Why a Book Trailer?

[C P Sennett]

Why a Book Trailer?

Initially the reason I wanted a book trailer was I’d seen a few online and thought they were a great aid to attract readers.  In addition to this I love a new toy so it seemed a great idea.  After all, little point in writing a book that doesn’t get read and as writers we need readers.

A good book trailer really stands out and I felt one could tempt new readers to my work.  Also as a by product this will boost sales which should please me and my publishers at the same time.  They say pictures speak a thousand words, add to these pictures a voiceover, music and other effects and its got to be a winner!

Seeing the good book trailers out there really got me thinking…Yep, I could use one of them!

I spoke to some friends at GlassBox Media and asked if they could do one, thankfully they felt they could.  This isn’t a plug for them at all but I am really thrilled with the end result, credit where it is due and all, they nailed it.  They did the research, I managed the project and within 24 hours I had what you see today, a simple enough process – here it is.

 

 

 

 

The Plague Doctor has finally appeared on Amazon in paperback and we are almost ready to kick the marketing campaign off so, fingers crossed.  A big part of marketing the book will be the use of the book trailer I suspect but I will leave the detail of this to the experts. When I spoke to my publishers about getting one done they agreed (they are pretty flexible) that it should be a powerful visual aid provided it matches the book and target market, which we all agree it does.

I was surprised how little effort it took on my part – provide some images, guide them on the music and write the voiceover script.  They did the rest and even the voice on the voiceover was one of them.  Outsourcing this sort of thing where you can really gives a professional shine to things and not everything in book creation is expensive.

The trailer cost £75 which is pretty cheap and I am going to have some more done for the other books I have.  The reason for this is they are always there, always working and once it’s done you can then forget about it.  The book’s Facebook page has had some good comments on the trailer as it’s on there and we haven’t even pushed it yet, but we are about to.

A simple idea which started off as a “can it be done?” has turned into a useful tool that I think looks slick and really matches the feel of the book.  It says far more than a bit of text on the back of a book cover and I am now sold on these as a marketing tool.  It has turned in sales and I am setting up methods of tracking it.  It uploads onto my Amazon Author’s page, it embeds in my website and I can have it uploaded for free on YouTube and Vimeo etc.  In short once it is made the rest is free, it doesn’t expire and looks the part.

If you are good at this sort of thing do one, if not or what you do doesn’t look the part then get one made.  Considering how much time you and others spent writing and editing the book it deserves it.  If you’re self published it can add a pro look and feel to what you do and if you have a publisher try and tap them up for some or all the cost.

If you don’t ask, you don’t get.  I have to say I am chuffed to bits with my one and it is getting comments where it is posted.  I now know more about them and will have more done but I’m sure I can improve on this.

For me the payoff is the look and feel of it, it sets the scene for the book, creates tension and indicates pace, all the things as writers we try to do in our books and this gives an instant visual feel to whet the appetite, it really is that simple – it’s instant and working even when you’re not.

One disadvantage to them is the views, once it’s uploaded to a site you can’t change it so be sure what you upload to media and video channels is what you’re happy with.

I hope this helps and if you want to know any more on my experience please get in touch.  If you liked this blog post please remember to share, sharing is caring and I hope you enjoy the book trailer and maybe, even the book.