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Why don't books have more book trailers?


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What I want to know is why books don't have more book trailers?

 

My children showed me this website where the books show have trailers, I thought that this was a really good idea. The trailers make the books seem excited and fun and after watching a few with my kids they were asking for some of the books they had seen in trailers. If book trailers can be this effective for children then why isn't it been done more? I'm pro anything that makes my children want to read.

 

But why don't we have the same for adult books? Trailers work so well for films so why not books?

 

 

 

:)

Edited by Michelle
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Personally I'm not a fan of book trailers. To me, reading a book is a different experience than watching a film, and I like to build my own pictures of places and people. Watching a trailer takes that away from me, and I'm left with the vision presented, instead of me own. :)

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I don't like book trailers either. Not sure why, but most book trailers I've seen have been very basic anyway and I prefer to just read the books and get a feel for the characters and scenes myself. Personally, I'm hoping it's a trend that dies out pretty quickly, but I don't see that happening any time soon...

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I've read comments from authors talking about the trailers for their books, but I haven't the slightest interest in watching one! I don't really understand it, to be honest. I agree with Michelle and Kell that I want to be able to create my own mental pictures and not be dictated to by the advert for the book. I've been told that's one of the reasons why publishers don't like pictures of characters on a book cover to include the face, as they feel it might adversely affect the decision by someone to buy the book, if they didn't like the look of the person on the front!

 

I think it's more of a trend for children's and, more particularly, YA books and authors, but maybe I don't go looking for them so I haven't come across any others :lol:

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The reason why it isn't done that often is really quite simple, as with most things:

 

a) they cost too much money and

b) they are not in general cost effective, in terms of the extra sales that they generate.

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Are you talking about advertising books on TV through ads, or some other sort of trailer?

 

The closest thing I've seen to a book trailer is what our local book show, the First Tuesday Book Club, shows. They show a sort of trailer before discussing the book. It's put together on a very low budget and is often hilariously bad (I'm not sure if they do it on purpose but they often get laughs from the panellists and audience alike).

 

I agree with everyone else. I much prefer to imagine the characters and scenes myself.

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Kylie, the ones I know about are the publishers Simon & Schuster who have their own YouTube channel for their book trailers http://www.youtube.com/user/SimonSchusterVideos. I only know about it because Cassandra Clare tweeted a lot about the book trailer before it was made, but I don't really understand why they would spend money on it. She has a large following, it's the fourth in a series, so why would you need a trailer to promote it? You won't buy it if you haven't read the first three, and your market is already there, and would surely grow more by word of mouth? Seems a waste of money to me, but I'm not in publishing or marketing, so they must know something I don't!

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There is a trailer on amazon for The Novel in the Viola and it makes no sense at all ...... just a girl wandering through the grounds of a country house?!?

 

But I have to say, I think it is a good idea for children if it gets them interested in books (anything to get them interested is good).

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yes I agree the trailers for the books are very badly made that I have seen for the adult ones but the kids ones are good. But I havent seen any on tv before only online, But it seems alot of publishers are doing them now so maybe tv is the next step, hopefully they will get better before they put them on tv!

 

But yes I do agree with every one on the sense that when you read a book its up to you what you picture as in places and people. But this being sais the most book trailers that I have seen don't show characters they are usally just images. But now I've seen a few adult book trailers and they don't really work but but hopefully the kids ones will take off.

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I remember a book trailer of the latest book by Zafón on YouTube (not the booklet, but TAG) and one from a book by Shamsie if I remember well. They didn't leave much of an impression on me, either positive or negative. I already was interested in those books anyway, before having seen trailers.

 

 

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I hate book trailers, and never watch them. They're usually abstract and pointless, but even well done ones are like terrible movie trailers. I agree with what Michelle said in her first post, movies and books offer entirely different experiences, and I wouldn't read synopses of films rather than watch trailers anymore then do the reverse.

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I acutally like watching book trailers - especially those for young adult fiction. Some are done really well and get people interested in something they otherwise might not have picked up for themselves.

Trailers like the one for Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper have intrigued me enough to look into the book and consequently to add it to my wish list.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I only know of one book trailer and that was for Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz. I don't know what it did for the sales but it definitely got my attention. I was already adamant on buying the book but the trailer made me want it even more.

But the only reason I saw this trailer was because I spotted on a Facebook page. I have never seen a book trailer on tv.

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