THREE GUYS ONE BOOK originated as a way for three friends in the book business - Jason Chambers, Jason Rice and Dennis Haritou — to talk about books together. Featuring short reviews of stories and novels, publishing news, photography, and the popular 3G1B group discussion, the site launched in early 2008 with a conversation about Mark Sarvas’ Harry, Revised. In early 2009, Jonathan Evison, whose debut novel All About Lulu was another of the 3G1B early group efforts, accepted an invitation to become the mysterious “fourth guy.” Today, 3G1B has developed to include guest posts from writers and publishing personalities, extensive interviews, even more reviews, and most popularly, “conversations” in which the four guys opine on subjects such as ebooks, writing techniques, bookselling, p.r., and the future of publishing.
14 Responses to “Finally, a Book Trailer I Like!”
July 17, 2009
kedixofully agree, most book trailers either a) are too much like a videotaped live reading or b) try too hard to be like a hollywood film trailer. othmer, unsurprisingly, has done something completely inventive and different.
July 17, 2009
kedixofully agree, most book trailers either a) are too much like a videotaped live reading or b) try too hard to be like a hollywood film trailer. othmer, unsurprisingly, has done something completely inventive and different.
July 17, 2009
jonathan evison. . . yeah, ninety-five percent of the time i feel like book trailers diminish the book they are attempting to publicize . . . there's just something sort of sad and apologetic about book trailers in general . . .as though being a book isn't enough– people gotta' have images! i dig this one . . .
July 17, 2009
jonathan evison. . . yeah, ninety-five percent of the time i feel like book trailers diminish the book they are attempting to publicize . . . there's just something sort of sad and apologetic about book trailers in general . . .as though being a book isn't enough– people gotta' have images! i dig this one . . .
July 17, 2009
James P. OthmerThanks for sharing this. Not sure what makes a good trailer, or what's the right way to do book promos, other than it's probably better to not think of them as trailers or promos. This came from a reading this spring, where I paraphrased the intro. Afterward, several people came up to me and said, "that should be your trailer." Next I started begging favors: an art director to shoot/edit/make it pretty, my nephew the commercial music composer for the sound design, and an ex-colleague, Tracy Spinney, lent his professional chops to the VO. My opinion is that creating content around a book — filmed, written, with shadow puppets; funny, smart, whatever — will do much more for a book than any traditional ad. The production value doesn't have to be high quality, but the idea should.
July 17, 2009
James P. OthmerThanks for sharing this. Not sure what makes a good trailer, or what's the right way to do book promos, other than it's probably better to not think of them as trailers or promos. This came from a reading this spring, where I paraphrased the intro. Afterward, several people came up to me and said, "that should be your trailer." Next I started begging favors: an art director to shoot/edit/make it pretty, my nephew the commercial music composer for the sound design, and an ex-colleague, Tracy Spinney, lent his professional chops to the VO. My opinion is that creating content around a book — filmed, written, with shadow puppets; funny, smart, whatever — will do much more for a book than any traditional ad. The production value doesn't have to be high quality, but the idea should.
July 18, 2009
AnonymousNow I feel guilty for making a book trailer for my first book when I should have come up something more creative.
July 18, 2009
AnonymousNow I feel guilty for making a book trailer for my first book when I should have come up something more creative.
July 18, 2009
James P. OthmerHey Anon, Whatever works. I've seen some really interesting trailers and a lot of dogs. I tried some things for The Futurist that, in retrospect, wasn't the best use of my limited promotional resources. It's important that someone wants to get your book after seeing a promo, but perhaps more important is that they want to share it with others. Which comes back to content vs. selling. I share interesting content with friends but never ads.
July 18, 2009
James P. OthmerHey Anon, Whatever works. I've seen some really interesting trailers and a lot of dogs. I tried some things for The Futurist that, in retrospect, wasn't the best use of my limited promotional resources. It's important that someone wants to get your book after seeing a promo, but perhaps more important is that they want to share it with others. Which comes back to content vs. selling. I share interesting content with friends but never ads.
July 19, 2009
Patrick T. KilgallonIt would be funny if we had something like a pimping award for book trailers. Maybe a small statue of a dude in fur coat, long cigarette, shady hat, and platform shoes, sweet lookin' big sunglasses, a coke spoon necklace, book slappin' hand upraised and at ready. (I was the Anon guy. My mouse slipped when I clicked on that. Sorry.)
July 19, 2009
Patrick T. KilgallonIt would be funny if we had something like a pimping award for book trailers. Maybe a small statue of a dude in fur coat, long cigarette, shady hat, and platform shoes, sweet lookin' big sunglasses, a coke spoon necklace, book slappin' hand upraised and at ready.
(I was the Anon guy. My mouse slipped when I clicked on that. Sorry.)
July 23, 2009
Patrick T. KilgallonThis blog made me rethink my approach in making a book trailer for my book. It seems that Jon Evison is right about putting book's images on film-that there is something sad and apologetic about it. I need to approach it as if I was selling a book, not a future film, something that Stephen King would admonish a writer about. He claimed that when he sits down to write a book, he avoids thinking about the money AND thinking 'gee, I bet that would make a great movie.' Now I am inspired to try and take a different approach and start over with a different idea for my book trailer.
July 23, 2009
Patrick T. KilgallonThis blog made me rethink my approach in making a book trailer for my book. It seems that Jon Evison is right about putting book's images on film-that there is something sad and apologetic about it. I need to approach it as if I was selling a book, not a future film, something that Stephen King would admonish a writer about. He claimed that when he sits down to write a book, he avoids thinking about the money AND thinking 'gee, I bet that would make a great movie.' Now I am inspired to try and take a different approach and start over with a different idea for my book trailer.