The 'POP'-ular View: Books Trailers, A New Frontier

Category: Living Published on Wednesday, 04 November 2009 17:13 Written by Cornelius Fortune

Time will tell. Or perhaps more to the point, sales will tell.

We’ve seen movie and TV trailers get our family and friends excited, but you’re not talking about staying within a visual medium. You’re actually crossing from one platform to another, a narrative medium that will require more than two hours of your time. Movies are dates (and one-night stands). Books are relationships through and through.

Will a really cool trailer get little boys and girls to read? Not most of them, but I’d wager a few might be curious enough.

Maybe book trailers are pushing the idea that stories are stories in whatever medium they appear. And let’s face it, most of the best are from books; words on paper altering the mind. For many, a book trailer might be the closest they’ll come to a book.

To view some examples of Cornelius Fortune’s favorite book trailers, visit his blog, “Pop Culture Saturation,” at www.michronicleonline.com.