Book Trailer Tutorial Part III

Part Three:

If you just saw the Duma Key Teaser, you know how effective it is―all 32 seconds of it. 


Here's the article:
http://booksnap.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-makes-this-book-trailer-so.html

It’s all in the writing concept, the imagery and the music. In essence, the very short, short story, told with a twist that highlights the hook. They’ve left nothing to chance and made every second count. This is your goal, even if your book teaser turns out a little longer, the important thing is that you play up your hook but keep it as short as possible.

Notice the opening and the tag line in this teaser.

Opening: “Need to escape?”

End Tag: “Return trip, not guaranteed.”

This is more than just a clever play on words.  It’s powerful sales copy, designed to prompt you to take action. The reason you’ll click on this teaser link is because you need to find out more about this story. Remember the old saying? “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back.”

How true that is, and more so in your marketing. Now here are the big secrets why you want to keep your book teaser so short.

1.     Brevity leaves your reader wanting more: By highlighting only the key points to your story and playing up your hook, readers have no choice but to seek more information, so they click for more.

2.     Brevity leaves a lot questions about your story, unanswered: Leaving holes in your presentation builds curiosity. This is priceless because no one can resist curiosity, so that propels readers to click for answers.

3.     Brevity creates a sense of incompletion, which in turn, motivates readers to click in search for a resolution: This is the best reason of all to keep your teaser short. With limited information, just enough to build curiosity, readers have no choice but to click because they need closure. You’ve created an open loop and readers need to tie all the loose ends together, so they click.

As you can see, there’s a lot of clicking going on here. When you work off a strong story concept, an unusual angle, a unique hook, you engage readers at a deep emotional level. You draw them in and the only way out is for them to click and find out how your story might end, at least in their own mind.


Should all book trailers be short teasers like this? Of course not, but the key here is brevity. Be succinct and don't linger. Get to the point as quickly as you can, without giving away too much. Build suspense and curiosity by focusing on your hook, until readers have no choice but to click for the rest.

Great, clicking is good. Your short book teaser has done its job. Clicking on your teaser link draws readers one step closer to buying your book. But what happens once they click? Where do readers, (potential buyers) go? Do they reach the outer limits of the unknown universe, or do they land somewhere important, like landing on your book planet?

Closing the sale is the subject of my next Post. Where and how do you close the sale? They’re called Landing Pages, and I’ll cover everything you need to know, how to design and put your Landing Page to work for you. In short, your Landing Page must convert interested shoppers into paying customers.

Find out how in my next Post:

Landing Pages 101