The Trailer That Wasn’t

March 29, 2008 at 9:16 am | Category: blog

Hi, everyone! I’m Jackie Kessler, guest blogging today. Thanks so much, Sandy!

You’ve probably seen a few book trailers out there. There has been loads of discussion, including over at Romancing the Blog and Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels and Pub Rants, about whether book trailers are worth the cost, if they get anyone actually interested in the books at all, or if they are just a waste of time.

Me? I love making trailers. I know, I’m a sick, sick person and should be spending my time, you know, writing more. But the process of pulling the trailer together — finding the right music, writing the script, selecting the images — is sorta cathartic. (While I pull all the elements together myself, I hire editors to do the titles and actually produce the video.) After working solely in text for so long (like those marathon writing sessions just before finishing a book), branching out in visual and aural media to convey a message — a feeling — is just the kind of creative break I need. (Granted, I’d probably settle for a vacation to Maui. But that’s another story.)

I’ve done trailers for my second book, THE ROAD TO HELL, and my upcoming novel, HOTTER THAN HELL. (Check them out on my website, if you’re curious.) And I had every intention of doing a trailer for ETERNAL LOVER, the Kensington anthology that officially launches this Tuesday, April 1 (yep, there’s a HELL novella in it). It was going to be a different sort of trailer — a homemade video — but sadly, I ran out of time. So here is the shooting script (sort of) for the ETERNAL LOVER trailer.

[Scene opens to see Jackie Kessler's Precious Little Tax Deductions (ages 6 and 4), sitting at the kitchen table, smiling like the angels they pretend to be. Tax Deduction the Younger holds a copy of ETERNAL LOVER, its cover facing the camera.]

TITLE:
And now, a word from Jackie Kessler’s Precious Little Tax Deductions

TITLE:
(Who are getting paid in the currency of cookies and chocolate milk.)

TAX DEDUCTION THE ELDER:
Our mom wrote a story in this book.

TITLE:
My sons are too young to know the word “anthology.”

TAX DEDUCTION THE ELDER:
The book is called “Eternal Lover.”

TITLE:
My sons are much, much too young to know what that title means.

TAX DEDUCTION THE ELDER:
Eternal Lover, on sale in April 2008!

TAX DEDUCTION THE YOUNGER:
Mom, can we have cookies now?

TITLE:
Of course, sweetie.

[The Tax Deductions scamper off camera.]

TITLE:
A HELL OF A TIME, in the ETERNAL LOVER anthology (Kensington, April 2008).

TITLE:
Love Your Inner Demon.
www.jackiekessler.com

There you go. The trailer that wasn’t.

Let me know what you think about book trailers — love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Indifferent? — and leave a comment here. I’ll pick a commenter at random on Tuesday, April 1 (ETERNAL LOVER launch day!) to win a signed copy of the anthology.

Thanks again, Sandy!

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