Book trailers is the third installment in the series on book promotion. The first in this series is Getting noticed and the second is Getting book reviews.
A good way to create interest in your book is by creating a book trailer, a video advertisement for your book similar to a movie trailer. Many are short (30 seconds) while others are considerably longer. My book trailer started out as a three-minute tribute to the women I met on the Camino de Santiago and who are featured in the book. After I had about 600 views on YouTube, I turned it into a book trailer, and the viewer counter reset to zero. I regret not initially making the tribute a book trailer. I also regret using the words, “upcoming book” in the voice over; now that the book is released, I have to decide whether to remove the words and, consequently, reset the counter, or leave it as it is. With experience and better planning, I could have avoided these mistakes.
Indie author, K1YPP created an approximately nine minute video on how to start a fire by rubbing sticks. As an after thought, he added a link to his book Three Hundred Zeroes about his hike of the Appalachian Trail. His YouTube video has had 83,695 views and he attributes a good portion of his sales to the video. As you can see, creating a video that goes viral can create a lot of buzz for your book.
Creating a book trailer requires forethought. You want to develop a curiosity about your book, hint at your style as a writer, and be compelling—you want viewers to buy the book. Don’t be formulaic; there are too many boring trailers, with fields of blowing grass, soft music, and a voice-over. Make your book trailers as suspenseful, funny, or thought-provoking as your book is. Give the viewer a reason to rush to the online bookstore to make a purchase. Jordan Dane’s debut mystery suspense series book trailer uses music, imagery and questions to capture the reader’s imagination and create the mystery. Seth Greenland uses humor in his book trailers. Joanna Penn creates a dream and possibilities in her book trailer for a non-fiction book, How to Enjoy your job. Whatever the genre, you can create a book trailer that sells books.
You can make your own book trailer or hire a video crew. Prices for professional work depends on the amount of work, the length of the video, and the additional services, such as distribution, that you select. Contact local colleges to see if students can develop the video for you as part of their course. If you make your own video, make sure to use only uncopyrighted images or music, or pay a small fee for the rights to use them (creative commons for images and www.musicbakery.com for music). I have had my book trailer shut down three times by companies who believed I had violated their copyrights. Once I showed YouTube my license from The Music Bakery, the video was restored.
Promote your book trailer. Sites such as Book Trailers lists book trailers for free; Book trailers for all tweets and announces new trailers on their Facebook page. Of course, there are paid services such as Book and Trailer Showcase. To help promote your book trailer on YouTube, consider using keywords, video ads or AdWords or promote it using your social media. Add the link to your video to your email signature, business cards, etc.
Creating a book trailer
- Just as with your book, create a plot or storyboard for the book trailer.
- Build a hook, to capture the reader’s interest. Be compelling and professional.
- Use your own material or get a license to use copyrighted material.
- Promote your trailer: use keywords to make your book trailer go viral
Resources
- How To Create A Book Trailer by Joanna Penn
- 10 Ways to Promote Your YouTube Video and Make Money
- How To Go VIRAL – The ultimate guide to YouTube video promotion!
- YouTube Success: How to Promote Your Videos Properly
