Trailers can be amazing, planting the seed and getting us to look forward to something months in advance, whether it’s a movie, series or iPhone. This anticipation grows and by the time the launch date arrives, the excitement can be enough to make people queue overnight!
Books are no exception. A well-produced and well-timed trailer can introduce your book to prospective readers and help you reach a much wider audience. We love books and our bookcases have a tendency to overflow, so we’re behind anything that gets people reading.
Not all book trailers are created equal however, and the best book trailers offer authors and publishers the chance to communicate their personality and engage potential readers in the core ideas of a book. Nothing does this better than whiteboard animation.
Why are book trailers a great form of book promotion?
Book trailers are a gift that keeps on giving. They capture your key messages and themes in an engaging and memorable explainer video that delivers just enough information to make people want to know more.
The biggest advantage of making a book trailer part of your book promotion strategy is the popularity of video itself! Research by Wyzowl shows that out of the 582 people surveyed, 96% watched explainer videos to find out more about a product or service and 88% said they’d been convinced to buy a product or service because of a brand’s video.
This is reflected in the experience of marketing staff. Wyzowl found that 81% of marketers have seen an increase in sales linked to using videos and 93% said video had increased brand awareness.
The popularity of video makes book trailers ideal for a variety of uses:
Social media - your trailer can be shared with fans and new audiences across the world in the perfect format for each social network.
Websites - videos are a great addition to homepages and landing pages, holding attention and delivering your message with more impact.
Briefing media outlets and journalists - a good book promotion strategy has many parts, and book trailers are an invaluable way of making sure each media outlet or journalist gets a great explanation of your book's core elements and themes.
Live events - even at in-person events like launches or talks, videos can entertain and inform an audience, giving them all the information they need to understand your premise and message.
Mail-outs - email is still a powerful tool, and a great way of delivering the good news about your new book in an engaging way that captures your personality.
How can whiteboard animation help you create the best book trailers?
The link between whiteboard animation and books goes back to whiteboard animation’s origins. We pioneered whiteboard animation while creating the RSA Animates, which were based on books delivered to the RSA as talks.
From these book-based beginnings, whiteboard animation has evolved to have the perfect toolkit and information streams to engage viewers and explain complex and nuanced ideas.
Visual thinking
Whiteboard animation developed out of live scribing, and the same visual thinking is at its heart. This visual thinking makes complex subjects seem simple and detail-heavy subjects feel entertaining. Whiteboard animations use tools like visual metaphors, humour, cultural references, icons, characters and charm. These tools allow your book trailer to tackle any subject, from the everyday to the highly abstract in a memorable, relatable and engaging way.
Storytelling
Every whiteboard animation is driven by a strong narrative; in the form of a script, visual storytelling and a voiceover. These combine to guide viewers through your message, using multiple streams of information to communicate key points, essential context and calls to action. Not only does this get your message across quickly, it appeals to different learning preferences viewers may have.
Animation
Animation is a crucial part of our visual storytelling. It gives life to props and characters, guiding viewers through scenes. It also plays an essential role in the communication and development of ideas - allowing ideas to layer and develop as the narrative progresses and connect to other ideas as a message develops.
Personality and tone
Every part of a whiteboard animation, from the script and visual storytelling to the voiceover, font and colour choices, is bespoke. This means you as an author or publisher can make your animation feel just like you - right down to the style of language and illustration. Even the voiceover can be recorded by you to truly make your animation feel authentic and personal.
How to make a whiteboard animation book trailer
The creative freedom of whiteboard animation allows you to give your book the best promotion possible. Whether you create your animation yourself or work with a whiteboard animation studio, there are several steps that will take you from your initial vision to a shiny new animation.
Decide what goals, message and call to action you want your animation to have.
Select the audience you want your video to appeal to and the places it will be used.
Choose the length of your animation and start writing your script. We recommend 140 words for each minute of video. We go into more detail in this script writing blog.
Storyboard and refine your illustrations and scenes based on your script and what you want to communicate.
Animate each element and scene so it tells your story, explains your points and flows into the next part.
Record your voiceover. Sound quality is essential, so we recommend a studio if possible.
Combine your animation and voiceover and check this list again to make sure it achieves your goals and talks to your target audience.
Enjoy and share your new animation!
For more information, you can read our blog about the whiteboard animation process.
Whiteboard animation book trailer examples
Prof Nichola Raihani - The Social Instinct
We loved working with Professor Raihani and her book, ‘The Social Instinct’. The topic of collaboration was fascinating to visualise.
Dan Pink - When
We’ve enjoyed working with Dan Pink several times. This was one of three animations and five illustrations that we created for Dan Pink and Canongate Books to promote ‘When’.
Ideas In Profile - Shakespeare
Our animations built on earlier illustrations to add new detail and depth to the explanation of Paul Edmondson's study into Shakepeare.
Prof Stephen Hawking - Brief Answers To The Big Questions
Included in Professor Hawking’s last book was a new theory about black holes and the preservation of information. It was an honour to explain this in a whiteboard animation, shown at the book launch.
When it comes to book promotion and book trailers, whiteboard animation is a great choice. It offers the creative freedom and explanatory power to capture your personality and your message in a way other types of explainer video cannot.
Sharing important ideas with a wide audience is important to us and formed the basis of our early work on the RSA Animates. If you have a book you would like to promote and share, we’d love to hear from you. Book a free creative consultation to discuss whiteboard animation and how it could work for your project!
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