Authors Step into the Spotlight with Video Marketing

The official countdown has begun! There are only ten days left until we kick off this year's Publishing Business Conference & Expo. In the days leading up to the event, be sure to tune into our daily newsletter for more speaker Q&As and exclusive show highlights.

Many publishers and authors have struggled with video marketing. We're writers, after all, and perhaps we prefer our place behind the scenes as opposed to in the spotlight. But video marketing cannot be ignored when a one-million-hit video can launch a brand into a household name, which led us to speak with Ziggeo founder and conference speaker Susan Danziger. For those who may not know, Ziggeo is a video platform that allows users to record, host and screen videos. The service has become increasingly popular for screening interviews (in fact this editor scored her first interview at NAPCO through a two-minute Ziggeo production), but the service also serves authors and publishers hoping to leverage video marketing.

This led us to ask: I've heard video marketing can be expensive. How can publishers try it without spending a fortune?

Danziger said: It turns out you don't need to spend $1,500 - $5,000 to create an expensive video to market a book. Sometimes the most effective ones are the least expensive. You can ask your authors to record themselves on video. They can explain in a personal, compelling and authentic way (without the bells and whistles of a professional video) the story behind their upcoming title or why people need their book. Your authors can simply upload their videos to Youtube or use Ziggeo (www.ziggeo.com). You can place them wherever you like: on your own site, sites of accounts or as a tool to educate your sales staff. For videos you want to make public, don't forget to tag them so Google can easily find them.