Making of CONNECT THE DOTS book trailer

Celebrating the release of CONNECT THE DOTS includes a book trailer. For those of you who don't know what a book trailer is, I equate it to a movie trailer. It's a teaser video that visually represents the story idea and teases or entices you into wanting to read the book.

How is this trailer created...from the author's perspective.

I start out by contacting Jeannie Ruesch, graphic artist and romance author. Jeannie created the book trailer for CONNECT THE DOTS as well as the book trailers for KILLER BUNNY HILL and IT HAPPENS IN THREES. Once Jeannie says yes that she wants to create the video I send her some of the same things that an author send to an agent or editor. I email Jeannie the book synopsis and back cover blurb (which is basically the query letter).

This results in Jeannie asking me some questions.

Typical questions are what do the characters look like? Do I have certain images in mind? More come but this is a typical start.

The hard part comes in when I have to craft the script for the trailer. You know how difficult it is to take a 90,000 word book and condensing it to 5 pages in a synopsis and then 2 paragraphs for a query. Now, you have to take all those words and condense them into maybe 100 words or less. Less is better.

Why so few words?

The typical length of a trailer is 1 to 2 minutes and 2 minutes is actually long. The reason for the short time is that you don't want to lose the viewer's attention and typical attention span is 60 to 90 seconds.

Jeannie helps me with the length aspect because I will send the script and she will shorten pieces. She will chop words or cut sentences, or she will even suggest that it needs to be stronger or tell me she wants something more visual.

Once we agree on the script, Jeannie does all the work.

Jeannie puts words to images and then to music. With CONNECT THE DOTS, Jeannie's husband actually created the music specifically for the trailer. Amazing!

I sit back and twiddle my thumbs, and wriggle in my seat with impatience to see the end result. When Jeannie has a draft ready she notifies me and I review it. Between the two of us we see if the wording/spelling is correct, if the images match what I envision, and the speed of the whole thing. We tweak back and forth and finally both say YES!

It's a fun and interesting process and the end result is seeing the visual representation of my story on screen. When Jeannie sent me the trailer for KILLER BUNNY HILL I literally cried. I couldn't help it. The representation was so perfect I was lost in the imagery. With CONNECT THE DOTS, I was awestruck. The video made my story and the heroine come to life and kept me spellbound.

Jeannie does such a terrific job that the guys who work for me want to know when the movie of CONNECT THE DOTS is coming out. Thank you, Jeannie!

Find out more about Jeannie Ruesch and her talent at her website www.willdesignforchocolate.com.