A book trailer has one job: to make the right reader want your book. Everything below serves that job. You can make a trailer yourself with these steps, or bring them to a studio and know what to ask for.
1. Find the hook
Start with the one question your book makes a reader ask. It is usually in the first chapter or on the back cover: who wants what, and what stands in the way.
Write it as one sentence. If you cannot, the trailer will try to tell the whole plot, and a trailer that tells the plot gives the reader no reason to open the book.
2. Write the script
Turn the hook into a short script: an opening image, the conflict, the stakes and a closing line with the title. Each line on screen should be short enough to read in a glance.
Decide early whether the trailer has a voice-over or only on-screen text and music. Many feeds play without sound, so the story has to work muted.
3. Design the characters and the world
Readers already picture your characters. Collect what the book says about them: age, clothes, the light in their world, the places that matter.
Keep the look consistent from shot to shot. A character who changes face between scenes breaks the spell faster than a weak line.
4. Storyboard it
A storyboard is the trailer drawn as frames: each shot, its length and the words on screen. It is an easy place to change your mind.
Check the pacing here. The hook should land in the first seconds, before a viewer scrolls on.
- Opening image: the world or the character, in the first seconds.
- Conflict: what goes wrong.
- Stakes: what happens if it is not put right.
- Close: the title, the cover and where to buy.
5. Produce it
Production brings the storyboard to life with visuals, motion, music, sound and voice. Music sets the genre before a word is read, so choose it as carefully as the images.
6. Cut it for every channel
One trailer rarely fits every screen. Cut a full 16:9 version for YouTube, your website and launch events, a 9:16 version for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, and 1:1 or 4:5 versions for ads.
Put the full trailer on your book page and your author website, so every channel points to one place.
Make it yourself or work with a studio
If you have the time and the tools, these steps are enough to make a trailer yourself. If you would rather spend that time writing, a studio follows the same steps for you.
At Book.Video, you approve the script and storyboard before production starts, and you receive every format agreed in your proposal.