I’m being interviewed on July 2nd by Sheri Kaye Hoff, regarding eBooks and the video trailers to sell them. I’ve compiled a list of good and bad examples of video book trailers to make a few of my points clear.

Love, Stargirl

This one was the winner of the 2007 Teen Book Video Awards. (Like, if there’s an award, we should all make sure this is top on our priority list for book marketing, right?) Even though this example comes from a highly-niched fiction market, the comments still apply for business and non-fiction books.

Things I like about this one:
- extremely involving sequence, tone, etc. to draw in the watcher
- cool imagery appeals to the designated audience; in this case, teen girls
- a little weird and makes good use of “creepy” element
- it’s well-edited and looks very Hollywood-quality (essential here to foster the fantasy, but not essential in every case)
- kudos to them for finding an appropriate contest to enter and gain additional publicity

Things I think could be done better:
- more visibility of a URL or book title throughout production
- a clickable purchase link at the end (YouTube allows you to do a lot of custom stuff with a bit of research – see a future post about how to manipulate YouTube)
- I don’t see this in a lot of other locations, distributed on blogs, etc., which means somebody didn’t do the legwork

Duma Key

You may be surprised that this is my least favourite video of the bunch, and not just because this is a Stephen King cookie-cutter product: blood and gore, etc., etc. Loyal readers like my husband love this stuff, and the video gives them what they want. This is also the shortest – only just over 30 seconds.

Things I like about this one:
- short and to-the-point
- high-contrast graphic imagery makes it easy to see on the smallest of screens, like iPods, etc.
- the book graphic at the end makes it clear what’s being sold, as this is still new for many readers
- release date stated clearly at the end

Things I think could be done better:
- again, no direct link for ordering (Like, haven’t any of these people heard of affiliate programs?)
- perhaps this is too “corporate”, in the sense that it is rather predictable: a new author may consider taking bigger risks to gain an audience
- the imagery is somewhat disjointed, in that there is no “story” to this video – it’s just a bunch of scary stuff with a splash of blood, with nothing to involve the reader and link to something in their own lives (this is really about “features” vs. “benefits” again)

Nineteen Minutes

This video for popular Author Jodi Picoult was produced by AuthorBytes.com, a company that specializes in this type of media – and it shows. I’ve never read any of Picoult’s work because I thought it was something I wouldn’t be interested in. I think I may have been wrong.

Things I like about this one:
- the Author herself narrates the entire video, and there are photos of her periodically that help readers connect with her
- the shock value of the commentary is quite powerful, demonstrating contrast that I suspect will also be present in the Author’s work
- the commentary asks us to think of ourselves in perspective of the book’s subject matter
- the accompanying copy (“Details” in YouTube) is well-composed and easy for bloggers and others to use
- the narration and imagery reference other works by the same Author that have been highly successful and are easily recognized
- this doesn’t need full-motion video throughout to make the message work, and still images are used extremely well
- all the technical gunk is there at the end, such as ISBN number, cover format, page count, etc. which means this video is not just useful for consumers – it’s also very useful for booksellers and other markets

Things I think could be done better:
- again, no direct purchase link (How many times do I need to say this?)
- could be a lot shorter and still tell the story well
- the “clock” intro at the beginning drags a fair bit
- the music selection is not appropriate or powerful, and a better choice would make all the difference in the world
- this has 36k views and yet no comments, so perhaps a few “plants” would attract more viewers, and this may also signify a lack of effort to distribute and make use of this valuable resource

I’m really looking forward to our conference call about eBooks and video book trailers on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009. Click to Author Sheri Kaye Hoff’s page to register for this free call. Hear you there!

I’ve just updated my website with a new tab labeled “Speaking”, and there you’ll find my revised speaking topics for the rest of 2009.

Short Talks:

1) Using Online Marketing to Get Attention for Your Brick-and-Mortar Business

2) What is “Social Media Marketing” and How to Use it for Greatest Effectiveness

3) Tapping the Potential of Digital and Paper-Based Publishing for Small Business

Long Talks (1.5 hours or less)

1) eBooks – The Next Generation

2) You’ve Written an eBook – Now What?

I’ll be traveling quite a bit this summer, and offering these talks to various organizations in Canada and the USA. If you’d like to book me for a lecture or talk, please call me toll-free at 1-866-907-4084, please drop me a line at info@humanuspublishing.com.

