Market My Novel

There is a new site where authors can share their book trailers with readers. YourBookTube has had some forums buzzing lately with questions about how it works, what it can do for authors and why authors should join. Today Valerie Connelly with Nightengale Media LLC Company, gives Market My Novel readers the scoop on the site, which is a service of Nightengale Press.

First, tell us about Nightengale Press.

NIGHTENGALE PRESS CREDO: ABOVE ALL Put The Author's Needs First.

Through ease of production, nearly instant availability of worldwide publishing services today, authors receive publishing information, marketing training, one-on-one product development of their books, industry connectivity, online visibility, co-operative marketing opportunities, bookstore trade distribution, profit from their work, and a helping hand from the start.

Nightengale Press works directly with authors, editors and illustrators world-wide to produce books in all genre for the trade, including children's books. We advise authors how to protect their work and develop a marketing plan. Our 100% ROI royalty structure helps authors to recoup all publishing expenses and then enjoy a 50% – 70% royalty on all book sales, whether sold upon request in bricks and mortar bookstores nationwide or online. Nightengale Press is part of Nightengale Media LLC where authors can also obtain author-centric, stand-alone websites and book videos from www.WEB4W.com for the best rates in the industry. We are completely dedicated to helping authors market their books to their niche markets as well as showcase their book videos on www.YourBookTube.com.

Go to www.nightengalepress.com for complete information on Publishing Guidelines, Royalties, Contracts and more.

Why start YourBookTube as part of Nightengale?

Over the years that I have been a publisher, I have come across many ways to market books, some effective, many not so effective. But, I truly believe the YourBookTube concept will become one of the most effective marketing tool available to authors and publishers. Often, authors ask me how to market their books. I provide many proven options to authors in my book CALLING ALL AUTHORS — How to Publish with Your Eyes Wide Open. But, in the last year, it has become clear that the book industry is missing the single, most powerful means to marketing books available today: Social networking and viral marketing.

YourBookTube is a brand new web site offering no-cost uploads of book videos in a genre categorized format that creates an easily accessed library of book videos. Common questions from authors about book videos reveal confusion about the effectiveness of the medium.

What does this service offer that sites like Meta Cafe and YouTube do not?

Once the video is produced, there have been typically just a few places to put it: on the author’s Web site, on YouTube and other video sharing sites like Meta Cafe. Some have advised authors that putting their videos on their social networking pages (Facebook and Twitter) is a good thing. Well, here is what’s wrong with these approaches. YouTube and Meta Cafe type sites don’t even have a category for books. The book videos are lost in the ocean of content. And on the social networking sites, it’s all about connecting with people you already know. They likely already know about your book too! That makes posting it there pointless.

In contrast, YourBookTube.com is only about book videos and categorizes the videos by book genres. YourBookTube also provides easy shopping on the Your Book Tube Shop, (powered by Amazon) right on the site. Readers come there to see the videos and can buy the books without clicking off the site. But, also the videos can be linked to the author or publisher’s site as well, so the reader can go there to buy the book if they wish.

Of course, authors should post their book videos on their own websites, and make little discs they can send out or hand out wherever they wish to do so. But, the goal of YourBookTube is to provide a vast library of book videos that will sell the book directly to the readers who come there.

Books never get old. They are perpetually new to people who haven’t read them. Book videos are a tool to sell the book, nothing more, and properly produced and posted, they can do the job quite effectively.

Is YourBookTube open to all authors, or just authors who publish through you?

Of course YourBookTube is open to all authors and publishers. I realize there are many authors and publishers who are still reluctant to really use the internet to their own benefit for book marketing. They will be missing a means to reaching their broadest market and at the same time, they will be losing sales every day by staying away from the power of the internet. YourBookTube makes it easy to tap into this power, and at no cost whatsoever.

    * All authors who have book videos are welcome to post their videos on YourBookTube. Be sure to include the book's title, ISBN, a short description (25-50 words) and a link where you want viewers to buy your book, if not on our Amazon powered shop.
    * All Book Publishers and Printers, Book Reviewers, Book Publicists, Book Editors, and Book Newsletters are welcome to encourage their authors and clients to post their book videos on YourBookTube.
    * All professional participants who upload 10 book videos will be able to post their services to a FREE listing in the Industry Professionals section of the site, gaining increased exposure resulting in more traffic to their sites and sales for their books.
    * Industry professionals with 50 or more videos will earn a FREE, 1-year banner ad in the rotator on our homepage and mention as a Charter Member in our media campaign.

Are all book trailers welcome, or do you have limitations on genres like erotica?

We have selected the broadest genre categories possible without crossing the line of good taste. We do not accept pornographic materials, nor do we accept videos about books primarily intended to show violence and spread hate. There is a fine line between erotica and pornography, and if we feel the visuals are gratuitous either in sexual content or violence, we remove them. The Policies are clearly detailed and are provided for the protection of the site and the members on the site.

Can authors make money through YourBookTube?

Yes, they can, since the Amazon-powered book store is right there on the site, and they can also link to their own websites or their publisher's website. The goal is to sell more books. We have made it easy for the viewer to go directly to the store, or to use the link to the author's own website or the publisher's website store to buy the book. That's the whole point.

