19 Responses so far

1. 1. Steve Buchheit on Mar 13th, 2007 at 11:06 am

   Money flows TOWARD the author. I only had to read a little to get where they expect to get their money, from the author.

   I have seen TV ads for books, but they just make me wonder exactly who is trying to fool who.

2. 2. Mark Terry on Mar 13th, 2007 at 12:58 pm

   I’ve seen some nice book trailers, but they don’t make me rush out and get a book. If I had a digital video camera (uh, I guess we do, actually) and the time (which I probably don’t) I’d do one, but spending much money on one? Not likely to be effective.

3. 3. Mfitz on Mar 13th, 2007 at 3:51 pm

   The one or two I watched were pretty wretched. I’ve seen better film work done by college kids back in the 80’s.

4. 4. tobias s buckell on Mar 13th, 2007 at 4:30 pm

   Okay, so its not just me. I see all this excitement over the book trailers and I know I can do just as well. I was curious to see what people thought.

5. 5. Josh on Mar 13th, 2007 at 6:47 pm

   If you are going to do this I would see advertising them before movies for similar genres.

6. 6. Mary Robinette Kowal on Mar 13th, 2007 at 7:36 pm

   How odd and apropos that you bring this up, since I was just doing a trailer for Shimmer. The basic errors in visual storytelling that some of the clips make are astounding. I shouldn’t feel like my rough cut done with free software is better.

   Speaking of software, what are you using these days for your video editing?

7. 7. Tobias Buckell on Mar 14th, 2007 at 7:52 am

   Mary, can you post a link to it when you’re done? I’d like to see it.

   I’m using iMovie, I’m thinking about buying Final Cut (if I do it in the next 2 weeks it’s only $99, I get a $200 rebate). I’m thinking about it.

8. 8. Mary Robinette Kowal on Mar 14th, 2007 at 5:17 pm

   I’d be happy to. Thanks. This was done with Photo Story 3 and Windows Movie Maker, but there’s got to be an easier way.

   As a different, but related, sort of data point, after it was finished, I uploaded the Shimmer Winter Trailer is to YouTube, Google Video and MySpace. GoogleVideo was the easiest to upload, but YouTube gets more traffic. I’m still not successful in getting the MySpace one up.

9. 9. Sheila on Mar 14th, 2007 at 7:19 pm

   You get what you pay for. So, some videos are going to be simple and some will be more complex.

   Since COS Productions has won multiple film awards, some of them the top in the country, I’m sure a few low budget trailers can be taken in context.

   COS, of which I am the CEO, does get publishers to invest in the videos. Usually that comes by way of media budgets. And, there’s not a single publisher out there that has not used COS. Authors have been the main clients because they want creative control, or because their publisher isn’t doing much for them.

   As a side note, COS has a MySpace site where authors are given free promotional opportunities. We don’t sell ourselves there, we give. We understand that not everyone can afford book video, so we help them in other ways, free of charge. We also work with libraries and are a member of the ALA, and we have a program that helps students who make book video.

   The point is, we’re not trying to make our money off the back of authors. We offer a service. We have different levels for different budgets so as not to leave anyone out. We give FREE distribution as part of our service and submit all of our videos to a long list of booksellers and book clubs. That’s free too btw.

   We also are supporters of the Camero Awards where we sponsor the Amatuer Divsion for Book Video Awards. We give out free advice to those people who make their own book videos, and even show our support by leaving positive comments on book videos that authors make and ask us to look at.

   We are the premier book video makers. But, we do care about giving back to those people who have made us successful.

   Thank you for letting me share.

10. 10. Steve Buchheit on Mar 15th, 2007 at 7:48 am

    Sheila Clover English, you say you’ve won multiple film awards, I can find only one Telly (2005). Please list your awards with categories. I would think you’d be proud enough of them to list on your website. Also, you say many publishers are clients, I understand that client confidentiality could be an issue, but also, please list. Again, I think you would be proud enough of these high-level clients to want to show them off. Also, please provide more info for “Camero Awards.” I don’t recognize it and a quick google produces nothing. But then, I’m not big into video production.

