I just made my own BOOK TRAILER and it’s AWESOME!

And it came about in a strange way.

See, due to recent events beyond my control (There are some problems that even my extreme awesomeness cannot fix. I know! Who knew?), my publisher and I are parting ways. And while part of me wanted to panic upon hearing this news, the other part of me felt a little optimistic, maybe even a little excited about the prospect of removing that safety net. Which sounds totally crazy, but it’s true.

So, as I was forced to consider publishing after the fact, I began seeing all of the opportunity and about 30 hours after hearing what could have been devastating news, I began to feel really and truly excited. Because through the process of being published through a small but wonderful Indie publisher, I’ve learned a lot. And what I didn’t know, I could Google, right?

I mean, if you look at some of the Best Seller lists, you’ll find self-published authors a-plenty. And what have they got that I haven’t got?

More accurately, what have I got that they haven’t?

The answer is MY BOOK. Only I have my story. And I believe in my story. So, I gave it what I felt was a more marketable and story-appropriate book cover. Which will be UNVEILED by some of my favorite bloggers in just a few days!

I’m so excited!

What happened next was boring research. Hours upon hours spent searching specific terms and websites for just the right site that would give me the variety, the portrait worthy pictures, with the high quality, and the free…ness that my budget required.

So, below, I am pasting in some links to the very sites where I found the images, video, and music that was used in my new and forthcoming book trailer for my current novel, Between Octobers. At the end of this week, I’ll be unveiling my masterpiece! Again. (yeah, yeah, yeah. again.) Only now, it has a different cover, a few extras here and there, but the most notable changes will be the mega-awesome cover and trailer. (I love trailers as a marketing tool!)

Here’s the fabulous, resourceful blog post that led me to some wonderful sites and gave me the tools to slap my awesome book trailer together in Windows Movie Maker (don’t have it? Get it here, free): http://writerlycommunity.azurewebsites.net/make-book-trailer-free/ (If you’re new to the movie-maker process, I highly recommend you start there)

Then, if you need video, try here: http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/20-free-online-stock-video-sites/ That post is jam-packed with links to great sites! One of them even has free footage of fires and explosions, it’s crazy!

While I know there are hundreds of sites to find free stock footage, not all of it is exactly free, and not all has the high-quality you’ll need for a trailer. BUT THIS is the uber-wonderful site where I found endless samples of videos for free commercial use (EVEN SO, be sure to READ all the TERMS before making your selections, as some videos may have different rules about use and attribution): http://www.vidsplay.com/

Now, most of what went into my book trailer came from the following site, which I have to say is by far, my most-favoritest favorite! It’s a little site called morguefile. Morbid sounding, I know, but there aren’t any corpses that I know of. Well, I never typed that into the search engine. But it is full of wonderful, beautiful, stock photography. They have a wide variety of free, high-quality images. (Still, just to be sure, read the short paragraph with regards to use and/or attribution.: http://www.morguefile.com/archive

Now, for the sounds effects! Unless you’re making a silent film, you’ll want to get a piece of music that enhances the mood!

I got mine in two places. First, there was soundbible. This site was a little tough to navigate, only becasue I had to spend a lot of time thinking about the type of sound I was going for, then had to find the titles that semi-described my ominous terms: http://soundbible.com/

I found so much GREAT music at this site, I was blown away. It’s high-quality and free, (as always, READ THE TERMS OF USE, to be sure) and I found that searching for the type of mood I wanted to the music to set was easier than listening to every sample. You only get TWO free downloads a day, so make them count! http://soundscrate.com/

Alright, there you have it! I hope these links prove to be as useful to you as they were to me.