Monday, August 5, 2013

Discussion- Book Trailers

So lately I have been thinking about book trailers.  Does anyone watch these things?  I have been using to ability to post a video in my book club on goodreads and I wonder if anyone even watches them or if they are just more clutter on the page?  I used to keep the book trailers at the top of the group on goodreads.... but of course goodreads never really fixed the challenges in the groups.  Since the challenges aren't able to be collapsed or moved to the bottom of the group they take up a huge chunk of real estate on the top of the page so I moved the videos to the bottom of the group.



In the above picture you can see that the challenge is huge!  I am discussing with my co-mod how to fix this now.  Since I have been waiting years for goodreads to fix the challenge widget and they never have we are going to try to come up with something different.  I think instead of listing each books description for the challenge we will just put a generic challenge description in the main post and link off to a thread that goes into detail for each book.  The comes the book trailers:


I usually post the trailers for the next book we are reading to help the members of the group decide whether or not to read the book with the group (obviously I am looking for more people to participate).  I wonder though.. does anyone watch these trailers?  Not only in my group but readers themselves.  Goodreads does post have many people viewed the video.. which is a nice feature. 


(nice ad on there by the way).  As you can see some trailers have lots of views and some not so many.  I haven't seen an influx of participants in the group reads though because of the trailers.  I have only seen a few book trailers myself that are amazing.  For example, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.  The trailer is a work of art and I would read this book!!




So I wonder do you watch book trailers? Do they make you want to read a book or not read a book?  Do you participate in any groups on goodreads where you actually read a long with the group, and if so do you watch the book trailers posted in the group? 

35 comments:

  1. Personally, I don't watch book trailers. Trailers don't make me want to read a book because sometimes they're so vague and I don't have a clear understanding of the book. I think that they kind of defeat the whole purpose of reading a synopsis but that's just my personal opinion

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    1. Most of the time the trailers are just full of words. They don't even bother to have people act them out.

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  2. I think I've seen two book trailers ever. One was fantastic in its ridiculousness (Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff - seriously, you really need to see this book trailer) and the other for Joe Hill's most recent.

    I don't think a trailer is going to sway me one way or another. I tend to have an idea of whether or not I want to read a book before I would seek out the trailer. It's not like these things sneak up on you while watching tv.

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    1. I think I watched the right trailer for Stormdance.. just a bunch of words with a nice background! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mei6yRz7pTU I mean.. this is what I am talking about. Who would watch that and then say "I have to read this book now!"

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    2. That's the one. I literally laughed out loud the first time I saw it. And I read the book. Good. It's one of those instances where I like the author better than his works.

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  3. I don't really watch book trailers, especially if it's moving pictures. I prefer ones that have actors in them, but usually I'd only watch the trailer if I was already interested in the book, and not as a way to check out new reads. But if more book trailers came my way I would probably watch them - like if I saw them as commercials on TV or something.

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    1. It's too bad that book trailers aren't on TV. I know during the premiere of Under the Dome there was a commercial for King's new book Dr Sleep. Otherwise I never see them on TV.

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  4. I do watch book trailers, not regularly but often enough. I especially love the trailers for memoirs. (Pastrix, World's Strongest Librarian, etc. have been a couple that I enjoyed watching)

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    1. Humm.. I haven't seen any for memoirs. I'll look at the one for Strongest Librarian since I have been interested in reading that book.

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  5. Honestly, I don't watch them. I find them a bit cringe and most just seem cheaply made. If I'm considering reading a book, I check Goodreads and would never think of checking a promo video. I trust my GR blogger friends to give it to me straight.
    All that said I do like that video for A Monster Calls but it's a rare exception. And I think it works because the book is illustrated and so already lends itself to a visual medium.

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    1. I agree... I think I might remove the videos from my goodreads group. It just adds clutter and no one really watches them anyways.

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  6. I don't usually watch trailers. The only way I would watch one is if someone specifically told me one was really good (I'll probably go watch A Monster Calls and if the trailer's really good, I'll check out the blurb to see if I want to add it to my TBR list).

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    1. I suppose that is true.. which is how things go viral. If everyone is talking about it I'll go check it out. Same with a book trailer. If a fellow reader tells me it is going to be great and fantastic I will for sure go and watch it.

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  7. Personally, I'm not into book trailers. The magic of books is that they can create entire worlds in your mind using just words, and I don't see why you would need a video to do that for you. If the book is good enough, it'll stand on its own two feet.

    Sarah

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  8. I like watching Maggie Stiefvater's book trailers. Because they're unique and pieces of art. Otherwise, I don't have the patience for book trailers.

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  9. Sometimes I do..if I love the book especially!

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    1. I suppose sometimes I check out a video after I read a book. I do that with music videos... I hear a song on the radio I love and then go check out the video for it.

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  10. I think I've actually watched 4-5 book trailers over the last few years, they just don't do it for me.

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    1. Me neither... I have pretty much decided to remove it from my goodreads group.

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  11. Never!!!!! Because then I picture the characters like the people in the trailer and I rather make my own image. Also, I saw a trailer with a blond girl but the book said the character was brunette?

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    1. That is like the Hunger Games... Katniss is not white!!!

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  12. I like the idea of a book trailer, and I like the more minimal ones that don't feature people (like the one for Doctor Sleep.)

    On the other hand, if someone made book trailers for re-issues/ new editions and cut together footage from all films made of said book, or got creative with it in other ways/ recycled different footage, that'd be pretty cool, I bet.

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    1. You know... surprisingly I haven't watched the Doctor Sleep one!!! YIKES! I am headed over to youtube to watch it right now.

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  13. I don't really watch book trailers, neither am doing readalongs, they are just not my thing, I guess. I do love the trailer of A Monster Calls though :)

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    1. I just did my first readalong for Under the Dome. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I think it just needed more participation links so that I could see how other people were doing in the event.

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  14. Oh hey, I'm a member of your group! I can't say I've ever scrolled down to the bottom of the page to even notice the trailers are there. Even if I did, I probably wouldn't watch them. I won't say I never watch trailers, but it's very, very rare. I pick books by reading the description of the book.

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  15. Hey there, Anxious. Book Trailers are really not my thing. It kind of spoil some of the story scenes for me. And one more thing, if it so happens that the cast in the book trailers do not seem to fit the characters of the story then there's a very big possibility that my excitement to read the book will be deemed.

    Thoughts and Pens

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    1. what I mean is dimmed* typos and spelling are the bane of my existence.

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    2. That makes me think of how I don't ever read the back of a book cover. I want the book to be a complete surprise to me!!! I don't even like to know what I am about to read.

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  16. I probably watched like 5 or 7 trailers but I don't watch all book trailers. I haven't even seen The Hunger Games book trailer (does it have one?) and all the other best selling books' trailers. I just don't have time to watch it. :/ Also, the reason why I haven't watched a lot is because it's usually text and I don't like reading stuff on the trailers lol.

    Leigh
    Little Book Star

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    1. I agree with that. They are always text. Like someone did a big powerpoint slide and made that the trailer. Bravo ! I could do that with my eyes closed.

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  17. I don't ever watch book trailers. I've seen one or two and I didn't think they were very well done. They just made the book seem like a low budget movie.

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    1. LOL! That's perfect description! It's like when I watched Sharknado the other day.. total low budget.

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