The Book Trailer Manual

Trailie Award Finalists Announced

The School Library Journal announced the first annual Trailie Award for the best book trailers. The finalists are in and the public is invited to vote for their favorites.

AFTER REVIEWING THE NOMINEES, cast your vote in each category here.

Need a School-Friendly Way to Share the Videos?
All statistics as of October 3, 2010.

I’ll present the nominees here and in separate posts give my evaluation of the trailers, the process, and other observations.

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Publisher/Author created for elementary readers (PreK-6)

1. Closed for the Season, by Mary Downing Hahn, Houghton
   (1917 views on YouTube; 702 Views on TeacherTube; 410 Views on Vimeo)

   
   *|YouTube=xH4JtB3xhHI|*

2. Guys Read: Funny Business, by Jon Scieszka, HarperKids
   (2797 Views on YouTube; 295 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube)
   
   *|YouTube:DCd9ln6Y5Cs|*
3. Potty Animals: What to Know When You’ve Got to Go, by Hope Vestergaard, Sterling
   (1063 Views on YouTube; 260 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube)
   
   *|YouTube:OO–WhpjKao|*

4. Shark vs. Train, by Chris Barton, Little Brown
   (1843 YouTube Views; 215 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube)
   
   *|YouTube:ra2QESKwBTw|*

Publisher/Author created for secondary readers (7-12)

1. Bad Girls Don’t Die, by Katie Alender, Hyperion
   (7371 Views on YouTube; 204 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube )

   
   *|YouTube:36lBeqV7V00|*

2. Ghostgirl: Lovesick, by Tonya Hurley, Hachette

(51,311 YouTube views; 270 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube)


*|YouTube:T5RIBLJb5LA|*

3. Rules of Attraction, by Simone Elkeles, Walker
   (106,704 YouTube views; 133 on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube)

   
   *|YouTube:GhEx0kaUlrU|*

4. Tell Me a Secret, by Holly Cupala, Harpercollins
   (3591 YouTube Views; 118 Vimeo views; not on TeacherTube)
   
   *|YouTube:xBcgNOehmlA|*

Adult (18 +) created for elementary readers (PreK-6)

1. 14 Cows for America, by Carmen Agra Deedy, Peachtree
   Book trailer created by Analine Johnson who is the librarian at Centeno Elementary in Laredo, Texas.
   (248 Views on YouTube; 2638 Views on TeacherTube; 178 Views on Vimeo)
   
   *|YouTube:13G0CdgV9Yo|*

2. Chicken Butt, by Erica Perl, Abrams.
   Mid-Del Schools, Elementary Library Media Productions, MIdwest City, OK. Created by Kristi Hazelrigg, Media Specialist, Parkview Elementary in Okahoma City, OK. Voices by Mr. Freer, Voice by Nathan
   (1378 Views on YouTube; 425 Views on TeacherTube; 224 Views on Vimeo.)
   

   *|YouTube:zKmmc2MBM|*

3. Home of the Brave, by Katherine Applegate
   Book trailer created by Analine Johnson who is the librarian at Centeno Elementary in Laredo, Texas.
   (412 Views on YouTube; 132 Views on Vimeo; 1057 Views on TeacherTube.

   
   *|YouTube:kv8QqONDesc|*

4. SPHDZ, Spaceheadz Book #1, by Jon Scieszka, Simon & Schuster
   (193 YouTube views, 132 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube.)

   
   *|YouTube:_-xkBGVK9Js|*

Adult created for secondary readers (7-12)

1. All the Lovely Bad Ones, by Mary Downing Hahn
   Book trailer created by Analine Johnson who is the librarian at Centeno Elementary in Laredo, Texas.
   (729 Views on YouTube; 643 Views on TeacherTube; 155 Views on Vimeo)

   
   *|YouTube:irEuJ5ZhNrM|*

2. Darkness Under the Water, by Beth Kannel, Candlewick.
   Book trailer created by Analine Johnson who is the librarian at Centeno Elementary in Laredo, Texas.
   (23 YouTube Views; 1090 Views on TeacherTube; 116 Views on Vimeo)
   
   *|YouTube:Kqd4iMsHNbc|*
3. Parties and Potions, by Sarah Mlynowski,
   Student filmmaker, Ben Cox’s trailer for PARTIES and POTIONS by Sarah Mlynowski, is the 2008 winner of the Kirkus Teen Book Video Awards (sponsored by Random House Children’s Books).
   (10,642 Views on YouTube; 93 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube)

   
   *|YouTube:aow7PYc-s7Y|*

4. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman
   Created by June Henson, who is the librarian at Downing Middle School in Flower Mound, Texas.
   (281 Views on YouTube; 246 on Vimeo; 458 on Teacher Tube)

   
   *|YouTube:TUF4i3Nfj9o|*

Student created for elementary readers (PreK-6)

1. Bear and Chook by the Sea, by Lisa Shanahan, Hachette
   Trailer by Marcus Graham.
   (220 Views on YouTube; 252 Views on Vimeo; not on Teacher Tube)

   
   *|YouTube:Iw9gsL8Unfo|*

2. Cam Jansen and the First Day of School, by David Adler, Penguin. Creator not identified
   (233 View on Vimeo; Not on TeacherTube or YouTube)

   Cam Jansen from SLJ Trailee Nominees on Vimeo.

