So it turns out book trailers are a thing. Now I’m not talking about a trailer full of books. No, that would be a bookmobile. Stay with me here – it’s a movie trailer but for a book. I know, it seems so simple now, doesn’t it? It also seems kind of silly to create video footage and visuals for an otherwise non-visual medium. Books are meant to engage your imagination and put your mind’s eye to work, right? Well there lies the challenge.
Once I was introduced to the concept, it also compelled my hyperactive brain to see what I could come up with. At the core, book trailers are intended to help build hype surrounding a title that is coming soon or newly released. Similarly to a movie trailer, you just want to tease your audience without giving anything away. A major difference between the two though, is casting. In a movie, it’s all about who is starring in it. I suppose the same could be said for a book, but in a completely different way. Fictional characters should be up to the reader to imagine and picture in their mind, so a book trailer needs to be very careful not to provide any distinct, identifying information. You want to use overly generic footage, or B-roll if you will, so the reader is still free to imagine things as they see fit. The tricky part then is creating a trailer that doesn’t provide any distinct features, doesn’t give away any details, yet still somehow manages to draw in and captivate the audience. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so simple, huh? Well needless to say, based on the title of this post, I decided to give it my best effort.
A couple of months ago I began laying out an over-arching storyboard. I began planning shots that I was confident I could capture, and that would fit the subject matter. I uploaded it all into an amazing little app that came stock on my phone, and within hours – viola! So without further adieu, please let me introduce you to my first book trailer production for Crossfire – the upcoming sequel to my outlaw biker novel Crossroads:
Leave a comment below and let me know how you think it turned out!
CK Fiction 