Videos

The parody video (embedded above)  mixes a catchy Lana Del Rey song with the mega-bestselling book series. Follow this link to watch the original song by Lana Del Rey–what do you think?

The song was written and performed by comedian Holly Laurent with some extra lyrics from Martin Wilson. It contains a little NSFW language.

Time Newsfeed has more: “The result of this epiphany is a music video with Laurent doing a dead-ringer imitation of sultry and controversial singer Lana Del Rey’s song ‘Video Games,’ set to lyrics inspired by Suzanne Collins’ dystopian young-adult novel and soon-to-be blockbuster movie, The Hunger Games. The lyrics are as inspired as the pairing, making you laugh and cry in equal parts: ‘I don’t want Peeta to be dead/A pita is a pouch of bread/But that’s his name.’” (Link via)

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

For the last few weeks, “S*** People Say” videos have swept through YouTube, spawning trend pieces and anti-trend pieces.

The trend has finally arrived at the publishing industry with a S*** Agents and Editors Say video. Everybody from aspiring writers to publishing professionals can find something to smile about here–all the content is safe for work.

The video was created by Foundry agent Brandi Bowles, Folio agent Michelle Brower and Da Capo editor Katie McHugh.

Over the past few years, video bloggers around YouTube have earned hundreds of thousands of views with book haul videos. Part of an exhibitionist tradition of haul videos that share shopping spree purchases, these dedicated readers show off new books.

Wikipedia has more about haul videos: “By late 2010, nearly a quarter of a million haul videos had been shared on the website YouTube alone.^[5] Some of the individual videos have received tens of millions of views. Many young adults (mostly women)^[3] have displayed their shopping hauls, while including their beauty and design commentary in the narration. The videos are often grouped by store name or by type of product (cosmetics, accessories, shoes, postage stamps, etc.).^[1]”

Below, we’ve linked to the five most popular book haul videos on YouTube.

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Earlier this week, debut YA novelist Jess Rothenberg videotaped herself dancing with the first copy of her book and a cat. We’ve embedded the video above, set to a classic tune from Flashdance.

First book celebrations are a small but inspiring genre on YouTube. Travis Nichols celebrated his book release by dancing with a potted plant, playing “Guitar Hero,” and imitating Tom Cruise‘s famous Risky Business scene. Kaleb Nation posted a happy video a few years back, stacking and restacking his new book copies.

Any more videos to add? Here’s more about Rothenberg’s The Catastrophic History of You and Me: “BRIE’S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn’t love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally. But now that she’s D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined.”

That’s the spooky book video for Ben Marcus‘ new book, The Flame Alphabet. Artist and author Erin Cosgrove created the video, offering this important advice for aspiring book trailer makers: “do it out of enthusiasm, terror and fun, and not as a job.”

This collaboration should inspire more writers, as 99 percent of book trailers could use some help from a professional artist. Cosgrove shared some book trailer advice in a GalleyCat interview–you can read her thoughts below.

Here’s more about Cosgrove’s career: “Cosgrove is an artist and writer who uses video, animation, books, painting, scrolls, timelines, installation, and performance in her artwork … Her art novel, The Baader-Meinhof Affair, was published by Printed Matter, NY, in 2003.”

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For your three-day weekend reading pleasure, here are the most popular stories of the week, including A Heartbreaking Shower Curtain of Staggering Genius, Captcha-inspired literature and books dancing in an empty bookstore (amazing video embedded above).

Click here to sign up for GalleyCat’s daily email newsletter, getting all our publishing stories, book deal news, videos, podcasts, interviews, and writing advice in one place.

1. Books Dance in Empty Bookstore
2. Dave Eggers Publishes Shower Curtain
3. Banished Words of 2012
4. How to Buy eBooks from an Indie Bookstore
5. Christopher Hitchens’ Final Vanity Fair Essay
6. 2012 Reading Challenge at Goodreads
7. Captcha Inspires New Literary Genre
8. Study: Kids Like eBooks Better Than Print
9. McDonald’s to Put 9 Million Books in UK Happy Meals
10. The Picture of Dorian Grey Poupon

Celebrate “The Joy of Books” with the stop motion video embedded above–watch books frolicking inside a closed bookshop.

If the video inspires you to support your local bookstore, here are some links: Best Indie Bookstores on Twitter and How to Buy eBooks from an Indie Bookstore.

Here’s more about the video: “After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago, my wife and I decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto. Everything you see here can be purchased at Type Books. Grayson Matthews generously composed the beautiful, custom music. But none of it could have been done without all the volunteer hands who shelved and reshelved books all night, every night.” (Via Goodreads)

Have you ever gotten a book for Christmas that you didn’t want? Did it make you cry? Then you are not alone.

The above video shows a woman named Emily getting upset after receiving Ron Paul‘s book Liberty Defined as a Christmas gift. She says in the video, “He just called Israel an apartheid state. I’m not reading this.”

Despite her family telling her to relax and open another present, she breaks down in tears. (Via Gawker).

The currently free Action Movie FX app will let Apple users add missile explosions and car crashes into your next book trailer.

As you can see by the video embedded above, this GalleyCat editor tested the program with his galley copy of Neil Gaiman‘s upcoming The Annotated Sandman. If you use the app for your next book video, email us the link!

Here are more special effects: “Look like an action star as you evade a massive CAR CRASH! Direct a MISSILE ATTACK at that broken office printer! Post your videos to Facebook & show the world what you got! GET CREATIVE! Shoot your movies at ANY SCALE – from toys to life-size! ADDITIONAL FX FOR PURCHASE: CHOPPER DOWN & TORNADO ACTION BUNDLE Unleash a TORNADO in any weather OR bring an enemy CHOPPER DOWN! AIRSTRIKE & FIRE FIGHT ATTACK BUNDLE CARPET BOMB the bad guys, or RUN FOR COVER as they OPEN FIRE! MORE FX TO COME – STAY TUNED!!!”

Novelist and video blogger John Green delivered the keynote speech at Mediabistro’s Publishing App Expo today.

In a presentation entitled “How Nerdfighters Can Save Publishing,” Green shared lessons he learned while building one million Twitter followers and millions of YouTube views.

We’ve collected five lessons from Green’s presentation below. Follow this link to register for the conference.

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