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Chris Marie Green on Book Trailers

Chris Marie Green also writes as Crystal Green for Silhouette Special Edition and Harlequin Blaze. Her first vampire book, THE HUNTRESS, allowed her to indulge in her love of horror movies and novels. NIGHT RISING is book one of the Vampire Babylon trilogy followed by MIDNIGHT REIGN in February, 2008. BREAK OF DAWN, book three, will be released in September, 2008, and a new Vampire Babylon trilogy will follow.

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There’s one thing about being an author that vexes me. It’s not the writing. It’s not the time I spend revising, either.

It’s PR, and it’s really been on my mind since I’m gearing up right now for a big urban fantasy book release.

In February.

And this brings me to my topic. As you all have noticed, book trailers are hot. They seem to be all over YouTube and Metacafe and even authors’ individual Web sites. They can feature actors or stock footage or slides. Once upon a time, these trailers were mainly a way of selling movies or TV shows, but they’ve crept into the publishing industry and are making their mark.

Naturally, it was beyond me to resist this new PR trend. In fact, when I first heard about it at an RT convention a couple of years ago, I was smitten. Forget a stagnant ad in a magazine, I thought. Viral marketing could allow a trailer constant resurrection on reader blogs and various other sites. So I enlisted COS Productions to whip up a stock-footage trailer for an atmospheric thriller I’d written for the now defunct Bombshell line. And that indeed got some attention, so I knew that I needed to invest in another one, this time for my first Vampire Babylon book from Ace Trade—NIGHT RISING.


I posted this on my blog as well as my other sites, then passed it to people I thought might be interested, such as fellow authors, my agent, and my editor. The production began to pop up on other blogs, too, but, best of all, the marketing department at Penguin liked it and gave the trailer its own space on their Web page.

Honestly, I believe this justified every penny I spent.

Needless to say, I’ll be doing another one for the sequel to NIGHT RISING. MIDNIGHT REIGN’s trailer should be ready in a couple of months, and I hope it finds the same exposure. But in the process of writing the script for this “sequel,” I’ve been mulling over what makes a presentation effective. The one I wrote for NIGHT RISING was based on the prologue, which provided every hook I needed and didn’t reveal too much about the mystery-noir-type plot.

But how can I create an effective promotional tool this time without repeating myself?

I started looking at a couple of successful viral marketing strategies—two in particular—for inspiration.

The first is the “Cloverfield Project,” a campaign I find to be pure genius. You guys know about it. The movie trailer played before TRANSFORMERS, and the first day of release, people were buzzing all over the Internet about this teaser that featured a home movie of a party that’s interrupted by what seems to be a terrifying attack. (And when the Statue of Liberty’s head comes flying off and lands in the street? Yikes.) The film’s name wasn’t announced—just the release date and the fact that JJ Abrams has something to do with it. Then the Web sites sprung up, offering mysterious clues about this project and, even today, sites like www.aintitcoolnews.com are still hazarding guesses about the film’s contents. It’ll probably be that way until just before the January release date, too.

So the lesson from Cloverfield? Tease, don’t spoil. Huge difference, because teasing only tantalizes—it doesn’t lay out the details of any twists and turns.

A second example can be found with LOST—a series that has refined the art of the tease. At Comic-Con, the head writers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof hosted a panel filled with dangling possibilities that were snatched away before they could be explained. Whenever one of them started to give away too much information, the other would literally ring a bell to make the speaker clam up. LOST is masterful at posing questions and making us go crazy with wanting the answers (and for some fans, too crazy, yes? LOL.). Part of the way they do that is with ever-evolving, enigmatic sideshow Web sites for things like the Hanso Foundation.

Truthfully, I’m still tossing around ideas for MIDNIGHT REIGN’s trailer, but I know this: it doesn’t need to be long or even detailed. It just needs to wheedle an instinctive “Oooooooo” from the viewer. Hopefully.

So here’s a question for you all: Have you seen anything lately that made you go “Ooooooo”—whether it be an ad for a TV show or a movie? And what do you all think of the plethora of book trailers out there: are you sick of them yet or do you want more, more, more?

Just so you know, next Wednesday, I’ll be randomly picking out two comments and sending the writers copies of both BAITED, my atmospheric Bombshell thriller, and THE HUNTRESS, my first vampire book. You can also check out my main site for a monthly contest with different prizes.

Good luck, and thanks for having me!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Guest Author. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

28 Responses to “Chris Marie Green on Book Trailers”

  1. Angela James
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 3:59 am
    1

    I remember seeing the trailer on TKA’s blog and then posting it on my own. It was the first time I’d heard of the book and the whole reason I bought it, so it worked on me!

