Book Trailers (and Trailer Books)

[Mike]

So I was bouncing around the internet this morning, and found my way to amazon, and subsequently to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Distinctions-Pr...

It's what I would describe as (if you couldn't guess from the title) a "trailer book" - basically a standalone prologue meant to promote an upcoming release.

A few clicks later (specifically I went to the page for Towers of Midnight, which has a tiny version of this embedded), I discovered the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apJJ0N...

Which is to say a beautiful, movie-style teaser for the same book.

Several days ago, I came across another video trailer for a (non-S&L) book I was looking at, this one longer and more humorous:

http://vimeo.com/15113923

Given the evidence, I am assuming this is going to be an ongoing trend. Has anyone else seen anything like these recently? Is this something old that I just haven't run into until now? Does anyone else now *really* want to see Legend of the Seeker canceled and Legend of the Dragon Reborn put on in its place?

Discuss.

[Skip]

Well, the Wheel of Time prologues have been sold as teasers for long time. I bought the first one they sold to read on my Handspring Visor.

Also the video teaser was made by Dragonmount and Mythmakers Entertainment with permission. So it was not quite official, not quite a fan trailer.

Other authors offer free teases. Jim Butcher has offered the first few chapters of each book he's put out on his web site. It's a great idea, because it provides a free taste of a book to see if it hooks you.

[Stan]

For your enjoyment a company which specializes in making book movie trailers - http://www.cosproductions.com/

(be sure to check out their Zombies vs Unicorns video - http://www.cosproductions.com/videos/view/485 )

And an interesting article about it - Every Book Needs a YouTube Trailer

In addition to the book movie trailers in the ebook world I've noticed trend of when authors release new books in a series and the publisher will offer the very first book for free to hook you into the entire series.

[Tim]

The first time I saw something like this was a few years ago around Greg Bear's EON.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrLo1q...

This is apparently the winner of a challenge to visualize the book, but it intrigued me so much that I had to get a copy and read it. I was not disappointed.

[Tom]

The first book trailer I ever saw was for Anathem. I thought this was worth mentioning since Anathem has been such a love it or hate it book here. Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWs1h5...

[Mike]

Crud, now I want to read Anathem again. I've been trying to *break* my habit of rereading super long books ><

[Sandi]

Tim wrote: "The first time I saw something like this was a few years ago around Greg Bear's EON.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrLo1q...

This is apparently the winner of a challenge to visualize the book,..."

That is a really cool trailer. I'm trying to read the book now, but keep getting distracted. The trailer makes me want to hurry up with it.

[Ben]

I like the one for Super Sad True Love Story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfzuOu...

[Tamahome]

Someone created a scene from Pandora's Star:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q6OOn...