Stitching Together Red Threads, Reels, and Carousels
Imagine spending years, even decades pouring everything you’ve got into a novel—your time, energy, heart, soul, and sanity. Every word in your 90,000-word manuscript was chosen with great care. You developed and improved every plot twist, polished every piece of dialogue to perfection, and streamlined every paragraph and scene. You edited and enhanced your story so every chapter ending compels readers to keep turning pages. You learned all you could about writing and publishing and your knowledge and abilities grew. Your efforts are noble, incredible. You’ve gained confidence and embarked on a social media blitz to promote your masterpiece. You share a static image of your book cover on Instagram and Facebook and patiently wait for the likes and comments to roll in, and—nothing, zilch, crickets.
Does this sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone.
Modern book promotion isn’t what it used to be. Static images on social media platforms no longer generate enough traction to move the marketing needle forward. So, what can an author do to shine a light on their novel which is treading water among a sea of a million other books? To gain momentum and the chance for your work to be discovered, you must be willing to expand your horizons and dip a courageous toe into the world of short-form video and carousels. You don’t need a massive production budget or a face-camera setup to make book Reels; you just need to understand the visual language of the book community.
Today, platforms like Instagram and Facebook prioritize Reels, pushing video content out to thousands of readers who don't even follow you yet. Posting carousels on Instagram can yield equal or even superior results and help your book stand out. Viewers must click through each slide which keeps them zeroed in on your post until the end. Throw a video on TikTok and you create a better opportunity for discovery.
Whether you are building your platform from scratch as an indie author or amplifying a traditional or hybrid release, you don't have to turn into an influencer to market your story.
I know—you’re a writer not a filmmaker. I was in the same category, but just like I mastered my writing over time, I worked hard to tip the social media scales in my book’s favor by experimenting with different cinematic ideas for posts. It’s actually a lot of fun. Don’t panic, you do not need to rush into posting on every platform. Pick one to start, then as you build confidence branch out to the other platforms.
If you don’t want to dance on camera or show yourself to thousands of strangers, the good news is you have visual alternatives. By capturing the essence of your book then dissecting the rest into bite-sized chunks you can tease out elements that have potential for video or carousel concepts. From there, you can build a sustainable workflow that lets you easily map out new content. For my own book, I leaned into moody aesthetics, dug into my novel’s high-concept tropes, and listed emotional hooks to use as video backdrops. I also pulled my hero, heroine, and side characters to star in quick clips, and extracted punchy dialogue and themed music to feature in reels.
You never know which post will drive clicks or resonate with an audience. I’m not a social media guru with all the answers, and I can’t guarantee your video will go viral. What I can do is outline the must-haves and pull back the curtain on Threads of Red to showcase the core elements I drop into every video and carousel.
THE ANATOMY OF BOOK REELS AND CAROUSELS
Some of the book videos you see on social media might look effortless—or even feel intimidating—but underneath the trendy music lies a specific structural formula made up of three core elements. You’ve already perfected your novel’s plots and subplots and made sure you included a beginning, middle, and end to your story; now, use that same method to structure your video content.
1. The Hook (The First 3 Seconds)
The average human attention span on social media is shorter than ever. If you don’t capture a viewer's interest within the first three seconds, they’ll swipe past your book without a second thought.
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Your hook must be instant and aggressive. It can be visual, text-based, or both. Open immediately with a bold, high-contrast text overlay that makes an emotional promise or asks a question (e.g., "Who doesn’t love a broody male character with bedroom eyes and a protective side?" and/or "Swipe through and tell me which slide has you sold?")
You'll learn through trial and error like I did with this video. It grabs attention immediately and the bold text is great, but the video moves too quickly to read it all the first time. That's because I posted it in Instagram first as a carousel without audio. Then I repurposed it into a video for Facebook where I added the music. I never had the chance to fix it. I should have posted it as a video first then turned it into a carousel. I still love it though and it garnered a lot of views and likes on both platforms.
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A video starring your unique self can generate an abundance of views, likes, and comments. My unboxing video begins with closed boxes of books piled like a pyramid. It pivots to me slicing open a box and pulling out a book, which I then hold up proudly to the camera with a mile-wide smile. When editing in CapCut, which is a video editing app anyone can use for free, I added text overlays with a few special effects. I then chose an upbeat song that captured the vibe perfectly—"Get the Party Started" by Pink. Even one of my cats got in on the act, so I gave him his own caption. That adds a relatable, human quality to the video. the video garnered over 1100 views in the first two days.
