Book trailers first emerged in the publishing industry in the early 2000s. Put simply, book trailers are form of advertisement for a book; a sales pitch which uses similar techniques to a movie trailer. In the publishing industry, book trailers are generally created by the marketing department of the book’s publishing house, though occasionally they are made by the author’s themselves.
The aim of a book trailer is to take the key themes or selling points of a book and transform this into a captivating combination of audio-visuals. The key to a successful book trailer is to convey a sense of the book without giving too much detail.
Book Trailers in Education
In recent years, book trailers have been a widespread tool used in education. According to Centre for Youth Literature in Australia, ‘There is now a substantial body of research showing that book trailers are a useful form of pre-visualisation, and can help engage reluctant readers in a text. Students creating their own book trailer can be a powerful learning experience, combining learning goals from reading, writing, technology and the arts to produce a real product that they can share with others.’
The Trailee Awards: Recognizing the Importance of Book Trailers
The growing importance of book trailers in education and reader development was recognized in 2010 by the School Library Journal with the creation of The Trailee Awards. The Trailee Awards, or The Trailees as they are also known, recognize the important role that promotional videos play in encouraging books and reading, as well as recognizing the talent of the people who create digital ads for books. The 2011 Trailee Awards involved six categories covering both professional and amateur made book trailers. The categories are:
- Publisher/Author for elementary readers (PreK-6)
- Publisher/Author for secondary readers (7-12 grade)
- Student created for elementary readers (PreK-6 grade)
- Student created for secondary readers (7-12 grade)
- Adult (anyone over 18) created for PreK-12 grade
- Educator/Librarian created for PreK-12 grade
Book Trailers: Five Great Resources for Teachers
Created by the University of Central Florida, this site hosts over 120 book trailers many created by emergent readers themselves. The site has over 2,800 subscribers around the world. The vision of the sites' developers is create opportunities for students to re-enact the main storyline of books they read, using live video clips, pictures, music, voice-overs and other digital tools.
Book Trailers for Readers is a student and teacher wiki that provides examples and how to instructions on how students can create multimedia presentations about the books they read. The site encourages both teachers and students to be actively involved in the creation of book trailers.
Written by Richard Byrne, a Google certified teacher who leads workshops for technology in the United States, Free Technology for Teachers provides free lesson plans and resources for teaching with technology. The site contains many useful links and downloads, including a section dedicated to video creation resources.
This presentation is a step by step guide on how teachers and students can create videos without needing to purchase any computer software or video equipment. It provides very useful advice on how to make the use of free online resources, how to incorporate music into your video and how to share your video online.
Primarily aimed at writers who want to market and sell their books, this site has a great range of links to successful book trailers, ideas of book trailers, how to tips and industry news.
Book Trailers in the Classroom: Critiquing book trailers
As well as creating book trailers, watching and critiquing book trailers can also be a great way to engage students. Have you students consider:
- Did the book trailer make you want to read the book?
- What worked in the book trailer? What didn’t?
- Was the book trailer professionally made?
- Did the music or sound effects help make the book appealing?
- What format was used?
- Was it expensive to make the book trailer? Are expensive book trailers more effective than cheap ones?
Cate Allan - Cate Allan is a Melbourne-based writer and editor. She has published widely on language, travel and the arts.
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