Book Trailer Launch Tips

Thank you so much for purchasing a book trailer from ElectraFox! I’ve put together this list of helpful tips and tricks to assist you as you launch your book trailer online. I know this is a big list with a lot of information, so if you ever feel overwhelmed or stuck, please contact me and I can help!

General Practices

✅ Decide on what keywords or tags you want to use for your book trailer.

✅ Use the custom thumbnail where possible and don’t rely on the auto-generated one if you can help it.

✅ Always fill out the description if one is offered.

✅ Add a link in the description to make it easy for people to buy your book immediately (ie. a link to it on Amazon)

✅ Adding links to your social media, website, and Goodreads in video descriptions is also helpful for having people connect with you.

✅ Use closed captioning files where you can.

Places Your Trailer Can Go

platform tips and instructions

YOUTUBE

Already done and on the ElectraFox channel!

GOODREADS:

You can use the YouTube link above to put your book trailer right on your book’s Goodreads page. Here’s a tutorial video that will walk you through exactly how to do that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWhbIePuJLE 

Not a Goodreads author yet?

To apply for the Author Program, you can follow these steps when visiting the desktop version of Goodreads:

  1. Sign in or create an account, and then search for your most popular book via ISBN, ASIN, or title.
  2. On the book, click on your author name. Scroll to the bottom of your author profile page.
  3. Click “Is this you? Let us know!” to complete and submit the application.

AMAZON PRODUCT PAGE:

Can be done by clicking “add video” just above where reviews appear.  They take up to 72 hours to approve the video. The format I gave you works on Amazon, though it isn’t one of the two formats listed on the uploader, but it is in their documentation.

If I’ve given you a special thumbnail for Amazon, make sure you use that one. It cannot have your website or logos on it, as per their terms and conditions.

If you do not see “add video” on your book’s listing, navigate to: https://www.amazon.com/creatorhub/manage/ and see if you are able to search for your book and add a video that way. 

YOUR WEBSITE:

Depending on how your website is built, you may just add the simple YouTube link above…but if you need the embed code, you can get it from youtube. Just click “Share” under the video then “Embed” to find the code. 

TWITTER:

To upload and Tweet a video via the web

  1. Click the Tweet button.
  2. Click Add media.
  3. Choose the Twitter file you downloaded from Dropbox and click Open.
  4. You’ll see the video appear in the tweet
  5.     Write a tweet with whatever you want to say about the book trailer. In the tweet, it might be good for you to include the link to buy it on Amazon – but that’s just a suggestion. You can use a url shortener to help you fit more characters in your tweet. (like this: https://tinyurl.com/app)
  6. Don’t use too many hashtags, people tend to ignore tweets with too many. 1 would be good. 2 tops.
  7. Post the tweet
  8. Lastly, pin the book trailer tweet to your profile page to keep it at the top.

Pinning the post with the video is important so it doesn’t get lost quickly in your timeline. This will help get more visibility for your trailer over time.

FACEBOOK:

Facebook (From Desktop)

  1. Choose Add Photo/Video in the Share box at the top of your Home page or Timeline.
  2. Options for adding photos and videos to Facebook appear.
  3. Click Upload Photos/Video.
  4. This expands a window that allows you to navigate your computer’s hard drive.
  5. Select a video file from your computer.
  6. This brings you back to Facebook, where your video is appended to your post. A filmstrip icon indicates that you’re adding a video, not a photo.
  7. Type the book trailer description into the Say Something About This Video box.
  8. If there is an option to upload closed captions – you can upload the file I gave you.
  9. Click Post.

A blue progress bar appears at the bottom of the post. Uploading a video can sometimes take a while. When it’s ready, you’ll be notified that your video is processing. While you are waiting, you can edit the video’s info including Title, Description, Keywords, etc if you want.

INSTAGRAM:

Log in on Instagram on desktop and on the left hand side you’ll see “create” – you can upload your video there and just follow the steps.

Right now, Instagram does not allow you to upload closed captions, but you can choose to turn on automatic captions if you choose. Also, you can select a frame from the video for your thumbnail. I suggest the last scene with your book cover.

Other Places to Put your trailer

  • Share link to your E-mail list
  • Ask family and friends to share it on their social profiles
  • Reach out to book bloggers and BookTubers who may be interested in covering it, especially those specializing in your genre

If you have any questions as you go through this process, please feel free to drop me a line! I’m happy to help.

Thank you so much again for choosing me to make your book trailer!