Who Needs a Book Trailer? You Do!

from Lynnette Phillips

Spread The News!

Have you written a book? Then create a book trailer. It’ll help you gain readers and you’ll be adding to your platform.

But you can think of so many reasons you shouldn’t, right? Like…

• I have limited time and resources when it comes to self-promotion
• I’m not a sales person
• Who takes the time to view book trailers anyway?

You’d be surprised how many readers, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, bloggers and others view book trailers.

You don’t need to be a sales person. Book promotion is nothing more that sharing. So as part of your publicity plan make a list of the places you can share this video and get a beginning idea of how much exposure it will bring your book. Post it on…

• Your Amazon Author Central Page
• Your Goodreads Author Page
• You Tube, of course (it’s become the 2nd largest search engine on the Internet)
• Your Facebook Page
• LinkedIn
• Google+
• Your website or blog
• Include it on your media page
• Ask your friends to share it with their friends
• And don’t forget to use it during your Virtual Book Tour

Wow, look at the exposure you’ll be getting!

Now, let’s get down to the trailer itself. There are not only several ways to go but a few things you should keep in mind when it comes to the how-to portion of creating a book trailer.

First, let’s address the expense factor. There are several online options you can try your self that can cut the cost  such as Animoto. But if you don’t feel confident in your skills you can hire someone and not necessarily at great cost. For example, you can hire someone to do a 30-45 second teaser video for as little as $99.

This brings me to the length your trailer should be. A 30-45 second teaser will get the bare facts out there and let people know there’s a new book they should be taking notice of and where they can get it. The most important information there is. A full length book trailer though that will deliver more information as to the synopsis of your book should never be more than 1-2 minutes long. Why? The Internet has created a society filled with short attention spans. No one will watch it to the end without getting bored and moving on to something else. 

Also, you might consider at least two book trailers. One to center on the book itself and another featuring what others think of the book. Here’s a trailer that one of my clients did herself for her first novel that shows her book (and herself) to advantage.

Also think about an ‘About the Author’ trailer or a screencast  presentation of your book’s theme. PowerPoint is easy to use when creating screencasts or there are online sources you can use like SlideShare.

All you need to do is let people know about your book. A book trailer can increase book sales, direct traffic to your website or blog and let you connect with readers.

Like all book marketing though you need to promote (share it with) to the public.

Related Post(s): The Value of Video
I Attended A Webinar on Book Trailers

Click To Tweet: 10 Places You Should Be Posting Your Book Trailer

When Lynnette Phillips thinks marketing, the two focuses uppermost in her mind are 1) be cost effective, 2) be time smart — but but not necessarily in that order. She writes both a book marketing blog and a book blog, besides providing varied author services. She has produced several marketing guides which you can find on Smashwords and Amazon. Please visit her at:http://bookworldmarketing.com or http://lynnettesbookworld.blogspot.com/
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