Monday, January 19, 2015

Do Authors Need A Video?


I don’t know that a video alone sells books but it certainly is another means to promote your brand – along with audio, words, photos, and tools like blogs and websites, and platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Video is useful to authors if it is:
·         Filmed well (no shaking, distracting tricks, poor lighting/sound)
·         Short (no more than a few minutes)
·         Informative or entertaining – but not commercial
·         Conveying something to supplement your other content
·         Timely and fresh

Video is still a novelty in our sound-bite society.  Some studies show people remember 10% of what they read but 50% of what the see and hear.  Video provides a feeling of something happening.  There’s movement and texture to it.

Not sure if your video or book trailer measures up?  You can locate samples at these sites:
·         Moby Awards for Best and Worst Book Trailers
·         American Library Association Book Trailer Awards
·         BestBookTrailers.tumblr.com
·         Just Google “book trailers” and your genre

What makes for good video?
·         Background music
·         Cool graphics
·         An unusual image
·         A commanding or soothing voice

Where can you grab royalty-free images? Try:
·         Stock Photos
·         Morgue File
·         Open Clipart

How about free or inexpensive music clips?  Try:
·         AudioMicro.com
·         SoundCloud.com

Whatever video you create, upload it to YouTube.  Then get it onto other video-sharing sites.

In a given day, one billion people view 300 million hours of video.  Could your video be amongst them?

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015

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