Let’s have fun creating & promoting book trailers! by Donna Galanti

Book trailers can be a great teaser for your book. Necessary? No. Fun? Yes! 

Video watching continues to rise. 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day. Here are more mind blowing YouTube facts. 

Last year I created my first book trailer for book one in my Lightning Road series. Trailers can run you from do-it-yourself bare bones price to thousands of dollars. I set a budget of $500 and came in around $400, all-inclusive. Most importantly, I wanted a trailer that had quality even within a small budget. What do you think?

I originally thought in creating this trailer that I could (ahem, meaning my techie husband could) create my trailer in a movie making program. But we had a learning curve and the clock was ticking with the book release, so I decided to create what I could and enlist a designer/editor to put all the elements together.  It worked out great! I had control of content and design and she put it all together with tech glitz.

With book two in my series releasing August 30th, Joshua and the Arrow Realm, I decided to re-visit the same process but go a step further with promotion and have a book trailer reveal. You can signup here for my book trailer reveal with giveaway on August 15th. But first, let’s talk creating.

WHAT I LEARNED ... TIPS TO CREATE:

Write a script and make it brief. Under two minutes. Read it out loud. Some experts say even less than one minute. View two well done examples here of a shortbook trailer and here, and an example of a longer book trailer. To see great book trailers done on small budgets by two of my friends, check out the booktrailer for Kathryn Craft and the book trailer for Kit Grindstaff.

Thrill viewers in the first few seconds.

Introduce the main character and setting and focus on their problem or goal by creating a series of scenes that quickly show the story without summarizing it.

End with a cliffhanger. Don’t give away the ending!

Script it with the theme of the book in mind. Time each slide with the copy and music. My trailer for Joshua and the Lightning Road is 100 words. Think of how to show the story while keeping excitement levels high. Less is generally more.

On a budget? Simpler can be better. In Joshua and the Lightning Road trailer I used one video and one song. My editor added in a few other animated elements.

Purchase affordable video clips and music (or find for free. See resources below) to incorporate after you’ve scripted. Keep in mind the approximate length of your trailer before purchasing any clips. 

Practice reading the script aloud with the music, allowing a few seconds for each slide. Purchasing a longer music track is fine as you can use what portions fit the trailer best.

Include your book cover, blurbs, and publication information at the end of the trailer.

Bottom line: go for simple and classy vs. complicated and cheesy.

RESOURCES:

Music I use: 300Monks.
Can search by genre, mood, or setting. Most under $50.
For free music check out Free StockMusic.

Video/photos I use: iStock. For my recent trailer in production now, I purchased 3 video clips from Essentials Videos (lowest priced). The Signature Videos are more expensive. Total was $170 in credits purchased but I found a 20% off coupon and it cost me $136.
Other resources: ThinkStock, VideoBlocks, and Fotolia. For free photos search Unsplash and Gratisography.

Editor/designer hired:  Depends on time involved. It pays to have all of your elements, copy, and vision prepared before working with an editor as more revisions can mean higher cost unless you agree on a set amount. Feeling techie? Than try a movie making program like iMovie or watch a tutorial on Windows Movie Maker. Or tryFiverr!

Here is a great Pinterest board with 1,000 book trailer ideas and tips. Check outfour well done book trailers that are professionally done but provide great examples of what works well in a book trailer as far as timing, suspense, and music.

I highly recommend my designer, AmandaFroehlich. She also created my bookmarks, business cards, and poster!

PROMOTION TIPS:

Host an onlinebook trailer reveal. Ask bloggers to participate in revealing your book trailer on the same day. Include an excerpt and a Rafflecopter giveaway (participants can gain more entries by following you on social media. Extra bonus for you!). Here's an example of a giveaway in my book trailer reveal. All products I already have on hand for many uses, except for the gift card. See what you have on hand already of value to include!:

Upload your book trailer to  Vimeo and YouTube (it’s the #2 search engine in the world because Google owns it. Yup, that’s the world’s #1 search engine).

Link your trailer in these places:
Website home page (having it embedded on your home page boosts your SEO which increases searchability for your website)
Thunderclap campaign (see example of mine)
LinkedIn Profile
Twitter profile
Amazon author page
Email signature
Instagram
Other social media!

Promote your trailer in your social media outlets, author newsletter, and on your blog.

Play your trailer at book events and school visits, if a children’s author. From my experience, including your trailer in your presentation is a BIG draw at school visits and inspires students and librarians to purchase your book. Tip: request that the teachers/librarians coordinating the school visit play your trailer before your visit to introduce your book to them and get them excited about it! 

Research video distribution services. I haven’t used them but hereis an article reviewing services, some free and some paid. Here’s one company, COS Productions, that focuses on book trailer production and you can purchase video distribution separately if you create your own trailer.

Video has longevity. I still get mileage out of my trailer at school visits, re-posting on social media, and at book events.

Have fun! 

And don’t forget, if you have a blog, I'd love for you to signup to be part of my trailer reveal for Joshua and the Arrow Realm on August 15th! 

There is so much more to know about making book trailers and promotion out there. Authors and designers, share your tips here! Readers, what do you like in a book trailer? Share a favorite! 

Review of Lauren Oliver's CURIOSITY HOUSE: THE SHRUNKEN HEAD (by: guest reviewer Kira Lemke)

Hello Mayhemers!

Marissa here. Today, I'm delighted to welcome to the blog a good friend of mine, Kira Lemke, who has read and reviewed Lauren Oliver's forthcoming THE SHRUNKEN HEAD, the first installment in THE CURIOSITY HOUSE series.

