Book Trailers, do they work?

jeffrivera · Dec 15, 2006

Has anyone had any experiences with Book Trailers. I've had really great success with mine on my site. I started out self-publishing my novel then it got picked up by Warner Books. I saw my book sales skyrocket when I got the trailer and my editor at Warner really likes it too. http://www.SKWGRAPHICS.com did mine.

Has anyone else had success with theirs?

ATP · Dec 16, 2006

I can't answer your question about success or otherwise. But, would you be willing to let us know how you define success in terms of numbers before trailer, and after trailer? [Can you be absolutely sure it was due to the trailer?]

I would be very interested to know the process that you underwent for this trailer-from idea (yours? another's?), right through to the uploading of the trailer, and the stats.

Thanks.

jeffrivera · Dec 16, 2006

definitely, before the trailer I was average just a few copies sold a week after that it more than tripled. It also reached my key audience which are young people that are used to multi-media and think "reading is boring" so I knew I had to entertain them.

To answer your question in a nutshell, I came up with the idea, posted an ad on craigslist for a flash designer (receive over a hundred responses, literarily) and I was lucky enough to find the perfect match at SKWGRAPHICS.com I sent him a script, posted an ad for the music (found a match) he uploaded it, and I posted it on my site and myspace.

Cathy C · Dec 16, 2006

Interesting, Jeff. My co-author and I have considered a trailer for one of our upcoming titles. Where did you post it to get the results. Just your own website, or something like MySpace or YouTube? We've got a pretty good following of our books, but we'd definitely like to pick up some new users.

Mac H. · Dec 16, 2006

jeffrivera said:
definitely, before the trailer I was average just a few copies sold a week after that it more than tripled.

Interesting.

If I take 'a few' as '3', then it probably sold an extra 6 copies a week ... about an extra 300 copies over a year.

Since you sold about 8000 books, though, does that mean that the bulk of the sales weren't website related? How did buyers find the other 7500 books? It seems that would be the place to concentrate on the marketting ...

Good luck,

Mac

jeffrivera · Dec 16, 2006

Good question buddy, the thing about my "audience" or readers (I prefer to refer to them as audience) is that they want to go out and get the book. The trailer is a promotional tool you can use to inspire people to go out and get the book even if it's in a traditional bookstore.

In my case it's sort of a "word of mouth book" so the people who bought my book whether that was online or in person or elsewhere then went and told their friends and that's how I was able to sell so many books.

jeffrivera · Dec 16, 2006

Cathy C said:
Interesting, Jeff. My co-author and I have considered a trailer for one of our upcoming titles. Where did you post it to get the results. Just your own website, or something like MySpace or YouTube? We've got a pretty good following of our books, but we'd definitely like to pick up some new users.

Hi Cathy, definitely your own website, also other people's websites, and yeah myspace is great too. I've never used YouTube before but I heard that's good.

When people promote online they can't rely only on online sales they have to also think that this online promotion is motivating people who want to buy the book traditionally (or are afraid to buy online, or don't have a credit card, etc.)

ATP · Dec 16, 2006

jeffrivera said:
definitely, before the trailer I was average just a few copies sold a week after that it more than tripled. It also reached my key audience which are young people that are used to multi-media and think "reading is boring" so I knew I had to entertain them.

Did you write the book specifically with this audience in mind, or only for the development and use of the trailer?

jeffrivera said:
To answer your question in a nutshell, I came up with the idea, posted an ad on craigslist for a flash designer (receive over a hundred responses, literarily) and I was lucky enough to find the perfect match at SKWGRAPHICS.com I sent him a script, posted an ad for the music (found a match) he uploaded it, and I posted it on my site and myspace.

If you would be agreeable, would you mind letting us know the length of time it took for each step/phase, and the associated cost for each step/phase?

Thanks.

jeffrivera · Dec 17, 2006

I love your questions ATP:
I didn't write the book necessarily specifically with that audience in mind, I just wrote it from my heart, knowing in the back of my mind who I would be focusing on. The stories a universal story that people from different backgrounds can relate to but I had a pretty good idea who.

As far as budget etc. Only you know how much you can afford. I think I could only afford like $100 or something like that at that time so I told the company upfront, this is my budget, let's work with it. It only took like less than a week to get it right after going back and forth and tweaking. Simultaneously I was sending an ad out for music so it all got done in about a week or something like that.

Hope that helps!

Jeff

ALLWritety · Feb 12, 2007

Er what is a trailer?

Hi
Here I go showing my stupidity again!!
WHAT is a trailer? Is it like a movie trailer but for your book? If so that sounds like a great idea.
Kev

Michael Murphy · Feb 12, 2007

Google booktrailers and select videos. You ought to end up with a whole list. They usually last a couple of minutes, and seem to be the coming thing. I've got to do one for my new book.

Michael Murphy
Suspense is just a click away...
www.mjmurphy.com

Book Trailers, do they work?

jeffrivera

ATP

What happened to my LIFE?!

jeffrivera

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

Mac H.

Board Visitor

jeffrivera

jeffrivera

ATP

What happened to my LIFE?!

jeffrivera

ALLWritety

One Step closer, I hope!

Michael Murphy