    It may just be me, and I’m certainly willing to be proven wrong, but much of your site’s content and verbage triggers warning signals in my head. I’m glad you’re giving back and helping authors.

11. 11. Sheila Clover English on Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:29 pm

    Hello Steve,

    Thank you for allowing me to show the pride in our work.

    Here is a link (hope it works) that lists some of our other awards-

    http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?storyid=10854&ret=Default.aspx

    You can also go to www.daveyawards.com

    As far as the Cameo Awards go, they’re new and we’re very excited to help sponsor it. Here is a link-

    http://www.theromancegalleria.com/cameoawards/index.html

    I’m sure you can do a search and find us mentioned in Newseek and NPR if you care to.

    Publishers such as Penguin and Warner have paid for media buys, St. Martins and Berkeley (though Berkeley is a part of Penguin, so I don’t know if you’ll count that seperately). There are more, but you get the idea.

    The NPR information is here-

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5564549

    I’m not sure what “warning signals” you are getting from our site, but we are pretty straight forward. You pay a price. You get a video. You get a certain amount of distribution. A report is sent to the client that tells them where their video was distributed. If someone is picked up by a special group, site or project we let the author know.

    Such as-

    http://www.bordersmedia.com/default.asp

    Island Heat and Atlantis Rising are COS-created videos.

    It is unfortunate that in this industry there is an environment of caution, such as your own, that causes one to look for a negative outcome, or a shady company. I do understand that. I’ve been in this business long enough to have experienced things that might make me a bit more jaded. But, luckily, I have come across some very positive, talented, open minded people in this industry that keeps me from slipping into being jaded, and encourages me to try to help others.

    Of course, doing anything for free, or just being helpful, seems to create suspicion.

    You’re welcome to check out our MySpace blog where thousands of people are benefitting from what we do to help. The current blog there talks about the dangers of this industry and mean-spirited people. You’ll find that COS has a wealth of support there from clients and the public.

    www.myspace.com/cosbooktrailers

    Please let me know if there’s anything else I can say, do or supply that would put your mind at ease and remove your “warning signals”.

    Cheers!

12. 12. Lisa Yvette on Mar 15th, 2007 at 5:33 pm

    You ask:
    “So would any of these trailers convince you to buy one of these books?”

    I can answer in total honesty and say yes. I had no idea who Christine Feehan was before seeing a COS book trailer. The trailer got me interested in her dark series and her writing hooked me. So it’s safe to say that when done well a trailer will make a reader a fan. And it’s not just Christine Feehan - I have “found” authors such as Douglas Clegg, Stephanie Rowe, Deidre Knight and many others as well.

    I’ve been introduced to many new authors via COS’s services and through their myspace page I have found more authors (most who don’t use the COS service and make their own movies). I think it’s great that the medium as a whole has taken off and that in this day and age of “need to have it NOW” and when so many young people will not pick up a book to skim through it to see if they might like it that COS and many others are taking the initiative to reintroduce the medium to them.

    And I am not the only one. I know of several people who have seen a COS trailer and have picked up the book.

    I’m not sure if I answered your concerns but since this was the only question you posed I wanted to put my 2 cents in for whatever it’s worth.

    I wish you much success in your endeavors and look forward to seeing the end product of your work as well.

13. 13. Douglas Clegg on Mar 16th, 2007 at 12:42 am

    Tobias -

    I’m not a filmmaker. Were I to take the time to conceptualize the video, come up with a reasonably decent set of scenes, learn the editing software, buy the right camera so it didn’t look like I’d used my neighbor’s camcorder, hire cheap college age actors, rent the costumes necessary, learn how to do the CGI effects and animations used in two of the videos, and find some people to help with production and post-production…well, it’s cheaper to just hire the pro.

    To me, time is definitely money, and for me to take the time it actually takes to execute a decent video would take away from life and the main business of my life, which is writing fiction and communicating with readers.

    I know several novelists and their publishers who have used COSProduction.com’s trailers to great effect, and several who use other services, and those who make the videos themselves. It’s a range of possibilities.

    I’d extoll COSProductions.com’s virtues here, which are many and don’t end with the creation of the trailer, but I almost hate spreading the word about them simply because I want them all for myself (but I suspect it’s better for their business if more clients come to them, and so I will tell the truth: they’re terrific to deal with, and they go the extra mile.)

