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how effective are 'book trailers'?

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MikePhilbin
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how effective are 'book trailers'?

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I'm wondering how much 'money' is spent on 'book trailers' and how effective are they at what they're supposed to do i.e. selling your book.

:)
my new novel Custodian (free planet#1) is available now in ebook and paperback from Chimericana Books.
M Eigh
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Re: how effective are 'book trailers'?

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IMHO, there are two keys to make it effective.

1)It has to deliver a sensory impact that leaves the prospective reader with curiosity or a sense of wonder, a.k.a., a desire to read your entire book.
2)The book trailer video must be easily and instantly accessible with one click.

Out of these two keys, #2 is actually more important. What I do is I embed the trailer and other high-impact multimedia elements right there in my book description. I even put a contact-me or opt-in form there just in case someone wants to share a thought or a note of compliment with me. This is normally impossible in Amazon's KDP book description, but I discovered an easy way to get it done. And seeing is believing, take a look when you get a chance, KDP's Best-Kept Secret Revealed: How to Embed Videos and Widgets in Your Book Description

These high-impact elements just awe people right there. Even if they do not buy my book, I'm pretty sure they linger much longer than they would have if though elements are not there in my book description. For the week 9/16 through 9/21, I sold more than 70 copies of this book, without any advertisement. It proves that trailer vids and other descriptive helpers DO help sell books!
tyler89
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Re: how effective are 'book trailers'?

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I think they are quite effective and quite a good way of promoting your book. YouTube really caters to a massive audience today, an audience who perhaps would just love to find something cool to get them away from their iPads, smartphones and PCs. I remember seeing some for Jo Nesbo's books, packed with action. They certainly left my friend with a desire to read the books. Most of these trailers are not to movie standard anyway, so it could well be worth the cost if it builds an audience.
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Re: how effective are 'book trailers'?

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Never considered promoting my work through a trailer. Will do so now.
M Eigh
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Re: how effective are 'book trailers'?

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tyler89 wrote:I think they are quite effective and quite a good way of promoting your book. YouTube really caters to a massive audience today, an audience who perhaps would just love to find something cool to get them away from their iPads, smartphones and PCs. I remember seeing some for Jo Nesbo's books, packed with action. They certainly left my friend with a desire to read the books. Most of these trailers are not to movie standard anyway, so it could well be worth the cost if it builds an audience.
I beg to differ there. YouTube does not allow embedded, clickable hyperlinks that leaves the YouTube domain. (You are only allowed to embed links to other video's hosted on YouTube) So the only place you can put a clickable link to your book is in the description. Based on my experience, that typically begets a VERY VERY pathetic click-through rate. I once had a book trailer video up on YouTube and it got one click-through to my book after some 300 views.

So I use trailer to deliver the sales pitch. And I embed it right there in the book description, following a bold in-your-face strategy. Here's my way (see how the video is right there in the book description) -- KDP's Best-Kept Secret Revealed: How to Embed Videos and Widgets in Your Book Description
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Kergan Edwards-Stout
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Re: how effective are 'book trailers'?

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I've found them to be very effective. They give me not only something to post on YouTube and to include with author interviews, but also something to tweet about regularly.

I've created not only a book trailer prior to release, to drive interest, but after I had tons of positive, legit reviews from name sources, I have created "review" trailers as well. When I've been at book fairs, I've had the review trailer playing on the table on my tablet, which generates interest from folks who have no clue as to who I am.

In terms of cost, there are a lot of services which will ask for money, but if you're remotely creative, you can use tools that may already be on your computer, such as moviemaker. Just buy a clip of music off of Jewelbeat (or similar) for as low as .99 cents, and with the cover art from your book you can create a trailer very economically.

Just keep it short and sweet--Intrigue, entice, but don't tell too much! Make them want to look you up to find out more!
Kergan Edwards-Stout is an award-winning director, screenwriter, and author. Gifts Not Yet Given will be published in October 2013. His debut novel, Songs for the New Depression, is the winner of the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Award in the LGBTQ category, was shortlisted for the 2011 Independent Literary Awards, and was named one of the Top Books for 2012 by Out in Print and multiple other book review sites.
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Re: how effective are 'book trailers'?

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Kergan, thanks for the informative explanation. And of course, when you have the viewers posting comments, your video/trailer is certifiably engaging and effective.

I have three questions, since you seem to be in the know.

1)What is "short?" Is it like 60 seconds?
2)I have an interesting case here on this book KDP's Best-Kept Secret Revealed: How to Embed Videos and Widgets in Your Book Description, I have so far sold about 80 copies of the book. But the grand total YouTube view for the trailer video, which is embedded right there on the book page, is only in the 120's. The trailer is hosted here: . So it is very clear my trailer is kind of irrelevant, except in the sense that I showed people it is possible to embed a video right there in their book description. What has made the video not engaging? What have I done wrong?
3)If you look at the customer review, you can see I have so far received 6 5-star rave reviews. If I follow your advice to do a "review" trailer, what are the key elements of the reviews I must capture and relay? And if you are to do it, how much would you charge me?

M. Eigh, author of the now very popular KDP's Best-Kept Secret Revealed: How to Embed Videos and Widgets in Your Book Description
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Kergan Edwards-Stout
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Re: how effective are 'book trailers'?

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Hi there! Thanks for the reply. I'm not in the business of creating book trailers--I've just made my own for my own work. As my books are fiction, it would be impossible to compare. I know from my years in marketing that for trailers, the shorter, the better. 60 seconds is a good teaser length for a trailer... A bit longer is okay, but you don't want to give away too much of the story, and leave the reader with a sense of intrigue.

Some forums, such as GoodReads, actually have threads where you can share your trailer, and you might want to find and post in those. Also, if you're on twitter, you might try automating some of your promotional tweets and direct the to either your website or the trailer link on YouTube. I get many website visitors from twitter daily, usually because of something like "Have you checked out the trailer for my new book? LINK"

If you haven't yet, set up a Facebook author page (you can also set up a separate one for your book) and put your trailer on both. You can also advertise the book on Facebook cheaply, targeting those most appropriate, but I personally haven't found it to be an effective spend. There are lots of options out there...

As far as doing a review trailer, I think they are only effective if you get quotes from either people, websites or magazines, etc., which are well known. Promoting a book with an anonymous quote on Amazon isn't very helpful to most viewers, as many people feel that reviews there are not necessarily legit. But if you're able to get your book to, for example, someone at Writer's Digest--who would be an authoritative person on your book's topic--a quote from them would be great. I'd reach out to as many writer's blogs and websites as possible. They'll probably be your best source for promotion.

Hopefully someone well-versed in non-fiction book trailers will be able to give you more helpful advice!

Best wishes,
Kergan
Kergan Edwards-Stout is an award-winning director, screenwriter, and author. Gifts Not Yet Given will be published in October 2013. His debut novel, Songs for the New Depression, is the winner of the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Award in the LGBTQ category, was shortlisted for the 2011 Independent Literary Awards, and was named one of the Top Books for 2012 by Out in Print and multiple other book review sites.
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Re: how effective are 'book trailers'?

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Do this, and you shouldn't have a problem.

http://www.uproxx.com/videos/2013/09/ma ... -offerman/
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Re: how effective are 'book trailers'?

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The information here has been very informative. I have been researching doing a book trailer for my novel as well. I'm now leaning toward doing one.
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