How Book Trailers & Author Websites Increase Sales

“No matter what field you’re in, it’s all about creating a relationship,” said author Daniel DiPiazza in his article, Hacking UpWork. The writer discussed how he made $23,700 in 30 days as a freelancer, but he could have just as easily been talking about the publishing world.

In the same manner that software companies like ClickFunnels reverse engineer SEO to their advantage, DiPiazza learned how to “hack the system,” meaning his profile would arrive on the first page of search results for anyone looking for a designer in his niche.

“I took time to narrow down the best candidates,” he said. “I’m not just looking for any client. I’m looking for the right client.” Without getting too far into the weeds on his advice, the designer essentially focused on one thing: leveraging his skillset to solve other people’s problems.

Novice freelancers and up-and-coming writers try to emulate those they admire, but no one has the same path to success, and copying someone who was first may not work if you were tenth, or even one-hundredth in line. 

In fact, this is why a lot of so-called “expert advice” isn’t relevant to everyone. But then again, it couldn’t be. If a hack worked 100 percent of the time, the market would flood and the path would no longer work, like a hidden getaway destination suddenly becoming a tourist trap. 

This is why author’s need to think of their work as somewhat of a hidden destination. Rather than trying to write something “for the masses,” new authors need to focus on solving problems in a hyper-focused niche (don’t write a “business” book, write a “how to start a food truck in Northern California” book). 

For this to work, proper messaging in the form of a great book trailers and author websites is key. It helps your work get noticed by the readers you want to notice it. 

https://youtu.be/uxLCZBxJWgI Book trailer example - TIME ZERO

We all want attention for our work, but what do we do with that attention? As Documentarian Ken Burns said in his MasterClass, “It’s all about arresting a momentum in a viewer and asking them for the extraordinary gift of their attention, and then rewarding that attention.”

Writers will often find themselves in the unfortunate position of asking for attention many readers aren’t willing to give. Unlike asking for someone to glance at a painting, listen to a 3-minute song, or watch a movie trailer, authors seek full attention - the attention it takes to read a book. This is why knowing how to make a book trailer is so important.

But, before we can ask for such a grand gesture, it’s best to condense the material into a bite-sized chunk of information. To borrow from the New Hampshire filmmaker once more, “It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. We are distilling the essence of all that we have collected.”

https://youtu.be/LIVmsIJyj3A Book trailer example - The 4-Hour Body

In 2010, author and self-proclaimed “human guinea pig” Tim Ferriss distilled his 608-page reference book The 4-Hour Body into a 58-second YouTube book trailer. Paired alongside “Splinter” by Sevendust, the trailer revealed the 30-something author at a table of experiments.

The title card, “10 Years of Experiments” scrolled across the bottom, followed by “100+ Scientists Consulted,” and then “1 Human Guinea Pig,” creating an 11-word summary of the choose-your-own adventure-style, fitness reference book.

The trailer continued with additional promises like, “Imagine if you could hold your breath for 5 minutes, lift 500 pounds, run 100 miles, lose 100 pounds…” then the generalized summary, “…do the impossible.” Clearly, this is a model for a non-fiction book, the fiction book trailers should follow a similar path of intrigue (Ferriss also has one of the best author websites around, which doubles as his blog).

Think about some of your favorite authors and their books. Read the back covers and check Amazon reviews to see how other people communicate the essence of the book. Remember when Apple first sold the iPod? They didn’t talk about complicated specifications or jargon. They said you now have “1,000 songs in your pocket.” That’s simplicity - distilling the complex. 

As author Lorrie Moore said, “Life is a field of corn. Literature is the shot glass it distills into.” The same level of surgery distillation is involved in creating a viral book trailer. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHsQSXAKvDE Book trailer example - TRUST by Kylie Scott

Whether you’re a fiction or non-fiction author, every book preview requires a compelling story. Explain the book in an intriguing way, but try not to give away too many details (you still want the reader to buy the book, right?).

Make sure you have a beginning, middle and end. Just like a movie trailer, book trailers need a story, so set the stage, introduce the characters, show the potential of a twist or promise, and then deliver a call-to-action (such as joining a waitlist, pre-ordering, or buying the book).

Keep your book trailers short and to-the-point. If you can keep it under 60-seconds, that would be ideal. Just like writing, this all comes down to the rewriting and revising. Then, make sure the tone of the trailer matches the book. Continue to ask these questions as you think about how to make a book trailer.

If your book is funny, the trailer should be funny. If your book is scary, the trailer should be scary. People shouldn’t feel a disconnect between the trailer and the book. If you’re unsure where to start, take a look at fictional movie trailers to write fiction and documentaries for non-fiction. 

Let’s break down two examples: one fiction and one non-fiction...

https://youtu.be/WR7cc5t7tv8 Book trailer example - A Quiet Place

Let’s take a look at the trailer for the film, A Quiet Place. This fictional story starts with the 3-second teaser, “If they hear you, they hunt you,” followed by a young boy making noise with a toy in the woods, and his father desperately running to save him. 

The story itself is somewhat of a mystery, but it appears to be in the monster genre (even though it’s actually somewhat of a new sub-genre all together). We then cut to a longer version of the trailer, where we see a family story wrapped in the horror genre. 

Throughout the trailer, we see the family is communicating through sign language, there’s prior damage from some sort of creature within the house, and any noticeable sound could cause death and destruction (the first minute essentially expands upon the first 6 seconds). 

