Teasers, Trailers and My Books...

I recently created a book trailer for Ours, a book I haven't written as yet. It's been in the back of my mind for a very long time, but it's still at least a year away from publication, at best. In fact, I'm in the midst of rewriting my second book (the follow-up to My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain), the title and plot of which I haven't revealed.



So, why do it?

I work as a video producer/editor, and I'm in the midst of transitioning from Final Cut Pro editing software to Avid Media Composer. I created the Ours trailer as a goal-oriented exercise in becoming more familiar with Avid. Simply following exercises in a manual or video isn't very useful, as far as I'm concerned. Creating real-world content is much more productive and motivating.

At the moment, I don't have the time or resources to actually shoot content for a trailer, so I started to browse for ideas on Videoblocks.com, an affordable subscription-based stock video/audio site I use frequently. A month before, I had used the site in much the same way to create a new trailer for My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain. Since I'm not ready yet for the reveal of Food Chain's follow-up novel, I searched for content that could serve me in other ways.

The trailer for My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain

I found stock footage of an abandoned school (and/or office building - it's hard to tell), and thought immediately about Ours. Since this is a teaser, rather than a full trailer, I could afford to be somewhat mysterious with my imagery and effects. A teaser generally provides less information, and is intended to keep the plot line an intriguing mystery, rather than provide the more in-depth expository of a full trailer.

As I continue to ponder and struggle with the question of proper marketing, I'm hoping that his teaser of my third book will help me develop legitimacy and a long-term readership as I more toward completion of my second book. Creating an audience and raising awareness demands a long term plan, and trailers, teasers and other videos, I believe, will be useful building blocks.

Ours, incidentally, is a thriller aimed at an older readership than the middle grade audience I imagined for My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain.  Text in the trailer, interspersed with all-American images of kids and teens in idealistic settings and a long-abandoned building, reads, "For three years, they lived their lives as if they had nothing to hide...but they did." Down a hallway in the abandoned building, we hear a light knock, and an attempt to open a locked door....