How to Make Book Trailers - A Master Class (Actually Just My Process)

Have you ever wondered how book trailers are made? Have you ever thought, "I wish I could do that..."

Well, I can't tell you how all book trailers are made, but I can tell you how my book trailers are made. I'm also happy to inform you that you can do it! You can do it without any of the following:

• Money

• Subscriptions

• Experieince

If I can, you can. I promise.

You do have to have:

• A computer

• Time

• Determination

• A willingness to learn

With that understood, let's start with three examples so that you know what I mean when I say "book trailer."

I created all three of these on my own with free resources. The first one took me 4 months. The second took me 2.5 months. The third one took me 3 weeks.

Dare I say, the quality improves with each? You can probably see how I began to explore with different formats, timing, and things such as credits (in the third trailer). I'm learning with each trailer I made, and that's making me faster and it's allowing me to put out products that are higher quality each time.

That's mostly irrelevant. The point is, I created all three of these with the same resources (with one exception). These are the sites and programs I used:

Pixabay - Audio

Pixabay is where I found many of my videos and, more importantly, my audio. If you want royalty-free music, this is the place to go!

There isn't a downside to using Pixabay. It doesn't require an account, there aren't any limits on downloads, and they have loads of free content!

This is their licensing agreement:

As you can see, you're perfectly free to make book trailers with any of the content you can find on their website. That includes all of the awesome trailer music you hear in the three trailers above.

Pexels - Videos

Pexels is my main source for videos. They have an incredible amount of high-quality videos on... pretty much every topic.

Much like with Pixabay, there is no downside. You don't have to sign up, there are no download limits, and the licensing is broad. You can even edit the videos as much as you want, which, in my case, is very useful. It means I can repurpose one video as many times as I need to with as many alterations as I can dream up.

CapCut - Editing Software

You had to know this was coming! CapCut is an AMAZING resource! The stipulation here is that you must have the PC version if you want to get anything done in any amount of time.

This resource is the one that I have to add a caveat to. I made the first two trailers with the free version of CapCut, but for Web of Gold, I caved and got the Pro version. I didn't have to have it, by any means. It just makes things a little easier on me, and it's only $10 a month, so I choose to make it fit.

CapCut is probably the central reason I was able to get so much faster at creating with each book trailer. Take a look at the screenshot below:

I have 6 audio layers running for the first 17 seconds. I'm not even going to show you the layers upon layers of effects, filters, texts, and more... The point is, trying to manage this on a phone is impossible. Plus, you don't have CLOSE to as many options on the mobile app as you do through the PC version.

My Step-By-Step

Now that you know what I use, I want to share how I go about using these things.

My process might seem a little strange, but after endless hours and 3 book trailers, I think I've settled on what works for me.

Step 1. Music

Yeah... I know that's probably not what you were expecting. BUT! Hear me out.

My first step is scrolling through my royalty-free music options on Pixabay. It helps me figure out the tones I'm going for (no pun intended), and the speed of the project.

The three book trailers above have different beginnings, endings, moods, and intensity arcs. I like to think that I was pretty intentional with matching all of those things to the specific book. Listening to some different ideas helps me build a mental framework.

• Is there silence that I can use?

• Do I want to use silence?

• How slow is the start?

• How Impactful is the start?

• Can I put words in that space?

• How long is the climax vs the opening and the closing?

• Is the closing long enough to support information on the book?

And so on, and so forth. I'm thinking of all these things while I'm listening to different pieces. I usually end up dowloading 2-3 options and listening to them side-by-side a few times. With my options narrowed down, I'm able to start thinking specifically about what piece of the story I want to tell, which leads me to...

Step 2. Plotting

You know, like plotting a book?

You have to figure out what you want to say, and then you can decide how to say it.

For example, the structure of the Web of Gold book trailer kind of goes like this:

1. Opening - end of book (I had a specific, spoilery scene in mind, hence the shouts, the explosions, and so on)

2. Climax, - middle of book (I drew in specific elements from the story that readers of TND and Coded Humanity might recognize and assign meaning to)

3. Ending - end of the book (again, I went back to a specific scene that is VERY spoilery, but that I hoped would build some tension for the viewer)

Now, this is very general, but note that I had specific scenes in mind that I was working with. I had some options, but I ultimately ended up with this because I thought the story would be more engaging/easier to tell.

With Web of Gold being my third book trailer, I have a fairly good idea of what my resources have to offer in terms of content, which leads me to the third step in my process:

Step 3. Downloading Content

This is where we open Pixabay and Pexels side-by-side, and we start guessing (at least, I do).

Let me just say, if you're building an action trailer, you're going to have as difficult a time as I do finding videos that work. The free options aren't as gritty as I would like, mostly due to licensing, content warnings, and all that stuff. If you're building a romance book trailer, you will be just fine and have no issues.

However, since I wanted p*nch*ng, st*bbing, k**ling, bl**d, and other harsh things, it meant I was fighting for my life (no pun intended again).

With this step, I go through searching keywords and downloading any video that I might be interested in using.

Yes, you read that right. I download them all.

My main tip? If you find a video you like, scroll down to the "similar" options and shop there. Pay attention to what keywords the OPs are using so that you can search those keywords later.

My other main tip? Don't worry about color. That's something you can adjust in CapCut.

My other other main tip? Look at the video as a whole and in scraps. Can you use a corner? Can you use one second? Can you layer it with something else to build a unique piece? Don't get stuck thinking you have to use the entire video. It's called CapCUT for a reason. You're going to scissor the heck out of your content.

I downloaded 112 videos to make a 1:15 long book trailer. Expect to have more layers than an ogre.

Oh, a note: I didn't download all 112 of those before beginning work on my trailer. A lot of them came later when I needed to fill gaps/when I had a better idea of my plan.

Step 4. Open CapCut and Get to Work

One of these days, I'll do a full YT video on my process for piecing together a book trailer, but right now, I'm just going to tell you to start putting some videos in there. This step takes the longest, by far.

If you have an idea for a specific scene, that's great! Start adding the videos you want to portray that scene, and start lining them up with the music in an interesting way.

Just like I didn't download all 112 videos at once, don't get stuck if one of your videos isn't your favorite. It's VERY easy to replace videos in CapCut without messing anything up.

At this point in the process, I just start structuring the videos with the music. I don't mind too much about specific videos in specific places, other than getting the general idea in place.

Hot tip: If you know you want words in a spot, just use a picture as a placeholder until you're ready to get there. I use a black screen that I downloaded from Google. It allows me to put words right on top without having to adjust anything.

Confession: I will typically build the beginning, stick a photo in for the middle, then build the end. It's probably not the best way to do it, but it works for me.

Step 5. Add Any Words

If you want words in your trailer, now is the time to put them in. You should have figured the specific words out during your Plotting stage, but I also understand if that didn't work. I never get the words down until the very very end... so...

Step 6. Fine Tuning

I label this step with the understanding that I've gone through the entire book trailer, structured it with videos, chopped them to bits, and made a beautiful puzzle.

What I call "fine-tuning" is actually an essential part of my process. This step is where I go through, add any color filters, effects, and transitions that I want.

Let's take it back to the example of the Web of Gold trailer. I knew I had credits in, I knew where they went, and what they said. During my fine-tuning process, I put the word-effects in, added the background words, and changed the color of "Alton Conley."

Basically, this is where it all comes together.

Conclusion

My process might not work for you, but maybe this is a starting point!

I hope it's been of some help to you. Being an author is tough enough without trying to do everything on your own. If you have questions, just drop them in the comments section. I'll do everything I can to answer you faithfully and clearly.

Until then, thanks for reading!

~Leah Jubilee.