Book Trailers: Do They Work?

Sunday, August 12, 2012

I'm not one to buy a book after seeing a book trailer.  But that's what book trailers are made for.  Book trailers are created to grab reader's attention, make them get interested for the upcoming release, and buy the book when it comes out.  Book trailers don't work on me unless they are incredibly well done like the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls trailer.  Do they work on you?  Are you going to watch a book trailer and then go out and buy the book that the trailer promoted?

I found a book trailer that came out recently that I wanted to give a closer look.

Origin by Jessica Khoury
Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home—and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.
Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia’s origin—a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.
Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost. This is a supremely compelling debut novel that blends the awakening romance of Matched with the mystery and jungle conspiracy of Lost. --Goodreads
This book sounds fantastic: the book itself makes me want to go out and buy it, even though the release date is not until September 4.  The book trailer: not so much.  The beginning starts out okay, with the occasional shot of a fake studio forest that looks too green, and a waking-up girl that looks like she was faking sleep the entire time.  It has some nice shot at the pool, liking the symmetry there but since I haven't read the book and the trailer is not telling me, I have no clue why we are brought in the forest and then at some pool (the only clue I got was from the summary.  Well, then it only gets CHEESY from here on out.  I snickered at the little black lines, a literal form of censorship, but I flat out laughed at this Tarzan-like character.  Queue the running and jumping in each other's arms music, really this was too much.

Does this trailer make you want to buy the book?  If I had just seen the trailer, I would have never even looked for the books in stores.  What do you think of this trailer?

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3 comments

  1. I actually really like this trailer. I like trailers where they actually shoot footage. I also liked that it was under one minute and the title effect.

    The Slo-mo running and jumping was a little cheesy and I don't think JUST the trailer would make me pick the book up.

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  2. Honestly the trailer didn't do much for me, but after reading the text under the clip it caught my attention. I think I'll have to add Origin to my reading list.

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  3. I do not chose to read a book because of a trailer.. BUT I do think they are fun. I always post them for my book club to try to get members interested in reading along!

    Angie

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