This time, we'll take a look at Shelby Reed's author video.
An author video presents an entirely new challenge to creating a proper hook to tie in throughout a video teaser. In this case, we're going to be looking at an entire career, an entire library of books, which may all be similar (as is the case with Shelby's), or may be entirely different.
This also presents an additional challenge - how do you sell these books when you're (hopefully!) just providing a few seconds each to them. I can't possibly represent an entire blurb, much less an entire overview of the story, in a visual-rich 15 seconds. Even if some authors think that would be the best way to do it - it isn't! Focus your message. Writers know very well this is often one of their problems. Because they're writers! Telling a writer to "not write so much" is not going to get you very far.
In Shelby Reed's case, I took the term "teaser" across the board. Identifying her greatest strengths from a promotional side (the pouring in of outstanding reviews), and the hook we're trying to create (an interesting draw to get readers to learn more about her), and tie them together.
So we start with "Shelby Reed invites your on a journey...", an for each book we throw on screen, we put a great quote from her reviews, or two, along with a portion of the journey we're moving through. Although the ... ellipses signifies that we are, indeed, writers (don't all authors love ellipses?), it does tie the journey together and allows each book to make a statement that would work an overall.
"Shelby Reed invites you on a journey through wild inhibitions." All the way through "Shelby Reed invites you on a journey through erotic promises." And this sets us up for the hook, as we end with a menagerie of terms to continue the hook: Through love, passion, sex, etc. Before we clear everything, black the screen, and end with our hook. "Shelby Reed invites you on a journey through ROMANCE." and type out the web site address.
Like Leslie's trailer in the previous entry, this creates a nice emotional pull with the music and the message, bringing it all together in a nice, tight, little package.
It doesn't always work out across the board like this, but it's the primary focus of Way Out Sortie - promotion video teasers with a hook. Find out more at http://www.wayoutsortie.com
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