For a video that features something other than your gorgeous self, here’s an idea: show your workstation and curate a sequence of events by panning over the important elements.
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I created a video of my staging area where I highlighted everything I needed to boc up signed copies of Threads of Red and pack swag bags for events. While most of my reels are under 40 seconds, I decided to create a slightly longer video for this unveiling. The first frame is a shot of my table with all the needed supplies and the caption: "Welcome to My Threads of Red Staging Area." I paired it with an atmospheric instrumental track and zoomed in on the particulars, labeling each item and adding punchy or funny captions to hold the viewer’s interest. One frame featured my professionally made door hanger with my vision of the hero, Ezekiel Larson, shirtless. The caption—“Aren’t these spicy door hangers sexy and funny?” I ended with a shot of open boxes of my books and the caption, "Ta-da, boxes full of Threads of Red books. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a mountain of swag bags to make." The video let's the viewer peek into my writing world. This makes me relatable and tells the potential reader that this author is just like them.
2. The Core Theme
Once you have stopped the scroll, you have about 5 to 10 seconds to deliver the dynamic middle, or "meat," of the video. Your choice of music, visuals, and emotion immediately signals your book's theme to potential readers. Make it count, and make it pop.
Readers want to know exactly what kind of emotional experience they can expect from your book. You deliver this by flashing a sequence of hyper-targeted tropes, sharing a deeply romantic quote, or showing an aesthetic mood that captures the atmosphere of your world. Keep this section fast-paced; each text block, frame, or visual transition should match the rhythm of your background audio.
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Does the empty frame make you wonder what might appear in there if you click play?
Since Threads of Red is rooted in the ancient myth about the red string of fate—and the color red, with its many shades, is woven throughout the story—I also create aesthetic-driven videos. A recent example is a video that I paired with Kacey Musgraves’s song “Cardinal.” I cycled through moody visuals and atmospheric clips while always keeping that glowing red string wrapped around my hero, Ezekiel, and my heroine, Ellie because it acts as a romantic anchor throughout the narrative. The lyrics directly reference “scarlet red” and are filled with otherworldly themes like magic, signs, and messages from the other side.
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3. The Closing (CTA) Call to Action
The biggest mistake authors make is creating a beautiful and engaging Reel and then leaving the viewer wondering what to do next. Never assume a viewer knows your book is available for purchase, or that the link is in your profile.
The last 2 seconds of your video—or a prominent piece of text at the end—must include a clear Call to Action (CTA). Keep it simple and direct:
• "Read the full synopsis on Amazon."
• "Links to Purchase in Bio”
• "Add to your Goodreads TBR list!"
TURN ONE REEL INTO TWO POSTS: THE CAROUSEL REPURPOSING HACK
Carousels follow the exact same Hook → Core Theme → CTA pattern, just broken into swipeable slides instead of timed video clips. Use the below as a guide:
• Slide 1 (The Hook): Use your opening text hook on a high-contrast background or striking aesthetic image to make readers stop and swipe.
• Slides 2–5 (The Core Theme): Dedicate each middle slide to a single trope, character introduction, or punchy piece of dialogue from your reel. Because readers control the pace, carousels are ideal for slightly longer quotes or deeper world-building details.
• Final Slide (The CTA): Close with a clean graphic showing your book cover and your exact Call to Action—whether that’s grabbing a copy on Amazon or telling readers to add your book to their TBR pile.
Head over to my Instagram to view some of my carousels.
A FEW QUICK REMINDERS
• Consistency beats perfection. The algorithm values regular posting, and you never know which clip will catch fire.
• Don’t forget your hashtags. Use 3–5 hyper-targeted hashtags (e.g., #BookReels, #IndieAuthor, #[YourGenre]BookTok) rather than spamming 30 generic ones.
• Captions close the deal. Keep them punchy, concise, and easy to skim.
• Learn from your peers. Take a peek at which videos earn your fellow authors the most likes and comments. Pair those proven formats with the core elements of your own book to create something fresh.
LINKS TO PURCHASE THREADS OF RED
