What do you think of the new practice of filming book trailers? Those film snippets about an upcoming book, styled like a movie trailer?
I like. I like them because they take advantage of modern tech to promote reading. I’ve seen a couple that really made me want to pick up the book NOW. How can that be bad?
Purists might have a beef with the idea, perhaps saying that it panders to our media-drunk society, and that people ought to read for reading’s sake–not because of a gimmick. But can we ignore where books are going? We are headed down a slippery slope towards enhanced ebooks–a combination of medias of which the printed word is only one part. And if reading is ultimately about storytelling (whether fiction or nonfiction) this can be a great thing, an exciting thing.
I love to get lost in a good book. And while I haven’t read an enhanced ebook, it sounds like a fun ride. It sounds like it might create a shortcut to getting lost. And everyone agrees that the floodgates are opening to ebooks of all flavors–good, bad, and downright awful. How will we know what’s worth buying? These ebooks won’t have passed through the gatekeepers of editors or agents.
Maybe book trailers will be one help in making those decisions.
I'm with you. I love book trailers. I like to do videography, so whenever I watch one I try and think how I'd do one for my books.
My niece just graduated in film, so I'm going to have her help me. Can't wait!
It's funny, I just saw my first book trailer this week. It was pretty cool. First I saw the one crated by the the publishing company and then, when it was done, I noticed there were others. I realized after a couple of views that they were by students! I think it was given as an assignment to classes that had read the book. I truly appreciated that aspect of the book trailer as well! Kids these days LOVE to use multimedia and show off their techie skills – why not have them promote a cool book while thy are at it??
So, as a newbie to the book trailer genre, I am all for it!
As for the book I saw all these trailers about, it would be the YA novel "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer and the rest of that moon series ("The Dead and The Gone" and "The World We Live In")
Totally cool! I love the idea of students doing book trailers.I can't wait to work on one myself someday. Someday!
I love book trailers! Sometimes, if I'm on the fence about reading a book, I'll watch the book trailer to help me decide. They usually give more clues about the tone and message of the book than the description does.
I don't think there is any gimmick in book trailers, though; it's just a different promotional tactic. One that works. There are so many people out there who don't read, and they aren't going to walk into a bookstore and read the back cover of a book if they aren't a reader. You have to make your book appeal to them in a way that they are used to, and using book trailers is a good way to do this and maybe cause them to pick up a book, the same way a movie trailer causes us to watch a movie. Just my two cents. 🙂
My feeling exactly!
I have to agree, I love book trailers too. 🙂 Glad I found your blog and can't wait to read more.
katieonfiction.blogspot.com
Thanks, Katie! I'm going to go check yours out, too.
I think that book trailers are a great way to encourage reading for those that would not otherwise pick up a book, but for me, they don't really help me decide one way or another. I'm so used to just reading descriptions and a few reviews from fellow book bloggers, that it just doesn't work for me!
– Alyssa of Redhead Heroines
Thanks for chiming in. I see what you're saying completely. Another possible drawback: if you see the actors portraying the characters in a book trailer, that image might take over what your imagination could have been more free to create. Does that make sense?
I have a love/hate with book trailers. Overall I think they're great. Simple but classy is best. I shared a few of my thoughts about them on the LDSWBR blog here:
http://www.ldswomensbookreview.com/wordpress/2010…
Forgive the formatting of the post. I haven't had a chance to clean it up since moving from blogger to WordPress.
Thanks, Margot!
I'll definitely check that out!
I had a great time making the trailers for Bumpy Landings, and had a lot of very positive feedback. However, I wouldn’t really recommend making one to someone who didn’t have a strong desire to do one. It took a LOT of time and much more money than I expected, and I’ll probably never know if they have any real effect on sales. But they are fun, to be sure.
I'm not a big book reader, but I do get "sucked in" by movie trailers! stumbled!