How to make a book trailer using Windows Movie Maker

When it comes to selling your book there are a number of ways to do that, but marketing is extremely difficult. It is time consuming, it does not produce instant results and it can be a very awkward thing for writers to do. We all wish for a marketing team via an agent to talk us up to the public and tell the world’s media what a genius writer we are but when you decide to self-publish, it is all down to you.

Having done some research and spoken to a few writers who have already published their books or stories, one common thread was there to see: all spoke about the importance of book trailers.

Think of it as a movie trailer, the very same ones that you have been watching since you first stepped inside a movie theatre. A book trailer is exactly that, only with words or images that best represent your book.

With YouTube it is so easy to publish your own movie on-line, it does not guarantee an audience but it is another way of getting your work out there and recognised. You can also share the trailer on Facebook; Twitter; your blog and your website.

But how do you make a book trailer?

Easy, well, sort of easy and it can be very simple.

Most of us will know and have Windows Movie Maker (if you’re an Apple user, then I’m sorry, stop reading now. I’ve never owned an Apple.)

First of all open Windows Movie Maker from your desktop, this will then give you the options. You can now start making your movie!

On your left will be the working page where you can add your work, to the right is the timeline which you use to add music, effects, alter the order and get a feeling of length.

Adding Text

For book trailers I would recommend using text more than images, but you can obviously do whatever you like to promote your work. To add text you click on Add Title and just type what you want to appear on that screen; once done click across to the timeline and it will appear. You can adjust the time later, first of all get all the scenes together. If you want to add more text just click Add Title again, and again, however many times you need. You can change colour of text and fonts as desired, including altering the background colour. The usual boxes are there as they are in Word and you can play to your heart’s content, there are no rules!

If you would like to add images or video then click Add Photos/Video, I would not recommend using Webcam Video or Snapshot unless your PC has a powerful camera.

Setting the time is also very simple. The system defaults to 7 seconds per scene and I feel this is too long. Depending on your text, 3 to 4 seconds is enough (imagine it as a movie trailer), you don’t need the words to linger any longer than they have to; to make it look professional your trailer needs to have pace. I added photos to my book trailer and wanted it to be as quick as possible, you can only go down to 1 second, but I would have preferred something quicker than that. In order to set the time click on Text Duration and away you go.

Effects

You have many options to add visual effects and animation and you should be able to see the options on the menu bar at the top. You can do so much now with your text and images; there are slow fades; cross fades; you can change the colour; make it negative; scratched etc, anything actually that you can do in your photo gallery. Personally I prefer the option to fade in slowly between scenes and this adds an air of professionalism to your trailer. Remember that this is selling your work, make a trailer as easy on the eye as possible.

Adding music is also very easy once you have completed your timeline of scenes. Click Add Music and then choose a file from your PC. BEWARE OF COPYRIGHT! You cannot use music from your favourite album or movie, instead, if you are not musical, then there are royalty free websites you can use or you can pay for short pieces to use. Browse away. You can also add sound effects at this point and again this needs to be from a royalty free website. Alternatively, you can do your own and as you would own the copyright there would be no problem. After all, how easy would it be to record the sea, or traffic noise, or a heart-beat.

Once you have your files you can add them to your timeline and then use your mouse to extend or shorten it to fit with your scenes. Once you have the hang of it, it does get easier. What I do is constantly view the trailer using the PLAY button on the left to re-assess what I need to do and keep the feel of it.

Add Credits then lets you end the trailer. You don’t have to do this if you have added enough text, but it is the norm to end a trailer with details of the work and who it is by, much like a movie trailer at the cinema.

Time to share; there are instant links to Facebook; Twitter and Youtube. Click on Save Movie from the drop-down menu on the left and use Recommended for this project. This will then ensure that the movie is saved in a file suitable to be shared wherever. Note that you can also Burn to a DVD if you wish.

The first trailer I made for my book I wanted as a teaser trailer, in order to just get something out there. It is very simple, lasting only 20 seconds, I used a couple of photos I had taken and blended them in with short messages. The music I got was from a royalty free website by Kevin Macleod. This composer has made several pieces available and his music seems to fit nicely with trailers. I would recommend giving him a Google!

For my second trailer, which still needs sound, I wanted to give a better feel of the book and wanted to emulate the opening to Star Wars. I couldn’t quite do that, but the colours worked and I chose to use the opening of the book for the trailer. Then used the Credits to add where the book is available and my details. This trailer is longer, lasting almost a minute. I am looking to add my own sound effects to it very shortly before I publish it on social networks.

My advice would be to have a go, don’t make it boring and that less is more. You don’t need to give your audience all of the book, just enough to generate some interest. Many movie trailers use short snaps quickly edited to get attention. Study some of them at IMDB.com, if you see some you like then try and emulate them. The longer movie trailers tend to drag on and I feel that I don’t need to see the movie at all. Treat your trailer the same and play, have fun, it is very enjoyable creating your own movie.

So go for it and let me know how you do, I would love to see some trailers.