Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Promo Wednesday- Book Trailer

I envy the people I've talked to who put together a book trailer in a weekend. I've been working on mine off and on now for two weeks. First I didn't(and still don't) have all the photos or sufficient photos. And now, I'm working on paring down the wording. And quite possibly the biggest reason I'm having all this problem is my trailer isn't one book. I've decided to do the three Halsey brother books that are either published or contracted and as each one is finished add it to the trailer. So, I have two intro panes and then the first book cover and then two panes to entice about that book, the next cover and two panes, so you get the structure. No problem with that! LOL

I think I have enough photos for the three books, but it's paring down the descriptive words and making them coherent that is driving me crazy.

Once I get this all put together, I'll send it to my brother as he is willing to produce a little ditty to go with it.

Dring the EPICon I attended a pretty good class on how to make your own book trailer. These are some of the items that the speakers Adrianna Dane and Lindy Lamont shared with us.

1) Think about mood.
2) Hook reader, don't tell them everything
3) First scene needs to 'Pop".
4) Use power words to evoke emotion
5) Length 30 seconds to no longer than 2 minutes.

If you can take pictures, use those. If you go looking on the internet most places with the better photo images will charge you to use them. You will also have to pay a royalty to use music if you find it on the internet(why I've asked my talented brother to help me)

And when putting the trailer together- be sure you give credit to everyone who contributed to the trailer. ie: photos, cover artist, music and the most important thing- Make sure your web site and where the book can be purchased are on the trailer. Preferably the last thing the viewer sees.

Have you watched a blog? If so did it make you interested in the book or wonder about the book? Or was it a poorly done trailer that left you scratching you head? In other words, am I wasting my time?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Book Trailers can be really nice. I've watched several and I've bought books because of them; so no, you're not wasting your time.

One of the books I bought because of a book trailer turned out to be totally lame, which was too bad because the trailer made it sound awesome. LOL But, the others have all been really great books.

If I were you, I'd keep working on the trailers for your books. I find them fun and interesting and totally worth watching. :)

Good luck!

Elisabeth Naughton said...

*covering my face in shame*

I skip them. I never watch them. The few I've seen have been so poorly done, I haven't been impressed - and these were from NYT Bestselling authors. In my mind a book trailer will never be as great as a movie trailer, and that's what I'm comparing it to. Which isn't fair, I know. But that's me. Unlike Piper though, I've never watched a book trailer from an author I didn't know, so that might totally change my opinion. I don't know.

I remember listening to a speaker about promo who said for the amount of time and money book trailers consume, they aren't worth the effort in the long run. But I suppose if you're doing them yourself, that's a different story. And if done WELL, then that's a totally different story. One other blog I was reading about promo the other day (can't remember where???) said book trailers are "out". But I have no idea what that means. I didn't know promo stuff was either in or out.

For all my yacking I'd say try it Paty. See if it works. If it does, fantastic. If it doesn't, you haven't wasted any money having it done by someone else. I'd love to see the finished product. Maybe it'll change my mind about book trailers. :)

Paty Jager said...

Hi Piper!

Thanks for stopping by. You are about the first person I've heard of who bought a book because of the trailer. But that makes me happy.

Eli, You're right there are some really bad ones out there. And I read somewhere that if you don't write suspense you shouldn't try to make one because there isn't anything compelling you can do to make the book trailer interesting. But you know me, I always have to pusht he envelope. So I'm still doing one. I tried to get the short one I did of just the covers on here, but Blogger refused to take it even though they say they take stuff from my program. ~sigh~ Thanks for stopping by!