Do You Think Book Trailers Are Effective?

AnthonyJones

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I've been thinking about this lately. I don't plan on making one, but several people have brought it up on WordPress, and I'm wondering if they actually work as a marketing tool.

Has anybody here had any experience with them? And if so, did it work for you?

If you never had one made for your book, do you think they work?
 

Old Hack

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There are several threads about book trailers at AW, if you want to do a bit of background reading. There's a search box in the bottom left-hand corner of the page at AW that works well.

If you want to know how effective book trailers are in selling books, ask yourself if you've ever bought a book because of a trailer.
 

Osulagh

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If you want to know how effective book trailers are in selling books, ask yourself if you've ever bought a book because of a trailer.

Agreed.


The only time I come across book trailers is when a writer makes one and posts it on AW. How else is the trailer suppose to reach the audience?

I'd rather go read a blurb and the first couple pages. Ya, know, reading--it's what I want to do if I'm buying a book.

IMHO, waste of time and money.
 
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Thewitt

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I recently bought a book because of a book trailer. This is the first time I really paid any attention.

Someone in my Facebook circle of friends posted a book trailer link and I followed it, it intrigued me, and I bought the book.

I'm going to make one for my first book and see what happens.
 

AnthonyJones

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Agreed.

I'd rather go read a blurb and the first couple pages. Ya, know, reading--it's what I want to do if I'm buying a book.

See, that's what I was thinking too. I've just been seeing a bunch of them posted on WordPress . . . couldn't help but wonder.

And no, I have never bough a book based on a trailer. It's always the blurb. And the cover (I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I'm guilty)
 

Chris P

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Old Hack and Osulagh beat me to my point: I have never even watched a book trailer, let alone bought a book because of one.

The reasons I buy books (in order of decreasing importance):

1. I know the author's previous works and like them.

2. It's an important book in some way, either a classic or one a lot of people are reading (AND is in one of my preferred genres).

3. It comes recommended either 1) by one of a few email services I subscribe to, such as Noisetrade.com or Bookbub.com, 2) by friends, or 3) a magazine or other nonfiction writer makes reference to it (AND is in one of my desired genres).

4. It's by an AW author who's doing a free giveaway promotion (AND is in one of my preferred genres).


This last one is the only time I would be likely to encounter a book trailer, and unless I really like the author or the book really interests me, well, note the word "free" then calculate your royalty on "free."
 
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Lhowling

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I don't think I've ever bought a book because of the book trailer... but...
when I do see a trailer, it can have an overall effect on if I may want to read the story in the future. I have seen some book trailers where I can't help but go oooh, this is up my alley. Then, I see some trailers and I wonder why they even bothered... it just turned me off to the story. Then again, those same stories I probably wouldn't have purchased or considered for future reader to begin with.
 

Lhowling

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Oh yes and I have created a book trailer once for one of my erotica novellas. I did it myself... it wasn't the best quality. However, I got some positive reviews because the trailer was a selected excerpt, with tantalizing images to help narrate a spanking scene. It took a long time to create that trailer, and in the future I'll most likely create a trailer that shows a special collection or set of stories, rather than focus on only one story.

There's also the option to invest in someone else to produce the book trailer, but it's not a pertinent marketing tool so why invest money on it (at least if your funds are limited)?
 

CrastersBabies

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Most book trailers I've seen are horrendously produced. Here is some bad music leftover from a porno with a picture and scrolling words. Yayyy.

If I saw better quality book trailers, I might be persuaded. Otherwise, yawnfest.
 

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The first time I went to RT Booklovers Convention, they had an in-house TV channel dedicated to showing book trailers for authors attending the convention. Several of them were professionally produced commercials I'd expect to see on a regular TV channel, but it's very rare these days when a book is advertised on TV (most recently, it's been Stephen King, James Patterson, and Dan Brown. Even then, the ads show up only once et pouf! I never see them again). The rest were just...ugh. One went on and on and on, looking more like a movie trailer than a book trailer, giving away waaaaaaay too much information on the plot; it had everything except the ending.

As I've seen mentioned before, I don't look for them on YouTube or other outlets. I prefer to look for books in bookstores or on Barnes & Noble's website since I have one of their nook readers. I know a lot of people do search them out but I wonder if views = sales.

(A company that produces book trailers also claims to have trademarked the term but I've never seen anything come of it.)
 

AnthonyJones

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I know a lot of people do search them out but I wonder if views = sales.

Yeah, the views=sales is a huge question. It's sounding like most people don't pay too much attention to trailers, which makes sense when you can read the blurb.
 

MarkEsq

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Oh yes and I have created a book trailer once for one of my erotica novellas. I did it myself... it wasn't the best quality. However, I got some positive reviews because the trailer was a selected excerpt, with tantalizing images to help narrate a spanking scene. It took a long time to create that trailer, and in the future I'll most likely create a trailer that shows a special collection or set of stories, rather than focus on only one story.

if you need help with your next spanking scene, let me know... ;)

There's also the option to invest in someone else to produce the book trailer, but it's not a pertinent marketing tool so why invest money on it (at least if your funds are limited)?

