Creating a book trailer is one way to promote a book to readers. This type of promotion can make a sale, or hurt it.
When making the trailer, it’s very important to keep in mind a book trailer is like any marketing strategy, it should be carefully planned. The artistic skills and marketing talent are the foundation of creating a successful video that will present your book in a fascinating style.
Few points you should consider as you create your trailer:
While I create book trailers, it is important to make the trailer short, not more than two minutes, so the trailer won’t bore the viewers.
Words used are so crucial to the success of your video; it shouldn’t be more than one short sentence per frame, to be able to read it comfortably. I work with authors to come up with tweaked sentences or words to convey the right amount of information, enough to capture the reader’s interest.
How you construct your video is essential when you are marketing your book. If your video isn’t fascinating enough, it can hurt you more than help you sell your story.
The use of suitable video effects/pictures is essential part in making your trailer more professional, it’s not how many effects/pictures you use, but what and how you use these effects/pictures.
The trailer should give a different peek into the story, and compliment the blurb, not repeat it. One of the mistakes I see, in my opinion of course, is that some authors use the trailer as a blurb, and the mistake in using a blurb in the trailer is that you are giving the readers one chance in liking what they are watching, and if they didn’t find it intriguing, you lost them. From your trailer readers need to get to the blurb to learn more, then to your story to know the answers.
Using the trailer as stage one, and the blurb as stage two that’s two chances the reader may comeback and buy your book, which is the final stage you want the readers to reach. Just like a book cover, some readers if they were not attracted to it, they leave the book, some go to the blurb, and from there they will buy the book or not.
Same works for the book trailer, you must attract readers enough to get them to your story, and if the book trailer failed to attract readers, and wasn’t up to their standards, then you lost the sell. Cluttering the book trailer with many words will put readers off.
Book trailers and book covers fascinate me, and graphic design always drew my attention. And as an artist, I started one day and never stopped. To me, creating Book Covers and Trailers is an art, a passion. I created Book Trailer Design Company in 2009. Please visit wwww.design.suzannahsafi.com and check the videos created, I hope you’ll enjoy your visit.
I always welcome any comments, suggestions, or questions; please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Suzannah Safi
www.suzannahsafi.com
www.design.suzannahsafi.com
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This was a really good article. I have done two trailers. I liked the second better than the first but got nailed for the length of the second trailer. I also used the blurb as my guide and I won't do that again. I agree, that the jacket and the trailer need to compliment each other and add another layer of reason to buy the book. So, live and learn.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with how sophisticated the trailer ought to be. I also got nailed for not using premium features on my newest video. How much am I supposed to spend? We all know that being an author is not a guarantee you'll make much money at it. So, I was kinda ticked that the reviewer said I should use premium features. Thoughts, Suzannah?
Thank you for reading my article, Margie. One thing I learned from marketing is that in order for you to grab clients (readers in our case) is to make our product stand out from the rest who advertise their products.
ReplyDeleteA trailer in my opinion, as I said either, will give your story a great chance for the readers to buy your book, or it will push them away.
I received many emails from readers telling me how they were intrigued by watching a trailer, and that was one of the reasons why they bought a story. Think about it as a query letter, you polish it to the extreme so an editor will ask for your manuscript; the trailer is the same the opening to your story.
You don’t need to spend an arm-and-a-leg to have a captivating trailer, but it’s how you present your story in the trailer. Using your creativity, choosing the right pictures, transitions, text, and motion pictures. Presenting it as a cliffhanger we all love in a story we read.
Great tips, Suzannah. I made the mistake of using the blurb word for word, but shortened it for the last few trailers. It definitely helped punch up the plot points.
ReplyDeleteThank you Cate.
ReplyDelete