You Have a Book Trailer. Now What?

We produce book trailers for many of our titles, and are producing more per season each year. (Visit the Savas Beatie homepage to see ours.) Creating a book trailer is good, but the question is, how can you make it work as a marketing tool for your book? Here is a list of steps that we take when we have a book trailer completed:

1. We post the trailer on Facebook, Twitter, and in the next issue of our monthly newsletter. Whenever possible, embed the video so a thumbnail screen appears instead of just a link. People are more likely to click on a visual as opposed to a text link for viewing.

2. Pass the file on to the author. Ask them to distribute it to all their contacts via social networking sites, email, etc.

3. Send the trailer to those in your database of contacts who would be the most interested in it. For example, when we have a Civil War book trailer, we email it to our database of Civil War bloggers, authors, and publications. Have this list ready to go so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel for each release.

4. In addition to sending the file out to your regular contacts, seek out genre and topic-specific blogs and other media who would be interested in this trailer in particular. For example, we are working on a book trailer for our new Indian War release Dakota Dawn by Greg Michno now. We don’t publish as many Indian Wars titles as we do Civil War books, so we are expanding our database in this genre now. For a cavalry book trailer, find cavalry blogs, for a Lincoln book trailer, find Lincoln blogs.

5. We also email each trailer to our distributor Casemate for posting on their website and YouTube channel.

6. If the book is a selection of a book club, such as the Military or History Book Club, send them the trailer for posting on their site. We even take it a step further and create a version of the trailer with a different final slide, complete with their ordering info.

7. Enter the trailer into book trailer contests. Here are two: You Gotta Read Reviews Book Video Contest and The New Covey Trailer Awards. We’ve even had a couple books win book trailer awards!

8. Post the video on sites such as YouTube,Vimeo, and Daily Motion. More hits, more clicks, more views, more orders!

9. Have the author post the video on his or her Amazon Author Central page. If you are an author and you don’t have an Author Central page, create one!

I hope these steps are helpful. Stay tuned for a peek at our latest trailer, for The New Gettysburg Campaign Handbook, coming soon.

Author Interviews Lead to Great Book Coverage

We have had a slew of author interviews posted on various websites and blogs recently. Here are just a couple examples:

The New Gettysburg Campaign Handbook author J. David Petruzzi on Greg Caggiano’s From New York to San Francisco

A Little Short of Boats author James Morgan on Harry Smeltzer’s Bull Runnings

As you can see, these were both exclusive back-and-forth Q & As between the blogger and the author. Savas Beatie also interviews authors and posts these on our website (such as Mary Corbett’s discussion of her upcoming National Guard 101: A Handbook for Spouses). We share these with reporters and bloggers before they interview an author and we also offer these pre-done interview transcripts for media to use verbatim. It’s a great way to provide content in an easy-to-read and, more importantly, easy-to-use format for the reporter.

Savas Beatie Books Earn Literary Awards

Savas Beatie is proud to announce that three of our authors and titles have recently been honored with fantastic historical awards:

The Complete Gettysburg Guide: Walking and Driving Tours of the Battlefield, Town, Cemeteries, Field Hospital Sites, and other Topics of Historical Interest by J. David Petruzzi, with cartography by Steven Stanley won the The Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award, for Reference, 2009. Also,

Sickles at Gettysburg: The Controversial Civil War General Who Committed Murder, Abandoned Little Round Top, and Declared Himself the Hero of Gettysburg by James A. Hessler won the The Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award, 2009 Given by the Robert E. Lee Civil War Round Table of Central New Jersey.

Please see the press release for more information.

A huge congratulations to everyone involved!

Book Expo America 2010, Part 4

Here are the remaining photos from our trip to Book Expo America. We had a great time, and I’m sure the next one will be here before we know it!



Veronica gets her first book signed at BEA, for her kids.



Veronica meets with The Rights Agency, Savas Beatie’s foreign rights agency in Canada.



Casemate author John Sparry signs copies of his new book (Mark Alexander) Jump Commander: In Combat with the 505th and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments, 82ndAirborne Division in World War II.

