Bisky's Twitterling's Scribbles! discussion

Do you have them, do you watch them?

Do they effect what you buy? And what do you like in a good book trailer?

Let me know :3

To be honest, it's so rare to see one during normal viewing hours, that it's hard to answer that question. Hypothetically, though, I'd say the ad would have to be an attention-getter. Strong music, a good cover art, and the narrator with a gripping voice. MAKE me interested enough to pay attention to a commercial ! Do that, you've likely made a sale.

Kinda meant ones on YouTube xP I know a lot of indie authors do them and I'm probably going to animate something for myself :3

Hoping that I can pursuade my nan to do the voice over with her 1940ish British accent. I don't think I have a voice that matches the mood, lol.

It's another way to get discovered. Youtube has become a social media hub. Any place where more people can discover your work is a good place to try to advertise. I feel like I have so much work to do on the promotional front. I have been spending waayyyy too much time on that and not enough on actual writing.

Its really hard to get a good balance. I really can't write as many inspirational tweets atm since all my energy is going into editing and people have noticed :x

Bisky, if you ever need a theatrical (I think that's the right adjective) trailer voice, let me know--I can kind of pull it off! xD

"This summer, enter the dance floor and feel the fury..." sorry lol xD

My professor doesn't approve of book trailers, but I think they're pretty cool. I've thought about doing one using Poser 3D graphics... or something. You mention animating---I could try that, too... it'll take some work, but it would be fun! :3 I bought anime studio really cheap a few years ago, but never managed to get anything done in it.

I've only ever saw but one book trailer that enticed me enough to go and check the book. That was over a year ago and I can't remember what it was. All others I've seen since did nothing more for me than a normal blurb would.. except maybe get on my nerves with their music. :p

We've heard so often how authors *need* a book trailer, but as a reader I've never been influenced one way or another by video. I've seen one or two good ones from higher profile authors who have a decent budget, but most indie trailers are pretty awful: too long, distracting music, bad stock photography, screens that are dense with text instead of spoken narration.

We built our own trailer for a pretty modest budget. Because of the nature of our story, we were able to rely on a bunch of old public domain historical photos, so that didn't cost us anything. We spent maybe $30 to license some stock SFX and music. The rest was all our own labor. My writing partner did the narration and we pieced it all together using Photoshop and Final Cut Pro (software that I already own for work).

The effect we got was pretty much what we were looking for, with a visual style somewhere in between Ken Burns and South Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI7eka...

We'd like to do a followup trailer from the perspective of our story's villain, but it's hard to find the time right now.

Anyway, as for what it's gotten us ... I don't know. 240 views on YouTube? The video is embedded on our own author pages and on my profile page here on Goodreads. But whether it's translated into any direct sales? It's just one piece in a long, slow battle for visibility ...

I'd rather read about the book than watch a trailer personally. I think the key to a good book trailer is not to be too hokey with the special effects such as zoom-ins and pans.

Fun thread! My writing partner already commented above but I wanted to add a few things. I enjoy book trailers but I have to admit the subtitled trailers don't grab me as much as the narrated ones. I also like the shorter trailers. I once saw a trailer that was 7 minutes long. I lasted about a minute. We had a fun time and laughed much while producing the trailer for The Long Way. Here's a blog post about it. http://bit.ly/1bVeJCB

I would like to make a few book trailers at some point when I have the time/money/capability. I have a couple of you tube videos up for my first two books, but it's not a trailer, just me talking about the book. Nothing special.

I've made a couple of book trailers now, the first one was hard work as it was a learning from scratch kind of a deal. With my second one I had great fun. I also managed to make them without spending any money, so bonus :D
Here is the link for The Glade: I would love to hear your feedback. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZoABn...
I'm beginning to suspect though that movie trailers are a bit of a gimmick, and I'm not sure they impact on sales that much at all .. are they worth the effort? :)

This is a painful topic. I have not made a book trailer, even though, I had put it on my to-do list. I can't compromise on this. It must be an amazing one, otherwise I'll not pursue it. But to create an amazing one it takes time and resources.

Agree, almost all book trailers don't sell books. Top priority: pay for professional editing and proof reading. Book cover is another thing to worry about.

Jessica wrote: "Brook wrote: "Agree, almost all book trailers don't sell books. Top priority: pay for professional editing and proof reading. Book cover is another thing to worry about."

That is far more importan..."

Thank you Jessica, for the good comment.
Also, producing a book trailer requires diverse skills, such as film editing, etc. If its not in your space, don't do it…. There are so many cheesy book trailers out there...

I saw a book trailer at the cinema yesterday, my bf didn't even realise it was for a book. Don't know if that's really a good thing or not.

That was what the book trailer I saw and loved looked like, a movie and not a book. I sure would have gone to the theater in a heartbeat to see it but I don't remember if I bought the book... o_o