Indie Book Collective discussion

Recently I've been trying to make my first book trailer and found out that it's not easy. Can someone help me make it step by step? Or...........if you're not busy...........can you make my book trailer........for me???? I know it sounds weird but it be great.

Email me, carlos.advincola@gmail.com or message me on Goodreads with your response. Thanks and God Bless.

Check you email

I did thank you so much

Lenny, great videos! Did you make them yourself? By the way, the first link takes you to a Dr. Oz book, but I found your video when I watched the second one.

What program did you use? I used the free Windows Live Movie Maker, and you don't get too many options with that, but it's probably about all my poor little techno-challenged brain can handle.

Yes, I want to see!! One of the women on an Amazon Forum had one professionally made that is awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...

She paid $75 for that. Short and sweet, but the special effects on the titles are amazing. I want those!!!!

Here's my simple little trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It9YGW...

Now that I've fooled with the program a little more, I'd like to make some changes, but can't figure out any way to keep the same YouTube address (and it's plastered over half the internet, so don't want to lose it).

Thanks!

Wow! Good job! And thanks for the compliment about mine.

I had mine done on fiverr.com for $5. You can view the results on my author page but I think it looks good. Of course if you're familiar with fiverr.com you would know it was done there. LOVE fiverr.com - also had someone there do my facebook landing page which was more professional then I could have ever done myself.

Leonardo wrote: "Hi All,

I've just posted two trailers on the graphic novel I wrote titled, "Haven". It's about a descendant of the Dante family line who fights the nine circles of hell in present day.

Here they ..."
Good job Leonardo!

Stacy, that is fantastic for $5!! Can't beat the price.

I've loved looking at the trailers. They were inspiring! Just posted mine today....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC9jmk...

Dale wrote: "I've loved looking at the trailers. They were inspiring! Just posted mine today....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC9jmk..."

Great job Dale!

Thank you! My twelve year old daughter had to show me how to use windows movie maker. I had no clue what-so-ever how to start!

These are all really great. I've been thinking about one, but...well, I've thought about it.

CD, if you've ever done PowerPoint presentations, they're very similar. Go for it!

mountainmama wrote: "CD, if you've ever done PowerPoint presentations, they're very similar. Go for it!"

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about it like that. Definitely makes it more inviting.

I've done one for each of my books:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8WAoh...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by7zYJ...

My daughter even did the music for the second one. A lot of people seem to want to do these for their works these days, but I'm not sure how much benefit there really is. It's difficult to figure out where to spend your time and energy after the writing is finished.

Alan wrote: "I've done one for each of my books:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8WAoh...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by7zYJ...

My daughter even did the music for the second one. A lot of people seem t..."

Those are amazing, Alan! What program did you use?

Thank you! I used the animation features in Photoshop for the visuals and combined them with sound in iMovie (I'm on a Mac) but I imagine you could do similar with the Moviemaker in Windows.

Graphic design is what I do to actually earn some money — writing is only a hobby at this stage — so it was something I enjoyed doing. :)

OK Alan, I feel a little better about my little amateur attempt then.

You've done a nice job with yours, better than many I've seen to be sure! It would be nice to know just how helpful they are. Promotion is absolutely the hardest thing we do as writers.

Yes, it would be nice to know what, if anything, works best for promotion!

Carlos wrote: "Recently I've been trying to make my first book trailer and found out that it's not easy. Can someone help me make it step by step? Or...........if you're not busy...........can you make my book tr..."

I'm actually here to help make book trailers for indie writers. I just did one for Sharon L Reddy and am finishing one up for Mark Whiteway and his Lodestone series. I am a professional filmmaker and editor and do graphics for these to keep the cost way down. I don't want this to sound like a shameless promotion so please, realize that I get $75 an hour to edit and do graphics but am doing the trailers starting at $75.
The things that get you noticed are the very things that set you apart. A great graphics trailer is not a guarantee but it could really help.
Here is a page on Facebook that I created for this purpose as well http://www.facebook.com/TrailersforBooks you can see some of the trailers others have posted and the one I most recently made For Sharon.