We also see two other aspects of tension in the film, which are in many fictional stories: there’s the ticking clock (the mother is pregnant) and the gun (there’s an actual gun, but the monsters also represent a gun because they can “go off” unexpectedly at any moment).

As Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk said in his new non-fiction book, Consider This, “If your stories tend to amble along, lose momentum, and fizzle out, I’d ask you, ‘What’s your clock?’ And, ‘Where’s your gun?’” These metaphorical symbols also need to be in your trailer. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtDaP18OGfw Book trailer example - The Inventor

Next, let’s look at HBO’s documentary film, The Inventor. “What do you dream for?” the narrator asks the subject of the film, Elizabeth Holmes. She replies, “That less people have to say goodbye to people they love.”

This brief intro tells us several things, but mainly that this subject is trying to do something miraculous that may stop aging or help individuals live longer lives. That’s the hook (it might help everyone, but especially those interested in “life hacking”), followed by a brief explanation of how this person was going to change the world with her billion-dollar health industry. 

Then, there’s a flash of light (often associated with murder documentaries) that tell us there’s more to the story... 

Described as “the next Steve Jobs,” the trailer then starts to describe this subject in the past tense, letting us know something changed. By the 0:52 second mark of the 2:18-minute teaser, we literally see glass break, hear a loud noise, and know things are not as they seem. 

“Elizabeth was lying,” said the narrator, telling us a little more about this unique individual. Now, we’re also intriguing potential audience members who do not in the small category of medical breakthrough researchers. The tension here is a ticking “clock” of when investors will find out about her ruse, which we know they do, and the gun is the lie itself. Tick. Tock. Boom. 

“A good book promo video can go viral and help your book reach new audiences,” wrote Julia Drake on Writer’s Digest, “but a bad one may do the opposite.” 

So what exactly makes a good book trailer?

Videos, such as those on YouTube, rack up the most online engagement, as 78 percent of people watch videos online each week, and of those viewers, people recall 6x as much information from video as from text (videos can also be embedded on author websites).

Like the dedication it takes to write a book, book trailers require the following main areas of focus...

Good book trailers use video as a cinematic tool, translating the narrative of the book into moving images to take the viewer on an emotional journey with the author.

Once you’ve created an outline using the 3-step system above, consider the method below for producing your own book trailers by answering the following questions:

What’s inherently fascinating or relevant about your book?

Who is your audience (can you focus on a single type of person / avatar?)

When you’re describing the book to friends, when do they ask for more information? Why?

All of these questions should be answered whether you’re creating the video yourself or hiring a team to help with the project. When tackling a large project like a novel or non-fiction book, it’s easy to get a little lost in the research and the passion of the project. This is why you need to look back to your original ideas and find your book’s North Star to uncover the essence.

Read more on Social Media for Writers.

According to Writers Boon, “Readers are 64% more likely to purchase your book if they see a book trailer [and] authors who use book trailer video in email campaigns can experience Open Rates [increases] from 19% to 300%.” In a nutshell, book trailers and an author website are the fundamental building blocks to promoting your book. They’re the foundation. 

The goal of Author Builder is to provide everything authors need to create and maintain their author websites in one location. The best author websites require a platform or device, a theme, an option for subscribers to sign up for an email list, a custom domain name, and the opportunity for enhanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO) options.

Other author websites, such as ones that use Wordpress plugins, often have security flaws and other vulnerabilities. On occasion, these issues result in someone else having full control over the Wordpress site.

At the same time, other websites feel bloated and slow. Authors work hard to write and publish articles, and any delay (even by a tenth of a second!) can cause readers and potential buyers to move on to something else (again, attention online must be earned).

At Author Builder, we work hard to create a quick setup and there’s no need to worry about integrations, a professional look, or complex setup. Instead, authors can create functional author websites in as little as 5 minutes.

Signing up, creating a domain, and posting your first blog post only takes a few minutes. You can immediately start typing up a post or share chapters of a new book. Visitors are able to immediately start signing up for your newsletters and website updates, such as when you add a new blog post or book.

Simply put, Author Builder helps individuals create the best author websites to showcase their work, build an audience, and sell books. 

Read about How to Choose the Right Book Publisher.

Selling books is a long process, but like writing a book, it can happen as long as you break up the work into milestones. As E. L. Doctorow said about writing prose, “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” 

So, whether you’re still in the outline phase or just polishing up a twelfth draft, ongoing navigation is needed to make sure you can find the right readers for your book. In order to properly position your book, consider the following objectives…

How do you want your book to serve readers? How will this book improve your life? In 2 years from now, what makes your effort worthwhile? What is the single event where you will consider this book a success? (Can you control this event or is it out of your control?) Is all of this information concise on your author websites?

Now think about your primary audience…

Describe a typical person who might pick up this book... What will make them share it with a friend? Who are they, what do they do, and what do they want from life? What pain might someone experience who passes up on your book? What problems can you solve? What transformation might happen in this person’s life from reading your book? Is all of this information concise on your author websites?

Then define the premise of your book…

This book is about… It’s for… It will deliver…

For this idea, consider this advice from Paul Graham “Write a bad version as fast as you can; rewrite it over and over; cut out everything unnecessary; write in a conversational tone; tell someone what you plan to write about, then write down what you said…” Finally, fill in the sentence below, then answer the final question.

"I will use my book to target [primary audience], by teaching [book idea], which will lead to my ultimate goal of [objectives]."

Now, is this the book you set out to write? If so, now is the time to act. Use Author Builder to create one of the best author websites in your genre today and don’t forget to embed your book trailers on the site!