There’s no doubt about it: people love watching videos. Just scour the web and you’ll see … video is pretty darn popular nowadays.
But just how can an author use video to promote his or her book? Here are a few ways…
1. Book trailer. People often ask me what a book trailer is. Well, it’s just like a movie trailer, but for a book! Now that’s a bit simplified (after all, a movie trailer usually involves cuts from an actual movie). But the concept is the same; create a video that serves as a teaser for the book and tell the story in a way that really whets people’s appetites. There are a variety of ways to create a book trailer — from hiring a production firm and actors to doing your own voiceover and using photos — but my best advice is to make sure your book trailer is top-notch. After all, if your video looks amateurish, what will people expect your book to be like?
Example: http://www.lostinplainsight.net/
2. Vlogging. We’ve talked a lot about the importance of author blogs. So what are author vlogs? Well, they’re pretty much blogs in video format. In other words, instead of writing your blog entries, you’d turn on the camera and talk through them. Regardless of what your blog is about — from politics to animals to humor — if you have a strong personality, then you should consider vlogging in place of blogging.
If you’re interested in vlogging, here’s a good video to get you started:
3. A website welcome video. For many authors, I recommend a welcome message on the author homepage. This message would welcome visitors to the website and briefly explain what the author hopes people will get out of the book and the website. Usually, this is done in a brief paragraph. But there’s no reason why it can’t be done in a video. In fact, a video can be far more welcoming than a few written sentences. After all, a video gives you the chance to present yourself to your readers and let your personality shine through!
Example: http://themanopauseman.com/
4. Video interviews. A recent article on Publishers Weekly talks about how academic publishers are jumping on the video interview bandwagon. You should, too! After all, having someone ask you good questions about yourself and your book, and having it recorded on camera, can be a great way to get your message out there.
Gregory Kornbluh, Web Content Manager for Harvard University Press (HUP), has been leading their video effort. He tells Publishers Weekly that HUP author videos each attract about 1,500–2,500 views, though some authors, like mathematician Paul Lockhart, author of Measurement, a book that offers elegant solutions to complex math problems, has racked up more than 23,000 views.
Regardless of which format you decide to use video in, the one most important thing you can do with each and every video is to put it on YouTube! In fact, I highly recommend creating a YouTube channel to house all your videos.
The benefits of having your video on YouTube are plentiful, including:
- It allows other websites/bloggers to embed your video on their site
- It helps drive traffic from YouTube to your website or blog
- People can find videos on YouTube that they probably wouldn’t find just on your blog
Think about the best way that you can incorporate video into your online book promotion efforts. Then upload your videos to your site and to YouTube and see where it takes you!