Should you use videos to promote your short stories? Do they help sales?
Back a year ago when I came up with this idea for a blog post topic, I figured I would have made a few short story promotional videos by this time. That didn’t happen, but lack of experience has never prevented me from having opinions. (In fact sometimes I have more to say about things I know less about!)
Some writers have developed videos to encourage sales of their short stories, though the practice is more common for novels. Many people today watch videos online, sometimes while surfing on a topic of interest, and it’s possible they could run across the video about your story, like it, and buy the story when they otherwise wouldn’t have known about it. This is especially true if the video gets lots of hits.
If you decide to make a promo video, how should you go about it? First, let’s list some basic principles:
- The point of your video is to influence people to buy your story.
- To do that, the video has to convey what your story is about, what readers can expect when they read the story—the genre, setting, conflict, and protagonist.
- The video must be appealing and enticing. Don’t ever bore the viewer. Keep image changes frequent, and don’t make the video too long.
There are various software packages available for making videos and prices range quite a bit based on features and user-friendliness. The two main elements of any video are the visual portion and the aural portion and the software will have the ability to deal with both.
The visual portion usually consists of some combination of moving images (video), still images, and text. For videos and still images you can shoot your own, use free ones that are in the public domain, or seek permission to use those that are owned by someone else. If you do use still images, I suggest using zoom in or out, or some other way to keep the picture changing to avoid viewer boredom. Any text you use should be in a big, readable font with good contrast against its background.
The audio part of your clip can consist of music, voice, or both. Music can really help make the video appealing. If you have musical talent, you can create and tape your own tunes to use. If you have musical friends who are agreeable, see if they’ll accommodate you. Otherwise you’ll have to get music that is in the public domain, or seek permission and pay for the use of owned music. Make sure the images in your video shift in sequence with the music. If you decide to have a voice-over, make sure the narrator enunciates and doesn’t speak too fast.
Is there value in making such videos? Do they increase sales? I can’t really answer that, due to my lack of experience. However, I do know that time spent making promo videos is time not spent writing your next story. Also, I don’t see these videos very often on author websites. In various blogs about promoting stories, I don’t see the making of videos highlighted as a sure-fire marketing strategy.
What do you think of videos for the promotion of short stories? Ever made one? If so, how did it work for you? Leave a comment and let me know. Or put your comment in the form of a video. Still waiting to go viral on YouTube, I’m—
Poseidon’s Scribe