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Book Trailer Videos - Do They Make Sense For Book Marketing? - By Lance Winslow

By Lance Winslow

Some new innovative freelance book writers are now considering doing book trailers, yes you heard it right "Book Trailers" just like Movie Trailers. How will they do this you ask? Via YouTube and guess what? Authors and writers are reporting back the results, they are working, yes, they are selling more books because of it. When you think of it, well it makes sense doesn't it? Why should the Movie Industry be the only benefactor of video clip trailer type marketing opportunities?

Have you considered this type of marketing for your Book or eBook?

You might wish to. One famous writer took video clips from his CSPAN Book Channel talk and spliced in the most energetic bytes. Then graphics were added with a close up of the book panning in and panning out. Explanation of the cover and a quick quote and recommendation from an important person of why you should read this book; just like the testimonials usually found in popular books.

How long should your book trailer be? Well, this is up for debate, many say that much over 4-5 minutes is pushing it. Some say just make a 1-2 minute commercial, others say you need more meat in it but if you get close to 10-minutes you've lost. Despite these disagreements of how long these trailers should be, all agree they work.

The best advice came from a former editor from "P3" or Perfect Perennial Publishers, which noted that each author needs to consider their audience, whether it is non-fiction or fiction; who buys this book and cater to their desires. "Too much tease is seen as sleaze, but you will win if you aim to please." Interesting indeed - so think on this

By Lance Winslow

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Comment by Lance Winslow on March 28, 2009 at 11:56pm: Vikram, Yes, I tend to agree with your comments, and John's also for the most part. Still, I have had success with such things, with two-Free-eBooks I have written. One on the Future of Truck Technologies and one that helps folks prepare for medical missions in Third World Nations.

Comment by Vikram Narayan on March 28, 2009 at 11:40pm: A book-trailer might work for some books. One problem that might arise is that people who watch TV (and by extension YouTube videos) may not be the kind of people who read books. It may be much better to make your book-extract available in a nice, attractive flip-book format that is shareable across multiple social networks such as Facebook and MySpace. This is probably the best way to engage your target market and tempt them into buying your book.

Comment by John Kremer on March 28, 2009 at 11:31pm: Most book trailers are nothing more than commercials. They don't go viral. Better to create great content videos that might go viral.