Week 9:

Post to your blog your opinion about book trailers – do they succeed in marketing the books they are trying to promote?  Are they useful for readers’ advisory?

From reading both articles and watching a few book trailers, in addition to having seen some before for some titles I was looking forward to, in general, I don't think book trailers are very successful in marketing their books. If the authors have to do the trailer, then, as the article mentioned, it can be awkward, especially since they are good at writing, not necessarily being on screen. As for the ones that try to look like movie trailers, they just don't have the same excitement to them. Perhaps it's budgetary, or related to not wanting to spoil the book for readers...but they just don't generate much interest for me. On a side note, the first time I saw a book trailer, I was confused. I thought they were going to make a (albeit rather cheesy) screen adaption of the book, despite it being a new title.

I can understand the argument to create book trailers to try and catch the attention of people who watch numerous online videos. If the trailer is interesting and enticing enough, perhaps that audience will be encouraged to pick the book up. Rather than trying to create a mini-movie trailer, I agree with one of the articles that proposed using stars to talk up titles they really enjoyed. The example of Oprah was perfect! Whenever she picked a book on her show, it immediately became a best seller. 

The YouTube channel link seemed to have alot of YA book trailers. I can see why book trailers may be more effective for that age group. Especially with today's plugged-in, connected generation, they may be drawn to a book because of a good video. I suppose that the creators of book trailers have yet to figure out how to truly create a viral video that leads to monumental book sales. Adults, on the other hand, are probably pretty set in their ways of whether they want to read or not and how they determine if a book is interesting to them.

As a tool for readers' advisory, I could see it being useful. The more dramatic ones set the mood, try to build suspense/anticipation...so if the patron is on the fence about a recommendation, perhaps seeing a book trailer might be the final nudge to push her into deciding to give it a try. Some book trailers also try and pick out the same appeal factors used in a readers' advisory.