Favorite book trailers

That was a pretty good one. I agree that the music and the imagery of the burning match is haunting, though I like my stories quirky. I can tell that book's not for me. Ah well.

Here's my fav.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6KxtOux5Jc

I'm not usually into book trailers, but this is the best I've seen by far because of its punch at the end. I keep meaning to buy this book, in fact...

Hopefully this isn't seen as being too irrelevant to the thread, but I never watch book trailers.

Visual media and written media are effective in such very different ways. I don't believe a video trailer can tell me anything about whether I'll enjoy a book, beyond the basic level of, "Oh that is/isn't the sort of story I like to read."

Book trailers make me want to watch the movie.

I've never seen a book trailer (oh, wait, a telly advert for a Nora Roberts that totally failed to make me want to to buy the book) but I don't see the point really. The back cover copy is the trailer, surely?

Visuals like that make me think movie, not book. Well. I assume, because I've never seen one...but a picture won't make me want to read something. The writing does that

ETA: Maybe if it was like REALLY good and not just like a movie trailer. Because that would be boring.

It's probably a comment in itself on book trailers as a marketing device, that the topic immediately turns to useful vs useless. Whether one likes them, enjoys them, or finds them entertaining is secondary to whether they are effective--at least, for the author, publisher, and marketing department .

Ton Lew Lepsnaci said:

If you're not keen on book trailers, that's fine. Pros and cons could be the topic of a separate thread. This thread focuses on book trailers you liked/made you interested in the book and why. Please keep it to that topic

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I sometimes have a feeling of ownership over the threads I start, and I have been known to feel a bit panicked when they move in directions I hadn't foreseen.

I agree that it's useful when threads stay on-topic; but we don't get to police what people say here just because we started the threads. AW doesn't work like that. So long as we all treat each other respectfully here we can say whatever we like.

As for book trailers, I'm not that keen on them. The few I've watched haven't made me interested in the book they're supposed to be advertising, they've just made me feel a little uncomfortable because they don't match my view of the world of the book in question. It's a smaller bite of the problem that films rarely match the books which inspired them, I think.

I think of the book trailers I've seen (and mind you, I don't go looking for them), the ones that entice me most are like the one you posted, TLL.

If the trailer creator tries to cast real life humans (and their images) in the trailer, it really does feel like an amateur effort in my mind. Like the creator drafted their friends to make the trailer instead of hiring professional actors.

But those that use imagery and impressive visuals to evoke the emotions of the book, strike a more pleasing chord in me.

Blackbirds/Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig (warning: swearing). It's something between a teaser and a short story, I guess. It uses words rather than art or music, and those are what I read books for. The trailer left me with no idea what either of Wendig's novels were actually about, just vague profile of the MC, a glimpse of Wendig's style and a feeling of shut up and take my money. I'd say it's my favourite, but so far it's the only trailer I've seen that has convinced me to buy a book.

Ton Lew Lepsnaci said:

I missed your post bearilou. I also think a that trailer that does not attempt to be a mini movie but focuses on the atmosphere with strong imagery and visuals draws me in. I don't look for them either but if they are available online with an add for the book or on an author's web page, I will check them out.

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Yep. Which is why Genna's example sort of loses me. She was right, it did have a punch at the end but the lead up to it with the visuals and the real images...it just wasn't doing it for me. And for me, it wasn't enough to save my interest to look closer at the book.

A book trailer really needs to entice me to investigate the book further, much like the cover entices me to pick it up and the sample/blurb/first few pages get me that much closer to the cash register.

Seems to me, when done well (for whatever varying definitions of 'done well' as I suspect they would vary for each individual), it can pull its weight as a marketing tool.

I'm working on one right now, with the help of a chap who knows about such things.

Interestingly (to me), I talked to my publicist about it and she advised me to make a short and general one for my series, rather than try to encapsulate the story of one particular book. Her sense was that I could use a one-minute trailer to show people the titles of the books, and give a vague idea of their genre and tone.

For me, to be honest, creating a trailer is a positive action I can do during a relatively quiet time in my publicity schedule. I hate sitting here, wishing I could do more, so this is something I can do that may not help but, unless I make a total c__-up of it, it shouldn't hurt.