The Rules
After looking at a lot of awful book trailers, I have come up with a list of 10 rules. This list addresses the most common problems I saw.
- Length: Keep it to 1:30 or shorter. Even the most impatient of us will watch for a minute and a half.
- Voice Talent: Hire a professional or just use type and music. Authors are not voice actors.
- Visuals: Keep some kind of visual continuity.
- Typography: Avoid overused fonts such as Helvetica, Trajan, Courier, and Onyx. Integrate the type into the overall design.
- Tone: Don't be overly dramatic.
- Soundtrack/Voice Over: Again, don't be overly dramatic.
- Video: Avoid montages of cheesy stock video footage. Shoot your own or use stock wisely.
- Text: Keep it short. Billboard short.
- Fictional Characters: Preferably keep them anonymous—let viewers use their imagination.
- Canned Effects: Avoid them.
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Comments
I recently started Way Out Sortie to do book and author videos, because it's a great addition to an authors repertoire of promotion.