Book trailers

    The first time I saw a book trailer was more than a year ago and it was actually in a post on Dead Guy; Alison Janney was promoting a book she had edited, Untouchable, by Scott O'Connor.   I remember thinking  that the trailer would definitely serve as an enticement  for me to read the book and I also remember thinking that the concept of a trailer for a book was a pretty cool idea.   By the time I got around to listening to  the audiobook version of Untouchable (a totally excellent book, BTW), nearly a year had passed and my memory of the trailer had completely slipped away.

    I did not have another encounter with book trailers until two weeks ago when I attended the Indie Book Buzz. A couple of small publishers used trailers extremely effectively to promote their books and even though neither of the titles have anything to do with crime fiction, I still think it's a topic worth bringing up here. 

    The first trailer I saw at Book Buzz was for The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, the translated account of Captain Witold Pilecki, a member of the Polish army who was the only man who volunteered to be captured and imprisoned in Auschwitz so that he could smuggle out intelligence about the camp; this was the only book presented by Aquila Polonica Publishing.    Using only photographs from the book,  an unsettling musical accompaniment and strategically chosen text flashing across the images, the trailer reveals bits of information that are difficult to believe and then invites the viewer to draw his or her own conclusions, something that can only be done by reading the book.  By the time the trailer was over, not only did I want to read the book, but I was wondering when the movie version would be coming out and who would be cast to play Captain PIlecki.  Granted, the subject matter is compelling to begin with but this is not a bad return on investment for a trailer that required only 2 minutes and 27 seconds of my time.

 

The second trailer we were invited to watch at Book Buzz was for America But Better: The Canada Party Manifesto, Chris Cannon and Brian Calvert, (published by Douglas & McIntyre), a piece of political satire that offers American voters a previously unconsidered alternative for the 2012 presidential election.  The trailer features Calvert sitting by the fireplace in a room  with a distinctly Canadian aura (framed photo of Queen Elizabeth, Maple Leaf flag) and giving a deadpan but very funny, profanity laced rant detailing the reasons why Americans should just turn everything over to our neighbors to the north.  In fact, I found the trailer to be funnier than the actual excerpt from the book that we all got to take home in our Book Buzz goodie bags.  Ironic, perhaps, but just another example of why a well done book trailer has the potential to be so compelling.

  

After seeing these two book trailers, I became extremely excited  by the concept and went back and tracked down the trailer for Untouchable so that I could watch that again too.   Although all of these trailers were very effective, none of them appeared as if they had been particularly expensive to produce.  But I was also puzzled that in spite of the fact that I am both a librarian and an avid reader, I had been completely ignorant of the fact that book trailers existed. 

Wow, I thought, there must be some way I can bring book trailers to my library patrons.  Not only will they be entertained , but this will offer a great  way for my them to learn about  the new books that have been added to our collection.   I'm definitely  going to  have to check this out some more.

To be continued...

Happy Mothers Day!

 

Comments

[Kathy Owens]

I'm a high school English teacher and I work with our librarian to regularly show book trailers to our kids. The books we choose are consistently the most circulated in the library.

[Polandww2]

Glad you enjoyed our trailer for "The Auschwitz Volunteer"! Thanks for posting it and helping tell the forgotten story of Witold Pilecki's heroic undercover mission.

It's Aquila Polonica's first book trailer but not our last!

[EM_DMPublishers]

The creators of "America, But Better: The Canada Party Manifesto" improve their campaign platform week by week – watch for them at BEA, ALA and on Youtube. The book publishes August 4 and they'll be on the campaign trail through to the election in November. Once The Canada Party wins, they promise to turn around and invade Canada.

[EM_DMPublishers]

The creators of "America, But Better: The Canada Party Manifesto" improve their campaign platform week by week – watch for them at BEA, ALA and on Youtube. The book publishes August 4 and they'll be on the campaign trail through to the election in November. Once The Canada Party wins, they promise to turn around and invade Canada.