Budget author videos

We know the value that good quality video content can greatly add to the marketing campaign for a new title, and that there is increasing demand for such material from retailers and for inclusion in enhanced e-books. That’s why Bookswarm has teamed up with NextShoot to create AuthorInsight.tv.

We film authors talking about their books at a Central London studio location – and we have slots to film 10 authors on each day. Each author will answer up to four pre-agreed questions to create a video of up to three minutes. We will edit the result, incorporating a caption, music and a packshot of the book being promoted (if provided), to create a broadcast-quality video for a fraction of what it would normally cost.

Authors will be looked after and guided by our team on the day, and the resulting edited video will be made promptly available to you for use on Amazon, with retailers, online marketing channels and in eBooks.

What will the result look like?

Our videos follow a template-driven approach – this is what enables us to keep the price so low compared with a bespoke video production. The example videos on the site show the way each video will be shot, edited and captioned – because we believe that the most important thing is what the author has to say to the reader.

For recent examples, see Chris Cleave, The Economist’s Daniel Franklin or Raymond Khoury.

What do you get?

We will provide you with a version of the edited video that is in a .mov format suitable for Amazon (Amazon also requires that videos are under 3 minutes) and for encoding into other formats. If you would like us to encode the file for you into formats of your choice, this can be arranged at a cost of £50 per format.

What we need from you

  • An author, available for one hour at a London location – accompanied by a marketing or publicity person at your discretion
  • Pre-prepared questions that the author is expecting to answer
  • Book jacket artwork and other bibliographic information for the promoted title

How much does it cost?

The standard price is £540 per author, but we are currently offering a special introductory rate of £395 per author (ex VAT).

Booking multiple authors on to the same filming day will attract a 5% discount on your total bill. If you have enough authors we can set up a special filming day just for you based on the same principles.

When’s it happening?

Please contact us to find out when the next shooting day is taking place.

Terms and conditions

There’s a proper contract you will need to sign, but some key thing you should know:

  • We need payment in advance
  • The timings on the day are tight and we can’t issue a refund if your author is late
  • We reserve the right to cancel the filming up to 48 hours before the shooting date, in which case you will receive a full refund
  • The standard price does not include any edits or revisions – if you think you will need these then you can upgrade for a small additional charge
  • The standard price does not include your choice of music – we will select appropriate, non-intrusive music

Ready to book? Or simply want to know more? Get in touch