by C.R. Bruce (@crbrucewrites) “Inventive, irreverent, and relentlessly funny. If John Hughes wrote a novel set in a high school boy's bathroom, this would be it.” - Warren P. Sonoda, Director, Swearnet, Trailer Park Boys, Total Frat Movie “Stalled, with its raw and authentic dialogue, credible characters and their compelling interwoven stories, is definitely worth a look.” - IndieReader It wasn’t that long ago that I had no idea what a Book Trailer was. I used to work in the film & video industry, but a Book Trailer video? Why?! I was clueless; never seen one, never heard of one. During my marketing research for Stalled, I made the discovery. I was intrigued. However, never in my life, for any of the countless books I’ve read, did one of them have a Book Trailer video. Or, maybe they did, but I was clueless about that too. Bottom line: no Book Trailer ever influenced my decision to buy a book. So why make a Book Trailer video if it has zero influence on my purchasing decisions? Well, that doesn’t mean it never will. And that was in the past. It’s a brave new world and people are making Book Trailers! First, some stats. During my marketing research, how many Book Trailers did I see that were good, i.e., made me more interested in the book? And before I answer, let’s state the obvious; Book Trailers, like books, like movies, like all art, is subjective. I loved Adam Sandler’s Pixels. Many would disagree with me. So, how many Book Trailers did I like? Two. The first ... I forget its name now, but it was shot like a scene from a movie. There was a damsel by the lake, and a monster emerged to swallow her. It was funny, clever, and had decent production values. The second was a masterpiece. But what else can you expect from a TV star? It was B.J. Novak’s (aka Ryan the Temp from The Office) black & white trailer for his book One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories. Check out the trailer here. It was so good, it shone the blazing light of reality on all the other Book Trailers whose production values and acting were less than stellar—which was too many. I swore I would never make a Book Trailer unless it was as good as B.J. Novak’s, which meant I was never making a Book Trailer. I can make videos. I’m actually pretty good at it, but the time and energy it would take to equal B.J. Novak’s trailer was beyond me at this moment in my life, and maybe for all time. His trailer is just that good. The last thing I wanted was to make a Book Trailer with poor production values and bad acting. What’s the point? So I asked myself, how can I make a Book Trailer while avoiding the pitfalls that plague so many other trailers? I needed the Book Trailer to be fun! I needed it to look great! And I needed it to be free! Well, almost free. And Stalled presented other challenges as well. It’s atypical in style and setting; it has multiple protagonists—nothing traditional was going to work! What kind of trailer, outside of the brilliance of B.J. Novak’s frickin’ trailer, would I like? What’s cool? What’s hip? What have I seen online lately that made me laugh, or made me say, wow? Cartoons! Animation, etc. That’s what’s hip and cool and different, am I right? Statistics say half of you disagree with me, but oh well. I didn’t see one cartoon/animated Book Trailer during my research, though I’m sure there’s a bunch out there now. Am I a skilled animator? No. Have I ever made a cartoon? No. This was all possible thanks to the animated video creation website, GoAnimate. With a bit of work, I could not only make a trailer that fit the tone of Stalled and looked top-shelf (well, in my humble and subjective opinion), I could make as many trailers as I wanted that looked top-shelf. Did it work? See for yourself and let me know. Ladies and gents, I present to you the first of the Stalled Book Trailers starring protagonists Rory, Todd, and Brent ... The "Buy Your Copy" link will automatically take you to your local/national Amazon page. - C.R. Bruce
Stalled is available wherever eBooks are sold and in paperback from Amazon. Paperback ($13.99 USD); eBook ($4.99 USD) © Christopher R. Bruce |
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