I'd like to start a new forum where people can talk about what's working for you right now in marketing your book.
I think this will help other authors to prioritize their activities if they can find out what's working for other people. This would be especially valuable to new authors.
I've share the hottest tool that I'm using right now. And that's Twitter. As you will note on the main page of this Book Marketing Network website, both my http://www.bookmarket.com website and this network have been rising in Alexa ranks (and visits) because of my use of Twitter.
Joel, the first five were lead-ins to the 6th; they were released one a week for six weeks, to create buzz... which they didn't. The first one got the most views (over 500, I think), so I was disappointed that there wasn't a buildup.
The short answer...it's just one more thing to do for my book.
The more in depth answer...I think that the book buying public has been, by and large, conditioned to respond to visual stimuli. You could take twenty people and put them in a room while a speaker tells them how bad a book is then put them in front of a computer screen or TV and have them watch a 60 second video that is visually appealing and I believe they would give the video more credence than the speaker. Even though he warned them about the shortcomings of the book - they'll REMEMBER the video better.
Just my own theory - actually I'm trying everything I can think of and just "going for broke." (literally!)
I think you're probably right, Tim. I'm more curious about the rationale of doing these trailers for the reasons you cite--how do you get people to watch? Book trailers just seems to be the meme of the moment, you have to have one, "regardless of the facts." That's what led to my inquiry.
Maybe someone else has a book trailer that's produced actual results? Just asking.