Thursday, January 7, 2010

Writing Tip: So You Want a Book Trailer?

Book trailers are becoming more popular, and many writers from New York Bestselling authors to newly pubbed authors in small press are getting on the bandwagon. So, when should you produce or get someone to produce a book trailer for you? Here are my thoughts:

1.If you’re a newly pubbed author in small press, don’t do it. The chances of the video plummeting your book to the stellar heights of Number One bestseller are few and far between. They’re also very expensive. I had one published once, foolishly, for a book my co-writer believed in and couldn’t sell. We self-published it and put the trailer on our website. The company we used was great, and they gave us a deal. But the deal was $1000 for a thirty second spot (I think. Sometimes I can’t remember if that was my half of the payment or that was ours together). Due to the nature of all the details, it didn’t help.

2.It depends on the type of book you have and what you’re trying to convey. My own belief is that suspenseful books, whether they be straight suspense, horror, or paranormal, lend themselves better to a video.

3.Unless you work in video, don’t try to do it yourself. Again, IMHO, the trailers work better when there are actors in segments instead of a lot of writing and fade in/fade out still scenes.

4.If there aren’t any actors and you still want to make a trailer, use it for more than one book so you can get more bang for your buck.
Want to watch a good book trailer? Watch this one from Karen Rose posted on You Tube.

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