14. 14. Ryan on Mar 16th, 2007 at 6:20 am

    I don’t think the question here is whether COS does a good job making the videos, or if they do better than an author could do him or herself on making a video. It’s whether spending $5000 on a video about your book is really an effective use of marketing money.

    I’ve never once bought a book because I saw it advertised in video or in print media. Every book purchase I’ve made has either been because a friend recommended it to me, or because I talked with the author (either in real life or online) and they made their book sound interesting to me — and just about everyone I know is the same way. We don’t want to spend our hard-earned dollars based on ad copy designed to sell the book unless we have heard from somewhere we trust that the book is actually something we’d like.

    Now, I know that short videos are The Big Thing right now, with YouTube’s popularity off the charts and everybody and their sister trying to make a new video-hosting website. But which videos are the ones that really make it big and get sent around and posted all over the web? It’s not (necessarily) the ones with high production values from award-winning studios — in fact, it’s usually a couple random people with a digital camera and a goofy idea. None of these COS videos is going to catch on the way some French guys throwing Coke cans did, or spawn a catchphrase like “Oh my god, shoes!” (careful clicking on that one, it’s got some foul language).

    Why does Joe Blogger post a video to share with his friends? Not because it’s made by award-winners. He posts it because it’s awesome, or funny, or quirky, or just really interesting, and he wants his readers to think, “Man, that Joe sure finds the coolest stuff. I’ll keep reading his blog!” The viral nature of videos and all other internet memes depends on the natural desire of people to build their reputation as someone who does or finds really neat stuff. If the supposed viral item doesn’t provoke a strong reaction of some kind, it won’t get spread. People don’t want to be known as the ones who post “kinda okay” stuff — they post the best, the funniest, the most useful, the saddest, the weirdest. If it’s not superlative, it just won’t catch on.

    Anyway, my point is that high quality doesn’t equal high effectiveness. In fact, I’m willing to bet Scalzi’s goofy trailer for The Android’s Dream will reach more viewers and potential readers than many book trailers — and will much more effectively help market the Scalzi brand, since people who see it will think “this guy’s funny and creative, and seems approachable,” all of which are both true and beneficial to John’s image. People who see the COS trailers, on the other hand, will most likely think “huh, a book about XYZ,” — it may convey the basic premise of the book, but not much more.

    Does anyone have stats on how a video trailer for a book affected that book’s sales? Have any reader surveys been done to show the effectiveness of these trailers?

    It seems to me that rather than spending $5,000 on one of these, you could use that cash to go to six or eight different fan conventions and easily connect with thousands of fans directly, and the word of mouth from that would far outweigh the marketing potential of a video of this type.

15. 15. Sheila on Mar 16th, 2007 at 11:14 pm

    There are two main groups of people I would like to address. Not so much those who like book videos and those who do not, but, more so, those who are traditional readers and those who are not.

    Traditional readers are the ones most likely to use the back cover blurb, an excerpt or reviews to choose a book. They are established readers. They don’t need a video to get them to pick up a book. Although, many will watch them to see what’s coming up. And, to them, some videos are really just announcements that the book is out. The reader will buy it regardless.

    Non-traditional readers are those who usually watch TV, go to the movies, play video games and spend far too much time downloading to their iPod.
    You have to really reel them in to get them to pick up a book.

    With more and more competition for the entertainment dollar, the publishing industry must expand their thinking beyond traditional advertising and marketing. The main focus of industry marketing needs to be expanded to encompass more than just a limited set of known factors (i.e. traditional readers). As an industry, we must reach beyond what is our known demographic and into the unknown. We must evolve to create and nurture new readers.
    Get them while they’re young! But, in order to do so, you must speak to them via a medium to which they have grown accustomed. That medium is a visual one. Games, movies, and special effects are all becoming bigger and better with each passing year across every segment of the entertainment industry. How is the publishing industry supposed to compete with that?
    Now, there is a tool that utilizes this, the most popular medium, and it is being used to sell books.
    Whether or not you like them, or even use them, if book videos bring in more new readers, aren’t they a wonderful tool?

