When I published my first book in 2011, book trailers were all the rage. They were relatively new at the time and came in all shapes and sizes. Then, it seemed they went out of style. I remember hearing, “No one does those anymore.”
I did my own research and found, as is often the case with “intelligence,” the first report was inaccurate. Book trailers are still alive and well, which didn’t surprise me due to the growth in video popularity across all platforms. Armed with this current marketing news, I set forth to create a trailer for my latest book.
I share this story with blog readers, many of whom are writers, because I wished I’d read a post like this before I started. I tried a variety of software programs recommended online, but none clicked with my non-tech brain. Then, a writer friend recommended I try Microsoft’s built-in Video Editor program. Why not? So, I headed to my best source for learning things like this, Kevin Stratvert, followed his directions, and created a decent trailer.
I say “decent” because one of Microsoft Video Editor’s shortcomings is the lack of transitions between video frames. The harsh transitions didn’t work for this project, so I consulted Kevin’s YouTube channel again to watch 5 BEST FREE Video Editors video. I now had small moving images created from my first effort and applied them to the OpenShot video editing program which allowed me to create the needed transitions. Yay!
I also decided at this point that the free music clip I’d included from the Microsoft Video Editor program wasn’t exactly what I wanted. I purchased a new clip from AudioJungle for a reasonable price, and I was happy with the outcome. I mention this because I’m glad I didn’t settle with what was easier and sort of worked the first time around. Here is the result for the Believing In Horses Out West book trailer. My answer is to the title question is – yes to book trailers.