Book Trailers the New Marketing Tool?

Something that seems to be building in the book marketing world is the creation of book trailers. I have to say, I'm really keen on this idea. It's been a long-time effective marketing tool for movies, so why couldn't it work for books too?

Random House is turning the idea into a contest, which is brilliant, IMHO:

Dean Koontz needs you to direct the trailer for his upcoming book, The Good Guy. Use your video cam, cell phone cam, or whatever else you can think of to create a 30 second trailer based on the 2 chapter excerpt they've provided. Upload your masterpiece to YouTube for all to see, and you'll get a groovy t-shirt that proudly states, "I shot The Good Guy."

Sheer brilliance. I'm not eligible to enter, but I might try to come up with something just for fun. Although I'm limited in the fact that I have no video camera. Hrm.

Here's a great example of a professional book trailer. This is for Dean Koontz's The Husband (which was a fast-paced thriller!)



How cool is that?