    Of course, there will always be those of us who love to go to our local bookstore, touch the pages, read the back copy, and enjoy the unique smell of coffee and books.

    Are They Effective?

    Book videos are a tool like any other promotional tool. They work, if you know what to do with them.

    Christine Feehan, the first author to utilize a Book Trailer®, has seen a 600% increase in traffic to her website since she started using video. One retail bookseller told us that their traffic increased by 50% when they put up a Book Trailer®.

    There are other statistics. In 2005 the click through rate (the rate in which a person went from watching the video to hitting the “Buy” button) was approximately 10%. In 2006 it was approximately 50%. This information can be confirmed with other book video makers such as VidLit. A White Paper on this topic will be released this year. So, more stats are forthcoming.

    Authors using book video have reported higher ranking on important lists such as New York Times, USA Today, and many of the bookseller’s lists such as Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble.

    This marketing concept has cumulative effects. The longer it is out there the more the public will see and accept it, not only as a form of advertisement, but also as a form of entertainment itself, much like movie trailers. With the evolution of technology making online marketing a fast growing opportunity, it makes sense for the book industry to utilize its potential.

    As a final note, anyone who has been in the publishing industry for a while knows that getting a new concept accepted and utilized when money has to be invested into it practically takes an act of congress. Now, not only are publishers using them, but booksellers and book clubs are as well. My sources say that they are very effective. My opinion is that they are effective. And only time will tell in the long run. Right?

    I don’t tell authors that if they don’ t have a video something terrible will happen to them, their book or their career. I found this blog because I searched for blogs that were discussing my business. I doubt any debate here will result in someone using my services. But, I think it’s healthy to see what people are saying, to hear their doubts and reservations. Without controversy or debate how could I look to improve on what I’m doing now? And so, for that, I thank you for the conversation.
    Cheers!

16. 16. Corey Burkes on Aug 28th, 2007 at 8:55 pm

    I guess this is a fine time to chime in on the conversation. Hello, my name is Corey Burkes of Bestseller Trailers and I absolutely agree and support Sheila’s numbers on the results of a visual representation of a book. In this YouTube era, it’s simply a no brainer to have this or any extra marketing venue to reach potential readers. Until the end of days, books will be available … ‘E-books’ or otherwise … but people tend to like to see and feel what they want before they buy, and more times than any, have a hard time wanting to read the back cover of a book to find out about it. We are such a lazy society these days. (smile).

    To Ryan’s point, I agree that the Quirkiness of a video is the appeal that makes any video surpass 400,000 viewers. Topics of sex, freak and fighting are Number one keywords that the author can only hope encompass their work in order to be found on a video venue.

    And so cue the sales pitch (smile). I started Bestsellertrailers.com because I thought a lot of trailers out there were boring. Not taking anything away from COS, Sheila … there are a few people here and there doing the same work … but none of them create the buzz I think was necessary to get them to buy a book. At least not make me spring the bucks to buy one.

    So I did my own and over 100,000 viewers to this link:
    http://www.skyelightbooks.com/booktrailers/butta/trailer.html later … I found a reason to start my own business.

    Right now I’m slowly gaining clients at prices of up to 90 seconds for $1497 and up to 3 minutes $2479. I am an author and a filmmaker so my first interest is finding the soul of thebook and then conveying it onto the screen … like any good book trailer should. The special ingredient is I know I need to SELL the viewer … and create an atmosphere that would be entertaining. But, personally, to start charging up to ten grand for a trailer may seem worthwhile for my pockets (Big Grin) … but for the author who wants to dish out that kind of money to make a short film … I can advise better use of the money. No book trailer should be the length and the tedium of a ‘film’ … it needs to strike, pop and be done with leaving a lasting impression. If you don’t believe me … how many of you watch those Geico commercials for the cavemen.

    You and I know they are as funny as hell … but now that they are doing a 30-60 minute tv series, I can wager it’s going to flop. Why? Because the commericals strike, pop and are over leaving a lasting impression. I will not be dazzled by watching the weekly adventures of a caveman.

    There’s my 2 cents! Oh, and look … I have some change!

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