3PMjournal_2010s2

3pm Journal of Digital Research & Publishing
advertising. Book or literary trailers can be freely viewed on host sites such as YouTube and
MySpace, and utilise moving images, animation, music, and dialogue to produce a visual
enticement for the written text. Literary trailers are essentially “crafted as a moving image
pitch for the book” as suggested by author and video marketer Sarah Weinman. 6 They are
directed and produced in the same vein as those made for ‘Hollywood blockbusters’ and
rely on production values, aesthetic appeal, and consumer interest for success. The trailers
have largely been produced for commercial titles where the imaginative possibilities of
fiction can be relayed in a visual form. 7 Trailers have been produced in the United Kingdom
and United States by industry figures from publishers and literary agents to booksellers
such as Borders who exhibit trailers as in-store promotional material. In 2009 British
publishers Simon & Schuster produced over 200 book trailers for new release titles
compared to only a handful made in 2008. 8 Simon & Schuster’s investment in the five to
seven minute productions is being mirrored by publishing company’s globally, and attests
to the growing advertising power of the literary trailer. The trailers sell the imaginative
landscape of the novel through visual and aural collaborations which are accessible to
consumers who are comfortable with online forums and multimedia texts. Book trailers
demonstrate the publishing industry’s adaptation to the digitisation of culture and
increasingly technologically able consumers.
The success of book trailers as viral advertising for printed texts can be viewed within
a wider theoretical framework which suggests that viewers respond differently to visual,
multimedia texts than verbal argumentation or single medium text. Academic and theorist
A. Cranny-Francis suggests that over a long viewing history, visual texts have become a
powerful medium because they “engage viewers as embodied subjects, encouraging them
to relate the meanings of the visual to their everyday lives”. 9 Cranny-Francis argues visual
texts “engage the senses, not just the brain”. This correlates to the popularity of book trailers
as the brief productions utilise moving imagery, sound and dialogue to engage viewers’
senses and construct a complex series of signifiers to pique the viewer’s interest. Viewers
are able to relate the images and dialogue to their lives and extract meaning from different
images edited together in a particular sequence. The book trailers offer viewers a taste
of the content and meaning extrapolated from the written text but with speed, intimacy
6 Sarah Weinman, “Book Trailers: The Key to Successful Video Marketing” Poets & Writers 40 1 November 2008, 1.
< http://www.pw.org/content/book_trailers_key_successful_video_marketing>
7 Weinman, 2.
8 Melissa Kent, “Don’t Judge a Book By It’s trailer” Sydney Morning Herald 27 June 2010.
< http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/dont-judge-a-book-by-its-trailer-20100626-zb1u.html>
9 A. Cranny-Francis, Visuals in Multimedia: Texts and Contexts (London: Sage, 2005), 26.
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