11 Things Not To Do Before Your Book Launch
17 October 2012
From author M.J. Rose:
Sometimes what you mustn’t do is just as just as important as what you must do.
. . . .
This list contains just a few my “must nots” inspired by the much longer list of “must dos” from What To Do Before Your Book Launch
that just launched last week.
1. Don’t assume everyone will wake up the day your book comes out and rush out to buy it . (No one can buy a book they have never heard of.)
2. Don’t spend more than 10% of your marketing/pr budget on a trailer. Trailers have to be marketed too. So far too many authors wind up marketing their trailers instead of their books.
Link to the rest at Buzz, Balls and Hype
, Amazon will pay Passive Guy a small affiliate commission on any of your purchases.
I never have really understood the appeal of trailers… I don’t think I’ve watched more than one or two myself and it didn’t influence me to buy the book.
Does anyone have experience that it helped their book sales?
I’ve never made one, because I can only think of one that actually got me to try the book, a few more that actually convinced me not to read the book, and most that can’t trap my interest.
Trailers are for movies, not books.
My brother is a film geek and trying to keep his resume up, so I might see if he could make something on the cheap. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother. I just pass on all of those things when I come across them.
Nope. Readers are indifferent to book trailers.
I still make them for my books. Why? Because it’s fun!
“Because it’s fun!” Well, that sounds like a good reason.
But me, I’m still reeling from getting websites, etc., set up. So all these comments have helped me to keep pushing making a trailer way to the back of the line.
I think of my trailers as little art projects. They are a way to play with the book in a different medium.
Anyway, if you want to take a look, here’s the one I made a few days ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7kmSR-LvV4
Really amateur stuff, right? It’s not going to sell books! But I had so much fun making it, I don’t care.
I dunno, maybe it’s all the premise, but I might go looking for it in a month and a half.
I just took a peek. I liked it and can see how it must have been fun to make.
You did a nice job! I thought it easily looked as professional as any of the other books trailers I’ve seen.
Radio-advertisement “trailers” for books can sound intriguing; I’ve heard a few on late-night radio. Though… I don’t pursue them except for the “hey, I wanted to get that anyway” ones. *wry*
Why is it that so many YouTube videos do not include links to author websites or Amazon so people can easily buy the book? This is one reason I feel many fail. Even if a trailer made me want the book it’s too much work to go buy the book for a lazy reader. Always include with a trailer the book link or if its not out yet the author website.
Trailers can help sell your book, maybe. An author I know consistently has her trailers featured on USA Today (no not paid advertising). But the trailer needs to be shareable, accurate to genre, actually have how to buy the book in the trailer (at least title and author), and wherever you post it include links for author website/amazon page.