Agreed, I'm not sure they're worth a lot of $$ investment unless the end result is going to be startlingly good.

I have made two, myself, for my two latest books. I steered away from the usual format and went for something more personal and humorous. I showed how the books were created - me forcing my kids to write them, while I swanned around in a tweed jacket and smoked a pipe.

No idea if they generated sales, the first one generated some minor buzz, being featured by Shelf Awareness and my local indie bookstore's blog.

Honestly, I do them for fun, as a creative release. If they have a positive impact, then great.
 

Jamiekswriter

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I can't pinpoint sales to the trailers directly, but I was picked up and featured on more blogs because of them. So I had a bit of buzz to build on more than I normally would, without the trailer. One of the books, Heat, became a USA Today bestseller -- but that was also in the week I had a book bub ad.

If you want to take a look at them, they're on my website. http://www.jkschmidt.com
 

aliceshortcake

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I don't think I've ever seen a really well-done book trailer. Many of them are so amateurish, complete with misspelled words and copyright-infringing film clips and images, they put me right off reading the book.
 

BenPanced

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I don't think I've ever seen a really well-done book trailer. Many of them are so amateurish, complete with misspelled words and copyright-infringing film clips and images, they put me right off reading the book.
Some of the better ones I've seen were probably put together by the publisher's promo team. Some of the most amateurish ones use stock photos with a visible watermark.
 

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I've watched a few book trailers, but none of them has tempted me to buy the book.

Following on from what Alice and Ben said -- when authors lift copyrighted material to use in their trailers, it makes me wonder whether they've infringed copyright in their books too.
 

BenPanced

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To me, it just indicates the person who put the trailer together hasn't read the stock photo service's TOS. Granted, you can download samples for free but to get rid of the watermark, you generally need an account (oftentimes free); however, even the free samples have particular terms on which they can or cannot be used, usually once for doing a mock-up before purchasing full rights. How do I know this? I read the TOS.
 

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Honestly, they remind me of those cheesy infomercials trying to sell James Patterson's latest book. I know he sells well, but those commercials turn me away from wanting the book. And book trailers usually do as well because they are generally, as a whole, amateur with horrific image quality. :/
I don't think they work in most genres.
 

xDream

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Honestly, they remind me of those cheesy infomercials trying to sell James Patterson's latest book.

That's just what I was going to say~ I think of the Maximum Ride trailers, and they were... kind of terrible, honestly.

If a book trailer is handled correctly (proper budget, good cast, etc.), it could be helpful. But it might not ultimately make much of a difference in sales.
 

Viridian

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Book trailers don't work, and they don't work because people do them wrong. It takes a good budget to do something right. Cheap actors playing out a scene... I can't imagine anyone buying based off of that. Conversely, when there are no actors and it's just text -- a few sentences I'm forced to slowly read are not going to convince me to buy.

Trailers need to be different. Like... one excellent voice-actor reading a small, exciting excerpt. The background needs to be something neutral -- not photos or videos of real people. Something that emphasizes what's being said, not something that distracts from it.

Chuck Wendig has a pretty fantastic book trailer, because he's Chuck goddamn Wendig.
 

JulianneQJohnson

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I did a book trailer for a self-published children's book recently. I did the trailer myself, and it cost nothing. The artwork is mine, and the music was free so long as credit was given. I was very careful of copyright infringement.

Does it look professional? I doubt it. I'm a nearly 50 year old with questionable computer skills. Am I pleased with it? Terribly. It is going to be useful in bumping sales? Probably not.

I did it to post on facebook and my blog. With an illustrated children’s book, I thought the combination of words and illustrations would be more effective than a simple blurb. I made it specifically for things like facebook, so that people already acquainted with me could see if they might be interested in the book. In that specific way, I do think it was effective. I got some sales from folks I haven’t seen in decades. I got some sales from people I barely remember from high school, and a few from strangers. Having done nothing else yet to publicize the book, I can only believe these sales came from my short facebook campaign, which was predominately the trailer.

If you want to see it, you can click on the bunny in my sig, but no hard feelings if you ignore it completely. As I said, I made it mostly for facebook.
 

Filigree

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The 'stock photo and scrolling text' book trailer is a common offering in the vanity-pub trade. The results are often boring, sad, or jaw-droppingly foolish.

I've never bought a book just from a book trailer. I have seen some amazing ones - but they were created by professionals or very talented hobbyists. I'm much more likely to buy based on a blurb or a review.
 

Lizzie7800

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I don't like book trailers because they rob me of envisioning the characters myself, it's a letdown. Even my favorite mainstream authors who spend big money on their trailers disappoint.