Jeremy is an emerging speculative fiction writer and professional illustrator from Sydney, Australia, now living in Dunedin, New Zealand. His first novel manuscript GRIMSHAW: The Binding Passage is part One of a flintlock fantasy trilogy and was recently selected for the inaugural QWC/Orbit Manuscript Development Program in 2008.VidLit Legit?
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” — Elvis Costello. Or was it Woody Allen? Either way its a useful thought to kick off this discussion about book trailers, part of the new media revolution in which a visual trailer is used to promote literary creations.
I like trailers, and I like short animations. There is an art to distilling the essence of a film without giving away too much of the story. I have a background in illustration and storyboarding, and have done several animated previsual scenes to help market films to producers. They’re hard work, finnicky, time consuming, and a lot of fun to do; it slakes any desire I have to work in film. But yeah: if you don’t know what you’re doing, a book trailer can be quite expensive to make. I’ve heard prices in the region of $5,000 for a trailer less than a minute long. When you consider the knife edge existence that many authors lead, that can be a savage cut in profits. And does it guarantee sales? I hope to find out more on the matter.
The second issue raised by book trailers is that visual elements used will define a reader’s mental image. Simple case in point: can you read Lord of the Rings now without thinking of Viggo as Aragorn, or Elijah as Frodo? I can, but I really need to push past those immediate visual references that I have handy in my mind if I want to think of another incarnation of such iconic characters. Creators of book trailers need to be careful to evoke the mood and themes of the literary work, without hamstringing the reader’s visual associations by defining the look of each character. Who needs imagination when the word-image connections have already been set?
A good example of this is the trailer to The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt. I haven’t read the book, but here’s the trailer:
First up: it’s wonderfully illustrated. I love the style, but is it appropriate for the book? Personally I’d have to say no. It’s manga inspired, which doesn’t strike me as the right fit. It also jars somewhat with the style of the book cover — if this is the first release of the novel I want a solid identity, not a hotpotch of themes. The pacing is disjointed: a voice over or faster delivery of text would have helped solve this. And lastly, when I get round to reading this book (and I will) I will immediately associate the characters’ appearance with what I’ve seen here. As a reader I’ve been robbed of my opportunity to create my own mental associations with Stephen’s words, and that’s a shame, because when I do get round to reading it, his words will be diluted.
But perhaps most important of all — having seen the trailer will I now go out and purchase a copy? Yes — I must admit that I was already aware of the book, having been intrigued by the cover. But it wasn’t the visuals of the trailer that hooked me: it was the story.
So was it worth Mr. Hunt’s time and money to have produced this? I can’t say. Is VidLit a legitimate marketing exercise? I invite any and all authors who have experimented with the medium to comment on their experiences, any publishers and marketers with solid financial data to inform us, and anyone who’s decision to purchase a book was influenced by a book trailer to tell us how.
Check out VidLit for a huge collection of the buggers. As for me? I can’t wait to give them a go.
Jeremy
Posted: May 13th, 2008 under Author Promotion.
Comments: 7
Comments
Comment from Keioskie
Time: May 13, 2008, 5:43 pm
I think you’re right about VidLit. While it seems like a new dimension to the marketing of literature - and a worthwhile field for creative practitioners to dabble in - the visual connotations of a work do have an effect on the reading. I can’t read Lord of Rings without seeing Elijah Wood, and I know I wasn’t always like that, since I first read the book way before the film. Maybe it’s the use of animation? Maybe when VidLit expands into real people acting out the stories (check out First Tuesday Book Club on ABC - they basically do ‘dramatisations’ of plots to give the viewers an idea of what their panel is talking about), then we may see a more successful merging of video and literature.
But shit - how cool would it be to see a trailer for your novel? Welcome to the 21st century.
Comment from 5tephe
Time: May 13, 2008, 9:00 pm
Umm…
Hate to rain on your parade here (or veer dangerously close to going off-topic) but:
DON’T READ THAT FRIGGIN’ BOOK.
Joshua gave it to me for my previous birthday (you can borrow it if you need to) and I did plough all the way through it, but it was not worth the effort.
He and I were both intrigued by the cover artwork, and this trailer (hell - even the idea of a Trailer for a Book) intrigues me, but we were sorely disappointed.
Still, that tells you something in itself: The Marketing of this book was pretty slick. So that says something in favour of trailers like this one….
Comment from Tom
Time: May 15, 2008, 10:33 am
VidLit looks like a waste of effort to me. I would rather put something simple directly onto Amazon and YouTube, a single good idea works better than an expensive, slick but possibly counterproductive effort. You want to intrigue the potential reader, no more.
Not a particualarly good example, but here’s a book on Amazon with an author-produced video:
YouTube promotions that are brief, funny and intriguing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrbMPLX9cE4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOrG1r3S6ZA
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Time: May 15, 2008, 6:01 pm
[…] Jeremy Gordon examines their viability and effect on the reader. […]
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Time: May 19, 2008, 11:03 pm
[…] Tags: Author promotion, book trailers, Jeremy Gordon, Kate Eltham, Miranda July, vidlit Over at Quillo:Torque, the talented Jeremy Gordon is hosting a discussion about the merits of book trailers for authors. […]
Comment from Sheila
Time: May 20, 2008, 2:19 pm
Book trailers have been around for years. VidLit is a company, not a style, though that company does have a unique style.
Do they sell books. Yes they do. With over 6 years of monitoring the effectiveness of book trailers, there are stats on this subject.
I’ll not bore you with it, but you can find out more in this ebook if you’re that interested-
http://www.cosproductions.com/Resources/Index.html
In the spirit of full disclosure, I am the CEO of COS Productions, the top book trailer producers in the US. Our videos start at $250 but they can run up to $5000 if you want a big production with special effects.
There are two questions that everyone should ask-
What is the ROI?
And was the trailer effective?
The ROI (return on investment) primarily looks to finance. What did you pay out? What did you get back? Compare the two and determine if you’re happy with the outcome.
Is it effective? This really has more to do with goals management. You may not care that you spent more than you got back if your goal was primarily to brand yourself. Branding is an investment for future works.
I ask my clients what their goal is for their career before we ever talk about what the trailer should look like. Their answer will determine what that video looks like.
Let’s look at distribution. There are over 400 social media outlets for video. Some of those are specific to books. There are booksellers and libraries who take them too. Right now we have a list of over 300 booksellers and 5000 libraries. We also do off line placement like TV, movie theaters, etc. Our videos play on buses in 5 major cities and get over 10 million impressions per week per video.
Book trailers are not a passing trend. With the growing number of venues and platforms for digital video, you can’t just dismiss the medium.
Book trailers have become so popular with young people that schools are including them in curriculums and kids are making them! Kids being made to love books through emerging technology? You may not like trailers, but there’s no denying that, if they get young people to read, they have worth in ways greater than individual marketing plans.
But perhaps I’m too optimistic? Still, if there’s a chance to get more people to read and it isn’t costing anything additional for that to happen perhaps it should be supported?
Hi Sheila, it wonderful to have top notch industry opinions on the matter! Thanks for taking the time to address some of the questions raised and clarifying a few terms; the COS Book Trailer goes into a lot of detail for those interested in further reading. Cheers!
— Jeremy
Comment from Sheila
Time: May 21, 2008, 10:57 am
Thank you Jeremy!
We do have some Australian booksellers on our list!
I was in Brisbane a few years back. Beautiful! Never made it to Sydney, but would love to!
Great blog! I’ll look for your RSS feed and subscribe. Cheers!
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