Over at Quillo:Torque, the talented Jeremy Gordon is hosting a discussion about the merits of book trailers for authors.
Creators of book trailers need to be careful to evoke the mood and themes of the literary work, without hamstringing the reader’s visual associations by defining the look of each character. Who needs imagination when the word-image connections have already been set?
It’s an interesting topic and one I’ve pondered as a tool for author promotion. Jeremy’s right to point out the high costs of production. Not only that, but in the rather crowded channel of online videos how does one stand out or attract page views? If you attract views will it boost sales of the book or, like quirky tv ads, will it become more notable for the popularity of the trailer than the product it’s promoting?
For my mind, it’s about finding interesting ways to tell a story. (That’s what is most likely to make an impression and create that sought-after viral distribution.) This might be achieved through a short video, but it might just as easily be achieved through cheaper and ultimately more effective means. For example, check out Miranda July’s clever HTML presentation to promote her short story collection No one belongs here more than you. This little site was linked to all over the blogosphere and helped July achieve real momentum behind her book. She has even been able to update it, presumably for as little investment as she made to create the first one. One wonders if she’d spent $3000 on a book trailer if she would have achieved a similar result?
Kate Eltham is a writer and creative industries professional based in Brisbane, Australia. She is Chief Executive Officer of 
kate.eltham {at} gmail.com
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I hear a lot about the cost of book trailers and having a great trailer and that’s all well and fine, but the effectiveness of the trailer is really what matters here.
There’s an old saying that 50% of all marketing works, you just don’t know which 50%.
A trailer can get your hundreds of thousands of views. They’re taken by booksellers and libraries. They can go viral. There’s definite worth to that.
I do think that a bad trailer is a bad idea, but “bad” is subjective, as noted by the numerous good and bad reviews that a single book may get.
I think any author needs to identify their goal before forking over money for ANY kind of promo. Then try to identify a way to identify if that goal was met.
I find it hard to believe people are spending $3,000 on a book trailer.
Didn’t the guys behind Blair Witch Project make a whole film for $7,000?
I think creativity is the key, as well as tapping friends on the shoulder for a bit of technical exchange.
If you do decide to make a trailer, I think the best you can hope for is that the trailer is popular — the trailer needs to work as an artistic creation in and of itself.
Beyond that, do ads in general make us buy stuff? They make us aware of stuff, I guess, but Miranda’s HTML presentation, while amusing for the first few clicks, didn’t inspire me to buy the book.
Nothing beats word of mouth, in my opinion.
That Miranda July thing is awesome. I hadn’t seen it before. It just reminded me to recommend July’s book to someone I thought would like it. I guess you can say it worked.
Before now the one and only book trailer that has worked on me was Johnny Bunko — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtRNiMZsTro
I bought the book after viewing this trailer.
The costs associated with these efforts couldn’t be more different, but I would suggest $300 per finished minute as a good guideline for spend.