Conchie F. • Hi Scott. I self-published my novel through Createspace, Amazon's Indie publishing division. I did research on book trailers and found the costs involved were way beyond my marketing budget. Opinions on the importance of book trailers or their impact on actual sales are mixed, but the common consensus seems to be that they're 'nice to have', but not quite mandatory.

I was curious enough to have a go at it, and I created my own book trailer on Windows Live Movie Maker. I bought licensing fees in order to use music from an online company (http://www.dawnmusic.com/) and loaded my video onto my Amazon and Barnes and Noble book pages and Youtube. I added the link to the signature in my email client and also added the video to my author website and Facebook. I got a lot of hits, initially, especially when I tweeted the link. I did a marketing blitz around the time when I loaded the video, and I did sell a good number of books during that week, but your guess is as good as mine as to whether the video helped to sell the books.

If you're interested, you can watch the video here: http://www.conchiefernandez.com/Previews--Contests---Media.html

It's a good calling card, and I probably could have an even more enticing product if I'd paid the $2-$3K that most companies charge to make book trailers, but I'm happy with the look and feel of my product and all I paid was $15 for the music license.

Your thoughts?

Brad W. • That's an interesting question. The movie trailer is an important marketing mechanism to gain interest in a movie, and since it is a movie . . . it works well. Video is typically a more expensive advertising item. I think the question of effectiveness is a very important one you raise. Is a video trailer something that invokes a buying decision or the "wanting to know more" by consumers? From a movie trailer standpoint it makes obvious sense, but are readers moved by video for wanting to buy or know more about a book? I haven't ever seen it come up in any surveys.

It's definitely interesting and I think if done right, within one's budgets for advertising, and placed properly; it could be effective. I personally care more for clips of an author insights rather than a movie-like trailer which can be confusing as to what is being advertised . . . a movie or a book. I like what Conchie did, but would add that splicing in some video of herself expanding on some of what the motivation behind the book was would make that production a bit more enticing.

Great topic.

Scott S. • Conchie - thanks for the comments.

I think it is spectacular that you put together a trailer on your own. You are the best person to convey the story and/or thoughts of the title, but you can now attest to the difficulty in doing a trailer. In looking at your trailer I think you did a fantastic job with the copy in the first two lines - the set up. You jumped right into the quotes and reviews, which is a standard pattern for spots, however in most cases this works best after you've seen so many spots that you can get away with two lines and then go to the reviews. We literally call them review spots. Well done. I like the music as well. Good choice. I think you wasted some opportunity with the video by using moving patterns. This doesn't help c There are similar onvey or backup the two lines of info you provided. I can't tell what the book is about. As with the music, there are companies that license video or static photos which could help your spots. I like the :54 seconds. Very appropriate.

Also, thanks for the $ amount that you mentioned as the going rate. This gives me a good idea what is understood in the marketplace.

Sincerely,

Scott S.
Clip.me

Conchie F. • Hi Scott, Brad!

Thanks to both of you for taking a look at the book trailer, and for your suggestions. As I said, it's pretty much an amateur shot at a book trailer, and I did what felt natural to highlight the book title, distribution points, reviews and credits.

Scott- I'll look into stock video; I'll probably purchase some shots and do another version of the trailer. Brad - I thought about including some shots of me reading an excerpt from the book but I didn't want to make the trailer too long. I'm thinking of posting a separate video of me reading an excerpt of the book.

Scott- as for the trailer length, I too agree on less than 60 seconds. I have a very short attention span and assume most readers do too. I've seen book trailers that can pass for mini-movies and I always get bored after the 4th frame. I don't want visual images to go along with my reading. Most readers want to envision the world they're reading and give it their own tint. My main contention with book trailers is that I feel the more the trailer shows (figures, people, places) the less compelled I am to read the book. I'm not one of those people who buys a book after I watch a movie based on the book. So I want book trailers to be short and snappy and tell me the title, the author's name, some reviews, and where I can buy it. As a viewer, if the trailer is compelling, I'll do additional research and find out what the book is about.

