A whopping 72 percent of people prefer video over text when learning about a product or service. Video captures a higher degree of attention and more engagement than other forms of content, so it’s no surprise that book trailers are the hot new marketing tool for authors.

Here are the top reasons publishers are investing in book trailers:

1.    To create intrigue and initial buzz,
2.    To provide a tool for fans to post on social media or even embed in their own blogs,
3.    To generate ancillary content and promotion on eRetailer sites,
4.    To introduce prospective readers to the book in a non-traditional way.

As a debut indie author, I could barely keep up with social media posts, guest blog posts, Amazon ad campaigns, press releases, and podcast interviews, not to mention squeezing time in for future projects. A quick search confirmed my suspicions that hiring a professional to make a book trailer was prohibitively expensive. So, I shelved the idea of creating a book trailer for my historical fiction L’Origine: The Secret Life of the World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece. Besides, books are all about the written word, right? Wrong.

I began to notice that more and more book tours, award applications, and other competitive submission forums were including a line item for book trailer links. I became convinced that a book trailer would help my book stand out from the madding crowd. It was time to take the plunge.

CREATIVE PREPARATION

Trailers are about a minute long (the visual equivalents of the elevator pitch), so it’s essential to brainstorm the elements of your story that will hook the viewer.

Once I had a fairly good idea of the content I wanted to see in my trailer, I sketched out a rudimentary storyboard–a few rough scenes of the trailer that were playing in my head (I’m an artist by profession, but stick figures work just fine). You can choose a mix of author interviews, still images, short videos, or even a reading. The storyboard provides a visual roadmap for your trailer.

With literally no budget, I had to be creative about actors, costumes, lighting and backdrops. I roped my adult son into playing the 19th-century protagonist, and I even had made a cameo appearance myself! For my son’s costume, I bought a wig for $9.99 and spent $10 at Goodwill on clothing that I adapted into passable 19th-century fashion. I rigged up a mini studio set at home with standing lamps and a simple backdrop where I shot simple video clips and took photos. You can find additional visuals on royalty-free sites such as Pexels, Pixabay, or Dreamstime.

TECHNICAL PRODUCTION

The most cost-effective way for me to actually produce the video was to download the free iMovie app onto my phone, because the app offers free movie trailer templates that work just as well for book trailers. I watched a few instructional videos on how insert my video snippets, text, and images into the template, and two days later I had a professional trailer that I could upload onto YouTube, Vimeo, or my own indie book site. The downside of iMovie’s templates is that they cannot be customized as far as music, length, graphics and scene layouts. You have to be flexible and select the one that best fits your book. You can simplify the whole process even further by producing a video slide show using software such as Animoto or Biteable, both of which have their own extensive library of royalty-free images and music.

I believe that my trailer helped me land two prestigious author events at the American Library in Paris and Alliance Française in Washington DC. I was also just informed that L’Origine received the 2020 Indie B.R.A.G. Medallion Award and guess what I was asked to submit? You guessed it–a link to my book trailer.

BIO: Paris-born Lilianne Milgrom is an internationally acclaimed artist and author residing in Washington, DC. Her studio practice incorporates painting, ceramics and mixed media, and her artworks can be found in private and institutional collections around the world. Her debut novel L’Origine: The Secret Life of the World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece was awarded the following honors:

– Winner of Publisher’s Weekly US Selfies Book Award for Adult Fiction
(Announced at the American Library Association Convention 2021)
– First Place IndieReader Discovery Awards for best adult fiction
– Forword Reviews Silver Medal for Historical Fiction
– IndieBRAG Medallion winner