Merry Wanderer of the Night + WG round-up

Weekly Geeks 2010-23 Wrap-up: Book trailers are trailing...

This week, Bernadette wanted to know what Weekly Geeks think about book trailers:

Apparently every self-respecting book has to have a book trailer these days so it seemed a good time to have a chat about them.

  • Do you watch book trailers?
  • If yes, do you actively seek them out or just watch the ones that get pushed to you in some way?
  • If you don't watch them, why not?
  • Have you ever read a book based solely on seeing the trailer? What book was it and what did you like about the trailer?
  • Where do book trailers come on your list of things that influence you with regards to what books to read (friends' recommendations, mainstream reviews, bloggers, bookstore promotions, the blurb...)?
It turns out Bernadette posed this question out of her own need for answers - she really doesn't get the point of book trailers, and would like someone to convince her of their usefulness.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like she'll get that; this week's participating Geeks aren't into book trailers either!

Erotic Horizon
of EH on Books and More isn't a fan of book trailers - she'd rather let the words fuel her imagination than be provided with the images. The imagination issue is a concern of Fiona from The Book Coop as well; she critiques several book trailers in her post, and while acknowledging that some are done well, hasn't found one yet that has truly sold her on a book.

Margaret at BooksPlease wasn't familiar with book trailers before this topic came up, and after checking out a few, she remains unconvinced they're of much use to her.

For those of you on Twitter following the #dearpublisher discussion, this may be something to add to it:

#dearpublisher Don't bother with book trailers - they're really not working for us!
Thanks to all of this week's participants, and check back tomorrow for the new Weekly Geeks topic!

TIME, and more:

Weekly Geeks 2010-23 Wrap-up: Book trailers are trailing... + WG round-up