First, let me introduce you to Kira. Kira Lemke is a student at Providence Classical Christian School. She has three novels in process on Storybird as KiraNoelle. When she isn't studying or writing, she likes to paint, bake, and keep her younger siblings in line. Some of her favorite things are tardigrades, giant squids, Ancient Egypt, and sensorimotor neural engineering.

Here's what Kira had to say about THE SHRUNKEN HEAD:

"Pippa, Max, Sam, and Thomas are four orphans with remarkable abilities who reside in Dumphrey’s Dime Museum of Freaks, oddities, and Wonders, still reeling from the Great Depression and recent lack of public interest in freak shows.

In a last ditch effort to save the museum, Mr. Dumphrey procures the supposed shrunken head of an Amazonian chief. Everything seems to be going splendid- record crowds, women fainting in horror- until the head is stolen. The four children band together in an effort to save the head, the museum, and themselves.

 Mysteries and mysterious abilities are all well and good, but, quite frankly, the superhuman and the unknown populate every other book on the middle grade bookshelf. And for a good reason- unusual abilities add a layer of excitement, of novelty, of escape from normal life, and ambiguity is crucial for plot and suspense- but each new novel needs to find its special niche to set it a cut above the rest. For The Shrunken Head, it’s character.

There is a place, between upper middle grade and young adult, where a child reads both and fits in neither. Standard middle grade plots begin to seem a bit childish, but young adult is still a bit too mature. The key to bridging this gap is not to read exclusively Charles Dickens (and I’m speaking from experience here), but to read books with good characters. Young adult won’t get any less mature, but good characters can add a layer of sophistication to any middle grade novel, a tricky gamut The Shrunken Head runs effortlessly. Pippa, Max, Sam, and Thomas are all clearly children, but each deals with problems common to all age groups. Though the obstacle in question (e.g., reading minds) may never be encountered, the underlying emotion (e.g., fear of failure) is far too familiar. With such masterful writing, The Shrunken Head will appeal to all age groups.

The genius of the children is not limited to relatability. Each child has a distinct voice easily recognizable from the others. Now, yes, in most books, you can tell which character is speaking. Oliver and Chester have turned this into an art form. Max is so Max, and Sam is so Sam, that the otherwise unremarkable fundamental building block of writing becomes one of the book’s crowning jewels.

This book is exactly what middle grade needs. I’d recommend it to anyone."

Kira, thank you so much for joining the Mayhem and sharing your thoughts on THE SHRUNKEN HEAD!

It is now available for pre-order from your favorite book-seller or library and will be on shelves 9/29/2015. Happy reading! :) 

Christmas Stocking Must for Young MG Readers by Shannon O'Donnell

 
The Unicorns Secret Series

by Kathleen Duey

Blurb:

Heart Trilby has no family. She lives a hard and lonely life in the dusty village of Ash Grove -- until she finds a scarred, skinny mare in the forest. Against the wishes of her guardian, mean-spirited Simon Pratt, Heart adopts the mare and names her Avamir. Heart is thrilled when she realizes Avamir is in foal. But when the colt is born weak and disfigured, Simon decides to sell Heart's beloved horses to be slaughtered by the town's soapmaker. Can Heart find a way to protect them -- and the only love she has ever known?

I have shared this series with each of my three children, and each of them loved it. Even though it is probably more girl than boy book, there is a strong boy character that my sons loved. The first time I read these books was when my almost-18-year-old was only six. We bought the first three at a school book fair and read them aloud together. 

While it is marketed as a "Ready-for-Chapters" title, the vocabulary is often more challenging than that, and I recommend it as a wonderful series through at least 7th grade, especially for horse or unicorn loving readers.

There are eight titles in this series, and each of them is a true delight to read. They have even been given updated, redesigned covers, which are beautiful and more appealing to today's kids. If you have any young MG readers to buy for, I HIGHLY recommend this title!

Giveaway: THE FOUNDRY'S EDGE, hosted by: Marissa Burt

Hi Mayhemers!

Today, I'm introducing you to THE FIRST BOOK OF ORE: THE FOUNDRY'S EDGE.

From the jacket copy:

"For Phoebe Plumm, life in Meridian revolves around trading pranks with irksome servant Micah Tanner and waiting for her renowned father, Dr. Jules Plumm, to return home. Chief surveyor for the Foundry, a global corporation with control of metal production and technology, Phoebe's father is in the field for months at a time. But when a sudden and unexpected reunion leads to father and daughter's being abducted, Phoebe and would-be hero Micah find themselves stranded in a stunning and volatile alien world - one that has been ruthlessly plundered by the Foundry for centuries and is the secret source of every comfort and innovation the two refugees have ever known.

Cam Baity and Benny Zelkowicz have fashioned an intensely inventive, engaging, and thought-provoking tale of two worlds on a collision course and the two young rivals who find themselves on the front line. THE FOUNDRY'S EDGE is the first book in a trilogy that will transport young readers down a mechanical rabbit hole and send them on an adventure that explores the hidden costs of indulgence, the perils of unchallenged nationalism, and the world-altering power of compassion and conviction."

And the authors have provided us with a copy to give away! This giveaway will run until Friday 10/17, midnight PST, and I'll select and notify the winner shortly thereafter. Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

STORY'S END giveaway

WINNERS SELECTED: Congratulations to: Dawn Lindsay, viktorija, and Sheena-kay Graham. Check your inbox for an e-mail, and happy reading!  M

I can hardly believe it's time to announce that STORY'S END is now out in paperback.  Hooray!

To celebrate, I'm giving away three signed copies of the paperback.  Enter below anytime between now and midnight PST Friday April 11, and I'll contact the winners shortly thereafter.

Thanks for reading!


a Rafflecopter giveaway