Book Trailers – Love or Loathe?
So, book trailers are becoming a bigger and bigger part of marketing a book. Some trailers are now so slick that they look as though they are showcasing a movie rather than a book! But do you guys actually like them or not? We decided to ask a selection of book bloggers to tell us their favourites – how about leaving a comment to say whether any of these would make you want to pick up a book?
Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
“It’s fantastic. I reminds me of a movie trailer and really makes me want to read the book. It’s very captivating and exciting!” – Siobhán @ Totally Bookalicious
Entwined by Heather Dixon
“Entwined makes good use of imagery without ever feeling cheap. It sets the atmosphere well with the music and images and gives me a good idea of what the story will be about. Plus, I think the style is pretty.” – Deni @ Small Review
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
“Ooh, I just saw this trailer yesterday for City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare. I don’t usually like books trailers but I absolutely LOVE this one!” – Maria @ Fantasy’s Ink
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
“I like that this trailer doesn’t require actual models, but the animation is attractive and very smooth. I actually prefer book trailers that don’t use models because the acting has to be excellent for it to work well; I strongly prefer something like this that still gives you the feel of a fantasy novel and gives you just enough information to make the viewer curious to learn more!” – Brenna @ Esther’s Ever After
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
“My personal favorite is the one for The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. It captured the mood of the book perfectly, and I loved the art and the music. I think it was the first time I could honestly say a book trailer sold me on a book–I bought The Scorpio Races the week it released!” – Maggie @ Maggie’s Bookshelf
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
“I want to see this movie so badly!! Wait, what? It’s a book trailer? Holy crap, get me this book.” – Britta @ I Like These Books
Matched by Ally Condie
“This one sets up the premise of the novel beautifully, and leaves the viewer hanging, wanting to know just what is going on!” – Danya @ A Tapestry of Words
Well, what do you think? Any of these appeal? Have they changed your mind on what can be achieved with a book trailer?
Comments
I have to say, as well-produce and high budget as some of those examples are, and others I have seen, book trailers leave me completely cold. Reading a book is a personal experience; unless I’ve seen live-action adaptation first, I like to imagine the characters and setting myself – in fact, there have been a couple of book trailers that have actually put me off reading something I was about to add to my TBR pile!
I’m also still not entirely sure who the book trailers are trying to sell to, because at the moment they’re mostly limited to the author and publisher’s website, and YouTube. That doesn’t seem like much of an audience.
The only exception for me is the trailer for Machine Man by Max Barry, which manages to sell the book in a unique way, by actually giving the whole concept of book trailers a gentle ribbing.
We love book trailers, especially ones with animation, or that properly set a scene for the book, or add another dimension to it (like a puzzle). Maggie Stiefvater’s are amazing. But we also liked Ruta Sepetys’ book trailer for Between Shades of Gray. Sarah Salway has had a good one too – “dude, it is a love net”
I really enjoy book trailers when they are done right, like the selection here. A lot of time has went to making them. :)
I was completely ambivalent towards and a little baffled by book trailers until I heard the statistic about the ridiculously high proportion of teens who use YouTube as their first port of call for information searching. I think based on this book trailers make a lot of sense and I think over the last year or so they’ve got better and better, and at times have been the thing that have pushed me from being vaguely interested in a book to really wanting to read it.
I did my own book trailers for my forthcoming POLTERGEEKS. I don’t think there’s any proof to show that book trailers have an impact on book sales, but they’re just another method of generating buzz.
I love the style of Entwined – very pretty. Also, I loved ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’ as a kid, so I might just have to read that.
I have to admit that City of Lost Souls sort of puts me off because it looks too scary for me ;) Even though I like some tension in books, I prefer not to have TOO much. Then again, I haven’t read any of the others, so I don’t really know what they’re like, at all.
Oh, I love the Shadow and Bone one (in case you hadn’t guessed, I’m commenting as I go through them, before I forget what I wanted to say) – I like that it’s not focused on the characters and their voices, as it leaves the reader free to imagine them.
I love Maggie Stiefvater’s, because it’s Maggie Stiefvater and she’s amazing :) Because she did it all herself, it feels sort of more authentic. It’s not ridiculously high budget – things that are make you think they’re trying too hard to sell it to you. With Scorpio Races, they’re counting on the book being good enough to do that. And it is. Did that make any sense at all?
The ‘Matched’ one is intriguing, and I love the way it’s animated. But my favourites are probably Scorpio Races and Shadow and Bone.
Speaking to what I’ve seen and mostly in the YA world–and sans any caffeine…
Trailers can win readers, and at least for me, can lose readers. Some have me bouncy and drooly puppy-like to read a book, some can be off-putting for me. Double-edged sword, I guess.
Yes, teens use Youtube–I have two and they are almost always on it. I think the reading world is evolving, and readers are expecting and wanting more from their stories and authors. In this way, trailers are another kind of social marketing.
Generally I’m not a fan of book trailers, for several reasons. First, if you can’t market to someone via the written word, they’re probably not your target audience. :) Secondly, I would prefer more abstract trailers rather than ones that look like movies, since I would like to build a mental image of the characters myself. That said, there are some lovely book trailers out there. I did like the one for The Scorpio Races, which I read recently and absolutely loved. Shadow and Bone is nice, as is Entwined.
One I saw recently that I quite liked (despite what I said about not wanting to see actors) was La Estrella by Javi Araguz & Isabel Hierro.
I love book trailers! I think they add to the excitement of expectation of the book! If I ever to the stage of needing one, I want a mini movie! LOL
I’d have to go with Si Spurrier’s trailer for ‘A Serpent Uncoiled,’ in which he gives a long list of inventive swears while holding up placards explaining himself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abOuVyX_68c
The spanish trailer for Patrick Rothfuss’s ‘The Name of the Wind’ is also pretty high up there, for me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUDmxChf9qU
I’ve been wondering about book trailers myself lately. I know they don’t really do anything for me unless they are exceptionally well done, and even then I don’t think a book trailer has ever actually caused me to read the book.
That being said, I do love Maggie Stiefvater’s book trailers. She’s done several, and they’re all gorgeous.
Personally I love book trailers!
I do think it might be a great tool to get more teens interested in books.
I love the trailer for Struck, it is definitely up there in my favorites. My favorite book trailer of all time though is still Hold Still by Nina LaCour – that trailer is just beautiful and heartbreaking.
I shan’t be watching them because my internet connection, although broadband, is so slow that it takes 5 – 10 minutes to download 1 – 2 minutes of video.
In general, I’m not sure what I think about the idea. I’ve been TV-free for nearly 15 years now and find any adverts/trailers intrusive and manipulative. Then again, I’m almost certainly in a minority!