Barbie's Bunkhouse: Book Trailers, are they worth it?

Book Trailers. They're out there. I've seen great ones, good ones and well, you know...not so good ones. I've played around many times. It's fun looking for pictures and I've never even given a thought to music. I have yet to put one together from start to finish.

My question is, are they worth it? If the average 'Jane-writer', puts together a decent 3 or 4 minute clip, will it do it's job and aid with promotion? Is the book trailers just one more thing we need to worry about marketing?

I'm leaning toward a YES, that these little things will all help our visibility. If done correctly, I think the purpose of a book trailer is the same as a movie trailer. And how many times have we seen previews at the movies and put those titles on our "To Be Watched" list. BUT...we have to make sure our book trailers are in the proper locations so that potential readers and other authors can find them, see them, and then buy the book (or anxiously wait for release day)!

I'm leaning toward a NO, in the marketing arena. Again, I think if you place your book trailers in the proper location, then you don't have to worry about announcing or promoting that trailer. Sure, announce it once and give the link to where it's located. But if we've done it right, the location will be easily found by those who are not on your social media loops.

So where do we put our trailers? Well, our websites are great for starters. If someone is searching you, they will more than likely hit up your website. And there's a bunch of free advertising right there. List your books and show off your trailers! And maybe THEY will link to them on their social media loops! I think another good place is our Amazon author pages. Again, another easy, FREE place where people will go to get more information about you. I don't know about you all, but when I'm looking for something and I see other links on things related to that or that I might be interested in....I will click just to see. So why not give people a reason to be interactive on your author page! And I believe (although I'm just delving into this) you can set up tabs on your FB author pages where you could store your videos/book trailers. Just one more place for fans and followers to be interactive.

Do we see the pattern here? I think being able to interact in a different way (yes, tweets and blogs are important) is a bonus. Give the people something to do other than "follow" you or "read" about you. And if you have more than one, they can click on them all!

Seriously, though, I don't think you have to hire a professional either to put one together. My Diva uses windows movie maker and creates amazing music videos with her friends. All of the effects are there, you just have to play around and see what works for you. Like I said, I've played around, but never seriously sat down to complete a project. If you can create intriguing words to pull someone in, along with music and pictures that match your story and what you are saying.....you've got yourself a winner. THEN go through and use the tools: fades, transitions, colors and effects. I bet you'll surprise yourself!

Gee, I guess I have issued myself a challenge. I will give myself a week to create a book trailer for my upcoming release, TWIST OF FATE.  And I will post it next Friday on my blog day.

Yes, I know, I should be writing. and I will! But what a great promotional tool for me to use BEFORE the book comes out!?!! I'm really excited and can't wait to start working on it. But right now, I need to get packed for a swim day at my sister-in-laws pool. 97 degrees today so we are more than ready to be chillin! But as I float around and play, I will be thinking of what kinds of pictures I want to use.

Stay cool everyone and think about those book trailers!