I also really enjoy creating fresh material tailored to the needs of your organization. If you don’t see a topic listed that you’re interested in, just ask. I may already have it in my archives. Some of my additional topics include;

- PodCasting (What It Is, and How Anyone Can Do It)
- Affiliate Marketing for Authors
- Building Your (e)Book Business
- Market Research for Your Book in 1 Hour or Less
- How to Create Your (e)Book From Scratch
- Using You Tube to Market Your (e)Book with Video
- … and more

Here are my tips for creating your best book or eBook video trailer to promote your product on video sites like YouTube, and places like Twitter or FaceBook.

The job of the video book trailer is the same as that of a movie trailer: give them a taste, but keep them wanting more. It should accurately reflect the content of your book, but not give away the farm.

Perhaps most importantly, this video should be able to be distributed all on its own: if people see nothing about your book but the trailer, they should know (1) what your book will do for them, (2) how much it is, and (3) where to buy it or find out more. This way, you can distribute the video almost any way, through any media, and it will do the same job.

As a sales tool, I won’t bore you again here with my now-familiar rant about video being the most powerful communication medium, how anybody can do it in their basement, and how the cost-benefit ratio of all online marketing tools is highest with video.

Let’s skip to the tips.

- At the very top of the cheap-and-simple scale, you can always cobble together video clips using Windows Movie Maker, now part of basic Windows. Mac fans have numerous choices, but the objective here is to use whatever allows you to get it out the door the fastest.

- Focus on benefits, rather than features. (Yeah, I know you’ve head me lecture about that before, too.) Will the book tell them how to shave minutes off their best marathon run time? Will it teach them how to drug-proof their kids? Will it give them an advantage when they apply for their next job? It’s not about “how to”, but rather about “you can have this too”.

- Keep it under 2 minutes. Longer than that and you lose them.

- Put a ghost image of your URL on every screen, either in the bottom corner or across the bottom. Just make sure you don’t block the view of stuff on-screen. If you can’t put a ghost image, be sure to clearly display the URL at the beginning, somewhere in the middle, and again clearly at the end.

- Include a copyright statement as the last screen with your company and the year.

- Enhance the mood using cool music, appropriate tempo and pace, and additional stock video if need be. (iStock.com now offers video as well as still photographs.)

- Use video of YOURSELF talking, as per an interview format. If need be, get someone to sit to the side of the camera and ask you questions from off-screen. This is really important, because it enables readers to connect and build (virtual) trust with you as a source for information. You might feel silly, but just get your hair done and get in front of that camera. It will be over soon, I promise. (Just be sure to get enough raw footage that you have plenty to choose from. If you don’t like it, you can always leave it on the cutting room floor.)

- Do not use crazy special effects unless your book is about crazy special effects.

- Don’t just accept the defaults in whatever editing program you are using, whether it be Windows Movie Maker or Final Cut. Question everything for quality, appropriateness, and clarity. Fonts, fade-ins, credits, etc.

- When in doubt, be subtle.

- For background music, I’ve been using StockMusic.net for some time now. Good selection, and you are guaranteed not to be sued.

- Use humour – but don’t let it be too dry. An audience will really warm up to you if you let out your funny side.

- Upload the video to YouTube for easy distribution and natural traffic. Yet again, your early keyword research comes in handy here, as you can plug in your pre-determined keywords around the video, and double-whammy your SEO work. Google LOVES a well-catalogued YouTube video. There are many other sites that will help you distribute your video, but YouTube is a great place to start.

And finally, be sure to test it on at least 8 people. Make sure these are people of all ages and backgrounds, and not necessarily in your market. Even if they don’t understand certain buzzwords, the video should have enough generic appeal so that everyone can “get” you immediately.

A friend of mine, Sheri K. Hoff, inspired me to write this blog post when she recently released her own video trailer. Her book, The Keys to Living Joyfully, is selling briskly not only because it’s a great book, but because Sheri has taken personal responsibility for getting it out there.

Sheri made this trailer herself, and I’m thrilled that she took the bull by the horns and got this out the door. And yes, that beautiful dancer is her daughter. Good for you, Sheri!

This extremely funny TED video is of a talk by Author Dr. Sir Ken Robinson, who delivers this moving talk about creativity and education.

