One great way writers can use YouTube to sell books is video diaries. A video diary takes the viewer through your writing process on a manuscript, from outlining to researching and writing, from revising to self-publishing and even promoting. The diary would consist of several videos made over a number of months. Think of it as reality TV for writers.

Authors and readers alike will find the process and challenges you face extremely intriguing. Because of that, a video diary can get people interested in your book before it’s released. Links to the videos make for great tweets, Google+ and Facebook posts, saving valuable writing energy for your manuscript. If you’ve already published a book (or books!), the increased interest in you as an author can boost sales of those titles.

Many authors fear sharing the content of the book, believing it either will be stolen or it will discourage readers from buying the book, as they already know what will happen. Both are rare possibilities at best. The reality is that you’re not offering people enough information for them to pirate a coherent work or to dissuade them from buying. Indeed, regarding the latter, Wisconsin Public Radio reads an entire book aloud over two or three weeks in a noon hour broadcast, and every one of the read titles has seen a sales boost while it was featured.

If you’re not video or YouTube savvy, a dairy easily could be done via a blog or audio clips. A photo diary also is possible, as you take pictures of your manuscript, research, who you envision characters look like, and more.