Book Trailers and eBooks

Lately, there’s been a lot of discussion about book trailers and whether they are helpful for selling books, specifically eBooks. There’s a large variety of opinion on this subject and I decided I might as well post about my thoughts. Just a warning: my opinion is a bit complicated.

In my opinion, book trailers and how effective they are for selling books depends on both the reader and the trailer. (I’ll explain this later on.)

First off, book trailers are only viewed by some readers, given that a blurb and sample should suffice in whether the book is worth buying or not. However, book trailers can make a nice alternative if done right. Not only are book trailers viewed directly through Amazon, B&N and Smashwords book pages, but there are a number of people who browse through YouTube, random websites, etc. and click on a book trailer as well. Often enough, I watch through book trailers through Amazon and blogs I follow (if they’re included) and I know of many others who do, too. Simply, it’s curiosity getting the best of me. Some trailers convince me to buy the book and others… not so much.

The thing about a book trailer is that it gives the author a chance to (literally) bring their words to life. The right music, the right photos, the right text can convince a normally uninterested reader to buy a book. It’s done that for me. Think of it like a movie that looks terrible on paper, but when you see a trailer, you feel a strong urge to watch it all of a sudden. Or a movie that looks good on paper, but super-amazing-I-must-watch-this-now after seeing the trailer. C’mon, I’m sure all of you have experienced that. 

Yet many book trailers just restate the blurb, sometimes with pictures, just in video form. Sometimes music is added, sometimes not. To put it bluntly, these trailers really aren’t helpful. They won’t convince me to buy a book anymore than the blurb will and therefore are, in my opinion, a waste of time. If you’re only planning on making a trailer with the same blurb as a reader can see on your book page and a photo or so, I wouldn’t bother. It looks more like a bad slideshow than anything else.

However, if you plan to do something really enthralling, it will only help you and your book. A good cannot hurt you. Here’s an example of probably my favorite book trailer ever. Of course, a book trailer doesn’t need to be this good, but try telling me that this doesn’t make you want to find out more about the book. Just try.

In the future, I may do a post on “what makes a good book trailer”  but for the time being, just note how the music (in the above trailer) perfectly fits the book, the images are nice, the review snippets are kept at a minimum but still come at the right time, and the text is short but in sync with the rest of the trailer.

As not to be hurtful, I won’t give an example of a trailer that’s just text and, occasionally, low res pictures, but I think you know what I mean.

So, in conclusion, book trailers won’t have a huge impact on sales because about one in every three people will watch them (and the blurb and sample are still the most vital parts to a reader), but if done right, they can’t hurt you; they’ll only help.

I’m really curious about your thoughts on this post in particular. Do you watch book trailers? Do they have any affect on whether you buy a book or not?

Thanks!