For years now, the publishing world has been grappling with a singular dilemma: how to make use of the new platform and opportunities provided by the internet to build successful marketing campaigns. Always one step ahead of the curve, self-publishing authors began to look to websites like YouTube and Vimeo as possible platforms to connect with new readers and share their book trailers. And they have been wildly successful!
A book trailer is like a movie trailer, or commercial, for your book. Because videos tap into two fundamentally important human senses (sight and hearing), they have the power to both introduce new readers to your book and inspire them to purchase it.
A good book trailer presents images related to the book’s theme and content in an entertaining way and is set to music that conjures the appropriate mood. A mystery novel might be set to a brooding tapestry of minor-key notes, while a romance novel might take advantage of a light-hearted upbeat tempo to cue readers to the nature of its story. Just as moviegoers might find themselves on the edge of their seats at the theater, your potential readers will get excited about your book. It’s all about creating that “buzz” around your book’s release.
Crafting a book trailer that connects all the dots to inspire this reaction is, of course, challenging. Video editing demands creative skills, deft image placement, smart text arrangement and nuanced transitions from one frame to the next. And the timing must be precise: The entire trailer must take place over approximately 60 seconds in order to communicate all that it needs to and command a viewer’s attention.
The value of a well-made book trailer is, however, unquestionable. Short movies are the most portable of marketing tools and are easily shared across all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and elsewhere. They can be embedded into blog posts or the link distributed by email.
As a self-publishing author, you’re already strategically placed to take advantage of video—but creating a book trailer? That might be outside your comfort zone. Luckily, Outskirts Press has you covered! Our Book Video Trailer & Distribution service allows you complete creative control, while putting the power of our expert team at your service, assisting with music selection, image identification and text integration before delivering a draft of your book video trailer to you for approval. The final product provides a slick, creative way to showcase your work and market your book effectively to a wide audience.
A book trailer puts video’s greatest assets—its immediacy, its ability to convey a lot of information succinctly, and its visceral impact—at your command. Movies have the power to move people, and a book trailer has the power to capture your reader’s attention and translate that attention into engagement on social media—and sales.