Vaginal Fantasy Book Club discussion

In all seriousness, I can't figure out why publishers decided that a short video trailer for a book was a good idea. Every one I've seen is a mockery of the work the author puts into building the world and characters, and the amateur actors are just painful to watch. And to add insult to injury, I've watched better made fan trailers than what's being passed off for these professional teaser trailers.

My favorite is Tessa Dare's, for her Stud Club trilogy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4DzoN...

Not done by the publisher.

:D that's adorable!

The best one I've seen is for Chris Hadfield's new book, "A Guide to an Astronaut's Life on Earth". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPw8C1... Different type of book, of course.

Oh that IS the best one I've seen! Now there's been so many good ones posted I feel like I need to share some of the really disappointing ones I've stumbled upon. This month's read Endless Knight is pretty awful http://youtu.be/1P1MTIRMj3M

And a few months back we had Lord of the Fading Lands, which might be the all time worst I've seen to date. http://youtu.be/wOsXPbfXa40

C.G. wrote: "The best one I've seen is for Chris Hadfield's new book, "A Guide to an Astronaut's Life on Earth". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPw8C1... Different type of book, of course."

I don't understand the point of book trailers either- they make me assume the novel will read like a script because the author desperately wants to be optioned for the screen. There's also the fact that no-budget fanvids are often better than the low-budget author/publisher vids (shudder).

The Hadfield trailer is, however significantly better than pretty much every movie trailer I've seen this year! If it was fiction, I'd buy it. Actually, I'm a tad miffed that that isn't a movie I can watch right now.

My favourite fanvid, in the vein of the Tessa Dare above, is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvcDW... for the "breeches-ripper" Discreet Young Gentleman, which was wonderfully ridiculous, just like the book.

Gotta agree, the "acting" is seriously wince-worthy for the most part in those trailers.

As for the Discreet Young Gentlemen trailer, OH those blue eyes above that highwayman mask!

A good visual image is worth a lot.

That Discreet Young Gentleman trailer is great!

Unfortunately, the very best Romance trailers are funny, but that sets up the expectation that the book will be funny, something that's not always true. I made my own trailers, no actors just photos and they are very short and sweet and to the point.

I considered putting wigs on my girl and boy dogs and having them play the part of the hero and heroine, but I decided it would raise expectations that I write funny and I would hate to disappoint a reader.

If you're curious what my dogs would look like in wigs, I have a picture (sans wigs) on my Facebook page http://Facebook.com/KarinShahAuthor
Just scroll down to Halloween. The one wearing the coat is the boy.:-)

These started back in the early 00's with Laurell K. Hamilton and some of her friends. I cannot stand any that are serious (thought the Dare ones are pretty darned funny!). They've never sold books, most are painfully bad, and they're stupidly expensive.

I'm totally with you Janaki. If a multimillion dollar film adaptation isn't as good as the book 9 times out of 10, why would a cheap book trailer be any different?

I guess you have to consider that publishers are trying to get a new audience (i.e. people who don't necessarily like to read) by using more enhanced visual advertising. After all, steamy covers sell a lot of books!