Book Trailers

     I agree with the Chicago Tribune article when Sloan says  "What I would totally watch, would be somebody kind of famous — like an actor or a musician or just somebody really smart who I could recognize — looking into the camera and recommending a book. Or if there's some great nonfiction book coming out in the fall, and it was a video of some statesman or politician or a media personality saying, 'I just read this book, it was awesome, here's why you need to check it out.' That's really compelling." I think that it would be awesome if celebrities used their persuasion in this way. Can you imagine if the Jolie Pitt family did book trailers advertising the book their kids love or the books their reading right now.
     I found this quote appalling Mr. Jacobs submitted a head shot and the publisher passed. “I thought, ‘What? I’m not even good-looking enough to be an author?’ ” from the New York Times article. frequently customers seem to remember the title of a book, but not the author and it's interesting that the author is getting more focus. I don't think of authors as a group of people out to get recognized. I guess it's the age we live in that the more formats and styles you can use to reach people the better the odds of success.
     I watched several book trailers among them;
- Starters
- Maze Runner - I had read this book and the book trailer didn't really seem to match up, but that could be what the article was talking about with our imaginations. We are very clear in our minds of what we see when reading a book so perhaps we don't need too many visuals in the book trailers.
- Super Sad True Love Story - the article talked about this one getting so many views because James Franco was in it and hey the more views the better. Who knows maybe some people went on to see James Franco and then decided they wanted the book, however the trailer didn't really even give any info on the actual book.
- Fallen
- Matched - This one seemed good, but I don't think it gave quite enough information. I liked how it was done though. I had read part of this book and I thought the trailer matched pretty well, but it didn't really give enough information about what the plot was.

     I like book trailers. I think that some people are more drawn to visual representations than written descriptions. I think that book trailers can be used where sometimes written blurbs may not. It would be nice to have book trailers playing periodically in waiting rooms and possibly running in homeroom before the bell rings or silently streaming monitors in the library. I think that book trailers have a place, but have to be set up properly. They have to eye catching, but hold true to the book. They have to show what the book is about without giving everything away or interfering with the potential reader's imagination.