Book Trailers and Teasers - What's The Secret?

Here are two new Book Teasers that I just finished. One is for Vincent Zandri's "GODCHILD", the other is "Promised Valley Rebellion", a historical novel by Ron Fritsch.


You'll notice the difference in length for these teasers. Godchild is just over 60 seconds, while Rebellion is 90 seconds. Let me say that it's difficult to keep teasers like these so short at 30 seconds. Sometimes, 30 seconds is just not enough time. Everything depends on how much information you need to put out.


Historicals, in particular must run longer, especially if the soundtrack is slower. It takes more time to tell that way since everything seemingly runs in slow motion. Again, 90 seconds should be your longest for any genre. I've gone over on occasion, but only because I've managed to keep readers interested long enough.


My goal is either 30, 60 or 90 seconds, depending on the genre and soundtrack tempo. I think these new teasers work to keep readers hooked to the end of the presentation and ultimately, motivates them enough to keep clicking for more information that will hopefully result in a sale.


The important thing is that your teaser does its job, and that is, to generate excitement for the book. Anything that happens or doesn't happen after readers click on the teaser link, is beyond your control, such as the landing page and the quality of its sales copy and its relevant content.


Getting your book teaser to the point where it does its job, meaning that readers will click on it for more information or follow the book's website link, is your goal. What happens after that is what I call, the doorstop effect.


The doorstop effect is my way of saying, "What readers do once they click the teaser links and buy your book is up to them, even if they use it as a doorstop. Your sales job is done, at least up to that point since the content of your book, especially if it's a non-fiction, must be loaded with plenty of sales copy if you want repeat sales. But that's another topic entirely, which I plan to delve into some other time.


The focus here is coming up with a great writing concept for your book teaser and inspiring people to click, click, click, and buy.

Book Teasers Are Not All The Same. 5 Tips That Make a Difference:

Have you taken a look at all the new Book Trailer Production Companies out there? Go ahead, search the internet and check out all the big production companies and their book trailer offerings. I can't believe what I'm seeing. These trailers are laughable, and worst of all, they don't work. They won't do a thing to help sell your books. What a gyp!


Listen up folks, before you spend a ton of money and waste your valuable time on something that doesn't work, here's what you need to know:


1) Book Trailers are not Mini Movies:
You can't design a book trailer that runs for 2 or 3 minutes or longer. People's attention span is very short, so ideally you want to keep your trailer or teaser to 30 seconds or maybe up to a minute or so, but nothing longer. Although, if you can manage to keep things interesting, sometimes a minute and a half is okay.


The point is, however, the shorter, the better. The reasoning behind that, aside from short attention spans, is that a short 30 second teaser leaves the reader wanting more. And that's key because if they want more, the next logical thing, as long as you've piqued their curiosity, is that they'll click on the book teaser link to find out more about the book. If you've told too much in your teaser, they have no reason to continue searching.


2) It's All About The Concept:
Book teasers are advertisements, not journalism. You must come up with a curious concept and design that concept around questions instead of answers. You must keep readers guessing--wanting more. Don't give away the whole story.


3) Expensive, Flashy Production is Useless to Readers:
Over-the-top production means nothing. Readers are hungry for a moving story, an emotion. Why would you feed them fancy effects that don't serve the storyline? Chroma keys and vibrating titles are not sales tools.


4) Your Images Must Serve and Sell The Story:
Use images that sell, not tell your story. You've got to be a tough editor and remove anything that doesn't apply to the storyline concept--your hook. Stick to your concept and keep it short.


5) Your Ending Must be Dramatic:
Sure, it's only a 30 second teaser, but those last few seconds must drive everything home because that's what readers will remember. Build it up and end with something meaningful.


I'll be posting more tips and going into great detail about many other things you need to know about designing a successful Book Teaser that gets the job done. And that means, getting readers to click (because your book teaser hooked them) and buy your book.


I've posted articles on my other Blogspot (BookFreak: The ProseFreak Files about impulse buying. When it comes down to it, that's what you want to create--a book teaser that encourages impulse buying. Why make it impulsive? Check out my take on Impulse Purchases here. You'll be glad you did.


My next Post: How To Build a Killer Book Teaser Concept. Don't miss it!