One of the marketing trends out there for authors are book trailers. These are a lot like movie trailers for but books. I actually like the concept a lot. It puts images and drama to the selling of the story, and I could see how that would be useful as a marketing tool. The question is, how useful?
The reason I ask that question is because if I’m going to spend money and time on this project, I want it to be worth while. There are a lot of places I could invest my resources when it comes to marketing – blog tours, blog hops, giveaways, book covers, etc. Many of which I’ve found to be quite effective. If I choose to do a book trailer, it’s going to take away from those things in my budget.
I’ve only done a little research on this. There appears to be quite a huge range of options. For as much as $10,000 I could hire a company that would do a very professional trailer using real actors, popular music, voice overs, custom script etc. There are some more reasonable versions of that out there too. But still a lot of $.
At the other end of the spectrum, I could use a free or cheap video software to make a slide-show-like trailer myself. I already have a source for good images from my book cover endeavors and some helpful graphics art skills of my own. However, this would cost a lot in terms of time and effort on my part.
I know there’s a lot of ground in between. But you get the idea. My time and/or money for a book trailer versus a different marketing option like another giveaway. So….
Questions to my readers… Would you really enjoy seeing something like this? Should I make a go at one and see what you think? Is it something you’d share with friends?
Question to other authors… What’s your experience with this? Worth it? Any options you’d recommend?
Thanks in advance for the feedback!