Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Book Marketing: Create Your Own Book Trailer and Share It



Hello and welcome!

Take ACTION to make your book trailer!
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Book Marketing: Create Your Own Book Trailer and Share It by J.Q. Rose


I love putting together a book trailer, but I have to remind myself to have patience. Looking for the just-right photo (FREE of course) to convey the mood of the story and the content of the book can be challenging and time-consuming.  But I'm an optimist, and I believe the book trailer will be a worthwhile tool in my book marketing bag. Studies show videos are popular with viewers and they will attract and retain viewers on your page.

  • I use Pixabay free photos and combine them with my own photographs for images. To add some fun and interest, I use Giphy to find gifs, video clips, to insert in the trailer. Be sure and have a clear head when clicking on Giphy because all those little squares of movement can drive you crazy if you watch it too long. Just plug in the topic you want in the search box e.g. ocean, and you will be presented with many, many, many choices.




via GIPHY Sunset Ocean GIF

  • Save all images to a file for quick and easy access when creating your video. I save mine in photos and usually name it with the book title like this, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard Book Trailer.
  • I'm lucky I still have my old laptop because it has Windows Live Movie Maker on it. If you have a newer than Windows 7 device, you probably don't have Movie Maker. Unfortunately, I discovered the download to the newer computers doesn't work. But, you can use PowerPoint to make the video.
  • To make a PowerPoint a video, click on the File Menu>Save as>Windows Media Video (* .wmv). This is the file type that can be uploaded to Youtube.com. You definitely want your video on Youtube. Search Engine Land shared this research on their site--"YouTube is arguably the second largest search engine on the Web. It is the third most visited site on the Web, according to Alexa and SimilarWeb."
  • You may want to use your own videos in your presentation too. Easy to do now with so many smartphones with video recorder and microphone right in your hands. 

Smartphone--Photo courtesy of Pixabay

  • Gone are the days of searching and searching for the just-right music to accompany the video and then adding it to your trailer. Youtube offers a large selection of music to fit the feel of your book trailer. When you upload the trailer to Youtube, a little message asks if you want to add music. Say yes, and a list of music appears. Choose a genre from the box and listen to ALL of them or just a few. Click the one you wish and it will automatically accompany your images in the trailer. Be sure to save it.

Add music to your book trailer.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
If you can't find the perfect music, Kevin McLeod at Incompetech has a wide selection of FREE music for you to explore. 

Whatever music or images you use for your trailer, be sure the music and images are "royalty-free." However, I learned royalty free doesn't mean you can use them free. Royalty free means you do not have to pay royalties to the artist for the use of their work.  If you have to pay nothing for the art, usually you need to add attribution in order to comply with the license.


After all this information, I must add that I am not a professional movie-maker, and I learn something with each trailer I make. I have added my latest effort using Windows Live Movie Maker. I may try and make the trailer using the same images with PowerPoint, but for now, one trailer for Terror on Sunshine Boulevard is enough. I would appreciate any feedback on the video so I can tweak it for the best presentation of my work. 


If you want to see more of my videos, please click here to visit my Youtube home. 


  • One last suggestion for book marketing--add your videos to your social media, website, amazon author page, Goodreads. Oh yeah, make it work for you to get reader's attention! We need everything we can use to break out from the crowd of ebooks and paperbacks available to readers. I think videos are the way to go.

So, are you ready to tackle your own trailers? Go for it! 
* * *

Youtube VIDEO: Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose



Terror on Sunshine Boulevard Book Trailer

Come along with me as I continue the Terror on Sunshine Boulevard Blog tour!

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard 
Winter Warm-Up 2018 Blog Tour
Thursday, February 22--Susan Palmquist is my host at This Writer's Life site. The topic is Cozy Mysteries. Click here to join us at the Writer's Life site.

Wednesday, February 28--I take a guest turn at my friend's blog, Roseanne Dowell's A Little of This, A Little of That. And another prize for a lucky commenter!! Click here to visit with talented author Roseanne Dowell and me.

6 comments:

Marsha said...

Wow, JQ. I'm so impressed with what you do. Trailers! And this one is good. I did really enjoy the book. You give me courage I might try to do one. I'll share. :)

J.Q. Rose said...

Thank you, Marsha. It's a steep learning curve. In fact, I learn something new every time. Glad you liked this trailer AND the book. I appreciate your support. Thank you for sharing!!

Melissa said...

You are way more tech savvy than I. Thank goodness for my graphic artist!

J.Q. Rose said...

Hi Melissa, I really enjoy playing with images, but some days I wish I had a graphic artist too. Thank you for stopping in.

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