Sep. 23, 2009 - Issue #727: Inside Books 2009
Book Trailers
Book trailers offer a new way of advertising to potential readers, but do they actually inspire reading?
Despite the fact this trailer will even reference the Oscar-winning credentials of one of the principle creators—and despite the fact it played in cineplexes across North America throughout the early summer—this is not another Hollywood blockbuster. This is pitching us a literary blockbuster, if such things really exist, the first book of the Guillermo Del Toro/Chuck Hogan series The Strain, a trilogy about a vampire virus that threatens to take over New York City, if not the world.
The above trailer was the first of three—the other two forgo the stock footage-y quality of what you might call the teaser for recreated moments from the book, low-lit affairs which look a bit like scenes from an independent horror film with a particularly creative visual effects artist—but despite Del Toro's cinematic credentials, they are hardly an isolated thing. Book trailers, as they're commonly known, have been around in some form or another for almost seven years, although it was the rise of streaming video capabilities on sites like YouTube and MySpace in 2005 that saw them begin to enter mainstream—at least as much as that term can pertain to literary culture—acceptance, and with certain notable exceptions, it's still largely the Internet that the videos call home. Though the trailers for The Strain have a particularly cinematic quality—they were shot by Francisco Ruiz Velasco, who has worked with Del Toro on both Hellboy II: The Golden Army and the upcoming The Hobbit—the term can technically apply to anything from author interviews conducted by the publishing company to readings or narration over images of the book and a few still pictures that may or may not move across the screen like wayward powerpoint presentation images.
As might be predicted by the delivery method, trailers are primarily used by publishing companies in an attempt to attract demographics that might not otherwise be inclined to pick up books (although it is worth pointing out that some authors, especially younger and less-established ones, have begun creating their own trailers to run with or in the place of publishing company offerings).
"In publishing, we're always trying to find new ways of advertising and reaching people," explains Cory Beatty, Marketing Manager of Digital Advertising and Promotions at HarperCollinsCanada, who oversees the digital campaigns for all of HarperCollins' books, including The Strain, as well as an in-house production company devoted to creating trailers. "In [the case of book trailers], it was trying to reach a whole new kind of demographic: people who are a bit younger, people who would be online or in movie theatres, that sort of thing—people who didn't necessarily read trade reviews or book sections in newspapers."
Though that traditional kind of advertising does still make up the lion's share of any publishing house's budget, book trailers are increasingly relied upon as an important part of a book's online presence, for everything from paperback blockbusters to niche genre titles to literary fiction.
And yet, though it's possible to view book trailers as simply another tool in the marketing department's chest, that seems to sell short what is actually a pretty profound change in the ways in which we try to convince people to read. This is not simply establishing an online presence: this is using an entirely different medium, with different rules, strengths and, if you follow some 20th century thinkers, messages, to sell another, and there are implications here that should not be overlooked.
To better illustrate what we're talking about, it would be useful to consider one of those 20th century thinkers. Neil Postman was an influential cultural critic—and unabashed believer in Marshall McLuhan's theories—whose best-known work, Amusing Ourselves to Death, is a clear-headed and relentlessly thorough examination of television culture and the way it shapes our thought and engagement with the world. Among the many trends he looks at was the then-relatively-new idea of using television as a means for education—everything from network-produced shows like Sesame Street to interactive edutainment that was infiltrating public schools. The stated goals of the creators of such programs was to bring substance to what was, in Postman's conception and general academic opinion, a fairly insubstantial medium. Postman contends, rather convincingly, that the way in which media shapes our experience gave the programs the opposite effect: rather than—or, in the best case scenarios, besides—using entertainment to educate, they were teaching children that education should be entertaining.
One can apply a similar reading to book trailers. In crossing mediums, they might not so much be inspiring a new generation to pick up books so much as creating one that expects the qualities of a film in a book (an expectation that is exceedingly hard to fulfill, although one could look at the explosion in popularity of the graphic novel medium—including the highly ironic recent publishing of a Fahrenheit 451 graphic novel—as some evidence that the demand is being both created and filled). This is especially the case with something like The Strain's trailers more cinematic approach, essentially creating a short film to sell the book, a technique that is becoming increasingly popular as techniques for trailers evolve, according to Beatty.
"The successes have been, from my view, the ones that have been slightly more cinematic. They have a real sort of emotional connection, the ones that really connect with the viewer on a base, instinctual level, and feel more to a viewer like a trailer they would see for a blockbuster film," he explains. "I don't feel like people want to have a book read to them. I try to have our team develop video content that connects with readers and inspires them or encourages them to read a book."
Here, then, is the essential issue: the trailers that work the best are the ones least like reading an actual book, which leaves one wondering how effective they truly are at inspiring reading.
As perplexing an issue as this can be, however, it is worth pointing out that intermedia advertising isn't exactly entirely unheard of in our modern world. Eric Anderson, editor at Bookscreening.com, a website devoted to the showcasing of new book trailers, likens the intent and effect of a trailer to the design of the book's cover.
"I think trailers are best used as additions to the representation of the book, as opposed to a replacement to the content," he says. "Like the book cover, trailers should not aspire to be a perfect example of what is inside the book, but act as a window into the atmosphere of the book."
A more salient example might be found in the form of the music video. Like a book trailer, it attempts to advertise—however artfully—its inspiration across mediums, and there's certainly no denying its efficacy as a sales tactic. Although you may take issue with what it's done to appreciation of music: it's hardly controversial to decry pop music in particular as a medium more obsessed with image than craft or content, and misgivings about MTV's effect on music culture have been prevalent since literally the moment the station came on air. It's hard to imagine the relatively sedate literary world going to those excesses—as Tate Young, who has directed several book trailers, including one for a John Irving novel, offers, "I don't think you can attach the rock-star persona to writers, because they don't want to be sold like that. But selling personalities, selling artists is helpful in moving units"—but that is a useful template for seeing how the shift in medium can shift our perceptions.
Though it's hard to identify exactly what impact book trailers have had in our perceptions of books, and we obviously can't know what the future will hold, there is one certainty: book trailers are not going away any time soon. In a culture where the average person does not make it through even one full book a year, and new titles have to fight with an extensive canon of classics, to say nothing of a deluge of other media options, publishers (and authors) are going to use every tool available to them to get people potentially picking up their books.
"As the shelf space of book stores shrinks and more readers search for books online, book trailers offer publishers and authors new channels in which they can introduce readers to their work," explains Anderson. "Publishers who add book trailers to their branding strategies will have a distinct advantage over those who continue to pay for shelf space and in-store advertising."
Beatty offers a more succinct examination.
"My opinion is that there's a glut of advertising out there now, with print and TV and the Internet," he states matter-of-factly. "I think anything that we can do to get eyeballs on a book to announce a new title only benefits us." V
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