Book trailer examples & How to make a book trailer

Who knew staying in meant going back to print books for a cerebral escape? Since the start of 2020, print book sales rose by more than 8.9%. This is a surprise, given that most consumers are now glued to their smart phones. 

However, avid readers are significantly increasing their consumption of books. About 825.7 million in print books alone were sold in the U.S. during 2021, and the U.S. books industry is expected to earn $30 billion by 2025. E-books also continue to be popular across ages, with over $4 billion more revenue in 2020 compared to the previous year.

Why Create a Book Trailer?

First, it's highly versatile; you can use the book traileron your social media platforms or during your book signing and other media events.   

Second, a book trailer can generate easier recall for your published work. With it the viewer has a condensed knowledge of what the book is about and who the author is. This makes it more likely for them to notice the book while browsing at the bookstore.

Platforms like YouTube have added a featurewhere creators can upload a video to be featured on the Premiere landing page before the main event. So, if you have a book launch scheduled, you can build hype by showing a book trailer ahead of the release. Add to this the option of placing the book trailer as a paid targeted ad and you’d get multiple uses for your book trailer. 

Third, your captive audience spend so much time on the internet. Marketing your book across online platforms get you the reach, engagement, and sales potential. Videos make up an overwhelming 82% of all internet traffic worldwide. That speaks to how much users consume video content when logging online.

Book Trailer Examples

Here are book trailer examples worth examining as you formulate what type of tone, style, and details you would want to incorporate in your own concept:

Text-based Trailer

This bookteaser for the book, Watching You, by Lisa Jewell features quick shots, graphic background, and text. It does not have any famous faces, narration, and budget-busting shoots, but the editing and tone are well introduced in the video; what viewers get is a mix of suspense and intrigue. 

Trailer with Seamless Editing

Book trailers don’t necessarily need actors and actual shoots. You can use graphics and powerful narration to convey the main plot. The high-quality narration, music, and cohesive look of the graphics shown here on Everless by Sarah Holland makes the mysterious theme something that fans can look forward to. This type of trailer would allow you from the steeper costs hiring talents and renting shoot locations would incur.

Book Teaser with Dynamic Audio

The book trailer for House of Eclipses, by Casey L. Bond is less than a minute long, but it tells in a succinct way what readers can expect. What makes the trailer impactful is the audio quality and music  - the music aligns well with the narrated text, changing all along the video to set the tone for an exciting and adventure-packed book. 

Book Trailer Featuring Famous Actors

In Katie Alexander’s young adult series, As Dead As It Gets, the book trailer starred actress and singer Bella Thorne. She brings fame, acting experience, and charisma on screen, which makes the book trailer captivating. The book trailer has nearly 6 million views to date and has contributed to the book’s popularity. Aside from having a big name like Thorne, the trailer works because it captures the conflict and macabre aspects of the book.

Before we start, check out this awesome book trailer created by Markus

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Book Trailer Best Practices

Book trailers need to strike a balance between providing a clear idea of what the book is about and still being intriguing—they shouldn’t give too much away. If you're planning to conceptualize one, make sure that it has the following elements:

• A synopsis that brings the genre tone on the spot. It should be brief and captivating without giving away important twists. 

• Soundtrack that aligns with the genre. Videos have that edge of including music, so pick a winning tune, and make sure the sound effects (if you're showing part of the plot) is high-quality.

• The right length. Research says that it only takes about 8 seconds of attention span for online content. Online users are bombarded with ads, infomercials, images, and more. There's only so much you can remember in a few hours of browsing on the internet. Video content commands a bit longer attention. People on average view a single internet video for about 2.7 minutes and then move on. The good news here is that more than half (59%) prefer to watch a video than read text, where both are available. 

• Quality audio. Book trailers are video content, but you can’t take audio quality for granted as well. It impacts the viewer because you enrich the tone, narration (quoted from the book), and the plot of the trailer. You could include voiceover in the video, but make sure the voiceover talent has experience. After all, it’s like acting where you need to evoke the right feeling. Consider hiring a professional sound editor to make the audio as clean and natural as possible.

• Soften your CTA. Book trailers need to have a CTA at the end of it, but you could opt for saying, “Find out more” or, “Available wherever books are sold”, to name a few. In short, don’t be heavy-handed with selling. Otherwise, the book trailer just becomes another marketing ploy and loses the artistic and entertainment payoff it could provide. The book trailer ending should convince viewers to buy, or at least learn more about the book.

Book Trailer Budget

An affordable book trailer is concise but with enough info to get the book title, concept, and launch date out there. Depending on your preference, book trailers could cost $5000 up to $10,000 per video. It's a wide range that can accommodate every author's budget.

Here is an example of a book teaser with minimal budget requirements, using Joyce Carol Oates' Hazards of Time:

Simple text and graphics show the whole feel and plot of the book, but there are no narration and video shoots included.

This book trailer for I Am Mercy by Mandy Linn has a higher budget in the range of $5,000, and from the sound, artistry, video quality, and editing, you can see the attention to detail it showcases.

Marketing Your Book Trailer 

Authors need to consider that spending for the book trailer doesn't end with the trailer itself. You need to set aside your marketing budget as well to generate online engagement and eventual sales for the book. It would be unwise to go all out with a $10,000 trailer but only be limited to posting a video on YouTube or social channels that do not have a lot of following.

Consider the distribution aspect of the book trailer so that you get the most out of the piece. Here are Fiverr book trailer experts who can help navigate the process.