book promotiojn poem poetry book

Making a poetry book trailer

At first I didn’t want to make one. Then I did. Then I really didn’t, once I started putting together a script for a video that was to be no more than two minutes long (plus or minus), and trying to figure out what kinds of images, and whether still or moving, and what the voiceover should be. I wrote a bad script, pulling pieces of poems into a narrative whole. It stank. Then I couldn’t find music or figure out how the music would work with the voiceover. Then I couldn’t get my microphone to work well.

I watched a lot of book trailers, read some good advice from Erica Goss, and then went with what appealed to me most in the trailers I watched: a reading of one poem. Diane Lockward’s blog on this topic, with examples, helped me decide. Free photos can be had at Wikimedia, and free music at several sites. And then there’s Sandra Beasley’s blog about making a book trailer poetry video. Sandra Beasley is brave.

Then I was lucky enough to find a video editor! I have to say that just recording my own voice and picking sounds and images and text was all I could manage. Garageband totally defeated me. I recommend getting an expert to put it all together as a video! Stay tuned for mine.

Visit https://racheldacus.net for more information and writing by Rachel Dacus.

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