So, have you watched any good books lately? Authors are starting to use book videos to entice potential readers. Just recently, Sandra Brown did a book trailer for her newest release Play Dirty. She also gives readers a behind the scenes look at her writing process, too. This concept is nothing new but are we going to start seeing more authors/publishers utilize book trailers to entice readers for their upcoming books? You know you’d love to see a book trailer for JR Wards books. Not that she needs the hype thanks to Sybil and many of her fans online.
I’ve never given much thought to book trailers. I have noticed many of them cropping up lately. I think it’s a neat marketing tool to entice new readers but it’s not for me. First, I wouldn’t want to listen to silly dialogue or have actors portray characters from the book while having to endure bad background music. It would have to have the right balance between intrigue and suspense that isn’t overly long. I still prefer reading excerpts and really like the HarperCollins “Browse Inside” technology that allows for readers to flip through pages of the book. So how do you feel about book trailers? Do they entice you to buy the author’s new book? Or are you like me, neutral on the matter.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Li 08.29.07 at 4:17 pm
Don’t care for book trailers at all - I much prefer excerpts. Having said that, I just clicked through to Jayne Castle / Krentz’s book trailer on You Tube just to see what a dust bunny looked like in her Harmony world - yes, I’m sad, and no, it wasn’t worth clicking through for
Err - link here if you’re interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-I8PdKu74A
Avid Reader 08.29.07 at 6:50 pm
My expectations was low already, Li, just from your introduction. After watching it, I think I’ll give Silver Master a pass. It was the dust bunny that did it.
Rosie 08.29.07 at 11:07 pm
My problem with the book trailers is that the production quality is all over the map. The ones I’ve watched have usually been on someone’s blog pimping a book they are really psyched. I’ve yet to look for one or watch one that motivated to make a book purchase. I can’t help but think promotion dollars could be better spent. Call me crazy.
Janine 08.31.07 at 1:05 pm
I too prefer excerpts. For me one of the big joys of reading a book is that as I read the author’s words, my imagination conjured up sounds, images and an atmosphere. Reading is a kind of collaboration between the author’s imagination and the reader’s imagination.
Book trailers seem to me to take some of the reader’s imagination out of the equation — they provide images and sounds that are different from the ones my imagination would come up with. For me, it’s almost like having part of my imagination shut off. It doesn’t feel like an invitation to read. Rather than make me more interested in reading a book, the trailers often make me less interested in it.
That is not to say that I think book trailers are necessarily a bad idea. They may work for the majority of readers better than they do for me, in which case, more power to them.
But personally, I have a strong preference for excerpts and would never buy on the strength of a book trailer alone. Because I am a reader to whom an author’s voice and style really make a difference, excerpts give me a strong hunch on whether or not I will enjoy a book that I can’t get from a book trailer.
Avid Reader 08.31.07 at 7:12 pm
Hey Rosie and Janine. Thanks for your input. I usually will avoid book trailers for the same reason why I prefer no people on my covers: I like using my imagination. I didn’t mind say, Ms. Brown sharing her thoughts on the writing process but when I saw the book trailer, I didn’t want to be influenced by what I saw or heard. I tapped on that link that Li shared and wasn’t rewarded with a memorable experience :-)
Sybil 08.31.07 at 11:46 pm
I generally don’t seek them out. If I run across them and they amuse me or the author is doing a guest thing I will post them on the blog. There are a few I have found interesting and well done.
But for the most part they aren’t creative or nifty. And I have never watched a book trailer and than HAD to have the book. It is generally I HAVE to have a book or I LOVED a book, then find the trailer. So…
Avid Reader 09.01.07 at 1:21 pm
Yeah, that’s pretty much my experience, too. Even when confronted with a book trailer on their website before the book is released, I still won’t look at it.