It is out of the norm for me to schedule two historical authors not only back to back but in the same week. In case you haven’t noticed I general flip the subgenre. But there are two fabulous historical romance novels by two of the most talented writers in the biz, who are oddly enough awesome in person as well (which really means nothing to the books but tis cool none the less) and if they were willing I just couldn’t resist having them both guest.
I hope if you have never tried a novel by Madeline Hunter or Lisa Kleypas, by the end of the week you will want too. If you haven’t already finished one by next Sunday. Just out of curiosity who hasn’t tried one of them? Or if you have tried one and didn’t like it, tell us which one and why – if you don’t mind sharing that is *g*.
We have put up two book trailers for our upcoming guests and they reflect two different styles. Lisa Kleypas’s is a more commonly used style – text with flipping pictures that often makes the cover look like it is in motion and you are in it. It generally uses music to invoke feelings and set a mood, if done well it should reflect the tone of the novel.
Madeline Hunter’s trailer has more of a commercial feel to it and uses actors. We have been seeing more of lately and I would guess is the more costly of the two since you would have to pay the actors. They sometimes play out scene in the book or pieces of dialog. Some of them just use pretty people, looking pretty. And some of them could give skinamax a run for their money.
Now I personally am not much of a book trailer girl. Hey I hate myspace too, what the hell do I know? But I find they are growing on me. And with such sites as Romancenovel.tv and the others video book info sites that have followed, I am wondering can video make a book a star? Or is it just a shiny new toy that can cost a way too much money.
Do you watch them? Do you seek them out or only view them if you happen to run across them. Do you prefer one style over the other? Or if neither of them work for you and why. Do you have a favorite book trailer? What is the worst you have ever seen?
Most of all have you ever purchased a book because of one?
Tell us we wanna know…
Comments between now and 2 am CST Friday October 5th, 2007. And you will be entered to win two books!
First book is your choice of either The Rules of Seduction or Lessons in Desire
Second book is your choice of Sugar Daddy (Hardcover signed as a giveaway for the blog) or Mine Till Midnight.
The contest is being ran by the blog so the books will not be signed. No whining, I don’t even have signed copies so shush and be happy! Or visit on the 2nd and Madeline Hunter will have a contest or the 5th when Lisa Kleypas will have one (and we even promise to award the prize unlike last time… oops… no worries Gwen is here to keep us in line!).
Nope, I’ve never bought a book because of the trailer. I either know I already want the bok, or If it’s a new to me author, I go on the rec of trusted friends, or I read the excerpts. Videos are all production. They can be pretty (like a cover), but they dn’t really tell me anything about the book. BTW, I am stoked that I got to pick up MTM yesterday at the SoCal Blogger get together – the Borders had it out early, so I now have plane reading for tomorrow morning! Woot!
I am the same as Lori. Normally I already know that I want the book, but the trailer might have the effect of increasing my anticipation, but certainly hasn’t convinced me to buy a book that I hadn’t heard of before.
I don’t want to see trailers that feature actors – I usually have a vision in my head of what the characters look like and the trailers generally ruin things for me. So, I go out of my way to avoid them.
Now excerpts OTOH, bring them on!! 🙂
Sometimes coming across a trailer will peak my interest and will steer me towards an author, but then it is the excerpt and maybe the reviews that will having me making a purchase. As for these two trailers, I liked the graphics and music in Lisa’s better.
I’ve never bought a book because of the trailer. Most of the time I can’t play them anyway.
I click on them sometimes out of boredom/curiosity, but they’ve never really held my full attention and I’ve *never* bought a book because of them. To be honest I click on to FAR MORE cover art (expecting more info) and/or excerpt links, than I’ve ever clicked onto banners/book trailers. If it’s a matter of getting this reader’s attention, the authors might as well save their money and go the non-animated way, rather than the flashy stuff. Like everyone else has said, it’s the excerpt that clinches the deal.
Book videos/trailers have yet to persuade to buy a book. I rely on reviews and the past reading experiences with the author. Still think the videos are cheesey (spelling?) and can’t take them seriously so won’t even bother too much with them.
Is this a new thing to do trailer for books? I honestly don’t think they will help sell more books.
I have to admit that I have watched “Videos/Trailers” but I think I only purchased a couple of books from watching the video/trailer. I’m one of those readers that if I like your book(s) your an auto buy for me unless you change to a genre that I do not read.
I like them and I find them very interesting and it gives me an idea of what the hero/heroine looks like.