We will soon be offering low cost advertising for books as well, consisting of  book cover displays that link to the author's preferred store. The point is to drive sales to the authors' books in every way possible.

What are the benefits to posting videos at YourBookTube?

Simplicity of selection and purchase is the most important benefit to posting videos on YourBookTube. This is a categorized library of book videos only. Books are the only item viewers can buy, and they don't have to wade through millions of other videos to find a selection for the kind of books they  like to read. Vieweres can access the genre of book they're looking for simply by selecting the category listing. They can then view the videos, choose the book and buy it all on YourBookTube.

Also, we make it easy for authors to provide their videos to the site:

All uploads are FREE with most common video formats accepted.
• YourBookTube.com is a fully optimized site with unlimited bandwidth.
• YourBookTube.com provides fully categorized content for all common book genres. New categories will be added as necessary.
• Full video description included.
• Article marketing with integrated banner ads puts your business logo and website links on all the article pages related to every video you upload.
• Reciprocal links from the video listing on YourBookTube.com to author, producer and publisher websites are included at no cost.
• Your Book Tube Shop is integrated into the site and powered by Amazon to make purchase of the book itself simple for the viewer.

In looking around YourBookTube, I noticed some videos had a YouTube tag on them. Can authors post the code from YouTube into their YourBookTube account?

Yes, they certainly can. We want to make it easy for authors to participate on YourBookTube.

You have a section at YourBookTube for reviewers. How is this section used?

We have a section titled INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS. This is where we include information and links to book industry businesses serving authors and who have provided support for YourBookTube by providing 10 or more video uploads, significant publicity about YourBookTube, and reciprocal links on their sites. The goal is to have many businesses listed to provide authors more opportunity and choice. Reviewers is just one of the section, and it will contain listings of book reviewers where authors can get services for book reviews.

What is your ultimate goal for YourBookTube?

There are several components to the ultimate goal, and when they work together, the result is book sales:

   1. We believe that YourBookTube.com will soon be the definitive, most easily accessed, non-competitive, centralized online library of book videos.
   2. YourBookTube.com makes it easy for readers to make literary choices by watching book video promos from lots of different publishers on one completely categorized, comprehensive, fully optimized web site.
   3. YourBookTube.com makes it easy for readers to purchase the book either from the publisher's or author's linked bookstore or to go to Your Book Tube Shop, a fully integrated, Amazon-powered book shop.
   4. YourBookTube.com provides a non-competitive, beneficial tool to every contributor with FREE advertising, article marketing and reciprocal links.
      The goal is to amplify the impact and effectiveness of the book video concept in order to realize increased book sales online for authors and publishers.

What else would you like to add?

Here are some tips for making an effective book video:

   1. If the book video doesn’t capture the viewer’s interest in the first five to ten seconds, the viewer clicks it off. Five to ten SECONDS! That’s all the time you get to keep the viewer watching.
   2. Whatever the length, and one minute is ideal—two minutes the outside length, the real key is to make sure these qualities are in the book video: good content revealed through pictures, music, text, and/or voiceover.
   3. Content reveals the focus of the book, not by telling the whole story, not by trying to explain the plot, but by visually raising the viewer’s interest and curiosity.
   4. Pictures, whether motion video or stills, illustrate the main point of the commercial to get the message across. These show the genre, the setting, the intent of the book. For example, if it is a romance, the inclusion of sensuality (not graphic sex or pornographic content) in the images gets that across. If the book is a mystery-thriller, the pictures must convey the intensity of the suspense in the book.
   5. Music sets the mood. Selection of music is perhaps the most important part of this process. Music needs to work as a subliminal background for everything that the viewer is watching. To use a popular song with a singer, while raising the question of copyright infringement, creates a conflict of message. Does the song become more important than the book? Usually, yes, and because the producer is inclined to use all of a three-minute or longer song, this drives the book video into territory where few viewers will go.
   6. Text reinforces content suggested by the pictures and music. If using text to talk to the viewer, then keep it very concise. No long sentences. Use phrases to evoke your message. Make the words enhance the pictures and music, not conflict with them. Keep it simple.
   7. Voiceover talks directly to the viewer. If using voiceover, make sure the actor is a professional and that the voice conveys the mood as well as the music does. These must be in tune, so to speak. But keep the script sparse and enticing. Do not read passages of the book. That is for a completely different purpose. Not in a one minute book video. Writing the script for the text or voiceover is an exercise in brevity. Choosing exactly the right words to convey exactly the message in one minute or less requires a willingness to cut away unnecessary language to reveal the barest yet most essential information.
   8. At the end of the video, make sure that the book’s cover and the Web site for the author are both prominently featured all the way to the close of the video. Producers often put their own information at the end, to sell their services. They should do so without pushing the book aside.

Copyright 2009 Angela Wilson
Partial reprint acceptable with link to full interview

* Market My Novel nor Angela Wilson endorse Nightengale or the YourBookTube site. This interview is strictly for informational purposes only.