The Word Cloud

I am torn. On the one hand it sounds stupid to me, but on the other hand there are writers out there doing it, popular writers. I made one, but with my limited skills at the computer I'm not sure it turned out that great. It might hurt me more than help me. I don't know. What do you think?

That all depends really. Does it have ninjas in it? If so you're onto a winner, otherwise you'd probably be better off without one (or perhaps with adding some ninjas.)

Oh, if you like ninjas you have to see this :op My mate's brother's band: My Mate's a Ninja. It's brilliant.

Book trailers - are these the things people put on YouTube? Like film teasers, but for books? I'm really not a fan of those. As you mention - without experience, or a fat budget, it's hard not to make them look tacky. And, personally, I buy a book to exercise my imagination. I don't want someone else’s idea of what the characters look like, or some gimmicky sails person (er, author) telling me why I should buy it. If I wanted that, I'd wait for the DVD.

Plus, even film trailers are a double-edged sword. Most of them have ceased to be teasers and have well and truly crossed the boundary into full synopsis. How many films have you been to after watching the trailer and realised that the trailer compiled the only good bits in it?

Having said that, if it attracts a certain market, there's probably little harm in doing it. I'm not the sort of person to look up book trailers on YouTube before buying something - so even though I'm not enthralled by them, it's not going to put me off, because I won't have seen it. On the other hand, people who are trawling YouTube might find it and, on that basis, decide to buy. Or not - depending how well it's put together.

Plus, if you're using images, music or sounds to promote your work, you're likely to have to go get permission for those. Seems like a lot of hard work.

More classy might simply be an author interview. It's easier to make that look good on a low budget, and comes across more 'honest' I think. Retains some semblance of dignity.

I should be able to access YouTube again next week once I return to a decent internet connection. Has anyone got any examples of book trailers they really like, or think worked? I’d be interested in having a look.

Have you ever seen a film trailer, then watched the movie to realise that it has shown you the only good bits? Or even that a trailer has totally killed the plot for you?

I think that the blurb on the back of a book ruins things enough, the last thing you want from a book is to have bit's of it spoilt for you!

In addition, the trailers that I have seen for books have actually made me NOT want to read the. Take Skullduggery Plesent. Ok, the book is aimed for teenagers, but the trailer looks like it is for a much younger audience.

if you are able to make a really good trailer that doesn't ruin anything in the story and actually appeals to your target audience, then it would work, I'm yet to see one that does.

Then again, it should be the first page that makes you want to read on, so it may work if you ONLY use that, that way, nothing is ruined and if it is good, you know your first page will do it's job!

Some trailers show you bits that aren't even in the final cut. That's irritating.