I can certainly tweak the trailer to offer a little more info about the book, but I firmly believe the opening line tells it all: Kyle Reed is on the verge of achieving artistic immortality (which should translate as 'making it big as an artist') when he gets a call from his past and it brings everything in his life to a halt. Obviously I'm so close to the story that this line is very clear to me, and it's also the book's tagline, but if it's not clear to the viewer/reader then I have to work on it! :)

Once again, though, I fail to see why book trailers are necessary. They offer a nice look and feel for the book, but I find they make less of an impact than, say, a bookmark or business card. I've thought about investing on promoting the video on Youtube by purchasing a marketing package from them, but I honestly don't see the ROI.

Scott, does your company promote book trailers and if so, I'd be interested to understand where you see a profitable vehicle for them, and the ROI. "Undrawn" is selling very well, but I still have to sell quite a lot of books to justify that level of investment when I can use that amount of money to place a 1/20 ad in the NYT Book Review. :)

Great to keep in touch with you!!!!

Conchie

Scott S. • Brad - Some good points. And you seem to be doing the same two-step that I'm doing in my head - ie. asking the question does it work? Does it drive buys, attention, brand/title recognition. In thinking about your post - I reflected on the price of a book which is comparable to tickets to a movie. A book is more of a time investment, so does a more "flippant" marketing tool diminish the title? I don't think it would. It shouldn't anyways.

I also think that we don't have any practical metrics on this question because they haven't been used enough, and not really in the fashion I'm considering which is a higher production cost. We could look at the book "DIANETICS" from L. Ron. I remember the tv spots coming on 50 times a day on the tube. That certainly helped sell books. I don't think anyone else has tried that. Weird book, but interesting in the sense that their experiment worked like gang busters.

Scott S. • Conchie -

You are right on the seperate spot where you read portions. I envision that being more of a featurette than a short trailer/teaser. Now you could do something a little more creative/artsy. You would begin with you reading a small voice over only morsel from the book. It has to be something biting and gripping even out of context. Add some video elements with pushes/pulls, slo-mos, etc. to build some tension to a head then BANG - Then a male VO comes in full and reads the reviews as they fly on screen. The first review out of the gate should include your name as the author. That could be fun.

On length - I would say if you can make it a 60 on the nose. Just in case you end up doing some tv spots then you have a 60. You'd have to do 30, 15 cutdowns, but at least you've covered that.

I agree on the purpose of the spots and trailers. It is a teaser. You must - as with a story - provide a beginning/middle/end, and a solid story line (think your first two lines in your trailer). I actually agree that the first two lines is a solid tease. But in a full trailer with no reviews to fill the end you provide more info on why his immortality is now threatened. You don't have to give away the farm, but you are basically providing a synopsis of Act I - the set up.

Our company promotes tv, film, home entertainment content. "On the next "Seinfeld ..." etc. Or "In a World ..." (like the 1000 trailers you've seen at theaters.) Your question about where to put these trailers is part of my review. I'm looking to see if there is a market for me to put my creative team on doing book trailers. Two areas - high end (very pricey and equivalent to film) or Lower cost volume trailers mainly targeting folks like you who are self-publishing. In either case, I see that there is not a technology or service to help pull all of these together as a core focus. There must me 10000 sites for movie trailers, but there is not a similar portal for book trailers. I'm looking at building a "youtube" style portal for book discovery and purchase (through affiliate ties to amazon, or other online retailers), in any form - ebook, hard cover, soft cover, etc. But in my vision the sight would be focused on the trailers as the main discovery tool.

Love to have your thoughts on that as well.

Conchie F. • Scott, your idea of a portal for trailers sounds fantastic and you'd have me signing on from the get-go. If you can get booksellers and literary agents to become affiliated to the portal, and you can target the different author pools out there, you'd probably have a gold mine. Other than post my trailer in the sites we already discussed, I can't find much of a use for them. But if you can create buzz by offering readers, writers, publishers, book marketers, agents and booksellers a chance to watch trailers and then link to the book sites (for info or purchase), you might hit a brand new niche. The portal might even be an additional distribution point, if you were in the business of selling books.

