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Plug Your Book!
59
Some authors choose not to dedicate a specific area of their site to
a press room. According to their theory, “publicity” materials are
interesting to readers as well as the media, providing an “insider” feel.
Instead of an online press room, these authors have a variety of pages
dedicated to “touring,” “photos,” “biography,” and other content.
Multimedia for books
As high-speed Internet service becomes more common, audio and
video content are becoming valuable tools for online book promotion.
Multimedia is particularly effective for niche authors and newcomers
who haven’t attracted mainstream media coverage.
Multimedia grabs the attention of younger people who spend more
leisure time online, while consuming less traditional media like
newspapers and television. Meanwhile, production and distribution of
trailers is getting easier and cheaper by the day, thanks to inexpensive
video cameras and free hosting sites like www.YouTube.com.
Book trailers, an increasingly popular tool for book publicity, often
resemble movie previews, music videos or talk shows. Even though
trailers are promotional materials, the people who choose to watch often
perceive them as interesting, valuable content.
For authors and publishers, trailers can serve as an infomercial, a
message that appears on a cable network of 5 million channels—except
you have global reach and very low costs. The videos contain a “buy this
book” link to Amazon or the publisher’s site, prompting impulse
purchases from viewers, which can make an effective trailer instantly
profitable.
www.VidLit.com produces slick, relatively expensive trailers
using animation, narration and background music. The clips can be
hosted on the author’s blog or Web site, or e-mailed to newsletter
subscribers. As part of its service, VidLit.com can forward trailers to
literary bloggers who often post the video on their blogs.
Successful trailers are an example of viral marketing because of the
huge exposure gained through Web links and e-mails. Thanks largely to
e-mail forwarding, a trailer for the humor book Yiddish with Dick and
Jane was seen by 1 million people during its first week, helping to sell
150,000 copies of the book. You can view the video at:
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