Book Expo America 2010, Part 3

Day Two at Book Expo America – Military Education Benefits for College authors David Renza and Edmund Lizotte took the train in to New York from their jobs at Post University in Connecticut for their first book signing. The authors have created a wonderful website resource for anyone wondering about education benefits. Be sure to check it out here.



Veronica, Sarah, and David Renza at the Casemate Publisher booth, holding copies of Military Education Benefits for College.



Ken Hudnall, author of The Veterans Practical Primer and Blog Talk Radio show host, talks about military benefits with Veronica and David Renza.



David and Ed Lizotte appeared on Ken’s radio show last week to discuss their book.



David signs his first copy of Military Education Benefits for College for a book buyer.



Sarah and David talk with a recent vet about accessing college assistance.



Ed Lizotte and David Renza at their book’s debut event.



The authors signed copies for many people whose son, nephew, neighbor, etc. was in the military.



Many high school and public school librarians asked for autographed books to be made out to their libraries so students and patrons could learn about the benefits available to them.







Victor gets his copy signed.




Veronica, Sarah, Ed, and David at the end of the day.

Book Expo America 2010, Part 2

After a morning at Fox and Friends, Fighting Words author Richard Miller headed over to Book Expo America for a signing at the Casemate booth. Richard’s blog, where he posts “Snap Analysis’” of current news items is fantastic. If you aren’t following it, you are missing out.



Richard signs a copy of Fighting Words for the first people in line.



Richard and Ellen Ratner converse with a book buyer.



The line for a signed copy of Fighting Words grows.



Richard verifies the spelling of a librarian’s name as he personalizes a copy of Fighting Words.



Richard and Ellen Ratner talk to Mark Kuta, author of Think Like a CEO, who was getting a copy of Fighting Words signed for his friend, Alan Jilka, who is running for Congress in Kansas. Richard will be commenting on many political and campaign speeches in the Fall campaign season.



Richard with Mark Kuta, author of Think Like a CEO.







Richard gets his photo taken by press at Book Expo America. The photographer said the bowtie caught her eye, and she came over to snap a few shots!



Veronica holds a copy of Fighting Words at the Casemate booth.



Sarah, Richard, and Ellen Ratner after a successful signing.



Richard and Ellen, posing for two different cameras with a copy of Fighting Words.

Book Expo America 2010, Part 1

It’s hard to believe that a year has gone by since Ted and I made our East Coast trip to New York, Book Expo America, and Gettysburg. (See here for a recap of that great trip.) It was that time of year again last week! Veronica and I had a wonderful trip to New York (minus the awful flights and cab drivers!) where we reconnected with a lot of great people, met some new contacts, and enjoyed time with some great Savas Beatie authors. I’ll be posting pictures from the busy two days in a few upcoming posts. First up – our time at Fox News Channel with Fighting Words author Richard Miller . . .



Fighting Words author Richard Miller and Savas Beatie Marketing Assistant Veronica Kane in the Green Room at Fox News Channel on May 26.



Richard Miller gets a sound check before his Fox and Friends appearance.



Richard Miller, with Andrew McCarthy (The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America) and Penny Lee, former Adviser to Sen. Harry Reid, chat with Fox and Friends host, Brian Kilmeade. The panel discusses the current plans for a mosque being constructed at the site of the World Trade Center bombing.



Host Brian Kilmeade asks the panel what they think about President Obama celebrating Memorial Day in Chicago rather than Arlington National Cemetery.



Me on the set of Fox and Friends, picture snapped quickly during a commercial break!



Later that day, Veronica and Richard headed back to Fox for his appearance on Strategy Room. Host Eric Bolling holds up a copy of Fighting Words, released that week.



Richard posing with Eric Bolling after the Strategy Room appearance, where the panel discussed the news of the day. One viewer tweeted in to the show that Richard should definitely be back on again! Over Memorial Day weekend, Richard was invited back to the FOX studios for another interview which can be viewed here.