It’s an understood truth in the publishing industry that every author—indie or traditionally published—is going to have to take on at least some responsibility for his own book promotion. While bigger names from some of the bigger publishers often get some help in the PR department, authors generally have a lot of work to do in order to get their books in front of audiences.
But BiblioStar, a new startup that launched today, has tapped into the popularity of online video in hopes of providing much-needed publicity for authors through film. According to the company founder, Astral Road Media founder and CEO Rich Fahle, both authors and publishers stand to gain from the publicity of an author video.
Unlike the increasingly popular book trailers, which are essentially movie trailers for a single book, BiblioStar.tv’s author videos are live discussions with the authors in a variety of settings. Fahle sees this format as being highly valuable over the entire lifetime of a book, rather than just being used as initial promotion at the book’s launch.
For now, Fahle has no revenue source for BiblioStar, but does envision lots of different outlets for income including advertising—especially book advertising from publishers—and affiliates programs. Several videos have already been produced, including some from authors Libba Bray, Gretchen Rubin, and Dennis Lahane.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.
