Book trailer?

HistorySleuth

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I felt the same way as pich313 described, if it was crap it left me with the impression that the book would be too.

I've seen only a couple that I thought were good. When book trailers first started appearing I thought it was cool and looked at quite a few, but over time I don't even look at them any more. Most of them look like they were a powerpoint school project.
 

AmericanPsychonaut

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I just released a trailer.

However, I had inimitable home video footage of myself as an 8-year-old getting dressed in drag by my mom for Halloween in 1994. It's an endearing scene with of a parent nonchalantly embracing a young LGBT kid's transgender curiosities at a time when it was less common to do so.

My point is, I had something very "BuzzFeed"/"YouTube"/"Viral" to begin with, and I simply built my trailer around it (as my eBook is a memoir). Outlets who are interested in running the trailer are interested in it because of the unique home video footage -- not because of the narrative I include about my eBook.

Making a trailer is very expensive. Actors, cameraman, costume, accessing the right locations, post-production editing. Don't even bother licensing music. Either it will cost you too much because the song is owned by a major publishing house, or the artist is too small and their management is disorganized and there are issues figuring out who actually owns the publishing rights as there are so many bankruptcies and acquisitions and mergers in music publishing. Plus, most songs are owned by multiple publishers (divided amongst them) and on top of that you have to secure the master recording rights (unless you plan on learning an instrument and how to sing and recording a new version of the music yourself).
 

MarkEsq

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Talking of self-promoting spam, I spent one evening making a trailer with my kids, as a lark. I showed it to a friend, who is a bookseller. He asked to post it on his blog, so I ran it by my publicist and editor. They loved it, and said yes, and it's rather taken on a life of its own.

I say this, apart from the self-promo, because it was funny to me that with all my serious effort I'd never come up with anything I thought worthy. Then this lark... If nothing else, the kids are cute.
 

thelittleprince

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My publisher has just asked me to put together a book trailer/about me video for youtube. I'm terrible at this sort of thing...but I guess I'll give it a go? I'm also wondering whether this will have any impact sales, particularly because my book is for kids. Maybe it is more about distribution?
 

EMaree

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My publisher has just asked me to put together a book trailer/about me video for youtube. I'm terrible at this sort of thing...but I guess I'll give it a go? I'm also wondering whether this will have any impact sales, particularly because my book is for kids. Maybe it is more about distribution?

Who's your publisher, thelittleprince? That strikes me as kind of an odd request. Most big publishers handle the book trailer side of things themselves, if they choose to make one.

As for an 'About Me' video, that seems like the kind of thing that only works if you're already a confident v(ideo b)logger or have a strong author personality like Tahereh Mafi and Ransom Riggs.
 

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I think that an inexpertly-made trailer is far worse than no trailer at all, and I'm surprised any publisher would ask its authors to make them for themselves. That doesn't sound good to me.
 

thelittleprince

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I thought it was a bit odd. Having said that my background and experiences are very much entwined with the subject matter of the book, and I've been asked to incorporate my own photos etc. Maybe the point of it is to be a bit informal?

I have to converse more with the publisher about it, maybe I'll request some examples.
 

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Who is your publisher, littleprince?
 

Old Hack

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Scholastic is a good publisher, littleprince. I'm very surprised that they've asked you to do this for yourself: might it have been a "you could do this if you've got the knowledge and experience, but don't worry if you haven't," rather than, "do this now, thanks," sort of suggestion?

I would be very careful of trying to put together a trailer when I had no previous experience of doing such things. It could cause more problems than it was worth.
 

ECathers

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I found a video editor who did the trailer for my novel, The Arrow Catcher, for less than $200. Here a link for my trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5OG0JERp3M.

Just as a recommendation, if you ever decide to do it over, I'd suggest starting with the story and then go onto the accolades. The beginning part with reviews and all left me cold and saying, "What's it about already?" I don't know that I would have bothered watching through to where you actually talk about the story line if I'd just come across it on youtube. I do love the music and the graphics are pretty nifty. Would have also liked some clue on the timeframe of the book, medieval Japan? modern Japan? and so forth.
 

ECathers

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Hubby, who is a graphic artist, is in the planning process of a trailer or two for my books, as well as some short clips that will give a little lesson from my how too books. We're planning to do it in Flash and hopefully without need for actors or other crazy expenses.

ETA: And no, he isn't responsible for the crappy cover on Spellcraft Secrets (below) - I did that myself, not realizing how impossible to read it would be in thumbnail size. He's redoing the cover for the 2nd edition.
 
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ECathers

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I've made two for one book (I made the second when I found a song that I loved so much it inspired me to make the second trailer) and they don't really do much in the way of advertising or getting people to read the actual book. This is the first one and this is the second one.*

What I've found is that they're most useful on a website or Facebook, just to give readers something visual to tie into the reading. I really enjoyed making them! The first one because I shot the video years before I wrote the book (the place inspired the setting) and the second one because I got to be a bit inventive since I'm not an animator.

*Full Disclosure: I'm a partner on YouTube so you may see an ad before either of the two videos (unless you have AdBlock).

