Are Book Trailers Worthwhile

[thegreywolf]

Hi All

By the title I am referring to video trailers but for books. Only something I have seen a couple of times before and have now tried doing a couple of my own.

What do people think about them as a concept?

I've see Jeremy Robson do a few excellent ones which can be seen on his website

Is this an avenue worth exploring or just a gimmick?

Greywolf

 

[alchemist]

Whether they're worthwhile or not depends on whether they convince people to buy the book.

Personally, I wouldn't base my decision on buying a book on a trailer. Unlike a movie trailer, which at the very least gives you an idea what the film is like (even if they only use the best bits) a trailer for a book gives me no idea at all of the quality of the writing.

In fact, it's worse than that. A good trailer won't convince me to buy the book. A poor trailer may put me off the idea of buying it completely.

 

[nightdreamer]

I'm not sure either. I just spent the better part of what might otherwise have been writing time over the last couple months making a trailer, and it took three tries before I got one that I thought might encourage _me_ to buy the book. I wonder if that time might have been better spent writing. On the other hand, there are an awful lot of book trailers out there and I wonder if it might get to where readers expect them and might be put off if there isn't one. Right now it's probably uncharted territory and we might have to wait a while longer before things shake out and their usefulness is determined one way or the other.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I'd tenatively say they're worthwhile.

Not that I have any, having written one book and possessing all the technical abilities of an ewok.

A trailer would offer more exposure, and getting noticed seems to be the biggest problem for an author, especially a new one.

 

[Dante DiBenedetto]

I think that, for the purposes of self-promotion, they can be a valuable tool. However, a lot of the book trailers I've seen look fairly poorly done, even ones from well respected, best selling authors.

Would it kill them to at least hire a fledgling art student or something? Bad book trailers from people whose work I'm not acquainted with do not win any points with me. I was pretty disappointed with a book trailer I saw from one of my favorite authors. I know I'll love the book, but I probably would have avoided it otherwise from seeing that trailer.

 

[HareBrain]

I watched a trailer for Jon Courtney Grimwood's Fallen Blade once, and was appalled at how cheap and amateurish it looked. I think unless a trailer has had thousands spent on it (unlikely, given that this might well be the entire advance) or has been very inventively done by someone who's very adept at visual media, it risks doing more harm than good. If a writer can't recognise the flaws in his own trailer, why would I think he could recognise them in his book?

I would love to see a really good one, though, if anyone has any examples they could link to.

 

[Boneman]

The jury's still out for me, even though I'm thinking of doing them for my own books - I'll probably just put it on my website, but they would have to be good, which means money...

HB: go here and scroll down to view August 20th, where there is a Spanish trailer...

http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2011/08/

It's almost minimalist, and would be better if I could understand the language, but I like it...

 

[Ursa major]

Of that Patrick Rothfuss trailer, I think most of us could afford to record the sound of the wind blowing and... well that's about it.

 

[HareBrain]

HB: go here and scroll down to view August 20th, where there is a Spanish trailer...

http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2011/08/

It's almost minimalist, and would be better if I could understand the language, but I like it...

It's very well made, and the voice-over actor is excellent, which I think is very important (and worth spending money on). But I bet the cost wasn't minimalist, even if it looked like it used a good videogames graphics engine.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

All my trailers are part trailer/part interview.

Haven't had any negative comments so far...

 

[Brian G Turner]

I haven't yet seen a book trailer that was worth the time and effort to make it. Seems like so far they are treated as curiosities by publishers, or an excuse to slam a few random images together by others. Sorry!

 

[kshRox]

I don't think they have much value promoting a book but I bet they do become more popular in coming months/years especially with digital access to download services that support the medium.

A video trailer for a movie has value because it illustrates the quality and content of the product. For a book it begins defining the reader interpretation which could be good or bad depending upon the reader. It also has no way to illustrate quality and content is too subjective in print to express for a mass audience. (imho)