Week 9 Assignments 1 and 2 Book Trailers

And now for something completely different...Book Trailers. There are so many of them that this is not new... They are just new to me. These videos go back several years. Where have I been? 

Obviously, not on YouTube.

Yet, the concept is not new, because when you think about it...it's a commercial. Commercials are used to sell every product imaginable.  Case in point, music videos are used to sell records...Why not use the same strategy to sell books? Makes sense to me.

Create a video that appeals to the market you are after and the readers are drawn in...Build it and they will come...

The trailer for the Glass Castle is presented in a documentary fashion, yet it has an Oprah like feel. I found it compassionate and hard hitting at the same time. The combination of animation and music for Chronicles of the Red King are mystical and magical. It will capture the imaginations of lots of kids. If they see it they will want the book.

These trailers can be good reader's advisory tools, they are visual book talks...eye candy designed to peek your interest.

I would disagree with Nina Metz, of the Tribune, that most are terrible. I would say that a number of them are, but not most. Take two pretty good ones, Nic Bishop's Spiders...uses great photography and the music from Spider Man to pull you in. And Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall is compelling and thought provoking.

Judge for Yourself