 Books on My Mind Is there any other reader who finds book trailers weird or off-putting? Or is it just me? Book trailers, a fancy name for short video ads designed to seduce readers into buying the books they promote, strike me as the most mismatched of promotional couples. Here you have a product designed to be imbibed quietly in a one-on-one setting (book + reader) that is trying to sell itself with a flashy, movement-enhanced video. The reason this is on my mind is that I just came from reading a favorite agent’s blog where she had posted a trailer about a client’s book. I didn’t turn up the sound. But even just watching, the trailer struck me as the opposite of what the reading experience is for me. Crashers is a thriller—Publishers Weekly calls it a “compelling first thriller [that] takes familiar elements—a mysterious airplane crash, a bent FBI agent, a deadly female spy—and mixes them with the world of National Transportation Safety Board aviation disaster investigations.” Ooh, sounds delicious! But here’s the thing—I was much more attracted to the written description by PW than I was by the video. In fact, I would not have bothered to search out more information about the book based on the video nor would I have likely read it. But … having read the professional reviews I am thinking that this would make good brain candy. A quick and satisfying read on a warm Saturday afternoon. So am I weird? Am I the only one who cannot be attracted to a book based on an ? I’ve seen trailers for other books too, and whether good or bad I find myself more annoyed by them than by any other kind of book promotion. The reason seems obvious. Reading is a mindful activity. Regardless of whether the book is a thriller like Crashers or a classic like Anna Karenina it’s the reader’s responsibility and joy to take the author’s words and create the pictures. Or perhaps I should say it always has been. Technology has always driven entertainments, and is becoming more and more the trend in books as well. The pictures we create in our minds of characters and settings are being displaced by those created by others. Has anyone else ever been shocked by seeing a video presentation that differed substantially from what they created in their heads? I have, which is why I tend to avoid most movie or television versions of books. In fact, the first one I can remember being true to my vision was Timothy Dalton’s portrayal of Mr. Rochester in the BBC’s 1983 adaptation of Jane Eyre. I fell madly in love with that particular Mr. Rochester, even more than with the Austen one. The other video interpretation that matched my own vision was Sherlock Holmes as portrayed by the brilliant and dark Jeremy Brett. A sad, soulful man, Brett had exactly the right personality to bring the single-minded Holmes to light exactly as I saw him in the stories. Even his physical demeanor was perfect, and it wasn’t because Brett resembled Holmes physically. Instead, the actor took on the salient characteristics of his being and his personality so well that the effects from the role affected his personal life. Unfortunately those were the only two positive experiences I can remember where I thought the video portrayals met my vision. More often I have been shocked and disillusioned by someone else’s vision, the worst being another depiction of Sherlock Holmes. I had long heard about the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce films that came out between 1939 and 1946. When the opportunity arose to see an old re-run of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” on television I took advantage of it only to find myself so put off by the emotionally hysterical Holmes and the stuttering stupidity of Watson that not only didn’t I go near any other versions until the Brett ones came along—and even then I nearly missed them due to the lingering distaste of that initial experience—but I didn’t even pick up the stories to reread until nearly three years later after the Rathbone debacle. So when I think of the idea of using video to market a book I tend to be put off. The words were created by the author. But the real book is in the reading, in the way I interact with it, in the way I create the images, the movie of it, in my mind. I wonder if my age is showing. Younger readers are certainly more accustomed to having books be interactive to various degrees. While my sense is that whatever gets people to buy books and to read is good, I also think there is loss. If a fancy/schmancy video is required to sell a book then what is the reader, having bought the book, going to do when faced with nothing but words? Can books only be sold with high entertainment tools? If so, will they then be read without them? Upcoming Book Festivals: The Pub House: Imaging Books & Reading: This short video, which combines a reading of the talk along with images of books. Unfortunately, the young woman speaks very quickly, and it is easy to lose the words—which are worth reading. If you go to this page, you can read them for yourself, thus getting the best of both the images and the speech. Of Interest: Until next week, read well, read often and read on!
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