YouTubeage (or Video Killed the YA Book Star*)

*With apologies to The Buggles

Tip of the Day: Use the time you spent watching the Olympics to work on your writing project this week. Or to catch up on the programs you missed while watching the Olympics....

Overall, I enjoy some book trailers once I watch them, but my time is precious so I only click on a link to watch a book trailer if:
a) I know the author
or
b) it gets tons and tons of positive buzz online.

That doesn't mean I might not enjoy book trailers that I'm not compelled to watch; just that I don't often watch them. In order to find a book trailer to call one of my favorites for this blog entry, I went to YouTube, searched for "YA Book Trailer" and watched a bunch -- I wasn't even aware of most of these trailers until I did a search. As a YA Librarian, I'll add that I have never bought or recommended a book bc of a book trailer I'd seen. As an author, I think it'd be fun to have a book trailer. All this I only point out to say:



a) anyone who bothers to make a trailer for their book should look for creative ways to get them noticed (especially after all that hard work!)

and

b) librarians like to play online so finding ways to get their attention with book trailers could lead to more word of mouth views.


Of those that I do watch, there are some aspects that I enjoy more than others:
a) I prefer still shots with text to read over live action with vocals (perhaps bc I want to mimic a novel-reading experience instead of a movie-watching experience?)
a1) and the text needs to change quickly bc it doesn't take 5 seconds to read 5 words
b) I prefer 60 seconds or less to those over a minute (like with any commercial, it needs to get to the point quickly; the shorter the better though I know it's hard to find any book trailers 60 seconds or less)
c) I prefer powerful background music to background sound effects (voices, bells, sirens, etc.)

So, based on my own personal book trailer likes -- and based on the story being told as well, which can't be ignored -- here's one of my favorite YA book trailers. Enjoy!

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

What do you like or dislike about this trailer? Would you do one for your book?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing