If a trailer makes you want to read the book, it’s done its job!

A video book trailer, like a movie trailer, is a video teaser for your book. Without question, video book trailers have become one of the most powerful tools an author can use to promote his or her work.

The video can be live animation (using actors) or any combination of text, graphics and music. The POINT of the trailer is to create interest in your book, and be easily shared by you and your best readers. If the trailer can tell a quick story that makes you want to read the book; it’s done its job.

Our favorite go-to resource for book trailers is Evan Staley Films, because this team’s sense of story and building interest with both images and music really does make us want to read the books we see previewed. And they’re incredibly economical, AND they give our Winner Circle members a $50 discount; so a powerful video promoting your book to the masses can cost just $225!

 The latest video from EWS films for author Bruce T. Jones. (Read on to see how Bruce is effectively using his video book trailers.)

Now, once you have your video in hand, what will you do to show it (and your book) off to the world? Here are the five must-share areas.

1. Upload to YouTube and Vimeo — And, use keyword tags and phrases in your video description so your trailer will come up in search results related to those terms. Don’t forget that your author name and the name of the book need to be tagged! Also, link to your author website (or a book retailer if you don’t yet have a website) so there’s an EASY way for viewers to buy your book once they’ve seen the video.

2. Post your book trailer on your author website — Another obvious step, but key. Embed your book trailer on your website’s homepage where it will be viewed most; include it on your media/press page, and also create a blog post that’s all about the trailer, how it was made, and how readers can share it with their friends.

3. Add your book trailer to ALL your social media profiles. This includes LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Make sure you actually load your trailer to Facebook vs. using a link from YouTube or Vimeo, as it will get seen/shared more using Facebook’s “native” video uploading. Facebook will also let you make it a feature of your author page.

4. Add your book trailer to Amazon and Goodreads. Your author profile on both your Author-Central page at Amazon.com and your Goodreads author page allow for direct uploading of your video. Since readers congregate on both these sites more than anywhere else, this is a must-do.

5. Add a link to your email signature. This is often overlooked real estate, but those looking for more info about you will click through and view!

You can also enter contests, put your video on friend’s sites, and even wrap promotions around it. In the case of the video shown here, author Bruce T. Jones has debuted the video along with a promotion of his second book in a trilogy: “I’m stoked to share Evan Staley’s video production of the Învierea trailer. To celebrate the video, e books will be on sale for a limited time for on Amazon and B&N for .99!”

Bruce has done video book trailers for both his first novels and will have one produced for the third in the series. “Not only is it useful to show off at book signings and events, but from a pure sales perspective, I see a measurable spike in sales when my video book trailers are shown and shared.”

Have more video book trailer sharing ideas? Please tell us with your comments below!

Creator of Where Writers Win, Shari Stauch has been involved in publishing, marketing and PR for 30 years. She is the principal author of the WWW blog, and speaks at conferences around the country. The Where Writers Win team’s newest collaboration is The Winner Circle – vetted book review directories, book clubs and other cultivated resources for emerging authors. Oh, and she loves a good book…