens the day she’s planning to breakup with Bobby, her fiáncee. Here’s the excerpt:
Clyde placed his murdering hand on the doorknob and took his
eyes off me for the very first time. He walked out of the stock room
but something floated in the air behind him and whatever-it-was
caught in the door Lizzy held open. I bent down, and freed the
paper, but it was just an empty toilet paper roll. I tossed it into the
garbage but when it landed on a pile of folded Pampers packing
boxes, I saw what I hadn’t seen when I held it in my hand––ribbons
of blue words.
“What’s that?” Lizzy said pawing my hand.
“Nothing.” I rolled it over in my fingers trying to make sense of the
scribbling. But, it wasn’t scribbling. It was, poetry. Even had a title,
No one loves you like me. Dated the day before.
There’s a circle, a spiral I walk
with dear Ginny
and a wish we’d never part
as we lift over our barbed wire sea
Ginny. Me. Clyde signed his name so hard it indented the
“Let me see,” Lizzy said. But I stuffed the poem in my apron like a
used Kleenex. Like it wasn’t the most enchanting moment of my
life––that a man I’d never spoken to wrote a love poem about me.
And for the first time I didn’t believe the rumors about Clyde.
Lizzy unloaded another box of shampoo and I peeked at the next
line:
The Devil’s rope around my heart
I wanted to know more about Clyde as desperately as I wanted
nothing to do with Bobby.
“Now, you girls get back to work,” Charlie said, all fake mad, his
forehead a sea of wrinkles, his tuffty eyebrows formed a V like a
Muppet. Tie Guy sighed, scribbling on his clipboard again.
“Anna knows where you are. Bobby’ll be here any minute,”
Lizzy whispered in my ear.
I rolled Clyde’s poetry in my fingers, trying to read every word.
“Let me tell Bobby.” Lizzy eyed the poem.
I shook my head, dropped the poem into my apron pocket and
grabbed Lizzy by the hand so we could catch up to Clyde. My cell
vibrated again. I searched up and down every aisle but Clyde had
vanished. The clocks on the new majestic shelves in aisle nine
weren’t running. I stared at them anyway.
“Why are you just standing there?” Lizzy asked.
Clyde walked past empty picture frames and table lamps.
He met me at the frozen clocks and leaned his mop against the
majestic shelves.
My cell vibrated again, and all I wanted to do was breathe in
Clyde’s big-sky, blue-eyed stare. My stomach sank knowing why.
My heart had Devil’s rope around it too. I held tight to Espy’s
“Lizzy Fairchild, to the register,” Charlie announced over the
Lizzy said, “Keep away from my best friend, Convict.” She threw
Clyde an axe-murdering gaze on her walk down the aisle. She
was a master at axe-murdering gazes.
I’d never really seen Clyde before. And right then he wasn’t just
one of the people on the edges of my life anymore, he was front
and center.
“Straddling the fence is the same as straddling the middle of the
road,” Clyde said, like he knew the ripening would seal our fates.
Like he’d been with me when my sleep went thin and I’d straddle
the open road. And there, in aisle nine, I fell for Clyde. It was
wrong. It was lousy timing. But it was real. My heart jack-hammered
and more than anything I wish I had the power to freeze time.
Thanks for stopping by. If you feel like sharing one of your embarrassing moments, feel free to comment and we can have a laugh together. Check out all the fun posts from the other YA Storytellers here. Have a wonderful weekend! *waves* from Indonesia.
Clyde placed his murdering hand on the doorknob and took his
eyes
Last Saturday night Joe and I went down to Nepenthe to celebrate the book release. At the end of the book, along with a host of other folks, I acknowledge Nepenthe, and a few other people and places in Big Sur. The people and places that helped me write to The End. Without them, there wouldn't have been a Winnemucca. And so, here's the view from the back patio of Nepenthe at sunset. Some nights, there is a fog river than travels down the Pacific. When I lived in
the wine barrel I took a video of it. [I'm the world's shakiest videographer, but it does stabilize pretty quick]
In the background you can hear Tom Petty singing "The Waiting" It really is the hardest part. Especially when you are trying to write to The End. Do you have any "writing to The End" stories?
When we first arrived at Nepenthe there were two belly dancers on the packed front patio. Their tangerine and golden scarves even more vibrant against the twilight sky. Later a band would play. We said Hi to friends we hadn't seen since we moved to town. Erin was out front greeting guests. She is an amazing painter and writer. You might want to check out her book about the creative process called
Drinking From A Cold Spring, a little book of hope. Anyway, she congratulated me on the book and said she had a story about Winnemucca. People who've been to Winnemucca usually tell some great stories. Do you have one?
One mistake changes Ginny forever.
One answer sets her free.
Once upon a time, Ginny's road blood ripened, the day she got wise to love.
I knew I needed a book trailer to help promote my debut novel Winnemucca, a ya coming of age small-town fairy tale, which hits Kindle in mid-July. First of all, I love movies. Heck, I lived in Los Angeles for twenty-four years. And, I worked in the entertainment industry. I know the power of the trailer. Plus, how much fun would that be?
But still, I didn't know how to make one. Hmmm. I'd incorporated videos in my designs for years at E! Entertainment Television and at The Los Angeles Times. But they were provided to me by amazing teams of award winning videographers. And the photos I worked with were shot by Pulitzer Prize winning photographers. Who did I think I was trying to do this all on my own?
Well, that's the best part:) We aren't on our own! Writers are some of the most generous people. And so I kept my eye open for trailers that I loved. Enter the wonderful writer Rebecca Rasmussen [@birdsisters] author of The Bird Sisters published by Crown/Random House. I was surprised to find out she made her own trailer. I don't know why I was surprised. I just thought big houses had trailer production teams or something. Anyway, Rebecca was very generous with her support and advise. Thanks Rebecca!
So here's the recipe for a book trailer:
iMovie application
A killer soundtrack
stock videos
stock photography
and WaaaaLaaa! You have your book trailer.
iMovie is a very easy application to work with. It's drag and drop so no worries there.
A killer soundtrack is so important. I don't mind book trailers where the author reads their work. There is something very pure about that. But, like I said, I love movies. Music that evokes your story is compelling and can draw a viewer into the trailer in a unique way. I used www.productiontrax.com. Most of the audio clips are very reasonable priced. [I splurged on this and purchased sound for $60 because I loved it and am a music junkie.]
Stock Videos. I've seen a lot of trailers on the web that have static images and scrolling or rolling text. It's a great effect. But, the medium is meant for video. And, if you don't have any that you've shot yourself, stock video sites are great ways to add some punch to your trailer. Sites I like include istockphoto.com and pond5.com. Both have great selections and great ways to save multiple videos for your consideration so if you are busy, like who isn't, you can come back later and make your final cut. Again, most videos are very reasonably priced, but watch it, some aren't. And don't worry if your video has a soundtrack with it. iMovie let's you separate the audio channel out and you can use whatever audio you want with any video. My average purchase for a video was $20]
Stock Photography. I use the same sites I recommended above to find images for book covers and for book trailers. Again, stock photography is reasonable priced. But be sure you check prices.
As always, have a budget in mind and stick to it, mine was under $100. It's really important to get the word out about your book, but what's more important is how much fun you have doing it! If you do like the book trailer and found any of this information helpful, would you be a pal and help promote Winnemucca by commenting here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa9n1KIpaWw
Got a book trailer story? Post it and your book trailer here.
Tomorrow I talk about the fun of promotion.
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