Keep me posted, and feel free to reach out to me with updates on this or any other marketing projects. I'll be more than happy to spread the word on the author communities I belong to on Amazon, Goodreads, B&N, Smashwords and others.

Scott S. • Conchie,

Thanks for the comments. You hit my intention square on the nose. I'm not a book seller by trade, but I do believe that a new way to purchase books - in all their forms - is a ripe market. I envision a video centric site with each thumbnail being the book cover, but clicking it plays the trailer. For each title there is easy to access info, data, and of course e-commerce selections. I'm a believer in the lean startup & Minimal viable product models - so I would likely sell through others at first. It is all about the users. What helps them to buy books. If we can give them that then many will participate.

My greatest concern for a Book Trailer portal is that there may not be enough trailers out there to hit the tipping point. That is why I'm hitting the pavement to see the lay of the land. Thankfully, I'm running into some great folks like yourself that our helping me get a clear vision. I'll certainly keep in touch as things evolve.

Sincerely - Scott

Sara H. • Interesting discussion! I've heard quite frequently that a book trailer shouldn't be too "in your face" outright marketing, but should be much more subtle: it should tell people something that will pique their interest and make them want to read more, and then (we hope) buy the book--pretty much what Brad is getting at, I think. We've used in-house resources so as not to be too expensive and followed this subtler approach, and we've certainly had a lot of hits on our site compared with titles without video content. I'd guess they helped to increase sales, but it's hard to know.

One that generated a lot of positive reader comments was the backstory of a novel, with interviews with the author and the elderly war veteran whose real-life experiences inspired the story. The book is currently up for a national prize judged by popular vote, so we wanted to increase attention for it, and we wanted to draw readers in and make them want to know what happens:
http://www.saraband.net/fiction/215-making-shore

Another that got lots of comments was this one: the original video is the first link (now more than 3000 hits on youtube), and the subsequent one accompanied the later paperback launch. Self-sufficiency, food politics and family history all meet here, and they're all popular topics right now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoqjPcKS5_shttp://www.saraband.net/environment-a-popular-science/154-the-garden-cottage-diaries

In a recently posted video, we made a newsy connection by linking the book with a current phenomenon, in this case the Arab Spring movement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV40xyrQmJA

I think this is a space worth experimenting in, and I'd definitely be interested to hear more on the idea of a trailer portal (and if any of you have thoughts on our videos, it would be interesting to hear them. Great comments, Brad; good luck Conchie, and Keep us posted, Scott!

Scott S. • Sara, Wow. Great info and examples.

I like the idea of "Making Shores". As you mentioned it feels like a doc, or rather news magazine style. I think that is a very powerful marketing element. Although they share a common goal of introducing and selling the book > they have different characteristics that work in different ways and in different places. This is the same for the Arab Spring Movement piece. Tying with news of the day is fantastic. I think what this is showing is that it is the creative ways of presenting the pieces and telling the story without anything to start with is what can make these very appealing. Even the "History Women," which is a high concept idea, works great in the piece.

It is my opinion that these all have a place. But there is also an opportunity for the short form spot that is more viral that "teases" the book, author, and other facets. Films have behind the scenes and featurettes, etc. But generally it is the trailers that have the most bang for the buck.

Thanks for the time on this Sara. Good Stuff

Conchie F. • Sara, thanks for sharing your experience tying trailers and short docs to your books. Congratulations and good luck with the national award! :)

Sara H. • Scott and Conchie, thanks for looking and for your comments. Scott, do you think we should try shorter cuts of these so they'd have more chance of going viral? Have you seen any good book trailers in your searches? I know a lot of publishers want to get started making videos. If you put together a bunch of links to good examples and tried contacting the big publishing houses, you might well get some business!
Thanks - Sara

Scott S. • Hi Sara,
Shorter is likely better both to go viral, and in keeping attention of the viewer. The caveat is that is exponentially more difficult in producing a shorter cut that still provides the interest and marketing value that you need from a spot or a trailer. In all the discussion that has been going on, and my due diligence of late makes me think that there is a hybrid, or new creature that is ready to hatch specifically for books trailers. I'm not sure what it is, but something with bang of the film trailers, and the creative or "wisdom" ? of the books.
I did a couple tests and put out feelers to many publishers, but I didn't get what I'd call a successful response.

scott

Gillian B. • There is no doubt that book trailers will be part of marketing going forward. Margins in the publishing world are slimmer than in the movie and tv industries so you'd have to offer some pretty simple but smart and effective samples and products along with more elaborate ones.

