I scrunched my face at the screen. Movie trailers, yes, of course. But – Book Trailers? I’d never heard of such a thing before. When I purchased Sophie Kinsella’s, Twenties Girl, I didn’t see a Book Trailer when I bought it. And when I stumbled my way into Chapters and bought Neil Pasricha’s, The Book of Awesome, there was no five minute YouTube video where snippets from the book were flashed across my computer screen of the wonderful day-to-day moments that the book would highlight.
No. For me, I made my decisions by thumbing through the pages and thought: Hmmm, this looks interesting? Shortly thereafter: ***Giggles***
That’s how I choose my books 9 times out of 10.
“I won’t do it.” I announced to my monitor screen as my top molars bit down on my back molars and worked to reduce the height of them a little more. My jaw locked. I scowled.
Then the insecure side of my brain, Lesser-Than-I-Think-Of-Me, asked: Why, not?
“Why, not? You’ve got to be kidding me?” I retorted. “How would that happen? Oh my god, who would do the acting? The filming? How would I even put the thing together?”
You, Lesser-Than-I-Think-Of-Me announced.
“Me? I don’t know how to do it!”
Of course, you do, Lesser-Than-I-Think-Of-Me answered. You’ve done all those videos of picture collages that are put to music for birthday videos and for your other blog, Pushing Boundaries. You can do it.
Arrogant-Me stood strong. You need to make her go away, she stated matter-of-factly. You have other writing things to focus on. Don’t waste your time with a Book Trailer.
So, we did what we do best. We closed the browser and walked away because Arrogant-Me was on my side, and I knew it. If people are going to buy my book, they’ll buy it based on what’s written. I held my head up as I walked down the stairs proudly and said, “I won’t do it. What a waste of time that will be.”
***
Over the next days and weeks, my fingers clicked on the Google search button and I typed, “Book Trailers” and I saw some videos put together beautifully with acting, music, and words that were meant to intrigue a potential reader into buying the book.
It’s marketing, Lesser-Than-I-Think-of-Me said.
“I know,” I said as I slumped down at my desk.
You don’t tend to do a lot of marketing. How will people know about the book if they don’t see it?
“How am I going to do that? I can’t act. I’m not multi-talented. I can’t do everything!” I exclaimed to Lesser-Than-I-Think-of-Me. My eyebrows scrunched together as my heart played that game it does of jump rope causing me to break into a sweat.
Oh, Lesser-Than-I-Think-of-Me said. Any chance you’re afraid of marketing your work? Maybe, you feel you’re not good enough?
***
Arrogant-Me: You can’t hire a well-known actor to play Wyndham for the book trailer. They’ll never come to Ottawa in December because there’s too much snow and it’s FREEZING here. Also, you have two more problems:
1) You don’t know any well-known actors.
2) You can’t pay them.
“Arrogant-Me, I thought you were on my side? You’re the part of me that should convince me I can do anything.”
Pause.
“Aren’t you?”
***
Music, words, and the cover of the book…and I’ve loaded it on Goodreads and YouTube.
I’ve decided I can’t be only ¼ brave anymore with my writing. Both of my feet need to be in this game and I need to jump, and no matter what happens – I know I’ve done everything I can to fly.
Tortuous Tales 