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Professional Development – How to make and use book trailers
25 February @ 10:00 - 11:30 GMT
What can you use a book trailer for? A lot! From plotting to marketing, as well as author branding, a book trailer is a great way to engage your readers. This fun and practical session will show you how to develop your own good quality book trailers without overspending.
Melissa Addey, a fulltime self-published author, uses book trailers in lots of different ways – and found that paid advertising didn’t work until she started using videos rather than static images. Now she uses book trailers from the very beginning of plotting a book all the way through to launching a newly published book, and to boost sales at any time.
Most authors don’t think they can make their own book trailers, but they’re missing out – the software is easy to use and once you’ve added this skill to your marketing capabilities you’ll be able to use it frequently to excite your readers and have them clicking on that ‘buy now’ button!
#SoAatHome Professional Development events – free for SoA Members
As of Feb 2025, #SoAatHome professional development sessions will continue to be free as a member benefit. However, for non-members, the price is £35 including VAT.
Not a member, sign up here with our special #SoAatHome offer and get 20 per cent off for the first year of membership – use code SOAATHOME20.
Accordion Content
Access 20% off your first year of membership of the SoA with discount code SOAATHOME20
The Society of Authors is the UK’s biggest trade union for authors – representing more than 12,000 writers, illustrators, translators and other creative practitioners.
Our standard subscription rate is just £32.50 per quarter (£22.75 for students).
As an SoA member, you’ll get:
- Access to all our #SoAatHome events for free including the Professional Development sessions usually charged at £35 from Feb 2025
- Access to all our Feel Good Friday and Industry Insider events which are usually charged £5 from Feb 2025
- Access all #SoAatHome Vimeo professional development recordings so you can catch up in your own time
- Access Unlimited one-to-one professional advice
- Membership of our online and real-world professional networks and special interest groups
- A range of member-only discounts, including books, insurance and travel
- And much more
‘It was a surprisingly lovely way to meet fellow writers in a friendly, warm surrounding perfectly hosted by the SoA staff. Thank you for all the introductions, the welcome and the nourishment!’ – attendee from SoA in Person: Autumn New Members’ Party 2024
JOIN NOW | PRICING
Programme
- Welcome, introductions and housekeeping from Lilly Brend-Fish – Events Manager, SoA (3 mins)
- Presentation by Melissa Addey (60 mins)
- Comfort break (5 mins)
- Q&A with audience (20 mins)
- Summary and closing comments (2 mins)
- This event will be moderated by Lilly Brend-Fish, SoA
Who is this session for?
Reviews can be used to help with your plotting as well as marketing, so even unpublished writers are very welcome and can start using them, but authors who have already published will be able to use them in many more ways to engage readers, which the session will also cover. Melissa will make the tech side easy, so don’t be frightened off by that aspect!
What will this session cover?
1: Uses for book trailers in your book marketing strategy.
2: Practicalities of how to make a book trailer:
- Storytelling
- Sourcing visuals and music
- What editing software to use
- Length and quality of trailers
- The importance of social proof and using different types
- The all-important final shot
3: Assemble a practical list of resources and ideas to create your own book trailers as part of your book marketing plans.
You’ll also see lots of examples of trailers, from ‘first drafts’ to polished final versions and for individual books, books in a series and even author branding videos.
Send us your questions
If you would like to send questions in advance, email LBrendfish@societyofauthors.org with ‘Book Trailers’ in the subject header. We will prioritise questions sent in advance and answer as many as we can from the audience on the day.
#SoAatHome Fundraising Bookshop
Browse our virtual Bookshop.org store featuring books by authors and speakers taking part in the #SoAatHome. When you make a purchase using our affiliate links, a percentage will go to the Society of Authors’ Access Fund, giving authors support for travel, subsistence, childcare or access needs for events, residencies, and retreats.
The Line-up
Melissa Addey
Melissa Addey writes historical fiction set in Ancient Rome, medieval Morocco, 18th century China and Regency England. She has been the Leverhulme Trust Writer in Residence at the British Library and has a PhD in Creative Writing. She lives in London with her husband and two children. If you’d like to try her writing, you can visit her website below to pick up two free novellas, The Cup and The Consorts.
Website: www.melissaaddey.com
Need to know
Accessibility
- Attendees will have the option to turn on the live transcript, to watch with subtitles
- If you require BSL interpretation for this event, please email events@societyofauthors.org
Before the event
- Once registered, you will be sent a confirmation email with the Zoom link
- If the confirmation email doesn’t arrive in your inbox, please check your junk/spam email folder
- Please add events@societyofauthors.org to your Safe Senders list so you receive our confirmation and reminder emails
During the event
- This online event will take place on Zoom Webinar; you will not be visible on screen but will be able ask questions via the Q&A function or interact via the chat box
- This event will be recorded but you won’t be on screen
- Attendees have the option to turn on the live transcript
- This event is 90 minutes
After the event
- Hashtag for this event: #SoAatHome
- SoA Members and paid attendees of this event will be able to catch the recording on our Vimeo channel (password protected) or members can access via the SoA website.
Booking
Book your place by using the registration below.
SoA Members – Free
Non-Members – £35
Accordion Content
Access 20% off your first year of membership of the SoA with discount code SOAATHOME20
The Society of Authors is the UK’s biggest trade union for authors – representing more than 12,000 writers, illustrators, translators and other creative practitioners.
Our standard subscription rate is just £32.50 per quarter (£22.75 for students).
As an SoA member, you’ll get:
- Access to all our #SoAatHome events for free including the Professional Development sessions usually charged at £35 from Feb 2025
- Access to all our Feel Good Friday and Industry Insider events which are usually charged £5 from Feb 2025
- Access all #SoAatHome Vimeo professional development recordings so you can catch up in your own time
- Access Unlimited one-to-one professional advice
- Membership of our online and real-world professional networks and special interest groups
- A range of member-only discounts, including books, insurance and travel
- And much more
‘It was a surprisingly lovely way to meet fellow writers in a friendly, warm surrounding perfectly hosted by the SoA staff. Thank you for all the introductions, the welcome and the nourishment!’ – attendee from SoA in Person: Autumn New Members’ Party 2024
JOIN NOW | PRICING
Accordion Content
Giving authors support for travel, subsistence, childcare or access needs for events, residencies, and retreats
Every contribution helps us ensure that these needs and costs aren’t barriers to authors wishing to access events.
If you are in a position to help, please donate via the link below. If you are an author facing access issues, please click here to see if we can help.
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