For book/ebook authors, publishers, & self-publishers

How effective are video book trailers?

I'm putting togeter a book trailer for my fantasy novel, Roland of the High Crags: Evil Arises. But the question is, how effective are book trailers in selling a book? Is all the effort in creating one worth it?

We're told to touch every base when it comes to selling our books. But time and effort needs to have a payoff. Should we do trailers if there is no real retun for our money?

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Loure' Bussey on June 11, 2009 at 10:29am

I've written lots of books, but only recently attempted to produce book trailers. In my opinion, they are definitely worth the time and effort. Site owners from all over the world have posted my book video trailers, which has given me promotion to a worldwide audience. I'm also a singer/songwriter, and I believe that having the right music to help portray the story really helped.

Loure' Bussey
Allura Publishing

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jerry M. on June 11, 2009 at 7:49pm

I created my own book trailer at absolutely no cost (see it here) so for me, it was just a small investment of time & effort. You be the judge as to whether it looks professional) I know that those who have bothered to comment on my trailer were very complimentary.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Florian Stone Wells on June 12, 2009 at 10:45am

I agree. If you can produce it cheaply, its worth it. I know I should produce one for my site, especially because I write a historical series of 7 books.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daniel S. Green on June 14, 2009 at 6:12pm

I answered some of this on another question in this forum. i think it was Marketing Your Book, Social Network Style. check it out.

but to add further, i create my own videos and book trailers. it's worth it only if you can create one for free or for little money. any amount beyond that probably isn't worth it. but if you don't have strong visual design skills, get feedback first before publishing to Youtube or other sites. in general, book trailers are worth the time, but you should have fun doing it.

i can help with video editing questions, or design questions, too.

by the way, remember that video is better than just photos and text, so if you can add video, that would help.

how effective are book trailers?? that's hard to say, but if you can get several thousand views, or 4 million views like one book trailer, chances are you'd be selling more than just a few copies.

you want people to talk it up about your book, and book trailers are a visual and emotional connection to your story. they're also very convenient to send and share. keep them from 2-5 minutes.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Stacy-Deanne on June 16, 2009 at 3:15pm

Hi BR,

My opinion, I think it depends on how creative the trailer is. If it's just like all the millions of others out there then it's not going to do anything specifically for sales because (and from what I've seen), no one really cares enough to view them. At first they were exciting but it got to where every author did it and then some of the trailers were terrible or didn't successfully mirror what the book was about. A lot of them are fluff and if you actually get the book, most times the book is completely different.

As an author, the only thing that's worth it is something you personally believe in. If you feel you can make a trailer work for you, then try it. If you have doubts then there are other things you can do to promote and probably more effectively. So far I've never had a trailer done of my books, not saying I might not try it but it's not a high priority for me. I don't care for the trailers myself, so I don't really find them necessary for my own books. If a trailer is going to be done, I'd rather see something with people on the trailer talking (say, the book's characters). Watching a trailer with a bunch of still pictures doesn't wet my appetite to buy a book. To me that's no different than seeing a page on the net if there's just pictures.

If you do make a trailer, just remember not to send the links to folks through email. I can't tell you how many authors spam people with links to their trailers. This doesn't get them views or sales, just gets them ignored.

But, no I don't think a trailer makes folks buy your books anymore than anything else does. In fact I think trailers have less of an effect than other modes of promotion. You might get some trailer views but that won't necessarily make people buy the book.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net