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Author and poet Maggie Ball is on a promotional book tour for her new novel Black Cow and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

Using Video for Promotion
By Maggie Ball

Video is hot. It's official. In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views, or almost 140 views for every person on Earth. More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years. Video is a very powerful promotional medium and a fantastic way to connect with readers around the globe. Creating a video can be as complex as making a movie (and indeed it can be a small movie), or as simple as opening your webcam and reading a little from your book. I've done both in the promotions for my new novel Black Cow.

The formal, fancy cinematic video is more of a showcase - it's stylised and designed to promote or focus on the key theme of your book. It's quite powerful but also detached somewhat from the author. This creates a very professional impact, especially, as in my case, you hire a professional to create the video with moving images and a voiceover. You can, of course, create your own cinematic video using products like Windows Movie Maker which usually comes with MS Office using your own recorded voiceover, royalty free stock photos or your own photos, and cinematic effects, but unless you've got a high quality mic and are reasonably tech savvy, the end result may not be of a quality that matches your book. If you do want to make your own, Joanna Penn has a very good primer here: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2008/12/03/book-trailers-11-steps-to-make-your-own/

Here's my video, which was created for me, to my instructions, by Accent. The whole thing took less than a week to make and was under $80 including the voiceover. Even if you only take into account the time it takes to make your own (I'd say at least 6 hours work), and not the quality, I think it's a pretty good deal.



Of course book sales today are very much driven by human connection. You want to draw your readers in, not only through the book's theme and plot which you've presented in your professional cinematic video, but also through a sense of trust in you, the author, the brand they're purchasing. The best way to do that is to allow your readers to see you, hear you speak, get a sense of you as a person. To do that is relatively easy -- you just need to use your webcam and video yourself reading a portion of the book. Choose good lighting, take a little care over your appearance, speak clearly and smile often to what you imagine as your supportive audience, and you will almost certainly engage readers.