The Project, however, is writing-related itself, so guess what! You get to hear about it before I've finished it.
Over on Lynnette Labelle's blog, she recently had an interesting discussion about the question: Do Book Trailers Sell Books?
I said there that what bugs me is no one knows the answer to that question, not even publishing professionals. There's no hard data. And yet making a book trailer is one of the many things new authors are pressured to do.
I've heard it said that if you're a first time author, you should spend your entire advance on marketing and publicity for your new book. You're trying to launch a career, after all; you can defer the prospect of actually making a living off your writing for a bit longer.
Making a book trailer could conceivably eat up a lot of that advance unless you earmark it as a DYI project. And although we are all storytellers, how many of us really know how to tell a story well with images? To sell the interest-factor of that story using images? Sure, we've seen examples of this on television for years, but we've also been reading books for years, and yet it still took most of us a lot of time and effort to learn how to tell an effective story with words.
The point I'm flailing around for is that I don't think it's a good idea to suggest new writers embark on something that will either be very expensive or very labour-intensive (and probably inadequate) just to create something that may give them no return on the investment. We need data.
Which is what The Project is about.
The Book Trailer Project will be a website that allows people to view either a trailer for a book, or an image of that book's cover plus a blurb for it, and will then prompt them a month later to come back and say whether they bought any of the books whose material they viewed.
If I get enough response (and that involves getting published writers to allow me to show their trailers, etc, in the first place, of course), then I can assemble statistics on whether people who have seen a book trailer, as opposed to a traditional advertisement, are more likely to buy that book. The results will be made public from the beginning.
The Project gets those capital letters out of my terrorized respect, because it's proving huge. I've got some free time right now, and have been spending passion-fueled fifteen-hour days for the past week working on this behemoth.
It won't even be a very big or complex site; it's just that I've had to learn PHP and MySQL to do it (not quite from scratch; I know a bit of C++, so PHP's syntax is a snap, and I've created databases using MS Access before, so I at least know what a query is, etc.)
Is this a reasonable use of my time? I think so, if only because I'm learning skills that will help me create a better author website (for cheap) in the future, and I'm also providing a service to writers while learning something I want the answer to as well.
Plus, this is the best way to take a break before I start writing my next novel; I'm getting so fried doing The Project I will be delighted to begin typing the book. Take that, procrastination! Oh, right, The Project is a form of procrastination... Never mind.
When I finally get the site running, I will announce it here, and then begin the process of simpering at people to (a) volunteer to put their book's promotional materials up, and (b) come by and browse for books they might be interested in reading.
Scratch that! Whether you spread the word depends on what you think of the site itself, and it's presumptuous for me to try to horn-swaggle you into anything.
What I'd really like is for all of you to help me test a beta version of the site, and that could be fun! (I'll make up funny fake books and link to random amusing YouTube videos.) Who's in?
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Have you any thoughts about the matter you'd like to share? (Other than I've lost my mind, which I already know.) I would love to hear them, and now is the time to do it! I've still got the opportunity to implement your suggestions.
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PS - I was really, really bad about answering comments on the last blog post, but I've done so now. Sorry for neglecting you all!
11 comments:
This sounds like a great project! I'll be very interested in updates :D
I think the blending of visual/video media with book promotion is interesting and potentially good for sales, but I can't honestly say that I've bought a book just because of the trailer. I like trailers, and I put books on my wishlist after reading about it and THEN watching the trailer and thinking it sounded like my sort of thing. But I don't think I've ever just watched a book trailer and then said "I MUST HAVE THAT BOOK!"
But then I like to read reviews and summaries of books before I buy.
To be honest I have never seen a book trailer. I have read first chapters of many books.
I am not sure if i would be interested in trailers for a book. to me a book is about reading and the image your imagination brings to life, i am not sure i would like another person, even if it is the author forcing imagery of the book on me. The book cover is one things and it has on occasion set the tone of the book for me. On others it hasn't even been close to how I see the book.
not sure video is the way to sell books that are inherently DYI imagery.
It does sound like an interesting (and labor intensive!!!) project.
There are a few book trailers I've seen that I thought totally rocked - Cindy Pon's was one... I let my daughter see it and she played it over a few times and then begged for the book - I got her a signed copy for Christmas and she actually hugged it. (I love Cindy - anyone who can make a 12 year old hug a book, rocks by me)
There was another one a few years ago that went viral and really got a lot of notice, because it was dead clever. If I can find the link, I'll post it.
