Book Trailers: The Moby Awards!

Book trailers are on my mind lately, so it seemed only fitting that as a hundred mystery books arrived at the shop this morning, the person carrying them in said, "I've been waiting for the Moby awards!" Most particularly, this person wanted to know who had won the category of "Book Trailer Least Likely to Sell the Book."

The whole story of the awards and last night's ceremony is here in this dandy Wall Street Journal blog article (who knew?!).  For those in a hurry, here's the list:

Best Cameo in a Book Trailer:

Zach Galifinakis in Lowboy

Best Performance by in Author:

Dennis Cass in Head Case

Best Big Budget/Big House Book Trailer:

Going West by Maurice Gee

Best Low Budget/Indie Book Trailer:

I am in the Air Right Now by Kathryn Regina

Least Likely Trailer to Sell the Book:

Sounds of Murder by Patricia Rockwell

 Actually it's been a winning book-trailer week here, too, as my own recent effort is a finalist in the ForeWord Reviews Book Trailer Contest, and if you attend BookExpo America (nope, not me this time), you can pick up a CD with mine on it, for The Darkness Under the Water. Or just peek here on YouTube instead.

 

All this lead-in chat is a way of working toward the bigger questions for mystery lovers: How much of an effect do these alternate media visions have on a person's desire to buy or read a good mystery? I have to confess that the movie trailer for Shutter Island lured me to the theater sooner than I would have gone to see this adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel. (I like the film for Gone, Baby, Gone the best of Lehane's book adaptations.) I think film and video trailers had a huge effect on sales for Dan Brown's sequel to The DaVinci Code. But ... for me anyway, it's the written word -- the review, the word of mouth, the author's promise of what's coming -- that lures me into a book. How about for you?

Last but not least, I'll pin up on this spot a pair of book trailers for two very different mysteries: one by  Michael Connelly and one by Laurie King. Careful -- these are LONG (the Connelly one is almost 10 minutes) so don't click on them unless you've got time to spare or have good instincts for when to disconnect and get back to your other life. Comments, anyone?