I find most of the book teasers to be really cheesy, and sometimes they have even turned me off of a book! The only time that I seek out a trailer is if it is one about a book I have been waiting for. Otherwise, I will sty way from them like they were the plague, lol. I don’t think a commercial could ever really do my fvorite authors justice, the stories within their books are just to wonderful and detailed to be squeezed into a 30sec trailor. Just my thoughts . . .
Have a great day everyone!
xoxoxo
I’m so glad this is being discussed because I’ll admit the whole idea of a trailer for a book confuses me. I mean, are the trailers now being looked at as a marketing tool? Because I’m not sure who they are directed towards. Is there going to be a book trailer channel (well, the internet equivalent) or something? If not, even if people like the trailers, I can’t imagine that they would go and search them out.
I will occasionally click on one, if it is a book I plan to buy anyway and a link is posted somewhere I happen to zip by, just to see what might pop up. However, I can’t imagine a trailer ever influencing me to buy a book – or even make me curious enough to research deeper to see if I might want to add it to my shopping list. Who said “cheesy”? Because I agree. The one like Lisa K’s for Mine Till Midnight is fine and the one JAK’s for Silver Master was cute but actors?? Oh, please no! :-p
I would be much more interested in excerpts, reading the author’s thoughts about the book/era/whatever than watching a trailer.
I rarely look at book trailers (it’s all I can do to find time to visit my regular blogs) and I have yet to do one myself. I think they would be valuable if Borders or even Walmart put up flat screens in their romance sections and let authors buy airtime. Then a reader might see the trailer, think “cool,” pick up your book, thumb through it, and decide to buy it. Otherwise, i’m with everyone else – at this point, I have my autobuys and my recommended by friends buys, and a marketing piece is unlikely to persuade me.
I really don’t have time to watch many trailers/videos, though I’ve seen a few when I had a bit of time and come across them, more from being discussed on a group and being curious to see. However, they wouldn’t influence me on buying, excerpts do that.
I did like the one for Madeline Hunter with the actors, it did give a feel for the era I thought. Doesn’t bother me seeing a face, even the trailers done by authors often incorporate a photo. Just like the hero on the book cover – none of them infuence me, I just picture my own regardless.
I wonder if this new marketing tool really results in sales. But then I’m not into myspace, shelfari and other such sies, either, lol. Guess you can’t blame authors and pubs for following the current fads to try and gain any news readers they can.
I watched the book trailer for Lessons of Desire right here. And I regret to say I turned it off half way. I couldn’t stand the look of the guy playing the hero (I kept thinking how much time he must spend on his hair everyday). The woman playing the heroine did not warm my cold, black heart either.
I would still read Madeline Hunter’s books, the book trailer doesn’t change that. Hopefully I shouldn’t have any trouble blocking out the faces from the trailer. But although I think the trailer’s use of live action was innovative, unfortunately it didn’t work for me at all.
I’m like Stacy S. ~ most of the time I can’t get the trailers to play all the way through.
I’m not a fan of the live action trailers — it puts faces in my head that I really don’t want there, and the acting is never as smooth as the reading. Madeline Hunter’s name and backlist already led me to buying the book (she’s an autobuy for me) so the trailer wouldn’t have swayed me, in any case … but I’ll admit that after watching the trailer, I’ll wait a while longer before reading the book.
(The one exception to this, so far, is Chelsea Cain’s HEARTSICK — the live action there didn’t bother me at all. But maybe because it’s a different genre (thriller) that lends itself a little better to the trailer format?)
Of course, trailers just don’t work for me in general. I’ll take an excerpt or cover copy over a trailer any day — and I’ve never sought out more information about an unknown book/author on the basis of a trailer.
It’s great to get all these opinions on book trailers; they really are bustin’ out all over these days. Some of them are really fun and creative, but as I writer, I’m just trying to figure out if they sell books . . .
I think the reader jury is still out on that.
This would be a fantastic idea, and the expense would be worth it. Now, viewers of any trailer I made would be at my site … so the trailer doesn’t seem as much a marketing tool as an “extra” for existing readers, or a little additional hook for new readers. But either way, those readers have already heard my name, because they are seeking out my site.
But in a venue like a bookstore, it would reach readers who have absolutely no idea an author existed.
I have not bought a book because of a trailer. I do enjoy watching them. I like to see what the author has put together to advertise the book.
I have never seen one like the Hunter one. That’s pretty cool. I think that I would be moved to buy a book by a trailer. But this is coming form a person who can be moved to buy a book by the purty cover.
