Blog by VONNIE DAVIS -- International, Award-Winning Romance Author: Adventurous...Humorous...Amorous.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Book Trailers

One of the new ways to promote one's book is the book trailer. Similar to a movie trailer, they are about a novel. I'd looked at a few used by other romance writers and marveled at their creativity. So as the date of Calvin's book release drew near, I wondered if I could make one for him. Of course it would help if I knew how...

My son suggested Windows Movie Maker that I probably had on my computer. Clueless me, I never knew it was there, but sure enough there it was in my list of programs. Since Calvin's book is set in Paris, I went through our photos from a trip there, chosing some that seemed rather timeless. His story takes place in 1968. I cropped all of the pictures to remove the date stamp. Plus I also went to microsofts free clipart site to snag pictures I thought would fit. Then I wrote out short pieces of narration to add to the pictures.

The movie making program has a list of special effects one can use to create visual interst. You can pan over a picture, for example, to create the feel of movement. Lastly add a music tract. Although it sounds easy enough, I will confess to a few tense hours...OK, so it was like sixteen hours of tense moments.

Here's the link to Calvin's book trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PyGoWLfnDc

2 comments:

Cathy Kennedy said...

Excellent job! I like what you and Calvin did for his upcoming book THE PHANTOM LADY OF PARIS. You have me hooked! I want to learn more about this story.

It's ironic. Yesterday, I began researching how to make a book trailer for my upcoming children's book due this fall. The information you provided has come at a great time.

The publishing industry has changed like so many others. The bygone era of authors waiting for leads--book signings, talk shows,... provided to them by the publisher are vanishing. But, that doesn't mean we have to vanish right along with it.

Authors are artistic creatures. Our minds are filled with animated scenes always changing until it plays out like a feature movie presentation, and as the images escape our brains merging into words onto our canvas (computer screen), then our masterpiece breathes life. Can we not then sell what we've created with equal enthusisam and panache?

I'm confided, as we morph into marketing experts-of-sorts with a little help from our friends (such as these helpful tid bits you've provided), then we'll rise to meet this challenge, successfully.

Aubrie said...

Book Trailers are a great way to promote! It's so neat that you can use your own pictures from your trip!