Creating an Indie Book Trailer, Part One

by T G Campbell

Time and time again, I’ve heard comments along the line of “being a successful independent author is 10% writing and 90% marketing”. It’s true that, as independents, the responsibility of getting our books, short stories, poems et cetera in front of the people who matter—the readers—is completely our own. Often, we have non-existent—if not very limited—financial budgets, and time restrictions which have tremendous impacts on our marketing potential. Consequentially, there’s a temptation to go “cheap but cheerful” in our marketing material. We assume—rightly or wrongly—our audience will forgive the lower quality on account of us being independents. Being without the backing of a giant publishing house, or even a reputable agent, we feel like it’s us against the world, and so rely on this rebel-like image as an excuse if something goes wrong. I say this because I’ve been guilty of doing the same in the past.

When it came to creating an original trailer for my Bow Street Society book series, I started by looking at existing trailers in my genre. I found trailers by authors belonging to the big five publishing houses. Naturally, these were big budget, movie-like epics which left the viewer breathless and wanting more. They were slick, impressive, but also looked very expensive. Nonetheless, I emailed a production company listed as a producer on a YouTube book trailer. The trailer featured locations, characters, and book set in the same era as my own—Victorian London. All I requested from the company was a quote regarding the cost of hiring them to create a book trailer for me. I didn’t receive a reply. I can’t prove their lack of response was due to the fact I’d told them I was an independent author, but the rebel in me said this was probably the case.

Never mind. I returned to the other book trailers I’d bookmarked on YouTube, and watched them for the tenth time. With the exception of two or three, the majority were of PowerPoint slideshows depicting stock images and/or stock music. The fonts were difficult to read and/or inappropriate for the book’s genre, e.g. Comic Sans, and the music was also ill-fitting. I understood why the creator had done what they’d done though: PowerPoint is cheap. In comparison to filming original content, having professional photographs taken, and a composer create an original music score, the resources used were cheap, too. We’re back to the issue of low budgets and/or time restrictions, again. Unfortunately, the end product looked—at least in my humble opinion—“cheap and cheerful”. It didn’t compel me to buy the book, or even visit the website.

All becomes the same cookies over and over again!

There’s also another pitfall to be considered when using stock images and/or stock film: anyone can use them. While there’s certainly a valid argument for using stock resources (they’re cheap, and it’s what you do with them that counts), you’re still running the risk of having the same content as 500 other authors. This was the main reason why I chose not to use stock images, film, and/or music in my trailer.

I also chose not to use PowerPoint. Like everyone else, I have budget and time restrictions on my marketing plans. Yet, I don’t want those to be an excuse for producing a poor quality trailer. I wasn’t going to allow them to convince me to hire someone else to produce a poor quality trailer, either. Yes, I’m an independent author and, yes, I don’t have the backing of one of the big five publishing houses. None of those things mean I can’t produce a high quality trailer though. In fact, it was those things—and the lack of response from the production company—which gave me the determination to create something that could rival the trailers of the traditionally published authors.

At the point of writing this article, I’ve created a storyboard and script for my trailer. I’ve also found a hugely talented composer who’s willing to create an original music score, for free, in exchange for exposure. In addition to this, I have an artist on board, a chosen location for the live-action segments, and a decent quotation for high-quality costumes. There’s still a long way to go but I know I’ll get there in the end.

For now, though, I want to share my journey. Undoubtedly, there’ll be independent authors reading this who are thinking of creating a book trailer. I hope that by sharing the obstacles I’ve encountered/will encounter, and the ways of overcoming them, I’ll prove you don’t need Spielberg budgets to create blockbuster book trailers.

Next time: CREATING AN INDIE BOOK TRAILER Part Two: The Power of Networking

T G Campbell is a crime novelist that resides in Modern Day England, though she'd probably wanted to have lived in Victorian London. She is best known for her Bowstreet Society mysteries. You can find out more about T G here.