   *|Vimeo:15311696|*

3. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems, Hyperion.
   Creator not identifed. (272 Views on Vimeo; not on YouTube or TeacherTube.)
   

   Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus from SLJ Trailee Nominees on Vimeo.

   *|*Vimeo:15311744|*

4. Someone Named Eva, by Joan M. Wolf, (Houghton).
   Book trailer created by students of Lisa Waggett, who is the librarian at Goforth Elementary in League City, Texas
   (115 Views on YouTube; 118 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube )

   
   *|YouTube:-7bX9CUa6QA|

Student created for secondary readers (7-12 grade)

1. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, Random House.
   Creators not identified.
   (105 Views on Vimeo)

   The Chocolate War by Taeho Kong from SLJ Trailee Nominees on Vimeo.

   *|Vimeo:15311516|*

2. Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, by Gail Giles, Roaring Brook.
   (118 Views on Vimeo)
   Starring Georgia W, Megan H, Libby H; Camera work by Morgan/Kachina. Created by Morgan P and Kachina S.

   DeadGirlsDontWriteLetters from SLJ Trailee Nominees on Vimeo.

   *|Vimeo:15311427|*

3. Need, by Carrie Jones, Bloomsbury.
   Book trailer created by Michael Weingartner, who is a student at Flower Mound High School
   (135 Views on YouTube; 147 Views on Vimeo; not on TeacherTube)
   
   *|YouTube:ie7V8AEcm7E|*

4. One Door Away from Heaven, by Dean Koontz, Bantam.
   Creator not identified.
   (83 Views on Vimeo)

   One Door Away from Heaven from SLJ Trailee Nominees on Vimeo.

   *|Vimeo:15311471*

Scott Simon from NPR gives advice on storytelling that you can apply to your book trailers.

Watch on YouTube.

Details of One Software Choice

The Book Trailer Manual reviews about a dozen types of software. Some are online exclusively, some you buy and download to your computer.

BEST USE: Adding movement to a static, boring slideshow.

Animoto.com is an online software which allows you to create book trailers with great simplicity. They call it the end of slideshows because they take still images and animate them with zooms, and special effects such as fade-in, spin-in, etc.

Animoto Accounts

Animoto Shorts (30 second videos) are free and you can make as many as you want; you can’t download videos, though, only embed them on the web.

Animoto Pro allows unlimited any-length video and downloads.

Animoto Business removes the Animoto logo that are present in the previous type of accounts and gives you access to a much wider range of music; you can also resell videos made this way.

What Makes Animoto Special?

Animoto is based on a unique type of software which takes your images and music and mixes them by adding motion: zoom, pan, special effects as the images come in or go out of the screen, etc. If slide shows are boring because they are, well, static images, Animoto videos are just the opposite. They are full of motion. Frankly, I prefer something in between those two extremes, but Animoto videos are much better than static slideshows for most book trailer efforts.

Create Your First Image on Animoto

Images. Animoto’s free account allows a thirty second video, which is about 9-20 images. Plan for one of those images to be a text slide with the title of your book and one text slide for your Call to Action (what you want a viewer to do after watching your book trailer; for more, see this section of The Book Trailer Manual.) Gather your images into one folder to make upload easier and faster. Once you’ve uploaded your images, drag and drop until the images are in the order you want. Click on the T to add text slides and drag and drop to desired positions.

Music. Animoto has a music lounge that includes music they have already licensed for use in their videos. Music categories include Featured Tracks, Romantic, Top 40 Pop, Indie Rock, Electronica, Hip Hop, Singer/Songwriter, Latin, Jazz, Classical, Country, Gospel/Christian, and Oldies. You can choose from one of their songs or upload your own (mp3 format only).

Speed. Animoto can spend a lot of time on each image, or not much time. Choose a normal speed for the first time.

Let Animoto Work. Click to create the video and then, sit back and let them do the work. You can close the page; they’ll email you when the video is done.

Remix. One nice feature is that you can ask Animoto to remix the video multiple times until you get what you want. Try remixing at half speed and again at normal speed. Add or subtract images, or re-sequence them until you are happy.

Distribute. Finally, grab the code to embed the videos and start spreading them around. Here are some of my Animoto.com videos.

Dear Fellow Author:

THE DREAM OF PUBLISHING MEETS THE REALITY OF PROMOTION

You’ve just sold a book and are facing the task of book promotion and publicity. Like all of us, you hope that your book will gain a wide readership. You want appreciation for your literary work, you want your career to jump-start, so you can write more books, not just this one. You’re hoping your name will soon be a household name and fans will anxiously be waiting for your next title.

But your publisher has a low budget for promotion and publicity for your book. Maybe you’re a mid-lister and you feel ignored. You understand that it’s hard to break through the cluttered media and capture the attention of readers. Really, all you want is to be able to explain your book, to tell the story behind your writing it, so the reader will understand it better.