Deborah S. • I agree with Gillian. Traditional publishers are spending less and less on marketing for most of their authors. So if an author is going to have to pay for their own trailer, the cost has to be relatively low. I actually found people who will create a reasonably professional looking trailers with music for under $100. I now have trailers for 3 of my thrillers and use them in my own marketing, but am really not sure how they have affected sales. And that's the bottom line...

Scott S. • Deborah, Thanks for the comments.
What do you think of the lower cost trailers? Do they represent your book well? Do you have an instinct whether they help convert to sales? If there was a site where you could go and provide book info to get back a 30 second trailer > what is that worth? Considering you get "X" from each book, how many books do you have to sell to make the "T" Trailer cost worth it?

thanks,
Scott

Karen C. • Greetings, Scott, and everyone else following this thread!

* We are a culture that has grown up on and is obsessed by video. *** Yes, books are indeed a ripe market when you apply this powerful statement to book marketing efforts!

For instance, a friend told me something that has stuck with me: When she is researching a product, she will move on to the next site if the company doesn't have a video. People are making more decisions based on info found in short sound bytes.

As an audiobook narrator, I firmly believe that book trailers help bring people to the book who wouldn't otherwise know about it. They are also useful as a marketing tool for my voiceover business.

In fact, I recently created a 1:21 video for an audiobook of the 1902 book "A Woman Who Went to Alaska" that I narrated as a service project. You can view the trailer here:

http://youtu.be/U6-Ea7fFEyk

The production cost was minimal. I used pictures from http://www.iStockPhoto.com, my own Alaskan cruise vacation, and the author's original black and white photographs that were included in her book, which is now in the public domain. I selected music from my royalty-free music library.

If you're interested, you can download the FREE 10.5-hour audiobook at this link:

http://librivox.org/a-woman-who-went-to-alaska-by-may-kellogg-sullivan/

Finally, I welcome all requests to connect on LinkedIn and hope that I may help you achieve your vision. Scott, I would love to be your go-to voice talent for book trailers!


Cordially,
Karen Commins
http://www.KarenCommins.com

Steve S. • Hi Scott,

As a writer, I'm still not sure about the ROI on book trailers, but when done properly the marketing value is obvious. This is an excellent trailer that made me want to purchase the book immediately:

http://www.raymondbenson.com/theblackstiletto/index.html

Again, it all comes down to cost, especially for independent authors. Nobody wants to launch a book that has to fight its way out of a large financial hole.

Steve Statham
http://www.stevestatham.com

Ey W. • I like the idea of book trailers. So much so I have a site dedicated to them http://wade-inbooktrailers.blogspot.com. Right now I am working on a very limited budget and ave prepared my own videos. I would be interested to know what others think of them.

Susan F. • Hi, all. I've had good luck with the trailer for my first book. I did it myself with Windows Movie maker ... all told, including cost of a few photos, some bloodspatter and the music clips it cost me about $75.00. Well, and a LOT of my time. I"ve had some experience editing video and slide shows, but it still took a lot of hours. But here's the thing, as far as ROI. The video offers you another chance to send out emails to your gigantic (I hope it's gigantic) mailing list. You can put it on your website, and upload it to Blazing Trailers, et al. And let's face it, these days, people will watch almost anything (wish they would read as much!)

The trailer is on my website: http://susanfleet.com/fleet-absolution.html
Youtube is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixtfyV2J3mc

I'd love to hear your comments. I'm about to launch my next crime thriller ... just finishing the last details of the trailer for DIVA.