Do Videos Make You Want To Read?

[K.C.]

I've used video in the past as far as promotion of my recent works. The question is: do they motivate you, as a reader, to download or purchase a book (free or not) over other types of advertising/promotions such as a still image or a blurb or just a picture of the book with a tagline?

[Lynne]

I do things like book trailers for my own books but apparently, when studies have been conducted, they don't usually make people more likely to buy your book. They're still fun to do, though.

[K.C.]

K.C. wrote: "I've used video in the past as far as promotion of my recent works. The question is: do they motivate you, as a reader, to download or purchase a book (free or not) over other types of advertising/..."

Hmm, so what's the difference between an ad that has a still image and one that has video? it seems video makes people LESS likely to buy a book than a still image, which is curious.

[Andrea]

I've run across a few videos and so far, they haven't made me want to read the book (save for one done by Disney publishing that looked a lot more like a movie trailer than anything else).

The video ads often featured narrative voices that just didn't make me want to read the book. Some were too sing-songy, others had jarring editing or background music. Overall, videos, as a separate artwork, add a lot of variables that your readers might not be drawn to.

Personally, I'd still go with ads that feature your cover if you can, like these: https://ryanlanz.com/advertise-your-b...

I know I've found many authors through places like this, where readers come to read the blog content and leave armed with a new book to read.