March 31, 2008
Book Trailer Redux (or My Bad)
So ya’ll remember Tanya’s Post on Book Trailers? Right….well, apparently we had a very special guest stop by to comment, except not only did she end up in moderation (which I get an approve immediately) she ended up on the Akismet Spam folder (which I check like twice a month). I immediately emailed Sheila (that would be Sheila English of COS Productions) and apologized profusely!!!! And told her I’d post her comment because it was so interesting.
Sheila English said:
Most traditional readers can either take or leave book trailers. Traditional readers, such as myself, like to spend an afternoon at a BN store reading back cover copy and sipping coffee. Potential readers, those people who can take reading or leave it, or who read but only under certain circumstances, are the real target with book trailers. Book trailers promote reading overall and are very popular with a younger, more technical savvy crowd.
I won’t bore you with stats, unless you want me too! lol
Sue Grimshaw of Borders Group came out in the RWR Magazine saying that readers love them and named 2 trailers that were VERY successful- Christine Feehan’s Dark Possession and Cherry Adair’s White Heat.
COS has done trailers since 2002. In 2003 Borders started using them. Now we have over 300 booksellers we routinely submit our videos to. Over 5000 libraries. Not to mention that starting April 1st our videos will play in buses in 5 major cities, giving each video 10 million impressions per week. Yep…million.
The utilization of book trailers is only going to grow. Primarily because the uses for digital are growing and people are looking for content. And you don’ t have to spend thousands of dollars to have one professionally done. Our Cover Story Videos are $250. The video will be seen by millions of people. Not too shabby.
I love book trailers!
But then again…I would. lol
Sheila…come bore us with Stats! I love stats! I think this is really interesting too because, as a writer (and a traditional reader), I had no clue the venues that book trailers were being used in. I am curious though….besides what you’ve mentioned above, what other things are you doing to hit that target market of younger “technical savvy” folks who might not be readers?
Interesting, the venues they’re being used in, yes. So far, I’ve only seem trailers on author sites–but I’m a little slow sometimes, lol.
And I like the idea of them promoting reading.
I’d also be interested in the stats. And gotta admit, I have to wonder whether a trailer by Feehan or Adair would simply be popular because they are Feehan and Adair.
Busses are great–captive audiences, but we don’t have a bus system in Arlington. Dallas and Ft. Worth do.
Raine…my 2 cents…Feehan maybe yes but Adair isn’t someone you hear a lot of buzz about. I know she does bestsellers and she’s been around a while but again not a lot of buzz. Admittedly that could be ME and not HER LOL
The explanation makes sense. As an avid reader I really don’t need a trailer to pick up an author’s book. So, yes a book trailer isn’t meant to reach me. If going by this theory then putting up a trailer on your site isn’t going to bring readers (because in essence it’s not meant because they are already into books) so where SHOULD you put up your book trailers?
in a youtube world anything to catch someone’s eye!
Hi!
Thank you Aimee for posting this.
COS did a survey last year that was open to the public. We targeted readers and got some surprising results.
Over 90% of the people surveyed (out of approximately 300 people) the #1 element that induced them to buy after seeing a book trailer is - genre.
Most of readers were influenced by personal preference. The trailer just let them know that the book was out there. Which, by itself, is significant.
Borders takes approximately 75% of the videos we send them.
BN takes approximately 90% of the videos we send them.
Powell’s takes 100%
And BAMM has expressed interest in them just recently.
We send to over 5000 libraries and the number of people who are interested in using the videos as content continues to grow.
But, to me, the most significant use of book trailers right is happening in the education system. For those of you who would like to read my article about this here is the link-
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977295405
In a nutshell, teachers and libraries have found that trailers encourage kids to read. Schools have seen such success using trailers to encourage reading and to build confidence in reading that even middle schools have started using them. Not only do they watch them, but they are making them and sharing them at school.
With kids growing up on book trailers, with a positive experience that promotes reading, the future feels more secure for the publishing industry.
The issue about Feehan and Adair is valid. But, we have several authors who never made the bestseller lists before they had a trailer. Many of them will tell you that they have absolutely no doubt that the trailer is what put them over the top. Cheryl Holt just made the NY Times for the first time. Douglas Clegg made the USA Today list for the first time. Jennifer St. Giles made the USA Today list for the first time. The list goes on.
Here is a quote from an author-
“In just three days of being featured on MySpace books, my blog got over 16,000 views, my website received ten times the usual amount of hits, letters from interested readers greatly increased, and my pre-sales
numbers on my upcoming release spiked. I cannot thank Sheila and COS enough for providing this service.”-Alyson Noel
Alyson was chosen by MySpace books because COS has a relationship with MySpace. They loved her video and asked us if we’d arrange to have her blog. Without the video, they would not have noticed her.
The distribution of a book trailers have become quite varied. But, so many people are new to the idea that they get hung up on how it looks and don’t go beyond that. Yes, your video should look good. But more importantly, it should be effective.
What determines if it is effective or not? Your goals. Set them before you invest in a video. If your goal is to get your name out there, you can measure the success of your video by how many places it was sent to, or how many views it had. If your goal is to get booksellers to know your name, send them a copy of the video or have the producer of the video send it on your behalf. There are a lot of different goals you might have, but set them up on a way that is measurable.
Lastly, I would just like to say that using trailers to promote reading as a byproduct of a marketing tool helps more than just the author. It helps the industry.
COS has a passion for promoting not just trailers, not just our client’s books, but reading overall.
For the videos that play in buses, our contract with the company that sends them to the buses says that we can do 15 seconds of self-promotion in every video. That’s a lot of free self promotion going out to 10 million people per video. We submit 20 videos a month right now. Most people would be thrilled to get that kind of free advertisement. And we are thrilled. But we donated 10 seconds of every video to show a public service message instead. The message? Do it - Encourage it - READ.
Sheila I think it’s wonderful that you promote reading as a part of the bus venture!
I’m curious…what do they do with them? Do they just put them on their site? Do they show them in store?
Cece-
The bookstores are putting them on their sites, sending them out in their newsletters and some of them are playing them in-store.
Sheila
Very intersting stats, Sheila. Thanks for giving us some food for thought.
I’m more apt to trust the back cover blurb than a book trailer. I think a trailer just adds to my curiosity about a book I’ve already decided to buy.
Definitely interesting.
I’d never given them serious thought before, but…