Definition
A book trailer is a short promotional video — usually 15 to 90 seconds — that gives viewers a feel for a book's premise, mood and characters and ends with a call to action such as 'available now' or 'pre-order today'.
Trailers can be live-action, animated, made from stock footage, or generated with AI visuals and narration. For social platforms, vertical 9:16 versions under a minute are the most practical; a longer horizontal version can live on YouTube or your website.
A good trailer leads with a hook in the first seconds, shows the tone rather than summarising the plot, avoids spoilers, and makes it obvious where to buy or read the book.
Practical tips
- Write the script first: hook, stakes, mood, call to action.
- Make one vertical and one horizontal version from the same material.
- Put the title and author name on screen at the end.