Video Trailer Review by Sandy M:
The Perfect Mistress by Victoria Alexander
Historical Romance – February 2011
We want to try something new here at The Pond – reviewing video trailers, another way of tantalizing readers to pick up an author’s book. As readers, we spend a lot of time online nowadays, buying our books here more than ever over our local bookstores. So I’m thinking a book video, in a way, takes the place of the first impression a book’s cover gives you. How do you feel about that?
Do you make a point of viewing video trailers at authors’ web sites when you know new releases are imminent? How much importance do you give trailers when deciding to purchase a book, especially if it’s a new author to you? Or are you a reader who hasn’t crossed over from cover and blurb yet and can do without a video? If your interest is piqued after viewing a video, do you buy the book? Or do you need more research before that decision is made?
And do you think our direction of reviewing videos will help you in your decision making for book purchases? Well, let’s find out.
We’re going to handle reviewing and grading a little bit differently from our regular reviews, of course, because, obviously, a video trailer is not a book. For me, content and presentation are key in a trailer. Does the content get the point of the book across to the reader? Does it do that effectively; it doesn’t bore or confuse the viewer but makes them want to know more, to buy that book as soon as possible. Presentation is equally as important, because who wants to watch a shoddily made video, where text is difficult to read or it rushes you through so quickly you can’t register what the story is about or the music is too low or too loud, among scads of other things. These reviews will not be lengthy, just a short paragraph or two on the whole.
We’ll start out giving you video reviews once, maybe twice, a week on Fridays. And, who knows, if y’all like the concept, some bigger and better things could come along! Also, if any of you find an interesting trailer you’d like to send us an alert about or you’re an author who’d like your trailer reviewed, let me know at LighthouseTagger (at) gmail (dot) com.
Our review rating will be 1 through 5 for each category of Content and Presentation, and then we’ll give you a total score on that 1 to 10 scale, which is self-explanatory.
We will not be giving you a summary as we do with our books. Why? Well, isn’t that the point of a video? To give you, the reader, a summary, or at least an idea, of what the book is about? So we all have to go in blind when viewing the trailers, especially if you haven’t read the book yet. So let’s get started.
I have chosen The Perfect Mistress as our experimental first video review because I have yet to read the book. It’s waiting for me, however. So I think this might work on a couple of different levels at this point. And be sure to leave comments about this new idea, the trailer itself, my thoughts about it, as well as your review, if you’d like to share. We do want to hear what you think.
Here’s the video:
Content: 4 Presentation: 4 Total: 8
My review: I like this trailer a lot; it’s very beautifully done. It’s all video, with no text or graphics, which makes the feel of the period first rate, along with the music and the use of dress and the English voice-over. I also like that it’s the reader who is being spoken to directly. It’s to the point, giving you enough for the gist of the story, along with the title, at just over the one-minute mark. With her devil-may-care attitude, I can perhaps see why she’d make the perfect mistress.
The only negative for me is I would like to see the hero. Even if it’s for a brief glimpse nuzzling her neck at the end, with a wicked glint in his eye. Other than that, I’m ready to pick up the book to go on that grand adventure with her.
Wow, that was really nice. A very well thought out and beautifully put together video although I too, would have liked to have seen a glimpse of the hero, this is all about her. Also the end went too fast, I didn’t get to finish reading the credits or whatever it was, only saw the word “Kensington.” Does it have to be under a minute? I thought it could have been a little bit longer, perhaps then the hero could have been brought in as well. I don’t think I would run out and buy this book based on that video, but it did pique my interest to google the title and find out more! Would love to see more videos.
Thanks for dropping by, Ginny! You’re right, that last frame does go by a little too quickly. There’s no time requirement for a video, though a lot of folks feel if it can be done quickly and efficiently, all the better. But I guess sometimes a few seconds makes all the difference. And I think the difference between us on whether or not to read after viewing the trailer is that I have the book in hand. LOL 🙂 But it still did its job in making you curious.
I really enjoyed the clip. I liked the narrator’s voice and the actress was very attractive… that was some corset! I agree that we needed to see the hero… a shadow, a masculine profile, a hand on her neck, something.
LOL, Christina, tightening that corset does bring to life all those descriptions we’ve read over the years! I like the idea of a shadow of the hero. Mysterious! Thanks for stopping by.
Actually, I’ve never purchased a book based on a video. I’m more likely to purchase after reading the first chapter. Having said that, I loved the English accent. The video appeared to be well thought out and set the period of the book. It’s one of the better book videos I’ve seen. I too, would have liked a hint of the hero. Perhaps a knock on the door followed by the door partially opening and a male hand reaching through to take the heroine’s hand. Just a little tantalizing mystery. LOL . And yes, the video did tempt me to research more of this book.
Thanks, Janet! I personally haven’t purchased a book based on a video either, at least yet. I’m sure there’s the possibility I might, just like I sometimes buy a book based on the cover as I’m browsing in the bookstore. LOL, it takes all kinds! And I definitely like your idea of how to incorporate the hero.
It is one of the better ones, very nice, However, with the amount of books I constantly check out I just don’t have the time to spend waiting for videos to play, plus not nearly enough info about the book as compared to a blurb and or excerpt which tells me more of the writing style also and whicfh I can read much quicker at a gloance than waiting for a video to play thru. So why they are nice, a video itself would not send me out to buy. Also if your PC happens to have a sound card on the fritz, as mine had recently, a problem, lol.
Hey, Pam! Well, I realize you can’t watch a video for every book you look at online, just as you can’t look at every book and its cover in the bookstore, as much as you’d like to. LOL. And I don’t look at a trailer as giving me all info about a book. It’s a teaser. And that’s the point of reviewing them to me. Does it tease enough to make you look into the book more, research it further to see if you’d really like to read it. But you have to admit, there’s one or two trailers here and there that COULD send you out to buy!
I love this idea!
This video: I really liked the moody vibe and soft voice over. Like others, I would have appreciated a flash of the hero.
I’m glad you like it, Sandy! We’ll do a few and see what happens. Thanks for coming by.
If you liked this video check out the trailer for His Mistress By Christmas, itr’s even better than this one!