I've also seen ones that suck, I mean suck. Authors telling you nothing about the story but all about themselves and why they wrote a book - but what the book's about, who the main character is? No flippin' idea. And no interest in handing over money to read what someone that self-indulgent has to say in writing... sorry. I get it was probably a rookie mistake, but I'm not very forgiving with my new book budget - and I'm a book lover, so think how badly he shot himself in the foot with sometimes buyers.
That's the other thing - the trailers are viewed by people who are already looking for books. Seems to me that the marketing outreach should be extending beyond writers and constant readers a bit. Figuring out how to make that leap is the challenge... and I think it's going to be clever that does it. When you match inventive marketing with a really great novel that's well written, then you've got a winner.
You're right, there is a lot of buzz right now about whether book trailers really help sell books. When I visited my publishing house back in January, marketing told me not to worry about making one, that sometimes when they're done poorly, they can even detract people from buying the book.
But here's the question I've heard going around lately--who's really viewing the book trailers? Writers who read? Or the non-writing readers who make up the bulk of our future readership? How would that second category find out about our trailer especially if we're a debut, no-name author? After they've already read the book? In that case, it won't help the sell. And if they liked our first book, they'll buy the second regardless of a trailer.
All that to say, I don't think trailers will help debut authors sell books, except maybe among the writing community. Just my 2 cents!
Sounds like fun. I'd be happy to be involved.
Sis that Koala is looking a bit nasty. You do know that writing PhP and SQL code is still writing?
:)
kapta: nainker???
Book trailers do not do much for me. I still prefer a slow stroll though the bookstore and referrals to find my literature.
MaybeGenius: As soon as I wade out from under this sea of computer bugs, you will have those updates! :D
The consensus in the comments sure seems to be that book trailers don't really excite anyone.
Sarf:
[B]ooks ... are inherently DYI imagery.
Oh, my gosh. I love that! You're absolutely correct that our imagination is what is supposed to provide the images.
I don't think The Koala would see the code-writing quite that way, unfortunately. Luckily, I have a magic bullet this month.
Merry:
the trailers are viewed by people who are already looking for books. Seems to me that the marketing outreach should be extending beyond writers and constant readers a bit. Figuring out how to make that leap is the challenge... and I think it's going to be clever that does it.
Really interesting thoughts, Merry! MaybeGenius up above mentioned she only looks at trailers if she's already thinking of buying the book, but trailers really are supposed to be aimed at people who have never heard of the book before that moment.
Jody:
[W]ho's really viewing the book trailers? Writers who read? Or the non-writing readers who make up the bulk of our future readership? How would that second category find out about our trailer especially if we're a debut, no-name author?
This is a good point, in that you have to hook the reader's interest to get them to watch the trailer at all, rather than the trailer being what hooks them (which is the role of advertisement.) It's not like a movie trailer that interrupts their television show or plays prior to another movie. We don't have a captive audience for such things.
Thanks for bringing a published writer's perspective to the discussion, by the way! :)
Josh: Thanks! Consider yourself pro-actively press-ganged. :)
Travis: That sure seems to be the consensus among people here. The study will hopefully sort that out more precisely, but I have my bets on what we're likely to see.
I just watched my first what I think is a book trailer because of a friend's link to it on her blog. I really like the way that it was presented & how it did have imagery but the type of imagery it used allowed for a lot of DIY interpretation.
It definitely left me wanting to know more about the book and a strong likelihood that I would buy it... which unlike my other siblings, I am the most "non-reader" of the family so having something make me feel that strongly about wanting to read more about it, is a great marketing tool for someone like me.
So maybe they are a great marketing tool for bringing in a different type of reader. A reader who is more taken with going to the movies or narrative stories than sitting down and reading a book. I don't do as well with sitting down & being still enough to read (also my stupid eyes with prisms make reading harder than for most) but I do from time to time and that trailer has me thinking hard about picking this book up & reading it.
FYI: the trailer was Hand Wash Cold by Karen Maezen Miller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeZgoQeebv4&feature=player_embedded
I applaud your energy in taking on this project.
Personally, my answer is a flat, I don't watch book trailers. I HATE book trailers. They are a complete waste of time. It's the cover, the title, the physical package, the blurb...never the silly book trailer for me.
Heather: It's interesting; one of the best ways to ensure another person gets interested in a book is to tell them how much you enjoyed it, i.e. word-of-mouth recommendation.
Your word-of-mouth recommendation works wonders on making me curious about both your friend's trailer and book! :)
WrittenWyrdd: A lot of people seem to say that--or something similar--which is part of why I got curious enough to devise a study. I'll be interested to see whether the ambivalence actually translates into trailers being less effective, or if any advertisement of a book is equally useful, i.e. that, as Cory Doctorow says, obscurity is an author's main enemy.
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