Well, the trailer is complete and I like the results. I hope others do as well. For those who are interested, here’s a brief overview of how I made it.

Number One: Come up with a plan

The first hurdle was coming up with the concept for it. Since the book is a collection of short stories, I had to decide if I should focus on just a few of those stories in the trailer, or take a different approach. In the first incarnation of the trailer, I chose to highlight a few of the stories, but it just wasn’t working. So, I scrapped that idea and started over. Rather than choosing any one (or three) stories, I choose to utilize mood. I wanted to give the book trailer the feel of an intro to a television show.

If you want to make a trailer for your own book, come up with a solid idea of how you want it to look before you get started.

Number Two: The Music

For me, the music came second. I had written and recorded the music* I used some time ago, and I thought it would work for that ‘TV intro’ concept I wanted for the trailer. It was a good length, dark and creepy – just what I needed. The ‘Lost-style’ whispers at the beginning of the trailer were a royalty free resource through FreeSound via my video editing program. Check out some of the royalty free sites for trailer’s music if you do not have the time or equipment to make your own.

*I used an Epiphone Les Paul (classic quilt top) electric guitar as well as a Schecter (Diamond Series) electric bass. To get the sounds right – they don’t exactly sound like a regular guitar or bass on the track – I used DigiTech effects pedals. I recorded into Guitar Tracks Pro, tweaked a bit, and I was good to go.

Number Three: Find the appropriate images/footage

Many book trailers use still images, and that works great in many cases. I chose to use video instead because I thought it would work well with the overall design I wanted for the trailer. You can find many great sites on the web that offer royalty free still images as well as stock footage. I used Pond 5, and got the footage for great rates. Pond 5 also has other royalty free goodies. Check out http://www.sxc.hu/ for some great, free photos too.

Number Four: Learn your editing program

If you take the time to become familiar with the program you are using (I used Power Director 8), it will make it much easier when you are getting ready to put your trailer together. Learn how to add text, effects, picture in picture, and everything else that you might want to do with your book trailer. Put everything together piece by piece and make sure the music matches the imagery. It will take some time, trial and error, and a lot of tweaking to get everything right.

Overall, I spent less than a hundred dollars, including the cost of the program, to make the trailer. The greatest ‘cost’ was time, but it was worth it.

Of course, you don’t have to spend as much as I did on your own trailer. If you have a PC, you can use Windows Movie Maker for your editing software. Macs come with iMovie. They are bare bone tools, but they get the job done. You can find free and cheap photos and music for your trailers in many different places online, and you can do it for next to nothing. Just get creative. Watch as many book trailers as you can, see what they did right, and make the best damn book trailer you can!