YouTube

I think the drawbacks with promoting books with youtube are:

1) It's hard to be noticed. You are just one of millions of videos. It's harder to do general browsing online than in a physical store.

2) If I'm cruising youtube, I'm looking for something funny to watch not an ad for a book. I'm looking for instant easy gratification. Books don't give me easy gratification.

To me promoting a book on youtube would be kind of like promoting Mad magazine on Cpsan. Sure some of the viewers may be interested but a vast majority of them are looking for something else.

Youtube is like Myspace just another item in a writers promotional tool chest. Just don't expect a lot out of it.

The trick to selling books is getting them in bookstores. There's still nothing that beats getting acting book into a potential buyers hands.

I'm a little confused. In your post you say that the majority of YouTube viewers are "a bunch of pervy blokes...", but then you want to know how to reach them. While it's probably fun making the videos, I doubt people go to YouTube for ads. The fluffy videos do well because that's what the audience wants. IMO, the old adage "give the audience what it wants" is right, and never translates to "change the audience so they'll want what I have".

Sorry, it's early and I'm probably just grumpy. Though, it occurs to me that if you can figure out the audience, there must be a way to make use of that. No idea what it is, though.

I get the feeling that the people who cruise YouTube aren't looking for books.

I rarely go to YouTube unless someone has a link to something stupid and time-consuming. I'd never think to actually waste my time doing an active search for novels.

Garpy said:

Is anyone here using YouTube to promote their books? <snip> And if so, do you think you have had any measurable benefit from it?

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Firstly, and directly, as an independent trade/business journalist, with no books to his credit or any being planned for the ‘short-term’, I can only offer you a muted ‘no’ and ‘no’.

Hopefully you’ll view it positively when I mention that I did view your trailer on YT, when you made your initial post in the Announcements section. The trailer was very good - I not only viewed it, I also visited the scarrow.co.uk site, its forums, and visited your brother’s site as well. Your parents have raised quite a literary and talented brood.

I knew not a whit of either of you previous to the announcement and posting. Now I know both of you, the work you do, and your backgrounds.

A tip: there are many it seems who, for various reasons, do not possess a credit card. Amazon.com has purchasing policies and payment systems which favour those with a credit card. And, the company’s other accepted payment systems are biased to those residing within the US. If in this day and age we have a character from the film ‘The Departed’ stating that he doesn’t possess a bank account, then I suspect that there is a considerable number of people willing and able to make international purchases by means other than a credit card.

IMHO, YouTube is great for entertainment and some information, but not for self promotion. That may change -- but right now, if it's not entertaining or informative on its own, you've got no audience. As with any promotional efforts, mileage do vary. Obviously, if you're Britney Spears you may get more hits (so to speak). If you're Joe Nobody, chances are no one will care.

Garpy said:

It is really hard to know where to put your marketing hours though.

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Put them into writing another book.

What is YouTube??

katrinka said:

What is YouTube??

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It's just a little website:
http://youtube.com
where you can watch EVERYONE's home movies. Isn't that exiting? Why are you walking away?

I really enjoy watching book promos on youtube, especially if they're by a writer who is a relative newcomer to the business. On the other hand, I don't ever go seeking book trailers out on youtube - I only ever watch them if I'm linked to it via a writer's website, from a link in a writer's sig or by a friend.

If you enjoy making trailers for your book and it doesn't cost you too much time or money, then I say go for it. It probably won't bring much in the way of publicity or sales, but for people who are already a little bit interested in your work (say, if they've read your writing on forums such as this, or on your blog and like it, or if they stumbled upon your website), it's a really fun fun thing to watch!

The real power of YouTube is the fanbase. When a bunch of your fans get together and make videos from or about your work, THAT makes a difference. People by nature are just suspect of someone blowing their own horn. As they probably should be.

Garpy said:

Is anyone here using YouTube to promote their books? And if so, do you think you have had any measurable benefit from it?

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A few thoughts:

* Books are books and movies are movies, and youtube is something else entirely.

* I've usually found book trailers to be really cheesy (even the ones you occasionally see on the TV for a really big author), and they've never enticed me to pick up a particular book

* Your trailers are actually a bit better than most--they seem to have a bit of production value--but I notice that you're using tricks such as using a thumbnail of a girl to try to generate views ... I would argue that the people clicking on the enticing thumbnail are probably not your target audience, and you're just going to piss them off anyway ("Hey! Where's the cute chick!")

* I just don't think YouTube and "book trailers" represent much of a marketing opportunity for writers. The only approach I can think of that might be worthwhile is to offer a regular video blog, wherein you might discuss the ups-and-downs of being a writer and promote your stuff a bit. This might be interesting, but perhaps mostly to other writers. If you do it while falling off of a skateboard and breaking your ankle, you might get more views.

* Maybe someone should create a media sharing web site for readers and writers, with video blogs and audio blogs. The site could offer "events" in terms of online author readings, etc. I think a site that caters to avid readers will have much more influence than random marketing on YouTube, because it addresses a specific audience that actually has the potential to purchase an occasional book.

Darn, that last comment is actually not a bad idea. Someone get busy on that, and then send me an occasional check when the money starts rolling in.