This is good fun to do, though time-consuming and actually
more effective than you might imagine. It can be particularly useful in
reawakening interest in your backlist. You can also do it completely for free.
The mechanics of it
I use the Movie Maker programme. However, this is now
being discontinued so I'm starting to experiment with https://shotcut.org/
You may find other software that you prefer for creating
videos but what I say below still all applies.
Approaches to the task
Your trailer
really needs to represent your book. It should contain images, words, music and
even short videos that capture the mood of the book. You might start with a
front cover image. You should end with any acknowledgments and information
about how to get the book.
Your trailer should
never be more than two minutes long. Shorter is probably better.
Planning your trailer
The "story" will be somewhere between a blurb
and an outline. It mustn't give the ending away. You should aim for twelve to twenty-four
frames plus title slide and credits.
Words
You might like to choose these before you choose the
pictures. Remember, there is not all
that much room for text. Consider direct quotes from the text, titles of individual
poems and stories in collections and plot points. Sometimes you come across a
picture that suggests something else. This is fine. Be flexible
A few words about pictures
These must be copyright free, the right size and
preferably free of charge. You must really respect copyright. You could be sued
for millions if you infringe someone's copyright.
Making your own or getting a friend or relation to paint or
take photos will give you images that are free and copyright free. However, this
may be time-consuming. A better alternative may be to use Pixa Bay:
Type a search term into the space, find your image, and
click on the image you like. Your book / or story title can produce amazing
results.
Once the image is open you can check the copyright. You
really want to see the words "Free for commercial use. No attribution
required ".
Occasionally you are
asked to acknowledge attribution. This is easy. In the credits you create a section
"Images by" and list any attributions.
Next, download the image and save it to your computer. Often
the smallest image is the one you need. In the case of one I've just looked at:
https://pixabay.com/en/night-sky-summer-night-sky-black-1665026/
the 640 x 427 is good. The next one up
may be a little too big, but often 750 X? is good. Try your image out full-screen to see if the
picture has enough definition. If you're not happy at how it looks you can
always go back and grab a larger one.
A few words about music
The same copyright issues exist for music as they do
for pictures- though if you're sued it may be for billions, which you'll not be
able to pay, and you may end up with a custodial sentence.
Commissioning your own piece would be prohibitively
expensive.
However there is the Free Music Archive: http://freemusicarchive.org
This is a little more complex that Pixa Bay. You must go to
"Curators" then "Music for Videos". You are presented with
a search box and some filters. You should tick Creative Commons License,
Attribution Only, Attribution-Share Alike, Public Domain, Allows for Commercial
and Allows for remix or video.
If you have already made the rest of your trailer, you can
also type in the length you want.
Then type your book / story title into the search box. If
you have no matches, try refining your words. You may have to search just by
genre. I found this:
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/Caeli/Kai_Engel_-_caeli_-_08_daemones_1095
by keeping all the filters mentioned above and just genre,
"Classical". This has an Attribution License, so you must acknowledge
the artist. It's easy – you put the name of the music, players and composer in
the credits on your trailer. This is most often the case with music.
What to do with your trailer
You should upload it or provide a link to where you
have it on You Tube to all sorts of places where you flag up your book. You
Tube anyway is one place where you should store your video.
Here are a few others place where you may embed it or link
to it:
·
Your blog
·
Your author Facebook page
·
Your book's Facebook page
·
Twitter - even though it may not prompt your
followers to buy your book it will annoy them less than a "Buy my
book" Tweet. It may amuse them enough to become more interested in you in general
or in particular you as a writer.
·
Your web site
·
Various other places where you may list your
book:
o
Good reads
o
The Society of Authors
o
Linkedin
o
Amazon Author Central
And of course, put a link to
your book in the description box on You Tube.
In a subsequent chapter I'll talk about marketing routines
and also social media routines. You may at that point want to create yourself a
rather longer list.
Trailers do make a difference to sales. They also often
remind people of your back list as well.
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