Here’s something a little different from the usual marketing video clips that we’ve been looking at.
It’s from one of my favourite authors, Steven Pressfield.
His best known book is probably “Gates Of Fire”, a retelling of the epic battle between the Greeks (mainly Spartans) and the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
Steven’s latest book is “Killing Rommel” a novel set against the back drop of the war in North Africa in 1942-43.
Now, if you like historical drama I think you’ll love this book. I got it a few weeks ago and couldn’t put it down. Wonderful book with a surprising twist at the end. Can’t rate it too highly.
But that’s not the main point of this post.
I was listening to a fascinating interview with Steven and I was quite amazed when he spoke about the difficulty these days of getting a review in the press for a new novel.
Apparently, the press in the US has cut back on reviews and even for a successful author like Pressfield, it’s getting more difficult to get the word out about new books.
Interesting.
Anyway, undeterred he went and set up a website to promote “Killing Rommel” that includes a video in 3 versions (30 seconds, 3 minutes and a 10 minute “mini-documentary”).
The different versions are interesting to compare to see how the producers adapt the message to fit the time available.
Interesting approach and we could well see a lot more of this sort of thing with marketing books. We’ve already seen “virtual book tours” and it makes sense that authors will make more use of the internet to market and promote their work.
I’ve included the 3 minute version below. On my “A-I-R” structure, I think it rates pretty well but have look and please share your opinion in the comments.
Oh and you may have noticed I’ve switched over to the DISQUS comment system. You don’t need to have an account, you can comment as a “Guest”. Please do!