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Monday, February 8, 2021

The Journey to Self-Publication, Part 16: Book Trailers

I've gotten quite a few questions about why I finally decided to delve into self-publishing and how I'm doing it, so I figured why not create a new blog series!





Every Monday, I'll be sharing a piece of the self-publishing puzzle---from how I came to this choice to writing, editing, marketing, sales, and everything in between. Please remember that this is simply my experience, how chose to do things. Others do things differently, and that's fine! So, your mileage may vary, but in the end, I hope seeing yet another way of tackling self-publishing will help you on your path. 

Need to catch up on previous posts? Find them here:



Today, I'm talking book trailers! As one of those people who hate to miss movie previews, it's a no-brainer that I also love book trailers. They give a unique look at a book or series that you simply can't get by reading a blurb. Are they effective in actually selling books, though? I honestly have no idea. I know I personally have purchased a book before because of a clever book trailer, and so it stands to reason other readers have done the same. 

So, with all of this in mind, I set out to have a trailer created for The Cursed Series. A close friend of mine is in the process of creating a company (AleWin Entertainment) that will specialize in a lot of things, one of those things being book trailers. I hired her to create mine. I also hired my audio book narrator (Andy Garcia-Ruse) to do the voice over. And I am blown away by the finished product. I get goose bumps every time I watch it (and we won't talk about how many times I've seen it. LOL). 

But now that I have this finished trailer, what am I supposed to do with it?? Share it, obviously, but how? How could I get the most from this investment? Well, here is my game plan: 

1. Create a YouTube channel where I can upload the video and have an easily shareable link. 

2.  Upload the video and schedule a premiere date. Now, I could have just uploaded and started sharing willy nilly, and believe me, I'd thought about it. But as I said, I want to get the most return on investment, so I had to be smart about this. I picked a live premiere date (Tuesday, February 16th at 8:15 pm EST). I will be on YouTube during this live premiere where I'll be chatting with other viewers and answering questions. I also have a large giveaway planned (more on that below) that I'm announcing exclusively during this premiere. My hope is this will entice people to show up and view the trailer. 

3. I've partnered with Maia at Silver Dagger Book Tours to host a two-day blitz where bloggers share both the book trailer and the giveaway, along with the series covers, blurbs, and buy links. 

4. The giveaway which will include an entry to share the trailer. The goal with this (and #3) is to get as many people as possible sharing this video. 

Will any of this actually work? Or am I wasting more time and money? I honestly have no idea, but I figure if this doesn't work, I'll know what not to do next time around. And if it does work? Well then I'll have something to celebrate :-) 

I have another big marketing event planned for March, which I'll discuss in a future post, and once both of these events have been completed, I'll let everyone know the verdict. I also plan to discuss timing of releases, skipping a month (or more), and how to stay relevant when you don't have a new book to promote. 


Got questions?

Drop them in the comments!

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