Book Trailer

Author Mike Edison built a 3D book trailer for Dirty! Dirty! Dirty!: Of Playboys, Pigs, and Penthouse Paupers-An American Tale of Sex and Wonder, a history of  the four major pornographic magazines in the U.S. in the 20th century –Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler and Screw.

Edison explained why he went 3D: “It was one of those eureka moments when my book started telling me what IT wanted… obviously the trailer was inspired by Russ Meyers and great grindhouse trailers of the 70s, but as over-the-top as the video is, it is really a very accurate representation of the book. At the heart of it I’m a journalist, but I want my books to read as if you were listening to a great rock’n'roll or jazz record. It’s high-energy social history for adults.”

Here is a link to the 3D trailer. To see the trailer in all of its glory, you can email your name and address to DDDglasses@gmail.com to get a free pair of 3D glasses (while supplies last). For help on how to make your own book trailer, check out our Five Tips for Making An Author Video post.

Oscar winning actor Timothy Hutton and Riverhead publisher Geoffrey Kloske co-starred in a new book trailer for author Julie Klam. Follow this link to watch the video.

New York Magazine described the trailer: “[Hutton] plays an a**hole version of himself in a book trailer for Julie Klam, an author he knew only from Twitter.”

This is the first time both Hutton and Kloske have appeared in a book trailer. The trailer advertises the paperback version of You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness and the hardcover publication Love at First Bark: How Saving a Dog Can Sometimes Help You Save Yourself.

Today Knopf Doubleday unveiled the book trailer for Haruki Murakami‘s upcoming novel, 1Q84. In addition, you can follow this Facebook link and click “like” to read the first chapter of 1Q84.

Here’s more about the book: “The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo. A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —”Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.”

Be sure to check out our Haruki Murakami playlist on Spotify for some musical inspiration. (Via Book Bench)

Could you design a book trailer using just kids’ toys? Romance author Tessa Dare created the book trailer embedded above for fellow romance author Maya Banks–only using props from her daughter’s bedroom. What do you think of the final product?

Dare explained more about this project: “Last year, I’d made an amateur book video using my kids’ toys. People seemed to enjoy it. So when Operation Auction happened, I offered up a similar video as an auction item. To sweeten the deal, a lot of bloggers also promised to post the winner’s video. Maya made a VERY generous bid to win it, and I could not have been more thrilled. Making a video for her Highlander trilogy was a dream come true. Who could resist the chance to dress up Ken dolls in kilts?”

The titles in Banks’ Highlander series include In Bed with the Highlander (August 2011), Seduction of a Highland Lass (September 2011) and Never Love a Highlander (October 2011). The first video Dare created was for her Stud Club trilogy. For both videos, Dare used toys, stock music, low-low-budget special effects, an iPhone and a Macbook computer. (Via Jane L)

Author James Patterson recently released a novel book trailer: promoting his YA novel and his adult thriller in the same television commercial.

In the book trailer embedded above, Patterson shares the spotlight with an animated version of Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life‘s protagonist . As the video explains, Middle School was written for a YA audience while Now You See Her is an adult thriller.

Many authors write for both young readers and adults. Melissa de la Cruz‘s first adult novel, The Witches of East End, included appearances from characters her Blue Bloods YA series. Meg Cabot recently released Overbite, a sequel to her adult vampire story Insatiable. Last April, she also published the first book in her YA trilogy, Abandon. Who else can follow Patterson’s example?

Today we interviewed TV writer, producer and novelist Lee Goldberg, finding out why most writers shouldn’t make book trailers.

Goldberg also talked about how he brought his short story, “Remaindered,” to Kindle and film–offering cautionary advice for anybody thinking about investing in a book trailer.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview: “For the most part, it makes me cringe from head to toe. I look at some of these book trailers from some big name authors and I can’t help but think: ‘Are you out of your mind? Why don’t you just go to the bathroom, take whatever cash you have in your pockets and flush it down that toilet?’ They are amateurish. They are nothing but slideshows with bad stock photos, too much text and creepy music. They are all the same and they aren’t effective sales tools.”

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Last week indie rock singer and author Alina Simone shared her secret for creating the “fastest, easiest and cheapest” book trailer on the Morning Media Menu.

Simone also  talked about her new memoir, You Must Go and Win and shared book promotion tips for writers. Her homemade video (embedded above) featured Eugene Mirman and Stephen Elliott brainstorming promotional ideas.

Follow this MP3 link to listen. Here’s an excerpt: “I did it in the cheapest way possible, which is a default mode for many. I got a bunch of really funny people in a room to talk about marketing a book. Any folks with a book can make a trailer. Just grab some great friends who you think are highly entertaining. Everyone has these friends, whether they are Eugene Mirman or not). Turn the camera on and edit something together out of a conversational gambit. That’s the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to make a book trailer.”

21-year-old Stephen Lunsford has won Doubleday’s book video contest, creating a one-minute short for Daniel H. Wilson‘s new novel, Robopocalypse.

The young filmmaker won $750 for his video. We’ve embedded his winning entry above–what do you think?

Lunsford explained his video  in the release: “The definite inspiration for the short was the Alien (1979) trailer; in my opinion it’s the best movie trailer of all time … While I would have liked to have had more shots to add to the film, ultimately my cast/crew was mostly unavailable save for one afternoon and night. We shot the whole thing in about four hours in Toluca Lake/Burbank.”

A crew of book trailer fans gathered at the Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn last night for the second annual Moby Awards.

This GalleyCat editor helped judge the annual prizes, celebrating the best and worst book trailers of the year. Follow this link to watch all the finalists. We’ve listed all the winners below…

Lifetime Achievement Award: Ron Charles (acceptance speech embedded above). When asked about rumors of his retirement, Charles told GalleyCat: “Like any over-the-hill rock star, I know that the best way to reignite interest in my flagging career is to call it quits. I’m hopeful that this last episode will be the first in a long line of last episodes.”

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In a fantastically practical post entitled How To Make a Book Trailer for $5, author Kate Noble showed aspiring writers how she built the book trailer embedded above–a $5 labor of love.

The post contained lots of good ideas, but we wanted to highlight the section about music. Noble shared some great tips and links for finding inexpensive music for your video. Any suggestions to add?

Here’s an excerpt: “Find music through a royalty-free music site that will fit your thematic aspirations, and purchase it.  Again, thank you Leanna Renee for pointing me towards some of the best royalty-free sites.  I happened to get incredibly lucky and find a royalty-free piece of music that I liked called Divertimento on a free/donation based site.  (And I gave the musician credit on the video.)  But if the music you find that works for you happens to cost $50 – buy it.  It’s worth it.”