The Power point option is a really good idea as well.
In fact there is a guy that does his SEO pitch that has a great tutorial set on how to do this on Video Boss.
I think his name is Andy.
The thing to remember is the purpose of a trailer is not to do "Just like" anyone else. It is to set yourself apart. I am also willing to give advice on editing and where to get stock footage, graphics and great tutorial videos on how to use affordable software.
Just let me know how I can honestly help.

Rob, I've seen your video for Sharon Reddy - the graphics are amazing. I've given your name out to several people. I can make them for free, but they don't compare to yours!! I use free program, Windows Live Movie Maker, but have heard of others using PowerPoint. What do you use? With the awesome graphics I can only imagine how steep the learning curve is on whatever you use.

Oh yeah, it is a Fractal puzzle. Adobe Master collection has Premiere Pro and After Effects I use that mostly and I have several Sony software tools I use as well. I basically have a very short learning curve and dedicated the last year or so to figuring out how not to make myself look like a beginner.
I also have some nice HD cameras and a list of actors and crew to shoot high quality video.
This is why I am here though, There is no way to stand out unless you are a graphic artist and willing to dedicate those hours to your own project to get a professional video.
The other writer commented that he made three flash videos and they are very cool, but can he make one for you? Will he? I found a reasonable medium and am hoping not to be the only one doing this. I want to bring other graphic artists here to facilitate videos for writers at the lowest price we can.
I am just as impressed with the creativity that many of the writers have put into their own promotional videos and am in no way here to criticize. I know what it takes to make those videos with limited tools and still pull it off.
I would have to say that even at the lowest priced after effects can be leased from Adobe monthly for about 100 and then one could go to stock footage websites and get templates to create something cool.
those are usually around 50- 90 bucks and you still have to customize them to say what you want. so at least ten hours of your own time not including installing and getting everything working.
All said for the DIY is animated 3d looking titles and particles are going to be around 400 plus you have to spend your time. DIWO (Do It With Others) on the other hand helps editors get practice with credit and potential better paying work by providing a resource that is truly valuable to the writers that discover our little group.

Well, Rob, that program is certainly not in the budget of most indies (who usually have ZERO budget), so I'll keep passing on the word for you. Good luck!

mountainmama wrote: "Well, Rob, that program is certainly not in the budget of most indies (who usually have ZERO budget), so I'll keep passing on the word for you. Good luck!"

I just finished another one if anyone wants to give notes. I can't think of a better place to hone the craft. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2MtKP...
A few more animations in this one.

One word - AWESOME!! Mark will be thrilled!

Wow, some really excellent trailers. Lenny, the "Haven" trailer is fantastic. I had no idea you could get that kind of results with MovieMaker.
I have been using an open source program called Blender. The learning curve is a little steep but there are a ton of video tutorials that show how you can use it to create 3D animation.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...#
This is my first attempt but I know I can improve on it.

That's cool, AG!

Check out my trailer at http://www.robbibryant.com/BOOKS.html

Very nice, Robbi. Did you do that yourself?

I put together using Windows Live Movie Maker. Though I prefer the using the older versions as 2.6 or 6.0 as they have more functionality. There are a few free royalty-free sites out there to get stuff from.

kozzi.com (Pictures)
partnersinrhyme.com (Audio)
imocompetech.com (Audio)
bottledvideo.com (Video clips)
[If you know of anymore let me know please.] :)

Here is one I put together for the book I am currently writing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-k9ee...

Nice, Luna. Love the music. Thanks for the other info too. I've used danosongs.com for music too.

Hey all, I made this trailer using Final Cut Pro and Motion for my young adult novel. (I have some professional video editing experience.)

http://www.goodreads.com/videos/show/...

All of the footage is public domain and the music is Nine Inch Nails Ghosts I-IV (available under a Creative Commons License.) Archive.org is a great resource.

Nadria
Darwin, Singer

What avenues are you all getting your trailers out to?

I also had mine done on fiverr.com and the person did a really good job on it. I've had two trailers made one for my first novel, A Lion's Pride, and a second for my upcoming novel, A Rebel Star. Both trailers are up on my website: www.alyssarae.com and also on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvzPl...