With most media being incredibly visual and interactive, the book finds it hard to compete with the 3D, full-colour spectacle that we see on our television and computer screens every day. It’s a constant challenge for book publishers to promote a medium that relies so heavily on the users own imagination and interpretation. So the mere concept of a visual book trailer is a strange phenomenon and one that is so easy to get wrong. In fact Greg Barker, filmmaker and director, has experienced book trailers that have ‘sworn him off the author forever’ (Prothero, S, 2010). Prothero himself, an author and professor at Boston University, told Publishers Weekly that after being told by his publisher to create a YouTube ad for a new title of his, he reminisced on the ‘bygone days where writers were writers and television was television’. However, in an interview with Newsweek, Sheila Clover – whose company pioneered the concept of a book trailer in 2002 – said that there has been a huge increase in interest for book trailers, some even being mistaken for film trailers (Soukup, E, 2010). This increase in popularity is surely an attempt for books to place themselves in front of an every digitally focused audience. In fact, Peter Bowron, group Marketing Director at Random House Group stated that the book trailer is a ‘creative and fresh way to market our books via multiple digital platforms’ (Rickett, J, 2007). |
(with examples)
5) If it’s live-action – keep it vague
If the trailer has got real actors, keep away from revealing character names or developing personalities. If the onlooker does pick up your book, there is nothing worse than already having a preconception of what the main character is like. James Elroy’s trailer for Blood’s A Rover demonstrates this perfectly.
A good quote or two interspersed in the trailer is a brilliant way to raise the profile of the book, and make readers more likely to pick it up such as in the trailer for Theory of Remainders.
Yes, your book may be a 600-page epic, but in the web attention spans are short, as low as 8 seconds short (McCormack, J, 2014). Don’t go for a full-on synopsis, rather attempt to intrigue and grab the audience. Skagboys’ trailer does this well.
If you have an author who is not camera shy, use them! Julie Klam’s fantastic comedy skit involving her discussing book trailer ideas with her publisher is a great way to not only promote the book, but also herself in the public sphere.
Whether it’s setting up a 'choose your own adventure' through YouTube (like in Peter James' example below), or going all out on an animated web product like this one (http://miller.submarinechannel.com/), interactivity is proven to raise the perceived value of a product (Colleen, K, 2011).
Bibliography
Book Video Awards 2010. (2010) Blood’s a River by James Ellroy [Video Online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN6EEcpTLNo#t=63. [Accessed: 2nd November 2014].
Den Tex, C. (2013) The Might of Mister Miller Interactive Trailer with Audio. [Online] Available at: http://miller.submarinechannel.com/en/. [Accessed: 2nd November 2014].
Colleen, K. (2011) ‘Digital Media: Issues of effectiveness, interactivity and creativity: the price of interactivity: the effect of interactivity on willingness to pay more for digital information products.’, AMA Summer Educators’ Conference Proceedings, 22, p.345-346.
McCormack, J. (2014) ‘Listen Fast and Learn’, Chief Learning Officer, 13(8), p.16.
Pan Macmillan. (2014) Can you save Red? Decide how the story ends! Peter James – WANT YOU DEAD. [Video Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3SS3INvttc. [Accessed: 2nd November 2014].
Prothero, S (2010) ‘Fear and Trembling Before the iPad’, Publishers Weekly, 257(19), p.48.
Red 14 Films. (2013) Theory of Remainders by Scott Dominic Carpenter, Cinematic Book Trailer. [Video Online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFuoSAxY5yU#t=43. [Accessed: 2nd November 2014].
Rickett, J. (2007) ‘Film ‘trailers’ for books’, Bookseller, 5309, p8.
RiverheadBooks. (2011) Julie Klam and Timothy Hutton discuss book and dogs (sort of). [Video Online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpuX3hsjegY. [Accessed: 2nd November 2014].
Shaffi, S. (2014) Interactive trailer for Peter James paperback. [Online] Available at: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/interactive-trailer-peter-james-paperback. [Accessed: 2nd November 2014].
Soukup, E. (2006) ‘Seen Any Good Books Lately’. Newsweek, 147(21). p.9.
Vintage Books. (2013) Skagboys – Irvine Welsh. [Video Online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyEBu23tzXc. [Accessed: 2nd November 2014].