Coming to a Website Near You! The
Book Trailer Hits the Marketplace
Ahhhh, the good old
days. Once upon a time, writers like me were treated royally by their
publishers. My children and I were once swept off to California to receive the
International Reading Association prize (Spite
Fences). We were feted at an American Library Association Award event at
the Rainbow Room in New York City (Kinship).
I was given a wine-and-cheese party in Nashville at the Opryland Hotel (Fallout). My children and I served as
charity ambassadors at the Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival in
Redlands, California (Kathy’s Hats: A
Story of Hope).
No more.
Budgets have been
slashed, marketing departments shrunk, and such generous efforts are reserved
for only the most promising of books. Sadly for writers, who would prefer to
spend their time creating, they must now double as marketing agents, hawking
their wares on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Amazon, and other sites that can
reach thousands of readers with the click of a SEND button. With the crush of
competition represented by e-books and self-publishing added to the pressure,
publishers have been forced to find new – and scalable – models to get not
merely dozens or hundreds but thousands of eyeballs focused on their books.
Enter the book trailer.
I was first introduced
to the book trailer at a Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
(SCBWI) regional conference in Ft. Wayne, Indiana in 2013. The dynamic young
woman who first introduced me to this new marketing medium was premier marketeer
Kirsten Cappy of Curious City: Where Kids & Books Meet.
She showed the first
book trailer I had ever seen, the trailer she had developed for a book about
Effa Manley, promoter of baseball’s American Negro League. I found the crack of
the bat, the 40-styles music, and the cheering crowds hard to resist. Here’s the trailer for She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story.
Check out this book
trailer – and others – and let me know what you think about this marketing
trend.
What are the advantages
and disadvantages of the book trailer – for readers and for writers? How successful is this tool
likely to be? What are its potential uses – and abuses? Is the trend likely to
sizzle – or fizzle? Let me know what you think. And let’s talk over popcorn.
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