If more book trailers had surreal images like this I'd probably be more interested in them
ook trailers seem to be increasing in popularity. I still remember some of James Patterson’s book trailers on TV, my “favorite” being the one for Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas, where James Patterson pretends he can write Nicholas Sparks’ type books. I have hopes that this trailer will one day make its way onto youtube so that I can share its amazing awesomeness with the world. More often than not, however, book trailers are confined to the internet. But I wonder, how effective are they? A lot of these trailers seem to be trying to do the impossible — merge two forms of media that don’t necessarily work together.
Take a look at this book trailer for Anthropology of an American Girl, a book I read long before seeing the trailer. I’m not sure if that does anything for the book really. I suppose it creates an atmosphere, that’s not entirely inaccurate, but mostly it’s just blurbs set to a piano melody (we’ve been over the whole, hey I’m a sucker for piano thing right? Right.)
Then of course there’s the hilarious Super Sad True Love Story trailer that has fuck all to do with the book really.
Then there’s this Beautiful Creatures trailer, which is intriguing in parts, but in my opinion goes on for too long and has some really unnecessary shots that don’t add anything (this is a book I’ve been interested in reading for some time by the way, but again, not because of the trailer).
This trailer for The Liar’s Diary intrigued me but not the trailer itself so much as the synopsis revealed through the text of the trailer. I probably would have been just as intrigued if I’d read the jacket copy (especially since I found myself wishing the text would move faster and barely caring about what was on the screen).
It seems like, more than anything, book trailers create a mood. Or impart information through the text. The latter I’d rather turn to the synopsis for. The former I understand a bit better but I’m still not sure it’s enough to get me to buy the book. What’s your take on book trailers? Do you have any favorites or least favorites? Do you feel they’re effective? Has one ever made you buy a book?
ow much is too much? I began writing this post months ago, but eventually discarded it because I thought it sounded too whiny. I suspect part of it will still sound too whiny but I’ve decided to apply the topic to two separate issues, so hopefully it won’t be as whiny as it was originally.
orders, Y U NO HAVE WHAT I WANT? I went to Borders on Wednesday. Aside from the fact that I STILL can’t find the music (books) section, my trip was mostly disappointing. I’m trying to hold out until prices really drop (70%?) and since I had a fair bit of success during my last Borders Going Out of Business outing in April, I’m confident that I’ll be able to find some good stuff during the last days (my taste is just slightly off enough to make this possible). Blu Rays are currently 40% off though and I thought, hey maybe I can find Tangled at a discount. But alas, NO TANGLED :( Mind you, there were some other quality titles, but not that one. Then I thought maybe I’d get Pretty Little Liars at 20% off (the show’s gotten awful and I’m just sticking with it to find out who A is and/or who killed Alison at this point), but they only had Books 1 and 4. And Book 1 was the TV Tie in Edition, and well, that’s an abomination in my opinion. Then I tried for Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle Trilogy. They had Book 1…and nothing else -.- Also thought I’d try and complete my Luxe series. HA! They had plenty of Book 2 (remember that’s the one they had left the first round of Borders closings too), but no Book 3 or 4. *sigh* I mean FFS Borders! HELP ME OUT HERE! (btw, I stuck to YA because YA books are cheaper than Adult Fiction anyway. I will not buy fiction at Borders for anything less than 50% off because I might as well go to the Strand or Housing Works otherwise). In the end, I bought one YA book that’s it.
o I read the first three books in four days, and I’m pausing so that my mom can catch up. So now seems like a good time to share my thoughts and perhaps be raked over the coals by die-hards. Spoilers abound since everyone who wasn’t born in the last 3 years has probably read them.
