Ninety seconds that make someone want the book
Cinematic trailers and vertical social cuts, built around the hook rather than the plot summary — and delivered in every aspect ratio you need.
Do book trailers sell books?
Vertical, hook-led video in social feeds sells books; polished landscape trailers mostly build credibility. The first two seconds do the work, and most feed video is watched muted, so captions matter more than production value. Arkedia produces both formats from £749, delivered in every aspect ratio.
- From£749
- Hero trailer30–90 seconds
- Social cuts3–5 vertical
- Formats16:9, 1:1, 9:16
BookTok and Bookstagram sell an extraordinary number of books, and almost none of that happens through polished 90-second trailers in landscape. It happens through vertical video with a hook in the first two seconds.
So we build both: a hero trailer for your website, Amazon A+ content and press, and a set of vertical cuts designed for the feed, where the text hook does most of the work.
Fixed price, quoted in GBP before you commit. Milestone payments.
- Free 1,500-word sample first
- Mutual NDA signed before we start
- Two revision rounds included
- Full rights and royalties stay yours
Everything in the Book Trailers service
Hero trailer
A 30–90 second trailer with licensed footage or motion graphics, original score and professional voiceover.
Vertical social cuts
Three to five 9:16 cuts sized for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, each testing a different hook.
Hook-first scripting
Scripts written so the first two seconds earn the next ten. The plot summary comes later, if at all.
Captions and subtitles
Burned-in captions, because most feed video is watched with the sound off.
Amazon A+ video
A cut sized and specified for your Amazon listing's video module.
Full licensing
All footage, music and voice talent commercially licensed, with documentation handed to you.
How book trailers works, step by step
You approve before we proceed. Every time. No stage begins until you have signed off the one before it.
Brief
The hook, the audience, the platforms and the call to action.
Script and storyboard
Scripted and storyboarded for approval before any production spend.
Voice and music
Voiceover auditions and a licensed music shortlist for you to pick from.
Production
Footage, motion graphics and edit assembled.
Revisions
Two full revision rounds included as standard.
Delivery
All aspect ratios, captioned and uncaptioned, plus stills pulled for social.
What authors say afterwards
I came with eleven years of workshop notes and no idea how to make a book out of them. The outline stage alone was worth the fee — it was the first time I could see the shape of what I actually knew. The finished book reads like me on a good day.
I had three self-published titles that were not selling. They showed me my covers side by side with the top forty in my category at thumbnail size and I understood the problem in about four seconds. New covers, re-optimised listings, and the back catalogue started moving.
Writing about my mother's illness was not something I could do alone. The interviews were handled with real care, and they were clear from the start about what would be in the book and what would not. My family have all read it. That matters more than sales.
Book Trailers — your questions answered
Does a book trailer actually sell books?
A landscape cinematic trailer on its own, rarely. Vertical, hook-led video in the feed, frequently — and that is where we put most of the effort. The hero trailer earns its place on your Amazon listing and website, where it does a credibility job rather than a reach job.
Do I need to appear on camera?
No. Most trailers use licensed footage, motion typography and voiceover. If you want to appear, author-to-camera pieces tend to perform very well for non-fiction and memoir, and we will direct you.
What do I get at the end?
Every aspect ratio — 16:9, 1:1, 9:16 — captioned and uncaptioned, plus still frames cut for social posts and your Amazon A+ module.
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Studio-quality narration, mastered to Audible and Apple specification, distributed across every major audio retailer.
Learn moreTell us about your book
A 45-minute call, no charge and no pressure. You will leave with a realistic timeline, a fixed price and an honest view of whether the book is worth writing.