Weekend Chat: 3 Reasons Why Book Trailers Don't Work

Every week I receive and search for great book trailers to promote on Christian Fiction Blog. In the beginning I was excited about what I found. It was a new concept, so I was game. However, after a few months of posting book trailers and reading others I've come to a conclusion. Book Trailers Don't Work and here's why:

1. Most Book Trailers aren't viral.
Let's be honest. When was the last time you embedded a book trailer video onto your blog or passed the video to your email friends or Twitter buddies? Probably never. Unless you have a dear author friend with a trailer who you want to help out the answer is probably not one time. Until these trailers can spark many watchers to want to share it with their warm market, then it is a waste.

How do you make a book trailer viral? In my opinion

2. Book Trailers are too long.
First thing is shorten the trailers. They are too long. Anything over a minute online is too long. This post is too long until I cut out the fluff. Keep the trailer short and simple.

What must you include in a short book trailer?

3. Book Trailers aren't commercials.

If you notice a movie trailer, the better ones are shorter , to the point and mysterious. But most importantly, they tell you when the movie drops, title and buzzworthy actors, directors and producers.

In short, I am a fan of a book commercial. A short and sweet video shot of your book. The hook should be its focus. Just like most commercials. If it's short and crisp and marketed effectively these videos would get the word of mouth/email bounce around and chatter it deserves.

Above is the best book commercial I have seen. The music matches the theme. The video is under 30 seconds. Long enough to etch an idea about the book, and catchy enough to share. How has your book trailer submitting experience been?