No, what you really want is to forget all the publicity stuff and just write.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was one, simple, easy way to get word-of-mouth started? Let your readers spread the word for you. Readers telling readers about your book, until they turn it into a best-seller, a classic. Fans telling fans about your book until there are enough fans they even start anticipating your next book.

In this uncertain world of publishing, there are no guarantees. But the online world has given us possibilities, especially book videos or book trailers. Think about how many times you’ve gotten email from a friend with a link to an exciting video. You watch it, right? Give people something to talk about with a great book trailer!

THE POSSIBILITY OF VIRAL BOOK VIDEOS

The Book Trailer Manual puts that viral book trailer within your reach. It explains what to put into a digital book trailer, how to gather the images and sounds, how to actually create the video, and how to get the distribution needed for it to go viral.

On my blog, Fiction Notes, I’ve built my reputation as a writer teacher by taking complex things and making them simple, giving you concrete ways to approach your writing. My passion is to make things easy to understand, simple to do. For The Book Trailer Manual, I’ve spent the time studying the current state of videos about books, so you don’t have to. I’ve read the latest research, tested equipment, located resources, and put everything together in a simple package.

BREAK OUT: GRAB ATTENTION!

Book trailers, as an art form, are in their infancy. The Book Trailer Manual, along with the playlists I’ve created on YouTube.com, give you an in-depth look at what’s being done now. You’ll understand your options for telling the story of your book to readers. In the world of low-budget promotion, it’s an opportunity to take a positive step in helping promote your book.

By using The Book Trailer Manual, you’ll get these benefits:

• A way to take a positive step in promoting your book.
• Reach a world wide audience.
• Provide fodder for the word-of-mouth crowd.
• Learn what to say in a book trailer.
• Learn how easy the hardware and software choices can be.
• Learn how to distribute the book trailer for the most impact.

THE AUDIENCE OF YOUR DREAMS

You wrote the book of your dreams: Now, find the audience of your dreams.

• Everything from idea to viral.
• 14 specific ideas on content
• 10 options for images and sound
• 42 sites to submit to
• Recommendations for hardware and software

That dream audience is within your reach: your audience is online and is increasingly watching videos.

But that’s only kids watching videos, right? Wrong. Whatever the age of your audience, a book trailer is increasingly likely to find them online.

Age % Watching
13-17 5%
18-24 13%
25-34 29%
35-54 36%
55+ 17%

Yes, YOUR audience is online. And watching.

HOW TO CREATE YOUR MULTI-MEDIA ELEVATOR PITCH

Everything in The Book Trailer Manual is based on the most recent research available. You’ll learn more than just who is watching online videos. We combine conventional wisdom with research to answer these questions:

• What should you put in your trailer?
• What is the shelf life of a trailer?
• What is the best distribution strategy to get the most viewers?

The Idea: With 14 specific ideas for content and 10 ways to approach images and sound, you’ll be able to create compelling content. Need help or inspiration? The Book Trailer Manual Playlists on YouTube.com lead you through book trailers that illustrate your options.

5 Case Studies provide further examples of how authors successfully initiate book trailers or how they work with a publisher to make sure the trailer gets the most viewers. Joe Dull, a professor of digital film making, explains how beginners often go wrong and how you can avoid those mistakes.

The complete process is laid out clearly: creating an idea, writing a script, setting up the skeleton of the book trailer video, filling it in with sound and image, revising it, optimizing it so search engines can find it, and finally, distributing it. You’ll learn what to look for when you consider software and hardware; you’ll learn where and how to purchase stock photos, video or sounds.

Examples: I’ve even created a set of videos using various software for my teen fantasy novel, The Wayfinder. They all use the same stock photos, same audio file (when supported by the program), and same script (or at least as similar as each program allows). See The Wayfinder Book Trailers.

THE MOST POPULAR VIDEO = THE MOST POPULAR BOOK

The Book Trailer Manual takes you step-by-step through the book trailer process from the first inkling of an idea through the creation of the trailer to distribution and racking up viewers. It puts within your grasp, a positive step toward book promotion that could lead to a wide readership, to readers who appreciate your work, to a career where your name is a household word and fans anxiously await your next title.

Can a simple video do all that? No. Only your writing can really do that.

But if no one reads your writing, your career is stalled. You must do some book promotion and in today’s online world, the simple book trailer video makes sense. And The Book Trailer Manual makes it simple. Try it today. I’ll guarantee that you’ll have better ideas for the content of your trailer, an easier time of creating your own book trailer, and better distribution. If at the end of 90 days, you’re not happy, I’ll refund your money. No questions asked.

Sincerely,
Darcy Pattison
www.booktrailermanual.com

P.S. No one can guarantee huge sales of your book, not even your publisher. But The Book Trailer Manual gives you a chance. It allows you to reach a world-wide audience. It helps you find your audience online. It gives you the possibility of going viral. It gives you a positive step you can take yourself. Hey! Be sure to send me your good news at book@booktrailermanual.com!