The Atmosphere of Entertainment
Posted by Erin Brown in Bookselling independent trends on July 9, 2009
In the scramble to reinvent bookselling, video advertising is emerging as an industry unto itself. A New York Times essay from January explains that it all began in 2002 when an aspiring romance novelist named Sheila English founded Circle of Seven (COS) Productions, a social media marketing service for books, authors, and publishers. The company—which has trademarked the terms “Book Trailer” and “Book Teaser”—specializes in “creat[ing] an atmosphere that says ‘Books are entertainment.’”
COS has experienced exponential growth since 2006 (12 projects that year, according to the Times; 140 in 2008). Their services are tailored to a wide range of budgets, from the bargain basement “Cover Story” (the only image is your book cover) for $300, to the “Platinum Teaser” (special titling, effects, photoshop scenes) for $2,500. (To shoot an author interview, or a full blown trailer with a script and live actors, call for a quote.)  For a taste of the drama and intrigue that COS can create in a 36-second “Level 2 Mini Teaser” ($1,500), check out what they’ve done with Baited (2006), a romance novel by Crystal Green. (Or for a more literary interpretation of the book video, see what Harper Collins did for Rivka Galchen’s critically acclaimed Atmospheric Disturbances [2008].)
Meanwhile, many authors on shoestring budgets are embracing the guerrilla marketing spirit, posting homemade book videos on YouTube, MySpace, their own websites, and elsewhere online.Â
And why not bookstores? Green Apple Books of San Francisco, one of the best-loved independents in the Bay Area, is creating an atmosphere all its own with videos to promote its Book-of-the-Month recommendations. Created “in the lo-fi style” by SF-based French Press Films, these videos feature scruffy-looking but enthusiastic staff members hamming it up in testimonials, “dramatizations,” and “reenactments” related to the featured book. Can videos like these drive foot traffic to Green Apple or increase sales? Green Apple Commercial #1: Book of the Month!  (in which staff bolster their endorsement of David Benioff’s City of Thieves with a money-back guarantee) has been viewed nearly 1,200 times since it was posted in June 2008—although the only comment it has inspired (or provoked) is “dorks!” Still, the videos have some infectious appeal, and they’re getting more sophisticated. Their latest effort, Green Apple Commercial #7: Conquest of the Useless!, shot “on location” with bookseller Stephen Sparks doing his best Werner Herzog, is my favorite:
Categories: Bookselling, independent, trends | 2 Comments »
July 17th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
who you callin’ scruffy lookin’? =)
Thanks for the article!!
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
“scruffy” in the best possible way, of course! glad you liked the piece. I’ve updated it to include French Press. my bad. the videos are so authentically “lo-fi,” I assumed they were homemade…