Let’s talk about… Book Trailers

I have something new to share with you today. I was trawling through YouTube when I stumbled upon a book trailer for the Red Queen series, I’d completely forgotten trailers were a thing until it popped up.

Some are awesome, some bad and some cheesey. They’re out there but rarely talked about in the book community or on social media, so I decided to start a discussion and also share some of my favourites.

Personally, for me they’re a bit hit and miss. On one hand they’re great marketing, I have picked up a book solely based on its trailer before. More often than not I don’t finish them, whether it’s the cheesiness of them, I got bored half way through or they haven’t been able to claim my attention from the start. Occasionally, there’s a UK and US trailer. Same book but not necessarily liked a trailer. An example of this is Sara Holland’s Everless, I wasn’t particularly taken with the US trailer but loved the UK one. Both trailers can be found below.

US:

UK:

This was probably the first time it hit me how different the markets can be, there’s nothing wrong with the US trailer, it just didn’t get my attention the way the UK one did. This being said, they’re not dealbreakers for me, a bad trailer won’t stop me from picking up a book if I’m drawn to the concept.

I reached out to people on twitter, along with a poll to see their thoughts, these are some of the responses I had along with the result of the poll.

@JennieLy – I’ve actually made some before, love them!

@Corazzz – I love them! They get me so excited for the book.

@bookish__laura – I don’t really see many but the ones I’ve seen I love and it gets me excited to read the book

@smbslt I put nay, they aren’t for me but if folk enjoy them then each to their own

What do you think of book trailers?

— Nicola – Fantastic Book Dragon (@PrythianBworm) September 16, 2018

Now onto the trailers I loved.

The next two trailers are for horror books, if you scare easily or don’t like horror you might want to scroll past them.

The Creeper Man by Dawn Kurtagich:

I’d be lying if I said this didn’t have me looking over my shoulder both during and after watching it, I’m near impossible creep out of even scare but this one got me, just thinking about this sends shivers down my spine.

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich:

I know I’ve already used one of Dawn’s trailers, they’re so danm good though. I still haven’t read this book, (I know!). I live for the creepiness, I found this randomly while trawling through YouTube and added it to my TBR straight away.

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black:

Another all-time favourite, this is the one I bought straight away after seeing this. If I remember correctly, it was published on the same day as the first Harry Potter Book Night. I practically sold my soul to the bookseller for their only copy. The eerie songs brings so much to it and still haunts my waking hours, I know the whole thing by heart and I’m still caught singing it around the house. Spot on marketing!

What do you think of book trailers, Love, hate? Do you have any favourites? Let me know in the comments!