To be on the top of your game and get your work seen by the public (which is why we write...right?) you need to do the footwork, market, and sell yourself as well as your writing.
In an effort to do said task to the best of my ability I've scoured several thousands of tomes on marketing and promoting for writers. But time and time again I'm left with little substance, nothing of real workable value, and that's because more often than not these self-help books are written for those promoting non-fiction.
Where does the poor fiction writer turn? We can use only some of the basic principles noted for the non-fiction group. So in the interest of fairness I thought I'd devote my blog to marketing specifically for fiction writers.
Up first - The Book Trailer - Is it really worth it?
There's a new trend in the book business, I'm sure you've seen it everywhere by now, and that is a 2-3 minute "commercial style" pitch of the novels overall theme and story. They are made to look like movie trailers. My question is why wasn't this thought of sooner?
Human beings by nature are very visual creatures. Add to that the compounding busy schedules and trying to capture their attention with a simple written hook sometimes falls flat. Now suppose you take that same well-written hook add some eye catching pictures, some grabbing music, and you've got a little attention getter.
There are rules though. A quick slap and paste won't cut it. Your trailer needs to embody your work and encapsulate it to no more than 2-3 minutes...again people are in a hurry, anything longer than that and you risk losing their attention.
Develop a tagline (you should already have this in your marketing forteit anyhow). Flush out your plot and characters and boil it down to about 3-4 sentences. Make absolutely certain the images and music match your books theme and message. If you can shoot live action - great! So much the better. There are websites devoted to making that happen for you. But more often than not the simple, straight forward approach of imagery works just fine.
Here are some examples of trailers for my various novels.
DEMON HUNTER: THE CHOSEN ONE
DEMON HUNTER: SEEK & DESTROY
THEATER of PAIN
THE CRESCENT (MADE BY COS PRODUCTIONS)
If you are an author or business professional in need of a trailer...contact me!
Cynthia, you certainly have the biggest question new authors have. It really is a lot of trial and error to find good places to market your books and techniques that work.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed making my two trailers and have gotten pretty good reviews. I think you need to have a trailer, but I still really question how much one should invest. I don't want to spend the money to have somebody do it for me because I think it's fun and I want to learn to do it myself, and I don't want to spend a bunch on premium features. Can you suggest a middle of the road for us do-it-yourselfers?
I'm still feeling my way around and am wondering how and where to get my book reviewed, let alone making trailers!
ReplyDeleteMargie, the best advice I can give you is to seek out places on the web that host videos and/or trailers so you can get that much needed exposure.
ReplyDeleteI agree that making the trailer yourself is alot of fun, and for me I'm the only one who really knows how to capture the overal tone of the story. But some of the big game production cos out there have an added advantage if you're willing to shell out the bucks. I know COS Productions has made great gains in the last few years. Not only do you buy their trailer but you also get featured everywhere that they are...which is EVERYWHERE!
Zohra...everyone has to start somewhere. Keep plugging away!
Doing a trailer on your own can be fun. But it's somewhat akin to the idea of editing your one work, you may be able to do simple puctuation, but the over all picture is already in your head, you need a second eye. Cynthia Vespia, is correct about the other aspect, you need a larger base and if you have someone that already gets a large audiance (ie the superbowl scenario) then you go for that. Remember, your invested your time, now you need to reap the rewards of it by investing in the marketing. There is never a fool proof marketing scheme, sometimes its just the product doesn't apeal to a lot of people, but you'll never know what you can make if you don't try.
ReplyDeleteI agree - book trailers are great! They are captivating and a quick pitch for your work. We had a great time making our trailer, especially the voice over! You can check it out on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P0HUQ2T8eg
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