You already know the important role that videos could play in book marketing and promotion. You have created your own book trailer or got one made for you. What next?
Use it to market your book. That’s what your book trailer is for.
When you are self-publishing your own book, you have to look forward to the challenge which lies ahead: video marketing. The explosive growth in video popularity allows self-published and independent authors to reach a huge audience, establishing a deeper connection between you and your readers and getting your book to the top of Google search.
It is quite easy to market your own book if you have a shareable medium like a book trailer. Here are a few ways to use it:
- Upload your book trailer to YouTube
When you upload, make sure you include a clear title (up to 70 characters including spaces), a compelling description (157 characters including spaces in the first line), and keyword tags. Most importantly, put in the link to your book’s purchase page in the description below your video. The title and description should include a target keyword.
- Distribute your video to other video hosting websites
YouTube is not the only place to upload your video. If you want your book trailer to be seen by more people and to generate more traffic to your website, share it on other video distribution services like Dailymotion, Vimeo, and BookReels, which is dedicated to book trailers.
- Post your book trailer on your author website
For a more interactive experience, add videos to your website. This will help boost user engagement and increase the time people spend on your author website. You can either upload your book trailer directly to your website or embed a YouTube video on a webpage.
- Share your video on social media
Cast a wide net of potential views by sharing your book trailer on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn (to show off to your professional network), and StumbleUpon. Spread the word around by telling your friends to like, share, retweet, reblog, bookmark, and even comment on your book trailer.
- Post your book trailer on Amazon and Goodreads
Post your book trailer in places where online users buy and rate books and leave reviews to further capture readers’ attention. Amazon and Goodreads even allow you to upload a book trailer onto your author page.
- Email link to your email subscribers
Email marketing, when done right, is one of the best ways to inform readers that you will not only be releasing a new book but also be making its accompanying book trailer as well. Share to readers the interesting details about the making of your video and email them the link once it goes live on YouTube.
- Play your book trailer at book events
If you are scheduled to attend a book fair or appear at an autographing session, bring your laptop or tablet to show to attendees your video. If you have a booth, set up a monitor to play the book trailer on a loop.
- Play your video at your book launch party
What better occasion there is to play your book trailer than your own book launch?
Important reminder
Don’t confuse selling your book with building your author brand. If your book trailer is mostly about you talking, the readers might get undecided whether to like you or your book – or both. Use your book trailer to promote your book, not yourself.
Do you want a book trailer made or need help marketing your book with your existing book trailer? Let ReadersMagnet help you achieve your marketing goals. Call us at 1-800-805-0762 or email us at info@beta.readersmagnet.com
Interested author here! What clips do you use for the trailer? Do I need to provide them?
Not entirely sure, but I believe they will be using stock videos for the trailers.
I didn’t know marketing books was that hard!