I like the 2nd trailer. Gorgeous, lovely music and gives you a sense of what the story is about. The first one I had a very hard time hearing, and the scenery while beautiful, didn't do much for me as far as evoking, "I want to read this," as it felt very static.
 

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ETA: And no, he isn't responsible for the crappy cover on Spellcraft Secrets (below) - I did that myself, not realizing how impossible to read it would be in thumbnail size. He's redoing the cover for the 2nd edition.

I struggle to read the titles of all of the covers in your signature, ECathers. It's not just Spellcraft Secrets which is tricky.
 

ECathers

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I struggle to read the titles of all of the covers in your signature, ECathers. It's not just Spellcraft Secrets which is tricky.

Thank you for the feedback - will work on it. I see the others fine, but I'm running a low resolution thus relatively big pics. What resolution are you running on your computer if you don't mind me asking.
 

Bloo

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Gah I've been debating for over a year about book trailers. On one hand, as a playwright trying to market plays to schools, I can see the upside. A good book trailer would get a teacher's attenion and spark interest. On the other, Most of the video quality I have on my Youtube page of full performances is good but not great. It's...raw. And I've seen so many poorly done book trailers that I don't want to add mine to it.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm trying too hard at book marketing when what I'm writing is a completely different area and genre. Of the playwright groups I belong to, most focus on reaching out to schools/theaters/etc so I don't know. LOL

Back on track, I do have some background in video editing and could probably put together a pretty good trailer, but the time doing that and writing the script etc, is time I could be writing

Conversely, the time I spend on Facebook, Twitter, AW, etc is also time I could be spending writing.
 

thelittleprince

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Scholastic is a good publisher, littleprince. I'm very surprised that they've asked you to do this for yourself: might it have been a "you could do this if you've got the knowledge and experience, but don't worry if you haven't," rather than, "do this now, thanks," sort of suggestion?

I would be very careful of trying to put together a trailer when I had no previous experience of doing such things. It could cause more problems than it was worth.

Hm, it was a suggestion...but a strong suggestion, I think. Thanks for your concern - since this was requested I've looked around a bit and seen some pretty terrible trailers, so I don't want to add to them! As I said it's coming from an 'about me' angle, using some of my own footage from the past, so I guess it comes off as more of a video blog post than a book trailer.

But I have to send the whole thing to the publisher before I post it online anyway, so if it is woefully bad hopefully they'll tell me and stop me from making it public.

I'm still doubtful that book trailers have any utility. Movie trailers I get - film is a visual medium.
 

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I recognise that trailers might well help towards building a brand and all that, but I'm not convinced they're the most cost-effective selling tool; and when they're done badly or amateurishly, they're damaging.

I've never bought a book because of a trailer.
 

NateSean

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Although I like book trailers, I rarely buy/borrow a book as a result of the trailer. Especially if the book is by an author who doesn't exactly have to twist my arm to get me to read their stuff.

If I've already read the book and liked it and I find out that the author has posted a trailer on her Youtube account, I'll go watch it and then make a comment about how much I liked the book.

Sometimes the trailer to me is no different than seeing the film/TV version of a book I like. It exists primarily so that I can see how much attention I paid to the book by picking out what actors are portraying which characters.
 

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This is quite an impressive book trailer for Ben Kane's "Spartacus: The Rebellion". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-rY76RcoZw

I stumbled across it by accident. I have to say that despite never having heard of Ben Kane before, the quality of the trailer (which recalls "300" in its cinematography and general filmic style) has made me quite interested in buying the book.

That said, if I came across a very amateur-looking and poorly done book trailer, it would have the opposite effect.
 

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This is quite an impressive book trailer for Ben Kane's "Spartacus: The Rebellion". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-rY76RcoZw

I stumbled across it by accident. I have to say that despite never having heard of Ben Kane before, the quality of the trailer (which recalls "300" in its cinematography and general filmic style) has made me quite interested in buying the book.

That said, if I came across a very amateur-looking and poorly done book trailer, it would have the opposite effect.

I'll chalk up one for book trailers! :)
 

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I've seen four lately, and all followed the same format: dark woods and somewhat sinister or at least mysterious movie music.

Are these effective at all? I just got on the blog of an author who said he spent $12,000 on his trailer. He stated that it's well-worth it.

I know they can be done much less expensively, but do they drive sales?

(Just saw Cynthia Vespia's trailer for Lucky Sevens. No dark woods or mysterious music, just good blues.)

Since I was already a film director, I knew several professional actors and crew who would do it for free to help promote it on Kickstarter (fundraising site). The promotion production was about $300 to do, mostly in setting, food, and props. Well, we didn't get the expected money to do a feature. I ended up writing a book on it, but I still have the footage for a few book trailers. I guess it worked out! It may be a good idea to do the same, tell them what your plans are, and some may be more than willing to.
 
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HistorySleuth

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Ok Trap, I have to agree, that one was well done. When I first heard of them I thought they were a cool idea till I looked at what they looked like. Most of them I've seen just look like PowerPoint presentations with a score, random pictures, and words zooming in and out of the screen. I can see them turning a reader off if it's not done well.
 

TripleCappuccino

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The important thing is to get the trailer professionally done. If it looks very low budget or done with a simple program, it can hurt your sales rather than help it.