ROBUST discussion

Yo!

I recently got a book trailer done. I did the character pictures, the video specialist did the rest. Overall cost: $20.00 plus my time in rendering the characters.

Let me know what you think. Oh, and to note, it's best viewed in 1080p and full screen. Then again, so is just about everything, lol. :)

http://youtu.be/r-b6SyO61UY

That's exciting stuff, Daniel.

How did you settle on now to launch it if the book isn't out for x weeks yet?

Thanks Andre.

Pre-promotional activity isn't unheard of for most industries. You hear about movies releasing months down the road. Even some consumable products are given a heads up. Build up expectation and give an approximate date. When the release happens, those who have an interest in that area will go, "Oh yeah, I heard about this!" They will be more than likely to make a purchase.

Pre Marketing and Pre Promotion aren't unknown for books as well. In fact, I got the idea from an old Del Rey Press novel, where in the back of the novel, Piers Anthony had a written note for folks to go down their local bookstore to reserve a first copy of his new release that's coming in *insert date here*. I forget which date it was, as that book is returned to the library long ago.

Couldn't hurt to try, at least. ^_^

I know about that, Daniel; I used to work in advertising, where I was a troubleshooter and a theorist, often on loan to clients (for instance, I helped to create Stella Artois, the premium beer, and many other premium products; there's a list of eight of the ten best recognized brands in the world that I worked with on the back of one of my graphic design books).

What I wanted to know is how you picked that particular period of lead time, or whether you just went when your material was ready. Is there some piece of knowledge here that isn't immediately obvious to me, or did you suck it and see?

What I have in the back of my mind is that a book, especially at modern ebook prices, is very likely an impulse purchase. Not that impulses aren't nudged by built-up familiarity, name recognition, but I'm just wondering if in books absolute novelty -- NEW TODAY! -- isn't a trump card.

Don't forget to share your experience when you have launched the book.

Ah, I get the question a bit better, bro. I've got ten things happening at once, with numbers 11 through 29 still knocking at my front door, LOL. So the hurried understanding was slightly colored by my daily grind.

I chose now for a few reasons. One is about my personal health. It's not good, but I know how well I'll do in a relative short period of time. I can finish this novel, have it beta read and edited in the time given. The only thing that would stop me is getting hit by the city bus, and other acts of weird fate that can knock a person down for good.

Every other reason was based on that condition. I had the materials for nearly half a year, ready to assemble and go to the guy who made the trailer, but I needed to make sure it would actually get released, my health non-withstanding.

I can promise you that "New Today!" is most certainly a trump card. Just as much as the "As Seen On TV!" can be. Suggestive selling is as old as mankind itself. "Wheel. Grunt. Own now." It works sometimes, but it can irritate those who are familiar with the art of salesmanship.

You should have seen the salesman's face last year when my wife and I went to the car lot to get a replacement vehicle. "Hi! I'm Brian, what are you interested in looking at today?"

I replied, as I was prepared for this lovely moment, "Walk around the parking lot for one hour and quack like a duck. When you're done, I'll let you know which car we're going to buy."

Needless to say, he didn't quack like a duck for one hour. He did, however, let us pick our car without further intrusion. ^_^

I'm rambling, sorry! Getting back to work over here. :) And I won't forget to share the experience. In fact, I'll be posting here just about every step I do on launch day. Fun times are here!

Andre Jute wrote: "Don't forget to share your experience when you have launched the book.

I'm doing my best to keep that promise. Some of it is revealed here in my blog post today:

http://wp.me/1wqbk

Right on July 1st, two retailers list Darya Rising. If the rest will list within the next two weeks, I'll still have enough of July left to launch the trailer via targeted websites, ones that people who read Sci-Fi frequent. That's going to be a costly experiment, to see what pays off and what doesn't, in today's Internet.

When I have those results, I'll post it here. ^_^