Book trailers are a growing trend in the publishing world. To the unfamiliar, it’s like a movie trailer, but for books. They are an excellent marketing tool to have on websites as well as on emails and texts. Having a visual snapshot is also an effective way to show your book would be great to option for a movie. Book trailers capture the essence of a book in a short video. Sounds simple enough, right? It’s not. There are many elements that make up a book trailer. Each one requires several decisions that will affect the final video and can enhance or derail sales.
Like everything, quality is key. If a book trailer is low quality, people will think the corresponding book contains low-quality writing. The opposite is true if a book trailer is captivating.
Getting Started
Where do you start? First you need a concept. How do you describe your book in under a minute? Think about visual storytelling. What is the message of the visual footage? Then think about the audio. How can you tease the audience to want more? Spend time looking at existing book trailers. In a short while, you can learn more about how to tell a story visually as well as the difference between a low-quality and a high-quality book trailer. It will also become clear that more effective book trailers are no longer than a minute. What may not be obvious is that not all good quality book trailers are expensive to make.
How to get started? After a concept is developed, construction with the different elements can begin. These are a script, video footage, voiceover, music, sound effects, editing, and special effects. Let’s take a closer look at each one.
Script
A script for a book trailer is typically a two-column commercial format. The left column is for visuals and the right is for audio. In the visual column, you write anything that is shown on the screen. It is helpful to write how many seconds each visual lasts. Also include transition notes from one scene to the other if it is other than a straight cut, like a fade or a dissolve. In the audio column, write any dialogue, voiceover, sound effects, and music. Use rows to block off the corresponding visuals and audio. Once it is finished, record the words for the audio on something easy like your phone. Play it back several times to hear the flow, any words that sound awkward, and to check the timing.
With a script, the concept starts to materialize. Using a storyboard is helpful to determine what you see in each frame. There is plenty of storyboarding software that makes this process easy. This gives you a better picture of what footage needs to go in each frame. Other things to consider are:
- Are you using actors?
- Do they have dialogue?
- Are you only using voiceovers?
- Will you hire out the filming?
- Will you film the video yourself?
- Will you utilize stock footage?
I recommend using professional equipment like high-definition cameras, lighting, and microphones. If any of these are not professional, the quality is instantly diminished, which will affect your end product. There are companies who rent these items by the day, so that will bring down your costs.
Audio Components
Voiceover is important in any book trailer. They are the words you hear with any accompanying visual that is not dialogue. Voiceovers can be inexpensive to hire out. There are many websites where you can find VO actors who already have a professional home studio and know how to deliver audio without cracks, smacks, and other unwanted sounds in a recording. If you need to do it yourself, consider booking a studio for an hour and warm up your voice before you go. If you decide to record at home, use a professional microphone in a walk-in closet with your DAW on the other side of the door. Microphones pick up noises our ears don’t hear. I have a professional sound booth. Before I record, I turn the breaker off for the washer and dryer that are on the other side of the wall and unplug smaller electronics nearby.
Music is the most important element that makes the mood of your book trailer. The same scenes can appear happy or sad, international or local. There are many websites that offer royalty-free music. There are other sites that offer a wide variety of music you pay for the license to use. Note that licensing is different and will have a different price depending on where you will show the book trailer. Consider layering two music pieces for a more complex sound. Of course, you can make your own music through GarageBand, Logic, or other similar software. I make music as a hobby and invariably find myself working on a video where it fits.
Sound effects are an important way to make your book trailer more complete. Swishes of a broom, the bang of a gun, birdsong in the background all seem unimportant when you just think about them alone. When watching a video without sound effects, their absence is notable. As with anything, too much is too much. Finding a balance takes practice and experience. Recording your own sound effects can be achieved using professional recording equipment as described above. There are also many websites that offer royalty-free sound effects as well as ones where you pay for licensing.
Putting It Together
Now that you have audio and visual components, it’s time to put them together. Just like all the other elements, you can DIY or hire it out. There is many editing software that makes this easier than in the past. Although I know how to use editing software, I prefer to use a professional editor because they will take much less time and they can do the work much better. Editors usually have ideas I never imagined because this is their wheelhouse. They advise me on special effects—if something can really be done or not. Sometimes, they refer me to a special editor to make that one piece, animation for instance. Then they incorporate it in the book trailer.
Once you think your trailer is finished, watch it several times. By now you will think it is worthy of an academy award. Share it with people who don’t know anything about the book. Listen carefully to their comments. It will show you how effective your trailer really is or is not. Changing the music or adjusting small elements is a good way to change the overall feel of it.
If this process seems daunting to you, there are options. A production team can make one particular element for you or create the entire video. There are some production companies that will try to sell you on many locations with many actors, thus increasing your costs. It’s not necessary. Just as in effective stories, the mastery of a book trailer is shown in its simplicity.
Ja-ne de Abreu has spent 20 years working in the production industry for many shows such as LOST, Gilad's Bodies in Motion, and The Descendants. She is now a multi-Telly Award winner (three just for book trailers) and focuses on telling stories through various methods like video, writing, photography, and cooking. She created JMFdeA Press in 2020 to provide a venue to help others tell their stories.