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How I made my trailers
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After publishing my trailers, I received a lot of questions on how I was able to produce them.
So I am writing this article for those of you who are looking to make your own trailers on a budget. If you have the money, I suggest you contract with someone, but if you're like me, you're looking to do it as free of cost as possible. First, I would suggest making your trailer focus on major plot elements of the book. Leave the audience hanging to know how the plot elements get worked out. So, make an outline for what you want in the trailer. Next, you will want to hunt for images to put in your trailer. I suggest either: Next, you'll want to get audio clips. (Most people use one single audio clip, but I use several. That's just personal taste.) Here are some I've found: (If you find any others, let me know and I'll add them here.)Now that you have everything you need, you're ready to start putting the trailer together. I use PowerPoint. If you're wondering why I use this, it's because PowerPoint comes with most operating systems. (In other words, it's free.) Look on your desktop and under MicroSoft Office you should find it. On the right-hand side of your PowerPoint screen, find "Custom Animations". You'll need this to set your timings. Make your different pages with images and text. I suggest that you use slow timings. You'll also want to insert your audio clip(s). Mainly you'll have to play around with this, but PowerPoint is fairly easy to use. When you're ready to test your trailer, click "Slide Show" to see how it will look and sound. Now, when you're satisfied with the way your trailer looks and sounds in PowerPoint slide show, most of the work is done. At this point you need to convert the .ppt format (PowerPoint) to video format. I use a tool called PowerVideoMaker. Here's the link to download the program. It has a free version that you can use or you can purchase it. After you have your trailer in .avi or .wmv format, you are ready to go to YouTube and add your trailer. This is REALLY easy. Go to YouTube. In the upper right-hand corner there is an "Upload" link. Click it and add your file. It will then convert it into a trailer, but you're not quite finished. When your trailer has been added, you will be furnished with "embed" code. Get this code in your clipboard and add it to your blog or website. Now everybody can see your trailer!!! Take a minute to look at my trailers: Note: This is the way I make mine. It may not be the best way to do them, but until I learn a better way, I'll continue doing this. This is an invitation for those of you who have superior methods to contribute! Send me your step-by-step instructions and I'll post them. 
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