Creating a video to promote a novel

[Paul Gr]

Hi, has anyone created a promotional video to market a novel?
I've started to create one but have been too distracted by my writing to spend a lot of time on it.
It's just a photo slideshow really, not a video because there are no moving images. It starts with a title, then there's some music, then an image, then a page of description, then another image, some more music, more description, etc.
I plan to upload it to YouTube and other video sharing websites.
Any thoughts and experiences?

[Tom Wood]

A fellow writer in one of my writer groups paid over $2,000 for two 30-second book trailers that were posted to YouTube. The number of views for both combined is less than 100 views.

The question to ask is this: If you can drive online traffic to a specific website, why not drive that traffic to a page where they can actually buy your book? In most cases for indie authors, that will be the page for your ebook at Amazon.

[Post-Doctorate D]

One video isn't going to do it.  And likely a slideshow video is going to be even less effective.  Who is going to share it and why?  How will people find it?  Just uploading a video doesn't mean it will get views.  And even if you do get views, only a very small percentage will click through to check out the book and even fewer will buy.  Uploading a single video is not a strategy.  Uploading a single video is not marketing.

I think too many people think putting up a promotional video online is like running a television advertisement.  It's not.  When you're watching TV, you have no choice but to watch the ad unless you leave the room or have a recorder that will skip ads during playback.  So, television ads will be seen.  Uploaded videos, not so much.  People aren't going to search for them and if they stumble across it, they will likely click away as soon as it bores them or they realize it's an ad.  So, the video will not get views.  You can upload it to all the popular video sites and it will be the same thing.  Unless there is a compelling reason to watch the video, unless it offers useful information or is entertaining, people are not going to watch it.

If you want to make video work for you, you need to build a channel and an audience.  You need to have video content that is going to attract and engage your audience.  You will likely need to do at least one video a week, preferably more, in order to build an audience.  The more videos you have out there, the more likely they are to get noticed.  And while you are building your channel and audience, you are not writing books.

So you need to decide whether you want to be an author or a YouTube star.  You can be both, of course, but it's going to be a lot of work.

[TimothyEllis]

I had a fan do one for me, and it was subsequently edited by a relative.

It gained some interest on Instagram, but no-where else.

It is on my author central page as well, but no idea if it gets viewed or not.

[Maggie Ann]

I've got four videos all done by my children's books co-author. Two were done nine years ago and got 304 and 170 views. The other two were done six years ago and got 9 and 30 views. No way of telling if any of them generated any sales but I doubt it.

[Bill Hiatt]

Videos can be fun to make, but my experience is similar to what others have said--they don't produce sales and typically don't get that much attention.

That said, it's been ages since I've done this, so I don't know if it still works the same way, but you used to be able to build ad campaigns around YouTube videos. Targeting was interesting because you could target very precisely. I targeting mine to the area in which my first book was set.

The result of that was thousands of views, but I'm not sure even a single sale came out of it. So I paid to put the video together and paid for advertising, and it was still a bust.

The only video I'm aware of that did really well was from an author I met when I was just starting out. It was an actual, live-action video she financed from royalties. Her son (who was a professional director) volunteered his time, but she still needed to pay actors. That one worked, but I'm not sure it made back its productions costs. It was truly the best book video I've seen, though.

Back when I first started out, Amazon also had a service through Createspace that would make book videos for you. It was pricey, but it was also a video that would appear on the product page. I emailed a few questions including a request for success stories. Not only did I never hear back, but soon after the service was discontinued. If Amazon couldn't make it work right from the product page, how much less hope do we have with a YouTube video?

[Maggie Ann]

Three of my videos are on my Author Page but who ever goes there?

[Post-Doctorate D]

Three of my videos are on my Author Page but who ever goes there?

Newbie authors trying to figure out what to put on their Author Page. 

[Maggie Ann]

Three of my videos are on my Author Page but who ever goes there?

Newbie authors trying to figure out what to put on their Author Page. 

