I didn't realize that nowadays books are promoted through the use of trailers. You learn something every day. This is the trailer for "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children."
As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.I seem to be late in discovering the book; when I requested it from our library tonight, I found that I'm now 263rd on the hold list (so don't expect a review of the book from me anytime soon...)
The trailer is good, but even more interesting is the video about the making of the trailer. You can view that video at The Centered Librarian.
I liked the "making of" video. This was a neat book. It's teen fiction, which I usually don't read, but the way he used the photos is interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm kinds proud to say the author was a co-worker of mine ...until he quit mental_floss just last week. Probably to spend time promoting his book and writing more.
ReplyDeleteNot a comment about the book...but I remember in the *ahem* late 80's there were trailers for dyanetics all over tv. For some reason I never thought of them as trailers until I just read your post.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the list for the book too. I hold the 266th spot.
I find it sad that you are 263rd on the waiting list for this book at your local library -- not because it means that you'll have to wait, but because it means that this author will lose out on 263 sales of his book. When you multiply that by all the other libraries in the country, it becomes clear why most authors live on a shoestring budget and have to keep their 'day job.' :(
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazingly good trailer. Most of them that I've seen have been embarrassingly bad, amateurish and/or overdone. And it was clever to reuse much of the footage for the "making of" video.
ReplyDelete@M'Stan, book trailers became a viable means of promotion only with the advent of YouTube and Facebook. Airing them on TV would be way too expensive for most book-promotion budgets, but posting them on the Web costs little or nothing.
@Unknown, don't knock libraries! They're a major source of sales for publishers and hence of royalties for authors. Most of those 263 people on the waiting list would be unlikely to buy a copy. On the other hand, people will often purchase a copy of a book they've taken out of the library and enjoyed, or they'll buy one or more copies for gifts, or simply talk up the book to others who may buy a copy on their recommendation. Word of mouth is crucial to book sales.
In any case, this one's already a bestseller, so the author's in clover no matter how many people read a library copy.
--Swift Loris
Unknown, your view of libraries and books is way too simplistic. The author will now "lose out on 263 sales" as a result of the loans from our library. Speaking personally, I can guarantee you that at my income level there is no way I would have bought the book; that's probably true for many or most of the other library users. By borrowing it from the library and blogging it, I may actually have increased the sales of his book by a copy or two.
ReplyDeleteYour argument is the same one used by software vendors when they claim that a child in Indonesia using pirated Photoshop represents a "lost sale." Nonsense.