From Sarah, With Joy

*Poet * Author * Wanderluster*

Friday, April 29, 2011

Y is for YouTube: How and Why Writers should use it for Marketing

For a while now, I've been mentioning YouTube, and hinting at my master plan to use it to become the next J.K. Rowling. Ok, not really, and there isn't really a master plan, but YouTube is definitely a huge resource for modern day marketing for writers. Its one of those things that I really think can end up being worth the time and effort you put into it.

See, there are some YouTube videos that get millions and millions of views. Now, imagine of those millions and millions of people were watching your book trailer. That would definitely help with publicity, huh? I think most of us would be ecstatic with a few thousand views on a book trailer.

So here's my plan. I think it might be wise to start networking and getting a following on YouTube before I put up a book trailer, because that way there is automatically a group of people who it will go to right off the bat. Easier to spread that way. I'm still figuring out how exactly to do that, all that networking getting a following stuff, but I figure its better to start now, with perhaps less important videos, and work my way up to when it really counts. So the few tricks I've learned so far is to go around commenting, friending, and messaging as many people as you can. Friend the really big YouTube channels, that might get you something, and find people with similar video interests as you. Friend them, comment on their blog, share your video. It will get you many more views and subscribers then if you did nothing but wait for your video to get noticed. Most likely it won't, before a lot of ground-up work on your part. Put up good quality videos and keep contacting and sharing it with people. Twitter and Facebook can help you with this too. Like I said, I'm learning as I go here on this, so if any of you have experience and good ideas, I would absolutely love to hear them.

Here's a video poem I did:

I've got some other cool stuff on my channel, and I would love to connect with you there too. We can help each other.

Keep writing!
Sarah Allen

11 comments:

  1. That's an awesome idea. I'm planning a trailer for my book, so I should look into this myself.

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  2. That is such a great idea! I recently opened a YouTube account and put up my book trailer. I wish I'd thought like you and started my account earlier.

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  3. Great idea! Good luck and I'll be watching!

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  4. It's a great idea!

    I keep seeing author's book trailers and thinking "Yup, I must get round to that". Um, that's as far as I get. :)

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  5. I thought that the next J.K. Rowling was Stephenie Meyer and that the next Stephenie Meyer was Suzanne Collins and that the next Suzanne Collins was Allie Condie...

    Wouldn't you be the next Allie Condie?

    Or are they starting all over again with J.K. Rowling? I'm so confuzzled now.

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  6. Great Idea Sarah! I know you've probably gotten this before, but I've given you the Versatile Blogger Award..head over to my blog to pick it up..

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  7. Hey guys! Thanks for the kind words. Hope this idea works for you, and if you have suggestions or come up with ideas about how to make it work even better, I'd love to know.

    Sarah

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  8. Found you by hitting the "surprise me" button on the A-Z Challenge. Liked your interviews. Please find my latest A-Z Challenge blogs here: http://myheartblogstoyou.blogspot.com/

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  9. Interesting--we've been considering this for down the road. You've definitely given us something to think about. This is a great opportunity, if handled appropriately...and it might just be a lot of fun as well.

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  10. You are definitely right. Video is one of the best forms of marketing. People feel more connected to the content providers and most people in the U.S. are visual learners who are accustomed to T.V. Thanks for sharing :)

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  11. You have some great ideas! I'm glad I met you through the A-Z Challenge!

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