Dr. Robinson is the author of the book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, which I’m dying to read. His stories here in this video are so encouraging, even as the points out the major flaws in our current educational system, and how creativity is as important as basic literacy. Yet, our educational system is designed specifically to destroy the natural creativity we are all born with – the challenge is to keep our creativity as we become adults.

Yet another example of how great documentation happens without huge budgets, but with tremendous character and impact.

Besides my fascination with alternative uses of waste computer parts, I’m thrilled to see computer “garbage” have an application in the applied arts. This video is short and to the point, and clearly demonstrates all necessary steps without complicated language. It’s very easy to think of ways almost any business could use this sort of media to build a loyal audience.

USB Pottery Wheel – video powered by Metacafe

Listen LIVE this Wednesday and call in with your questions for Rick Passek, author of The Freshman FlyFisher. We’ll talk about niche marketing for self-publishers.

To listen, simply click to:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Peggy-Richardson/2008/12/17/Successful-Self-Publishing-Interview-with-Rick-Passek

You can call in LIVE with your questions at (347) 205-9352 during the show, which runs from 3:30 to 4:40 Pacific Time on Wednesday December 17th, 2008.

Rick is a really entertaining personality, and I was very proud to edit his book. Anyone who is thinking of self-publishing a niche title really should listen to this interview, as Rick really will tell it like it is, warts and all. See you on the air!

Check out this how-to video I just found on YouTube. The next time I catch myself harping about production quality, I’ll remember this “little video that could”.

This video author has created a small and stylish video to tell the world what she does in her spare time – she weaves placemats using an ancient and simple method. Creating something completely mundane might be the last thing you’d imagine being used as an example for quality documentation, but this video moved me. Watch her face as she shows you the flashcards. She’s mysterious, and perhaps somewhat sad, and you want to know what the end of the story will be.

Quality documentation (such as training materials) should all;

- be easily accessed
- be easily understood
- use careful and spare choices of words and language
- be visual rather than theoretical no matter what the subject
- create a storyline to emphasize the learning potential
- engage the reader / viewer on an emotional level
- make use of all new media tools available
- address an appropriate level of detail for the audience
- make the uninteresting parts interesting
- give opportunity for feedback
- be easy enough to produce that we can afford to create more

… and do it all with style.

Have 5:57 minutes of fun while you learn something new, below.

Thanks to everyone who listened yesterday to our live call-in show on BlogTalkRadio.com. I promised you more before we got cutoff, and I will deliver shortly. Alexa and I recorded an additional 37 minutes of content immediately afterward, which I will post as soon as I overcome some small technical issues. (Hopefully today – Thursday, November 6th. Just subscribe to my feed if you don’t want to miss it.)

Thanks again to Alexa Clark of MiniBookExpo.com, and to Renee Shupe for producing the show for us. This worked so well that all three of us agreed that we’d like to do more. Much more! Stay tuned to the player here on this blog for a complete playlist of all past and future broadcasts.

The next time a client tells me they’re not sure that blogging, social media marketing, and new media will work for their company, I want them to watch this video.

Bruce is not ashamed to stand in a booth at BlogWorldExpo and beg people to blog about him and his company. It apparently worked, because his booth was swarmed by people. In fact, I’m extremely proud to say that just as I was putting away my own video equipment form this interview, the anchorman from the local newscast in Las Vegas dropped in the booth to beg for a short interview. (Gee, did I get in before you guys? Awww, that’s too bad.)

What I was late on was finding out about the concrete company’s product, because it might have save me about 10k on the construction of my new house. Oh well: next time.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (16.0MB)

I’m going to be out of my regular office from Tuesday, September 9th, through about November 10th, 2008. All of my regular phone numbers, email addresses, and instant message contact info will still work, but you may find that you will be asked to leave voice mail more often than reaching me in person.

Where am I going, you ask? I’ll be in Langley, BC until September 14th, and then on a working sabbatical in Las Vegas Nevada (not a vacation – I swear), with some side trips to visit family in SoCal. Don’t worry – all my regular clients will still be hearing from me regularly as per our appointments previously scheduled.

The most exciting part of this trip is that I’m going to have an opportunity to break out of some stale routines, refresh my own writing, and inject some energy into ongoing projects. All of this involves stuff that will benefit all my current and future clients and projects. I’m especially looking forward to attending BlogWorldExpo 2008 in Las Vegas, from September 19th to 21st. I promise to make some video podcasts from the show, so watch this space for interesting stuff!