Do book trailers work? Why or why not?

[Marcus]

I’m curious about the effectively of book trailers. In particular I’m considering creating a few for my books and a WIP to be released fall/winter, and I would like to know if they are worth the expense and time. Do they work or are they just more white noise in the various marketing venues?

For those of you that are readers, has a trailer ever peaked your interest in a book or author enough to check it out further? And if so, has a book trailer ever been significant in prompting you to read the book or at least read the sample?

For those of you that are also authors who have released book trailers, have the trailers made a significant difference in your sales?

If you don’t think book trailers are effective, please let us know why.

Your input would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Dantalion of the Goetia]

As an author and avid reader, my answer is "Yes" by all means go with a book trailer. They can be posted just about anywhere, and they are an effective way of catching a readers attention! http://www.fantasyromanceoccult.com

[Patti]

I love book trailers - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnOTh3...

[Brenna]

As an author, no...they don't increase sales overmuch. Like any promo you do, trailers will work on a certain subset of readers. No promo works universally. That's why I teach authors to use a variety of promo types, to hit as many overlapping subsets of readers as possible. Since there is a subset that love them, it might be worth your time, but do it right.

As a reader... MOST trailers don't do much for me. A few do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lq7HO...
This one was so good that I eventually purchased the entire series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4vZDE...
I may end up purchasing from this one. I keep going back to it.

You can make your own trailers, but if you do... Make it engaging. Don't put too much wording on the screen at once. Remember the photo/video and audio rights involved. Give people time to read what is written. Basically, don't bore them with too much extraneous stuff. Keep it to the core message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ4v7R...
This is one of mine. I personally find the music in these other ones more engaging, but they are early work of mine and have errors I wouldn't make today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wdNsU...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWXrkw...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXiiNo...

Brenna