Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Putting the trailer before the horse: my book trailer

I'm impressionable. When I read Becca and Angela's blog I thought it might be fun to try to create a trailer for my book and I had to try it RIGHT AWAY.

OK. So Trailers are really for books that are already published or newly published. But what about a trailer to interest editors and agents?

Shelli posted an interview with editor Martha Mihalik at Greenwillow. It's a great interview. Martha openly admits that she checks out blogs. I'm sure many other editors and agents do too. So . . . if we're hoping to entice them . . . why not a trailer to wet their whistle. Make their blog-browsing efforts worth their while.


I got really excited about the idea so I tinkered around a bit on my computer last night and this is what I came up with. I'm not really looking for any critiques. I was just having fun. I'll probably spruce it up some other time. Enjoy!

27 comments:

Kate said...

Very clever! Sounds intriguing. Now, get published so we can read it!

C.R. Evers said...

I'm trying, Kate. I just need to find an editor that feels the same way you do. :0D

Unknown said...

This is an idea I've been tinkering with: go ahead and make a trailer, or not? I think I might copy you and try it out over the weekend....

(PS: Can't comment on yours because YouTube and the like are blocked at work...but will check it out when I get home!)

C.R. Evers said...

You should go for it, Beth! Even if you don't post your trailer, it's still great practice for thinking about how to accentuate the selling points of your story. Plus, it's fun to see your story from a different perspective and with a little more life.

Bish Denham said...

I wanna try it too! But I wanna know how you did it!? Where'd you get the pictures and music? And am I being too nosy? You are all so much more computer savvy than I am. Good job CR!

C.R. Evers said...

Hey Bish! I have an i-movie maker that came with my lap top. All of the pictures are ones that I took. I just dragged and dropped them into the program. I found the music on i-tunes. I knew the kind of sound I wanted, so I looked under that genre til I found one that worked. Then, I was able to drop the song into the i-movie maker too.

Then, I loaded it onto you tube and Voila!

They made the i-movie really easy to use. I just had to play around with it a little bit. I have previous experience with making videos of my kiddo's.

scotlandyardscottie said...

Okay. I adore forebidden love.
I am hopeless romantic.
I can feel the suspense, the heat and the passion.

I am ready to read this book!

Do you mind sharing with us how you do a trailer.
I know nothing about it.

Donna J. Shepherd said...

I have trailers for children's books. One is out, the other releasing soon. They're so much fun. (You can view them here if you wish - http://www.topsyturvyland.com.)

I can see how it would be beneficial as you work on a book because you need to convey the message in a succinct way. Good way to work on your 'elevator pitch.' Your trailer piques my interest. Great idea, and thanks for sharing!

Angela Ackerman said...

That's so cool--I'm so glad you ran with this. I would love to do this myself but I'm poo at technical stuff. I wonder what free software there is out there for this kind of thing? It would be fun to play around.

Now that I think about it, my son's video camera came with some PC software...hmmm...I'll have to look into it and see if something like this can be done with it! Woot!

Kelly Polark said...

That is way cool. I wish I was more techie and could do things like that!

PJ Hoover said...

I am beyond impressed! This is fantastic work!
I didn't make my own trailer, but I plan to play around with learning to do it sometime this year!

C.R. Evers said...

Thanks Scotlandyard! Thanks for stopping by and offering such kind words!!! I use the i-movie application that came w/ my laptop. It seems that a lot of people may be interested in making their own trailers, so I may do some research and see what else is out there and use that as a future post. Hope to see you around!

Donna, thanks for stopping by! I'll have to check out your trailers! :0)

Thanks for the motivation Angela! I may do some research on available software.

Thanks Kelly. Really, if you have user friendly software it's not that hard. If you can keep a blog, then you could do this too.

Wow PJ! Thanks. That means a lot to me! :0)

Nora MacFarlane said...

Ooooh! I have i-movie. I've not played with it though.

I'm also thinking about putting together a book trailer for the MG novel I've just completed. I haven't started the submission process yet. It might be good to have a video in place before I start querying. Hmmm... things to think about!

C.R. Evers said...

Hi Nora! It can be a little confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy. And you can work in small bits. You don't have to do a project in one sitting. You can go at your own pace. Have fun!

Kit said...

Looks great Christy,
I have one, but I'm not sure how much it has changed sales?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPJA0tHDKIk

Kit Grady

Adrienne said...

Ooh, I'm intrigued. Your trailer definitely got my interest.
I love the idea of doing a trailer for a WIP...it's a great way to focus on the desired outcome, too.

C.R. Evers said...

Thanks for stopping by kit!

Hey Adrienne! I have a feeling that you'd be able to create a super cool trailer! And thnx for the encouragement! :0)

Brenda said...

I love it! I've just figured out how to download music to my iPod...it would take me forever to make a trailer...grin...

Great job!

C.R. Evers said...

Thnx Brenda! If you can blog, you could figure it out! Most software today is pretty user friendly. It can be time consuming, but if you're interested, you could do it girl!

Christy

Suzanne Casamento said...

I'm totally hooked. Great description, spooky pics and mysterious music! And the fact that you just slapped that together is ridiculously impressive.

Nice work!

C.R. Evers said...

Thnxs Suzanne! :0) You made my day!

Thnx for stopping by!

Donna J. Shepherd said...

Hi, Christy,

Kim (Blazing Trailers) just did one for Chizzy's Topsy Tale. She used a new program. It turned out really cute. It's here: http://www.chizzystopsytale.blogspot.com

Seeing it got me motivated all over again to promote the book! I see you're getting a lot of good comments on yours. I think you've come up with a great idea!

C.R. Evers said...

Thnx for the link Donna! I'll check it out!

Marcia said...

Thanks for sharing how you did this. Oh -- the things we've gotta do these days besides WRITE . . . :)

Janelle said...

Great Trailer, Christy! And a great summary of the book! Love it!
-Janelle

C.R. Evers said...

thnx Janelle! :o)

Anonymous said...

any content coming ?