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Thursday, March 4, 2010

Book Trailers

Last night during the student midterm presentations I realized that not everyone is as familiar with the new book trailer phenomenon as I am, so I thought I would spend a few minutes on them today.

Basically, a book trailer is like a movie trailer only for a book. Publishers and authors make these to generate interest about everything from classics to new books by big name authors, to debut novels. Some are artistically interesting and others, funny. They range from dramatic reenactments to simply informational. However, they are always very useful as a tool for helping your patrons to find their next good read.

Why should you care about watching a video about a book you might read? Good question. These videos are a quick way for the publisher or author to convey the style and tone of the book as well as giving you enough plot details to pique your interest (or not) as a reader.

For the librarian, book trailers let you know which books are worth your attention. If the publishers have put in the energy (and dollars) to create a trailer, it is probably a book worth knowing about. Besides, it is much faster to watch a 3 minute trailer than to read an entire book. At least after watching the trailer you know a bit more about the book; possibly enough to now share that book with your patrons.

Okay, so the next question is, how do I find book trailers? There are a few ways to stay up on them. First, blogs like Likely Stories from Booklist highlights book trailers every Thursday. Good old Wikipedia, has some links too. You could also just run a search for "book trailer" on You Tube to see the newest trailers right away.

However, your best bet is to subscribe to the publishers' channels on You Tube. The publishers even subscribe to each other. You can find the links to their You Tube channel on their webpages or by clicking on their name as the poster of a trailer on You Tube. Here are some to get you started:

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