Book Videos: How long should they be?

Hi, this is Eliza Gayle author and co owner of ScrapFairy Designs. This is my first official post and i'd like to discuss Book Videos and their length.

How long are they?
How long should they be?
Why should I care?

Book videos range in lengths depending on the author and producer. I have seen 30 second spots up to several minutes, with an average of somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes in length.

How long they should be is a debatable question but from the experience of our business as well as input from readers and authors there is a lot of agreement that one minute or less is the ideal length. That said, sometimes it's really hard for the author or producer to condense a novel or series into one minute. Trust me it can be done. In today's world of immediate gratification and growing lack of free time many readers don't have the patience or desire to sit through a long preview. (and I must sadly admit I am one of them)

In a typical book video the important facts that you want to leave the reader with such as book title, place of purchase and how to contact the author is at the end of the video. If your video is longer than a minute do you want to chance that the reader clicks it off before they get to the most important information? So, next time your creating a video for yourself or another author consider keeping it as close to one minute as possible. If you can't seem to reduce it down, give the script to a friend or colleague and i'll bet they can find a way. (insider tip: analyze your transitions between frames, not much time is really needed there and that is where you can shave off quite a bit)

Take advantage of every opportunity you can to get the most out of your marketing efforts with book videos by keeping them to a minimum length that readers are likely to enjoy as well as watch all the way through.

About Me:

After penning several sequels to her favorite movies in her youth, with a more romantic slant of course, Eliza temporarily put away her dream of writing for service in the Marine Corps. After the service she was waylaid with college, marriage, the corporate world and having babies.

From the moment she read her first erotic romance novel about a year ago, she knew she had found her niche and realized that her dream was passing her by. So after years of thinking about writing she finally grabbed her laptop and wrote. Eliza lives in beautiful North Carolina and spends her days dividing her time between writing erotic romance, her book video business and raising her two daughters with her husband of fifteen years.

She likes her stories hot and spicy whether they be contemporary, fantasy or paranormal and will write in whatever genre her imagination has conjured that day. You can learn more about her and her writing by visiting her website at: www.elizagayle.com

Now comes the part where I shamelessly promote myself and my own book video. lol

Taken by Tarot is an erotic fantasy romance that is available February 25, 2007 with Phaze

You can also visit me and read my blog at MySpace