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Plug Your Book!
61
film crews and interns to keep costs low. The company takes revenue
from donations, sponsorships and advertising.
Do-it-yourself videos are another option, thanks to falling prices of
digital camcorders. Video clips are an effective tool for authors unable
to finance a bookstore tour, or whose disparate audience makes touring
impractical. If you have a PC with Windows XP, you can edit digital
video yourself using a free program in your Accessories folder called
“Movie Maker.” If you’re a Mac user, there’s iMovie.
Author Chris Epting scored big using YouTube to promote his 2007
book Led Zeppelin Crashed Here, a guide to “rock and roll landmarks.”
Six months before publication, Epting began posting a series of trailers,
featuring photos he shot for the book backed with classic-rock
soundtracks. The videos prompted thousands of rock fans to write to
Epting with suggestions for the book and requests to buy it. Closer to his
publication date, Epting posted interactive videos and a trivia contest.
You can view the videos here:
Podcasting for publicity
A podcast is an audio file hosted on the Web, available to listeners
anytime. Audio recordings you may already have—such as interviews or
book-readings—can be repurposed as a podcast, providing Internet users
with yet another way to discover you and your book.
Some podcasts are a recurring feature, sometimes called a
podiobook. Perhaps you’ll decide to provide your audio content for free
to help generate word of mouth for your book. Some authors create
value-added podcasts and charge subscription fees.
Readers can listen to your podcasts on their PCs, or download them
to a portable music player such as an iPod. The word podcast is a
combination of the word iPod and broadcasting, but no iPod is
required—anyone with speakers on their computer can listen.
Just like blog-reading provides insights for building your own blog,
listening to podcasts will inspire ideas for producing your own audio
content. Here are some directories where you can sample what’s
available:
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