So, how effective are book trailers (videos) at selling books?
The Wall Street Journal asked that question in a June 7, 2008, article, "Watch This Book." Its conclusion? "There is scant evidence . . . that the average book trailer actually has much impact on book sales."
No kidding.
It is very difficult to find a direct and concrete link between book sales and any form of promotion, whether it's a video on YouTube, a review in a magazine, a blog Q&A with the author, or a radio talk show interview. Collectively? Sure. If you're out there getting the book's name in front of your target audience and the book is selling, it's safe to say that your hard work to promote your book is paying off. But linking sales to one individual tool is a challenge.
Let's say your book trailer on YouTube motivates someone to buy the book. You can't link from your video's YouTube page to your book's Amazon or Barnes & Noble page, which means there is no direct connection between the video and the purchase page. If the video motivates somebody to purchase, they have to leave YouTube and search for your title on a retail site. How could you possibly track this? You can't really connect sales to videos unless you're retailing your book yourself from your own site and are tracking incoming links to your purchase page.
The only way we can know if a book trailer is helping to sell books is if it's the only promotion tool out there working on the book's behalf. Even then, you don't know if other factors are influencing sales as well -- factors that might include strong support among independent retailers known for hand-selling books they like or a viral marketing campaign started not by the publisher or author but by a fan.
Does the WSJ's conclusion mean that authors shouldn't invest in book trailers? No. It's only a reminder that it's just as hard to track the impact of this new promotion tool as it is any other tool. But it's important to remember that you shouldn't create a book trailer just because "everybody else" is doing it. Your decision depends on your book's target audiences and how they get their information. Book videos aren't necessary or appropriate for all titles, but they are worth considering for some, in spite of the lack of hard data showing that they help sell books.
The Wall Street Journal asked that question in a June 7, 2008, article, "Watch This Book." Its conclusion? "There is scant evidence . . . that the average book trailer actually has much impact on book sales."
No kidding.
It is very difficult to find a direct and concrete link between book sales and any form of promotion, whether it's a video on YouTube, a review in a magazine, a blog Q&A with the author, or a radio talk show interview. Collectively? Sure. If you're out there getting the book's name in front of your target audience and the book is selling, it's safe to say that your hard work to promote your book is paying off. But linking sales to one individual tool is a challenge.
Let's say your book trailer on YouTube motivates someone to buy the book. You can't link from your video's YouTube page to your book's Amazon or Barnes & Noble page, which means there is no direct connection between the video and the purchase page. If the video motivates somebody to purchase, they have to leave YouTube and search for your title on a retail site. How could you possibly track this? You can't really connect sales to videos unless you're retailing your book yourself from your own site and are tracking incoming links to your purchase page.
The only way we can know if a book trailer is helping to sell books is if it's the only promotion tool out there working on the book's behalf. Even then, you don't know if other factors are influencing sales as well -- factors that might include strong support among independent retailers known for hand-selling books they like or a viral marketing campaign started not by the publisher or author but by a fan.
Does the WSJ's conclusion mean that authors shouldn't invest in book trailers? No. It's only a reminder that it's just as hard to track the impact of this new promotion tool as it is any other tool. But it's important to remember that you shouldn't create a book trailer just because "everybody else" is doing it. Your decision depends on your book's target audiences and how they get their information. Book videos aren't necessary or appropriate for all titles, but they are worth considering for some, in spite of the lack of hard data showing that they help sell books.
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