How to Make a Book Trailer in 7 Easy Steps

Book trailers are all the rage.  So my kids tell me. 

And they must know, since they spend a lot of time on YouTube.  That’s where they saw the trailers for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, books 1 through 8.  Ditto Big Nate and all the Harry Potter books (yes, the books!). They loved the trailers so much that they promptly hit me up for the books they didn’t already have. 

Thanks to my kids, I am now expanding my digital media and marketing horizons.  If book trailers can get them to read, why not try my hand at making a book trailer of my own?

Remember, I grew up before the internet age.  Back when TV’s still had vacuum tubes, and phones came with cords and rotary dials.  This whole computer thing still baffles me.  But I’m always up for a challenge. 

It took me a few sleepless nights, but I finally managed to put together a book trailer for my contemporary romance, This Time for Keeps.  Along the way, I kept notes.  The result is a handy-dandy “how to” guide for creating your very own low budget book trailer.  Believe me, if I can do it, anybody can!

Here it is, how to make your book trailer in 7 easy steps: 

1. Watch a bunch of book trailers, particularly in your genre, to get a sense of what’s out there.  You can find examples on YouTube or BookTrailers.

2. Select images or video clips.  Make sure you have appropriate permission to use them, to avoid copyright infringement.  If possible, use your original work (with appropriate releases if you photograph models, or property which does not belong to you—including public landmarks, works of art, etc.). Alternatively, you can search online for royalty-free images and video clips that are available for download either free or for a small fee.  Some of the more popular sites include:

• Morgue File 
• Shutterstock 
• Getty Images 
• iStock photo 

3. Write a script.  This can be as easy as using a short blurb that you already have for your book, or teasers from the book itself, or quotes from reviews, or any combination of the above.

4. Familiarize yourself with a movie making/editing program.  There are many user-friendly ones available, such as:  

• Windows Live Movie Maker (if you have a PC, you likely already have this program on your computer)
• Prezi 
• Animoto 
• Photo story

5. Import your photos/videos into the program.  Add your text.

6. Add a soundtrack.  Again, make sure you have permission to use the material you choose.  Here are some online sites which offer royalty-free sound clips:

• Open music archive 
• Musopen - free classical music archives
• Soundsnap 

7. Upload your video to a distribution channel such as YouTube or BookTrailers.

And that's it--you're done!!!

Surprise! I’m pregnant!

The surprise pregnancy/secret baby storyline has been a part of Romance for as long as there's been a Romance genre.  

Remember those “Old Skool” heroines who marry because they have to?  And those jet-setting Harlequin heroes who get their mistresses pregnant, then go all he-man possessive once they find out, demanding marriage or else?  And what about those parted lovers who meet up years later by pure chance, with the hero doing a double-take: surely that mini-me clinging to the heroine isn’t really a mini-me? 

(Seriously, if contraceptives in the real world failed as often as they do in Romance novels, we’d have billions more people on earth.)

Well, Virginia, I am here to tell you:  there is nothing hearts and roses about pregnancy.  I know some women have easy breezy beautiful Cover Girl pregnancies, nary a dry heave to mar their oxytocin-primed sense of well-being.  Not me.  And I’ve been through the whole pregnancy-delivery-postpartum thing three times.  And don’t get me started on the sleepless nights, poopy diapers, spit-up, colic, and realization that you will never again have a moment to yourself.  Especially when there’s three of them and only one (or two) of you.

So, we’re agreed:  there is nothing the least bit romantic about pregnancy or its aftermath.

Why, then, do so many women (myself included) still love to read about it, especially if it’s an unexpected or secret pregnancy? 

Judging a Book by its Cover

There’s a reason Madison Avenue uses scantily clothed models in suggestive poses: SEX SELLS. All you have to do is click on the television, open a magazine, or drive by a roadside billboard to know this. The more out of context or unrelated the sexy imagery is to the product it’s supposed to advertise, the more jarring the effect, and the better people tend to remember it. This is called the Von Restorff effect.

I learned this the hard way. Taking a Chance, the second book in my Doctors of Rittenhouse Square trilogy originally came out with this cover…

Book 1 and book 3 in the same series looked like this…







Can you guess which sold better?

After doing an informal poll of friends, family, and readers, it seems that the issue really is the cover. (If you need more convincing, check out this more thorough treatment on the subject: Sex and Advertising.)

So, introducing the new cover of Taking a Chance…

The Social Media Addiction

This is why I resisted doing social media for so long:  it's addictive!

Forget heroin, cocaine, cigarettes, and chocolate--wait, maybe not the chocolate--one taste of FB, twitter, Goodreads, Google + and you're hooked.  And did I mention all those lovely blogs by authors, reviewers, doctors, politicos, and talking heads with impressive degrees and quirky leanings? You could read and read and read and still have more material to keep you awake more nights than you can count. Who needs to do dishes? Clean house? Cook? Help kids with homework? See patients, pay bills, actually have live conversations with your partner, family, and friends?
Clearly not me.  Nope, I'm stuck here mainlining tumblr as we speak.

Until my eyes glaze over and the iPad runs out of juice, and my kids run in screaming: Earthquake, mommy! Earthquake! Did you feel it?

No, sadly, I missed it, and it was 3.2 on the Richter scale, according to twitter.

Mommy, mommy!

I'll be with you in a minute, kids, as soon as I finish pinning this to Pinterest...

Sample Sunday: This Time for Keeps

Remember that Saturday Night Live skit with Rob Morrow, where he's sitting with some friends, and always seems to lag five subjects behind the conversation?  Here's the clip:

Five Subjects Behind - SNL: Rob Morrow

Anyway, when it comes to digital media and marketing, I feel like Rob Morrow as he enters the bathroom: on the verge of an entire new world of possibilities!

Like many writers who struggle to fit writing into an already overflowing schedule (day job, family, keeping the fridge stocked and the bills paid), I need to prioritize how to spend my time.  Do I work on my next book or market the ones that are already out?  Do I tweet, post on Facebook, or blog?  And how about promotion?  So many services!  Blink, and a new one pops up.  Which are worth the investment of time and money?

I don't know what the right mix is, and would be happy to hear from more experienced writers about their thoughts.

In the meantime, I'll continue to fly by the seat of my pants.  Always a little behind.  Always trying to catch up.  Bear with me, and I promise to eventually get it right!

Today, I'm trying something new.  Sample Sunday - where a writer puts up a sample of her latest work for readers to enjoy.  It's Sunday night (actually, 1:28 am Monday morning--do you sense a theme here?), and this excerpt is from This Time for Keeps (Doctors of Rittenhouse Square, Book 3).  Each book in this series can be read as a stand-alone, though some characters do overlap.

And now, without further ado...

This Time for Keeps

(Doctors of Rittenhouse Square, Book 3)

By

Jill Blake

A random act of violence...

When a senseless act of violence shatters her perfect world, Dr. Isabelle DiStefano struggles to rebuild: 

new life, new job, new man.

A second chance at love...

But sometimes the past can be hard to let go of, especially when old flame Luca Santoro reappears in her life and decides he wants to start over

...this time, for keeps.