Authorpreneur Magazine - Issue 2

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Are book trailers considered an essential marketing tool for authors now? Probably not by many, however, when you consider the huge marketing potential offered by video sharing sites like YouTube, authors might be well advised to consider tapping into this marketing tool. But be warned - a bad book trailer may be worse for you than having no book trailer! Video book trailers come in a variety of ‘styles’. Everything from simple image and text montages, to authors talking about their books, right through to productions that resemble movie trailers. It is particularly important to consider which type of trailer will appeal to your potential readers. Not only do you want something that shows people what the book is about, but something they will enjoy watching and feel compelled to share with others. Read the experiences of these authors, who have used a variety of different types of trailers. View their videos and share your thoughts on these trailers on the Authorpreneur Magazine website. What type of trailer do you have for your book? Or what type do you think would suit your book / reader’s tastes? 12 Video Book Trailers www.ellyklein.com Elly Klein I produced a video book trailer for my humorous relationship advice book, Men Are Like a Box of Chocolates. I wrote it myself and used images from my book. I also selected the track from stock music. A friend, who lives in LA and works as an animator, put it together for me, as I don’t have the technical know-how. It’s difficult to measure how successful it’s been for driving traffic and sales. At the moment, it’s had around 500 views and has been live for 6 months. I’m glad I have it, because I think it’s a really fun and dynamic way to promote the book. http://www.youtube.com/v/Zhd_9AFVJn8?fs=1 AuthorpreneurMagazine March 2013 www.authorpreneurmagazine.com
Marianne Cantwell I created a book trailer for my book Be A Free Range Human which launched at the beginning of January. My publisher (a traditional business house) had never had an author do a book trailer before and I did it all myself, with some outsourced help. The - rather unusual - trailer drove signups for my book site www. beafreerangehuman.com and as a result we got this book to a) sell out on Amazon.co.uk on its first day and b) be Amazon’s hottest new release across all books in mid December (based on pre-sales alone!). It is also a #1 bestseller in entrepreneurship and careers. Much of the buzz that led to that initial success was from the trailer (but now the book is gathering its own momentum). The trailer was filmed in two cities and put together in a third. I was in California for most of it (all the outdoor cliff shots!) then in NYC for the street shots and back in London, UK for the rest. I story-boarded it all myself and got a videographer to shoot and edit under my direction. The speaking you hear on it was from Skype-recorded interviews with some of my clients (their words were unscripted and we edited them together). What it is not - book trailer mistake to avoid www.beafreerangehuman. com It is not an ad for the book. I don’t mention the book anywhere in the trailer! It’s there to get people thinking, inspired and curious - I think that a lot of authors make the mistake of trying to do an info-mercial for their book, but you don’t pass a bland info-mercial around to your friends! This trailer is one I know has been passed around with people saying “you have to see this”, and it’s the message and passion that people buy into, and that in turn leads to getting the free chapter from the website and buying the book. In total, I spent only $600 US on this (I was going to be in those locations anyway so flights don’t count!). I could have done it myself (as I usually make all my videos) but I wanted something unusual and of a higher quality for the book. I think this video drove substantial interest and sales and it is still something people comment on when getting in touch about the book. www.beafreerangehuman.com George Ivanoff georgeivanoff.com.au www.authorpreneurmagazine.com I had a computer animated trailer produced for my book Gamers’ Quest in 2009. It’s been viewed over a thousand times on YouTube, but I discovered that I actually had to promote the trailer in order to get those hits. The most useful part of having the trailer was being able to show it to school groups whenever I did school talks and writing workshops. It proved to be a great way of engaging an audience and getting their attention from the word go. When the sequel, Gamers’ Challenge, came out in 2010, I had another trailer made by the same guy who did the first (Henry Gibbens). This time around I really didn’t put very much effort into promoting the trailer online. This is reflected in the smaller number of hits. But I did use it for school visits and again it proved to be very successful in this regard. March 2013 AuthorpreneurMagazine 13
Page 1 and 2: FROM COACH TO AUTHOR Andrew R Mille
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS 04 E-READER DIGEST Alicia
Page 5 and 6: Around this time, e-books started t
Page 7 and 8: Once I had my research gathered, th
Page 9 and 10: 1. As an authorpreneur you’re mor
Page 11: Media Cents and Sensibility by Chri
Page 15 and 16: I used an online program called Ani
Page 17 and 18: Author Websites by Jeannie Barker E
Page 19 and 20: Tip 3 You, or your PA/VA, should be
Page 21 and 22: www.authorpreneurmagazine.com 12-14
Page 23 and 24: Are You Tracking Your Mentions? Are

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