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Kim McDougall is a professional photographer, multigenre author and founder of the new, popular book trailer promotion site, Blazing Trailers . Her credits include the fantasy titles Angel Venom, Caul Shroud and Veil, Barbegazi, Luminari, Twisted Tales III, and Twist of Fate. Find more about these books on her website. Under her pen name, Kim Chatel , she writes for children and young adults. Her children’s books include The Stone Beach, Rainbow Sheep, and A Talent for Quiet. 

Kim is here today to talk about her new venture, Blazing Trailers and about the effective use of trailers (or previews) in book promotion.

Thanks for this interview, Kim. Tell us, how did Blazing Trailers get started?

I started the Blazing Trailers site after I created several trailers and realized that there were few good places to showcase them on the web. Sure, you can post them to YouTube, Yahoo etc, but these sites are designed primarily for fun videos, not for promotion. For book promotion, these video sharing sites have two draw backs. First, your trailer gets thrown in with millions of other videos on every topic under the sun. You have to rely on precarious keywords to have people find you. Second, these sites are basically dead-end links. You can add a link to your website in your trailer, but will people remember it?
So I wanted to create a place just for book trailers where people who want to find books can watch the trailer, read an excerpt and review and BUY THE BOOK, all on one page.
What prompted you to start designing book trailers?

I’ve been a photographer all my life and I’m fairly savvy on the computer, so when I saw book trailers emerging as a new way to promote, I thought “I can make one of those.” My first trailers were for my own books. After I posted them on various sites, other authors started asking if I would make one for them. I resisted at first, because I knew it would take a large chunk of time out of my already-busy schedule. But I enjoy making trailers, and it was hard to pass up another source of income in this tough business. For the most part, I don’t advertise my trailer-making services, because I already have more bookings than I can handle just by word of mouth.

What is a book trailer?

A book trailer is a commercial. It is a short video that promotes a book. These videos can then be posted on websites, blogs and video sharing sites. They can be fun, genre-bending and little works of art in their own right, but in the end, they are commercials and some authors lose sight of this fact when making them.

What makes a great book trailer?

Trailers need to reflect the mood of the book, give enough information to entice a customer to buy (without giving away the whole plot) and above all catch the viewers attention. I rarely make a trailer over 2 minutes long. If you think of a trailer as a commercial, this is already longer than any TV ad. I see many trailers that are 4-5 minutes of image after image that make no sense to someone who hasn’t read the book.
I try to use fewer images, but select those that will make a big impact. Adding movement, either in live video or zooms on still images can also engage the viewer. Finally, music can make or break a trailer. It’s important to find music that sets the mood, doesn’t irritate and works with the beat of the images.

Do trailers sell books?

This is the big question and there isn’t really a way to test this. The only evidence I’ve had is anecdotal. Author, Mary Deal (www.writeantygenre.com) commented that after I posted each of her trailers to YouTube and other sites, she noticed a jump in her Amazon rankings (which comes from sales).
I’ve had several niche stores contact me to say they saw my trailer on YouTube and asked how they could stock my book. Will this translate to sales? Only time will tell.

However, considering the relatively low cost of making a trailer compared to other online promotions, I think it’s a good risk to take. Not all promotion is about sales. As authors we need to think of name branding too. Just as Sony, Nike or McDonalds use different promotions to get people to become familiar with their company, so should authors work to get name recognition. Buyers are more likely to buy a book from an author’s who’s name they recognize.

How can an author use a trailer for promotion?

I had one author ask me why some trailers on YouTube get more viewers than others. I told him that’s because some authors promote their trailers better than others. He said, “What? I have to promote my trailer too? I thought the trailer was supposed to promote me!” I had to laugh. He’s right in one way, but wrong in another.
Like I said before, YouTube is a huge site. You need to tell people how to find you in that din. You wouldn’t create a great TV commercial and then put it on at 3am when no one’s watching!
The advantage to a video sharing site (I keep saying YouTube because it’s the best known, but there are many others), is that strangers surfing the net will stumble across your trailer. People who might never otherwise see your website or your book will get a glimpse of it. And it may only be a glimpse if your trailer doesn’t catch their attention.
But what if you have a newsletter and you want to invite people to see your trailer? Or if you participate in a chat group and want to show off your trailer? You shouldn’t send them to a video sharing site. Send them instead to a site like Blazing Trailers or your own website, where they can watch the trailer and then immediately learn more about you and your books. This is the kind of promotion you need for your books.

Another way to use trailers is at book signings. You can bring a computer and have a series of trailers running. CD’s are relatively inexpensive. If you have a lot of trailers, you can put them all on one CD or DVD and hand them out to people at signings.

Could you offer any tips to those authors who are technically savy and who would like to make their own trailers?
Make sure all your images and music are royalty free. Use powerful images and fill the screen with them. Use movement in zooms and pans. Keep the trailer under 2 minutes.

Author Linton Robinson has a great guide to making trailers at http://adoroworks.com/tutvideo.php

What stands out as amateurish when making a book trailer?

Too many vertical pictures on a horizontal screen (with blocks of black on either side). A simple fix is to crop and pan these pictures to fill the screen. Hand held home video. Unless your going for the Blair Witch look, you should avoid this at all costs. An over abundance of special effects and transitions. Especially when first starting out, it can be so much fun to play with all the gadgets on the movie making software. Special effects are supposed to be just that-special. Limit their use and they’ll have more effect.

What should authors keep in mind before contacting someone to make their trailers?

Ask them where they get their photos. You can check prices on those sites to make sure they are jacking their prices up too high. Trailer makers need to make money too, but if someone offers a low price, they might be making it up by charging extra for photos or music. So make sure you know all the costs before you start.
You also want to be sure that they are going to use only royalty free images and music. Your name will be on this trailer and you don’t want to get caught up in a copyright lawsuit.
Ask where the trailer will be posted. I post my trailers to at least 6 sites, and then give the original to the customer to post it elsewhere. Make sure you get a Quicktime version of your trailer. It’s yours; you paid for it.

What is the most challenging part of managing a book trailer site? the most rewarding?

I am lucky enough to have Jim Selleck my business partner and web genius to help me with this site. The challenges of building such a huge forum were beyond my expertise. We’re still feeling the growing pains as we implement new sections, but we’ll get those worked out. The most challenging thing for me is dealing with the hundreds of little details that launching such a site incurs. Once the Blazing Trailers is going, it should run itself with some moderation.
The best part about running this site is the fun stuff. First, I get to watch a bunch of cool trailers. Second, Jim has a wicked sense of humor to match mine. We’ve added some amusing details, like silly jingles and bogus ads (like the Blazing Trailers chocolates-may contain nuts). I love making these. We’re planning a whole lot of other fun stuff too.
Finally, I get to meet so many wonderful people. I really enjoy the back and forth process of making a trailer with an author. And opening up Blazing Trailers has let me meet even more authors.

Thanks, Kim!

Authors, I should point out that listing your trailers at Blazing Trailers is free, so don’t lose this free promo opportunity and get in touch with Kim.

View Kim’s books on the slideshow below…

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