  2. Suzette
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 4:46 am
    2

    I actually like the book trailers. They make me more anxious to read the books. I liked yours by the way. I think they catch the attention quickly.

  3. Jambrea
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 4:52 am
    3

    There is a movie trailer out there that made me go “ooooo” and it is the new Will Smith movie coming out. It is called “I am Legend” It looks pretty good. I also like the book trailers. Those are pretty cool and I really like it when I see them on TV. What a great idea!

  4. Kimberly
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 6:37 am
    4

    I guess as as TV ads go, lately the ones that catch my interest lately are for the show “Pushing Daisies”—which seems kind of magical and quirky and just my cup of tea. I also think that “Heroes” has a good thing going with its catch phrases “Save the cheerleader, save the world” and “Are you on the list?” I don’t usually like the kind of movie trailers that build up hype without even hinting at the plot. I don’t want spoilers, but I need something that will get me interested.
    I’ve liked the book trailer I’ve seen, although I’m still more likely to buy a book based upon excerpts and the text on the back cover.

  5. Chris Marie Green
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 6:51 am
    5

    Hey, everyone!

    Angela, thank you *so* much for posting the trailer. Awesome. And Suzette, I appreciate your thumbs up for the NIGHT RISING production. When COS showed it to be, the producer was concerned that I wouldn’t like it. (He was new at the time.) But the minute it ended I was acting like a geek and jumping up and down in my seat, LOL. Man, I’m a dope.

    Jambrea, I’m interested in that movie, too. I AM LEGEND doesn’t really show too much besides some good hooks, and for me, that’s so very effective. I remember the trailer for that Harrison Ford movie, WHAT LIES BENEATH. It gave away at least one huge plot point and that really chapped my hide!

    Kimberly–Oooo. (There it is) I’m soooooo looking forward to PUSHING DAISIES. They’re doing a good job spotlighting the tone and making that one of their selling points in their ad campaign, aren’t they? And you’re right about the HEROES catchphrases. Very, very smart. (BTW, if you all like HEROES, I have coverage from the panel at Comic-Con on my blog. Almost all the main cast members were there. And a few of us get together after every showing and trade comments.)

    Thanks for popping in, you all! ;)

  6. Catherine
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 7:58 am
    6

    I guess I’m the only one so far, but this is the first I’ve ever heard of book trailers. Pretty cool idea though.

  7. April
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 8:23 am
    7

    Book trailers don’t work on me, which is saying a lot since most TV ads have me by the neck. I guess I find most of book trailers too wordy, long, and slow-moving, sometimes too cluttered with text and images. Yours is one of the better ones, though, and I agree — tease, don’t spoil.

    What I’d really love to see is a book trailer that made good use of a voiceover with a really good narrating voice, the kind you’d hear in a movie trailer — a deep, rich baritone if it’s a guy (because tenors sound so reedy and ineffective) or a honeyed high alto from the diaphragm if it’s a woman (because the nasally female voices are more irritating than compelling).

    Sometimes, it’s just too much to be watching moving images and reading text at the same time. All that copy kind of defeats the purpose of having a trailer in the first place, where you want the reader to experience the book in other more sensory ways. With all those words on the screen, it might as well be a magazine ad, a postcard, or a blurb on a pamphlet.

    I’d also love to see better framing on the images. Many of them using cover images and portrait sized stock photos look like they’ve turned the letterboxed format on its side. If people are going to use the medium, they really should go out and use it. Don’t skimp and leave the sides hanging black. It just looks awful!

    Again, yours is one of the few exceptions, but I’ve seen way too many bad book trailers for me to care much for them in general. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even watch them any more.

  8. April
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 8:25 am
    8

    I meant to write, “I guess I find most book trailers…”

    I forgot to remove “of” when I replaced a pronoun.

  9. Teresa W.
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 11:28 am
    9

    I recently saw a good book trailer for Atlantis Rising by Alyssa Day. It’s great you should check it out!

