As we discussed in our recent post with The Creative Penn, there are as of 2020 at least ten types of book trailers to choose from which can influence your decision in hiring a book trailer maker. Whether it’s a traditional book trailer, an author video, or a book teaser, the choice to use video to promote a book is a wise one. After deciding on what type of book trailer will work best for you, another question is how to distribute your book trailer beyond the basics so you can get mileage out of your video not just in the weeks leading up to your book’s release, but for years! Here are a few ideas.
1. Upload to Youtube and spend some time researching relevant keywords. Ubersuggest is a killer tool, or you could simply type one relevant keyword into the Youtube search bar and see what they suggest. Also put lots of text and links in the description. Youtube likes text! Lastly, create a visually striking thumbnail image for maximum engagement.
2. Research and target blogs specific to your genre, as well as influencers, and websites that in the past have posted similar content. Make sure the cover letter or email is short and to the point and blast away. Even if 1-2 out of 100 blogs run something about your book, that’s a win.
3. Trailershelf is a website that hosts only book trailers and videos related to publishing and authors. They have it set up so you can submit and upload your work manually. Check them out.
4. Consider an ad buy on a popular website or blog. Most of the bigger publishers, especially with YA titles, release the trailer on a popular website the day the book releases. You could try something like that or even place your trailer a week or so in advance of the book release.
5. Create a shorter version of your full-length trailer (10-30 seconds) and use it as a Youtube ad.
6. This is kind of a no-brainer but embed a link to your trailer in the signature section of your emails.
7. If you have an author website there’s no substitute for a well-placed video. Ideally it should be the first thing that people see when they visit.
8. One day the folks at Amazon will set up book pages to be interactive the way the movie pages are set up on Prime, where the trailer is easily accessible. Until then, you have to click on the name of the author in order to find any posted videos. There are exceptions but overall it’s not ideal. However it’s still worth posting your trailer there. Goodreads is pretty much set up the same way.
9. Reddit is a great place to post video, as long as you don’t overpost or post in the wrong places. Shouldn’t be a problem though since there are subreddits for pretty much everything these days. Rather than posting in /r/videos for example, try to find subreddits that fit your genre or subject matter to avoid downvotes.
10. In the event that you have a Facebook page (doesn’t work for personal pages) you can make your trailer the timeline video so it’s the first thing people see when they visit.
Certainly, there are many more ways to distribute your book trailer. The authors that have the most success and yield the most book sales are those that put effort and imagination into getting their videos seen, and opting for creativity and quality when hiring a book trailer maker.
Need a book trailer? Film 14 offers book trailers for authors and services such as audiobook recording, book cover design, and more! Check us out here, or shoot us an email! Want to make your own book trailer? Check out our free guide!
