I am, if I may be frank, not the biggest fan of book trailers – or at least not the most common kind that feature a running stream of static images alternating with text about the book.  So unless you make your book trailer look like the preview to Skyfall (ie. not look like a book trailer, but a movie trailer) or use slick animation (zooming in or out from a static book cover image won’t cut it) then I see little point. It all ends up looking a bit amateur and it certainly won’t be the next Gangnam Style YouTube sensation.

However, I was nudged today on LinkedIn by the founder of Movie-Book and after a little browse of their website, was quite taken by their animated covers – particularly that for The Invisible Ones. I love this cover as it is, with its clever, almost-invisible white tones, and the animation adds to the eerieness. (Click on the cover below to see how this, and other covers, were animated.)

This is not the kind of impressive video that would sit on its own on YouTube, but it could work nicely as a feature on an author website or any online page or widget promoting the book.  An additional gimmick that makes an extra impact, forcing you to look at the cover for an extra few seconds (without boring you) and make you more likely to remember the book. It is a simple concept but nicely executed and, in this case, a rather good way using the static book with video.

Chiara Priorelli, Publicity & Online Marketing Manager