Be More Bookish - Week 9, Assignment 1 & 2

I think the most telling thing about this assignment is that I had never heard the phrase "book trailer" until I started Be More Bookish. It's an interesting idea, and I appreciated what this article had to say about trying to reach more readers in an increasingly digital age, but I also appreciated how candid the Tribune article was in discussing the failings of the book trailers that have been made thus far. There were several that I watched that worked. The autobiographical ones in which the author has something worth saying about the part of their life that they've written about works well because it's extra information and it gives a humanizing element to an otherwise contained body of work. Most books, in other words, exist in a vacuum, but some benefit tremendously from a personal touch from the author. The example given in the Times article of Thomas Pynchon's book trailer for Inherent Vice is another good example; it's a stripped-down reading by Pynchon of the opening of the book while choppy footage of California beach life flash in the background, and then he sardonically suggests that the reader buy the book themselves if they want to know the rest. It ends with Pynchon bemoaning the exorbitant cost of the book. This book trailer is engaging, charming, and funny, and it works well even if it does go one for a bit too long. I wanted to buy a copy of that book when it was over. Finally, there's the delightfully over the top As Dead As It Gets book trailer starring actress Bella Thorne as a highly marketable goth-but-not-too-goth girl wandering through a graveyard, huskily posing shallow, cynical, and rhetorical questions to the audience. Finally, it ends with her trying to touch a boy and getting blown away in a puff of smoke.

This works because it's completely true to the spirit of the book. It's exactly the sort of thing that will engage the target audience and make them want to read the book. It goes back to what the Times article was saying about finding a way to engage more readers through technology, and I think that's what this last trailer does perfectly. Still, while I enjoyed a few of these trailers, the majority were pretty painful. I don't know that book trailers will ever be popular, but I think investing some more time and effort into producing a quality product could at least produce something that doesn't detract from the book.