A Break From All the Introspection: Book Trailer for Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes

(www.inkthinkerblog.com) — Things have been pretty serious here the last few days, so let’s mix it up a little. Here’s a book trailer I found a few months ago for Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes. Overall, I think it does a great job of representing the plot of the book, which I read in one night because it was positively riveting. But I definitely would have done some things differently if I had been in charge.

For me, they really buried the lede on this one. Like seriously, get to the point. Just because the book is called Nineteen Minutes doesn’t mean the trailer should last that long. I also think they would have been better served with a professional voiceover actor than the author herself, lovely though she may be. That being said, I still love the concept of book trailers, and this is one of the better ones I’ve seen.

What do you think?

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  • Kim Woodbridge Jan 31, 2009 Link

    Hmm … I’ve never even heard of a book trailer before. It doesn’t want to make me read the book any more than a written review or the blurb on the back of the book does. Or you saying you read it one night.

    I agree that the author shouldn’t be the one narrating – it seems to lose some credibility. I don’t know it seemed like a public service announcement or an intro to an after school special that they used to show when I was a kid.

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  • Kristen King Feb 1, 2009 Link

    @Kim, I read the book about a year before I saw the trailer. It was great, but I don’t know that the trailer would have made me want to read it more than the blurb did, as you said. I totally agree with you about the PSA-ness of the author voiceover.

  • Lisa Dale Feb 2, 2009 Link

    I don’t think book trailers as a genre really “work.” I had a really hard time coming up with one for my novel: http://www.youtube.com/lisadalebooks. The only good part was that I got to work with a great composer for the music.

    I’ve never been sold on a book because of a trailer. But I admit that good cover art goes a long way for me.

    Also, Jodi Picoult rocks. If she made a book trailer of just her book sitting on a shelf, I’d go to BN the next day to stand in line.