BTW can’t wait to read your interview with Hunter. Please be sure to ask if she will ever return to medievals 🙂
Giselle that was one of the first things I asked her in Dallas. It was sad… I think I begged her… and her editor *g*
Meljean I bet I have an excerpt to put up that will change your mind *g*.
Love all the opinions. Do keep them coming! I still think my favorite is Robin Schone’s trailer, which should still be on blog in Jan of 07 from her author day.
99% of the time I don’t buy a book because of a video. I go by reviews. 🙂
I can’t say I’ve seen that many author trailers. I did like both of those you put up. I loved the music on Lisa’s! I should start watching them. That Madeline Hunter one may have just sold her a book.
I will often click to play a book trailer if I stumble upon one on an author’s website, blog or myspace page, but I do not seek them out. I often find them a bit silly and would rather read the back cover blurb or an excerpt. I prefer to have the characters’ looks develop in my imagination upon reading the book, and not be influenced by a trailer! In fact, my favorite book covers are those that don’t even reveal full faces! I guess I like the visualizations that an author’s words put in my head best! 😉
My question is how involved are the authors. If it is like Madeline’s with people and such… do you get ‘script’ approval. Do authors write the scripts. It seems like more work than you would want but at the same time this is your book… do you chance that to someone who doesn’t know it as well as you do?
At the same time, has anyone ever clicked on a trailer and been I have to buy this? It seems to be… you already wanted the book and ran across the trailer.
I had script approval and was involved in editing the script and changing it and proposing certain scenes. It is my understanding that the writer always has script approval. I think that if a writer feels competent at script writing she can write her own.
I would like to explain something. These trailers are not primarily intended to sway the audience that already has a system for choosing books. Let’s call those readers the committed romance readers. (That would be you guys!) We know that they use cover copy, excerpts, word of mouth, and maybe some reviews to make their choices. Some of them may be intrigued by a trailer enough to give the book a look, but many won’t even want to watch it. On my website and Myspace page anyone can skip the trailer. You have to click a button to start viewing it. I did that because I know that there are readers who do not want to see those faces.
The trailers are mostly intended to catch the eye of readers who are at best casual romance readers and who buy books on impulse and who have no systematic knowledge of the author pool or even the sub-genres.
The evidence is this other audience responds to trailers very differently from the core readers audience. The trailers are put up (or should be put up) on sites that are not romance specific sites in order to draw in this other audience, to the book and to the genre. My trailer is up at over 100 sites, most of which I have never heard of before.
As for whether they are effective in any way at all—beats me! Mine was an experiment, and I am tracking certain things about it. In a month or so I’ll make what analysis I can and come to a conclusion of some kind or another. But I have never had any evidence that my RT ads result in xxx sales either, so when it comes to all of this stuff authors and publishers are flying into the mist, I think.
Oh! Very cool! Will you be sharing how you feel your experiment went? Cuz color me all sorts of shades of curious. I hate myspace. Totally too blinky shiny for me and I love the shiny! But I think these trailers prolly work well into bringing in traffic to your website from myspace.
And youtube…
And I can really, really see romancenovel.tv making a go with these things helping to cross genres for readers.
No clue how you would turn that into sells figures but it is a start… and of course why I am not working in marketing somewhere ;). But I would love to put up a table and ask those general romance readers a thing or two. Because I have always found when at the store, most everyone I end up talking to (I am chatty go figure) are NOT on line. Sooo do feel free to let us know what you come up with ;).
Hi All! I wanted to weigh in on author videos on the internet. We do not produce book trailers.
Many of our viewers at Romance Novel TV have purchased books based on a video they’ve seen on our network.
With the proliferation of the net and accessibility of authors to readers, I think there are readers out there who want to know more about their authors through video.
Based on our registration a good percentage of our viewers are not ‘hard core’ romance readers. They come to our site primarily to view the videos. This is an indication that romance readers in general are searching for information about authors.
I do believe that as we move forward author videos on the internet will become more prevalent,and they will influence buying habits. The next generation of romance readers is getting most of their entertainment from the internet, this is not going to change. As a result, every day more sites are popping up that cater to a particular niche market. This is a trend that isn’t going away. I believe romance authors will soon see this as a very viable form of promotion. Short, informative, entertaining videos about their writing and their lives.
In the last six months, the changes on the net are staggering – it’s only the beginning. I wager, we won’t recognize the landscape 6 months from now.