Best Book Trailer
The book trailer for Julia Quinn's July '09 book What Happens in London is the best book trailer I have ever seen.
As most of you know, I'm not a fan of book trailers. I think they're a waste of money and can be detrimental to converting first-time readers into buying books. Words on a page or in eInk is what the readers want from the writer, and images and words (spoken or in shorthand copy) that fly by in a video don't whet the appetite. Sometimes, they convey the wrong mood, the wrong sense of place, or give off a vibe that doesn't jive with the characters.
This was before I saw JQ's trailer. Now, like Laurel from Laurel & Hardy, I have to eat a black bowler hat. Finally, I see a video worthy of the author's writing and of creating a buzz for the story all by itself.
JQ's marketing campaign for this book has been brilliant. First there was the title, then the cover, then teaser copy that she herself wrote, first & last lines of her story, excerpts, contests, the soundtrack, the book trailer, and now the first chapter.
[Edit: Hah! I was reading through my blogs in Google Reader. And what do I find? WaxCreative blogging eloquent about JQ's book trailer. The actress in the video is JQ's cousin Talia Gottlieb and the artistic producer is Brady Hall.]
[Edit: Per suggestion from JQ, I'm embedding the video here directly.]
Posted on:
5/08/2009 11:12:00 AM
5 comments:
Oh, that IS cute! I also don't generally like trailers--collections of clip art overlaid with generic music have never made me want to buy a book. But this one looks professional, it's fun, and suits the tone of the story! Terrific!
Ammanda, it's good to read your comment and know I wasn't the only one being converted here. This one is a serious departure from those with cheesy music and cheesier word-bursts and the perfect appetizer.
Thanks, Keira! I have to eat my hat, too. I've never really liked book trailers, but when Brady emailed me the idea for it, I thought--hey, now, this might work!
So glad you like it. (And feel free to embed, hint hint...)
JQ
Hey JQ. Thanks for honoring me with your visit. The video's embedded now.
I'm predicting a black market price for black bowler hats as this video becomes viral, since a lot of folks will need to eat them.
"Ammanda, it's good to read your comment and know I wasn't the only one being converted here"
It's going to take a lot more trailers like this one to convert me (and no more clip art trailers!), but I do like to see this medium being utilized in a good way! :)
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