a) If they are good, they make the author look good
b) If they are crappy, the reader assumes the book is also crappy
c) There is no such thing as a crappy fan-created trailer--even if it's made with Poser, remedial Photoshop, or a shaking iPhone, it's still done by a fan. They're a visual 5-star review.
Now that I've stated the obvious. I'll atone for my sins with three examples of very well done book trailers.
1. Lori Foster -- Contemporary Romance
Lori makes mini-movie book trailers for all of her books. She does them for two reasons: she likes them and the fans like them. If you ever attend the annual Reader Author Get Together she sponsors, you will hear first-hand many, many times just how much her readers enjoy those trailers.
Production Company: Onion Creek Productions
2. Holly Black -- Fantasy for Kids & Teens
Animation + creepy nursery rhyme sung by kids = 30 seconds of total win.
Production Company: Nice Studios
3. Tiffany Schmidt -- YA
Text + Imagery + Music = A synopsis that told me so much more than the title or the cover alone conveyed. Hello, Once Upon A Crime Family where fairy tales and the mafia collide?
Production Company: Flatline-Films
I love each and every one of those trailers. They do a good job of making me want to buy and read the book.
ReplyDeleteYes! And they're each genre-relevant, not generic.
DeleteAlso expensive, is my bet! But this corroborates something an agent commented about my post on the topic, via Facebook, that book trailers are most effective in playing to established fans as a treat or to whet their excitement. I can really see how Lori Foster's does that.
ReplyDeleteYep, I can easily believe that these work best as treats for writer and the readers...unless that blip gets aired on TV. (Don't we all wish?)
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