  10. Chris Marie Green
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
    10

    Hey!
    Catherine, I think, in general, more people are hearing about book trailers week by week. Heck, my editor at Ace, who is seasoned in the publishing business, was unfamiliar with it when I presented the one for NIGHT RISING to her….
    April, thank you. :) And you have a lot of good points. I’d *love* to try a voiceover in the next trailer. We’ll see what the old budget allows, LOL. I think an actor might have to be hired for something like that, but I’m curious to find out now. (Wouldn’t a voiceover work well with a noir tone, as well?) Your comments would actually be helpful to many people who are creating book trailers, IMHO. Do you have a blog?
    Teresa, you know, I’ve heard a lot about Alyssa’s trailers, so I should hunt it down! Thanks for the suggestion. I’d like to see why so many people are talking about it.
    See you later,
    Chris

  11. Cherie J
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
    11

    The last movie trailer that caught my interest was the one for the Transformers movie. Book Trailers don’t really catch my attention. Guess it is because I feel so rushed all the time since I have small children. Can’t really get into them.

  12. Cheryl S.
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
    12

    I’m one of the few that don’t really go for book trailers either. Guess it’s because if I’m in the market for a book it’s because I want to get away from the visual stimulation of movies and tv and stimulate my mind and imagination a little more. Your book trailer is well done though.

  13. April
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
    13

    April, thank you. :) And you have a lot of good points. I’d *love* to try a voiceover in the next trailer. We’ll see what the old budget allows, LOL. I think an actor might have to be hired for something like that, but I’m curious to find out now. (Wouldn’t a voiceover work well with a noir tone, as well?)

    That would be the trick — balancing between the budget and having an effective piece of advertising. Probably the best thing to do first is to find out how effective book trailers are in general anyway. How is it distributed? Does the target market get to see it? Do they even bother watching it? What’s the conversion rate? How many of the people who see it actually go buy the book afterwards? In the end, do you get a good return on your investment?

    I have no idea how effective these things are, so I really couldn’t say if getting a voiceover done would be even worth the cost and trouble. I just know that in my experience book trailers don’t affect my book buying habits and that said I’d love to see less text and more voiceover in them. I’m not even sure the change would work to convert ME, lol. I just know that’s what I’d like to see. :)

    Really great (and they have to be REALLY great) movie trailers work on me, but the movie business is a LOT more lucrative than the book business, and movie studios have the money for that kind of production. And the venues where they play them are perfect — they reach mostly an already moviegoing audience.

    Book trailers, on the other hand … I feel they’re in kind of a limbo, really.

    Your comments would actually be helpful to many people who are creating book trailers, IMHO. Do you have a blog?

    I do, but I mostly play with words and pictures on it. :) Though I do have a tiny bit of the right background, I don’t generally talk about advertising and marketing except on very rare occasions.

  14. April
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
    14

    I’m one of the few that don’t really go for book trailers either. Guess it’s because if I’m in the market for a book it’s because I want to get away from the visual stimulation of movies and tv and stimulate my mind and imagination a little more. Your book trailer is well done though.

    This is essentially why I think book trailers aren’t as effective as they could be. They use a movie medium to try to capture a book reading audience.

    Readers read. They go to the library or to the bookstore. Effective book advertising would reach these people where they already are.

    Audiobooks, however, could probably benefit from the book trailer if it had very little text and a lot of great sound and narrating. Regular books … not so much.

  15. Kaitlin
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
    15

    Book trailers for me are kind of “eh”, but that’s probably because I haven’t seen a lot of them.

    I think the ones that have caught my eye are trailers for both new & returning TV shows for the fall season. Heroes, Pushing Daisies, Chuck…they all have something going on that make me go “Hmmm.” :)

    Your books look great! I’ll have to look them up. I’m a big paranormal fan and am working on my first.

    Thanks for your entry. It was great. :)

  16. Keishon
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
    16

    And what do you all think of the plethora of book trailers out there: are you sick of them yet or do you want more, more, more?

    Lone reader here with a dffierent op in that book trailers are hit or miss for me. I don’t got looking for them and some of them are really not done well. It interferes with what I imagine the characters to be. First impressions mean everything or almost. And JAK’s book trailer for Silver Master is an example of a book trailer to avoid. I know I am in the minority but that’s my opinion. Carry on.

  17. catie
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
    17

    I think I’m destined to be perpetually un-hip because I truly do not see the value in these book trailers. Sure the music and visuals are cool, but I’ve yet to feel the urge to check out a new book because of a trailer. :\

  18. Pamk
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
    18

    transformers rocked. completely surprised me.

  19. SweetNSourGirl
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
    19

    I totally agree with your post, Ms. Green. When movies spoil the twists in plot in the freakin’ trailer, there’s no point in seeing them at all! Book trailers? Until today, I’ve never heard of them. Yours was pretty cool, and it successfully gave me book hunger. Hope it’s tasty!

    Anyone remember when “Incubus Dreams” had a TV commercial?