 

[Paul Gr]

Re. Newbie authors trying to figure out what to put on their Author Page.
That's quite a fantasy world you have there, where there are no newbie authors, where everyone knows exactly what to put on their author page right from the start.

[Lorri Moulton]

I use Lumen5 (free version) to make book trailers.  You can link to YouTube or post directly to Facebook, Twitter, etc.  I usually post directly, so my YouTube views aren't very high. 

[Paul Gr]

Thanks, nice videos.

[Maggie Ann]

Really well done. And you kept them to about 30secs which is great. That winter one is beautiful.

[Bill Hiatt]

Yes, they make me want to try book videos again.

Lorri, do you find that they generate much traffic? I only ever tried YouTube, but I know Facebook preferences FB video, so maybe that would be something to try.

[Vijaya]

Lorri, you make very pretty videos. Loved the winter one--made me nostalgic for the Cascades.

[Lorri Moulton]

Thank you all for the nice words. 

Has anyone else been doing video trailers since we discussed them?  Just curious if it's been working for you.  I recently made a new trailer, and I hope it will help with some promos I'm in this month.

[Jeff Tanyard]

I like those, Lorri.  I really need to give that Lumen thing a try some day.  It looks pretty awesome.

[Lorri Moulton]

I like those, Lorri.  I really need to give that Lumen thing a try some day.  It looks pretty awesome.

Thank you, Jeff.  I use the free version and it's a lot of fun. 

[Maggie Ann]

Very cool, Lori. 

[Lorri Moulton]

Quick update...Lumen5 has made some changes recently.  I had to wander around again (not very tech savvy) until I figured out how to work with the improvements.  Still a lot of fun making videos but with more choices comes more trial and error.  Has anyone else made a book trailer?

They also have some new images on Lumen5.  Here's my promotions trailer.

[blablover5]

One of the things I like making are yule log videos that just happen to have a book in frame. So that they aren't just there to advertise, but provide something for the watcher.

[Simon Haynes]

My sense of humour lights up when I see books & a crackling fire in the same video.

[Tiffmeister]

I've just recently made a book trailer for my new release. I have other book trailers for my previous series, and I wanted to continue with them. They had cost me $100 to get made, and recently the price has gone up. So, I thought I'd try it myself. I made it using stock photos and pictures I took in Vegas. I am a member of a service since I use them for blogging too. I used iMovie to edit it all. Took about 3 days.

Book Trailers have gone through some trends too in the last few years. They started out with more photos, music and the story told as a sales blurb. Then, it moved to movie stock clips and voice overs. Some book trailers have gotten to be like small movies. I made mine more like the other book trailers I have. I've included links to the one I made, and the other book trailers I had created for my books.

To note, I also made a book trailer for my children's book, and it has a little over 1,000 hits after 10 years online. I give the link to bloggers, have it posted on my blog, and on Goodreads. It's a selling tool, to help people decide if they want to read the book. I've always thought of them like the blurb on the back of your book> You're trying to get people interested in reading it.

This is the book trailer I made for my recent release: Never Date A Vampire.

Book Trailers made by Apex Reviews for my other novellas:
Style with photos, music, word narration

Style with photos, music, and audio narration with words

Children's Book trailer: I made this in 2009. So, it's of an older style, but it works. I took some of the pictures and put them through different filters. I also used the artwork from the cover and inside the book. I own the artwork that I commissioned for the book.

[Paul Gr]

My sense of humour lights up when I see books & a crackling fire in the same video.

Ah yes, the cheery glow of verboten books being burned by the Nazis.

[Simon Haynes]

Not at all. I meant the unintended humour of a papery object next to a blazing fire.

[DmGuay]

I use Lumen5 to create free book trailers and promo videos. It might take an hour or less and $10 to $20 of stock photos. I don't know that I can link it to sales, but the video posts on my FB and twitter get lots more interaction, and I honestly find it fun. The format usually helps me clean up my tag line elevator pitch, too!

For that little time and effort, I think it's worth it. I post them everywhere and they are right on my Goodreads page and Author Central page as well.

Here are mine, for a horror-comedy series and one for a story origin promo.