Attention Authors! Bring Out Your Book Trailer

by LuAnn Schindler

For aspiring authors, toss out the word 'promotion' and some have visions of whirlwind book tours and glamorous TV appearances on Oprah or Ellen.

Bur for those of us who write for a living, we realize that 'promotion' translates into a 24/7/365 sales pitch. Self-promotion, including book signings, blogging, and endless hours spent on social networking, is inevitable. Authors realize we must introduce our material to readers. We must present an image our brand, of ourselves, of our work.

One often-overlooked type of promotion that works is the book trailer. The term, trademarked by Sheila Clover of Circle of Seven Productions, describes an advertising tool used to market books. You know what a movie trailer is. Substitute book for movie and you get the picture.

With the popularity boom of social networking sites, including You Tube, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, book trailers have reached a wider audience. One of my favorites is Samara O'Shea's trailer for Note to Self: Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits. (I interviewed Samara for two different WOW! articles and have read both of her books. Amazing!)

If you're a published author and are considering a book trailer or if you've already produced the clip, consider submitting it to Bookscreening.com. I stumbled on this site one day and watched quite a few of the trailers. I added several to my "must read" list after viewing the trailers.

Book trailers, as a marketing tool, bring written words to a visual reality and capture the essence of a book's soul in just a few short minutes. It might not get you a whirlwind book tour or a spot next to Oprah or Ellen on their shows, but it can connect you with the people who purchase books.