  20. Lorelie
    Posted: Sep 13th, 2007 at 4:02 am
    20

    I wish there was a site I could check to see all the latest book trailers at once. Or if Dear Jane or AAR or somewhere had a page of them, that’d do it. I don’t particularly love YouTube, so I’m not gonna spend a lot of time digging around there looking for trailers. (Not to mention I can’t get there from work and YouTube embeds on other sites are blocked as well.)

  21. Chris Marie Green
    Posted: Sep 13th, 2007 at 6:59 am
    21

    Cherie, Cheryl, and Catie–thanks for your input! This is interesting because I’ve never really asked a lot of people about how they feel about this advertising tool. Looks like responses are definitely mixed. :)

    April–more great questions to ask. If you’re a member of RWA, you should think about pitching an article about this to the RWR. Seriously!

    IMHO, since I’m a “crossover” movie/book fan, maybe that’s the reason book trailers appealed to me right off the bat…. They spoke to a visual side of me. Maybe they doesn’t work for all movie/book fans though.

    Kaitlin, thank you! And I’m looking forward to CHUCK, too. The humor in that one is catching.

    Keishon, you’re *so* right about using actors in trailers. I’m not crazy about that approach, either. Sometimes I feel the same way about book covers, too, because there are instances where the characters don’t look anything like the way I pictured them. And just out of curiosity now, I’ve got to check out SILVER MASTER! LOL.

    Pamk, I never did see TRANSFORMERS this summer. I actually caught the CLOVERFIELD teaser online. I’ll catch the DVD though. I always do.

    SweetNSourGirl, I appreciate that! Wow, I don’t remember the commercial for INCUBUS DREAMS. That might be a sight to see though! I wonder if that’s hanging around somewhere online.

    Lorelie, here’s a site with a sampling of book trailers: www.WatchTheBook.com. If you’re an author who’s posting the trailer, though, they require that you pay for their services. I’ve put my stuff on YouTube, etc., but I feel like things get lost in the mad shuffle there.

    Thanks for your responses, you all! Be back later, and I’m really sorry if I’ve missed anyone….

  22. Crystal B.
    Posted: Sep 13th, 2007 at 7:17 am
    22

    I enjoy watching the book trailers authors have on their sites.
    Some of the new trailers for tv shows have been good. I saw the one for Pushing Up Daisys, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money, and Cane last night and they all looked interesting.

  23. Heather (errantdreams)
    Posted: Sep 13th, 2007 at 7:34 am
    23

    Oddly I find that too much of a tease (like that trailer you reference) is a turn-off for me and makes me LESS likely to track down more information. But I also know I’m in the minority here. :)

  24. Chris Marie Green
    Posted: Sep 14th, 2007 at 7:19 am
    24

    Crystal B, I’m sooooo watching DIRTY SEXY MONEY because I need my Michael Vartan fix. Life just isn’t the same without my Agent Vaughn around!

    Hey, Heather! I can see how it might be offputting to get too little info. What does it say about me that I like to be teased so much? LOL.

    Have a great weekend, you all!

  25. Stien and Andi
    Posted: Sep 14th, 2007 at 7:32 am
    25

    Well, I don’t know what to think of book trailers. I’ve seen some I liked, but that didn’t really affect my buying habits.
    In the past, let’s say last year, I’ve checked the website of COS productions. I practically watched every trailer they had, but didn’t like them that much. Don’t know why that was, perhaps because it all looked a bit too amateurish for my taste.
    At the other hand, I know of a trailer for a comic book series, and that one rocks! Not that I think these two things can be compared, since comic books are already something visual…

    Yours is pretty good, though.

  26. Chris Marie Green
    Posted: Sep 15th, 2007 at 7:14 am
    26

    Hey, Stien and Andi, can you drop the name of that comic book series trailer? I’d love to see it! I’m a comic girl, so I wonder if I even already read the series…. :)

  27. Stien and Andi
    Posted: Sep 15th, 2007 at 8:26 am
    27

    Hi Chris, sure. Here’s the link:
    http://www.le-scorpion.com/pre.....ionpub.mpg

    It’s in French, I hope that isn’t a problem. I don’t know if it’s translated in English yet. I’ll have to check that.
    I really love the series, mainly because the hero is so very yum, but there’s a lot of action too, and a real thriller who’s-done-it plot…

    http://www.le-scorpion.com/

  28. Chris Marie Green
    Posted: Sep 16th, 2007 at 7:29 am
    28

    Thanks for posting that link, Stien and Andi–that looks like some intriguing content. Of course, I didn’t understand a word of French, but the meaning comes through. And a who-done-it plot? Love.

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