Why I Now Like Book Trailers (or Video Killed the YA Book Star*)

*with apologies to The Buggles

Tip of the Day: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Mini Pretzles are dangerously delish. (9 servings per bag? How about 4?)

As A2A readers undoubetly know, a few years ago book trailers for YA and MG novels started becoming more popular. Many discussion cropped up on if they were worth having.

Personally, I watch trailers that:

a. get a lot of buzz,
b. are by authors I know, or
c. are for books I'm planning on buying/reading anyway.

In other words, I have never been swayed to buy/read a novel because of the trailer even though I have been entertained by them.

One of the first trailers I remember thinking was cool was this one for Carrie Ryan's THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUi3Ap2ga1U
But because it has actors and spoken dialog, it feels more like a movie trailer than one for a novel.

A recent favorite is this amazing animated trailer for THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL by Soman Chainani:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqnU3ZqvL1k
It is also very cinematic, and way too expensive for a novice like me to ever do.

When I decided to self epub BLACKOUT, I didn't originally plan to produce a book trailer. But my husband was writing new tracks for his band Blue Falcon around the time I was formatting my novel and I thought it would be cool if he created original music for a trailer. Once he agreed, I was excited!

While I enjoy some of the cinematic book trailers out there, I wanted mine to be more in line with the experience of reading a book. I also knew I needed it to be about 45-60 seconds long. I watched Lisa Schroeder's trailer for THE DAY BEFORE for inspiration as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBnbubgIMJA

I love the filming that Lisa did for her trailer, but that is more work than I wanted to put into it so I went with the photo that was used for the cover as a backdrop for the whole thing. The rest was my husband using the limited options on iMovie.

But honestly the best part of having a book trailer? I can hock my wares by giving people an experience -- a free taste of music and atmosphere for BLACKOUT -- instead of just a link where they can buy my book. As someone who is not into self-promotion, it makes talking about my novel a lot easier.

I don't expect my trailer to be the one that transforms people like me into those who buy books based on them. But if the music and atmosphere at least entertains those who click on the YouTube link for 60 seconds, I've done my job.



What are your thoughts of book trailers as a viewer or as an author?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing