What makes you read a book? Most of us pick up a novel based on a friend’s enthusiastic endorsement, or a glowing review by a trusted columnist.
“Word of mouth, though a cliche; remains the most effective marketing tool,” declares Arunima Roy, the publicity manager of Hachette Publishing. In today’s technology-driven world, however, the concept of Chinese whispers has morphed into YouTube videos, Twitter feeds and LiveMedia broadcasts, all geared towards pushing ‘book trailers’. A book trailer is a video that may range from thirty seconds to five minutes. It promotes a book by creative visualisation, author interviews, and so on.
Book trailers have been shown on more than 40,000 screens across the country, in cafes, on laptops and before the start of feature films. Though popular in the West, the concept has caught on in India only after 2008. Young authors who write disarmingly simple prose about the reality of their urban lives have blossomed into massive figureheads, courting great popularity.
In the trailer of The Immortals of Meluha, Amish Tripathi’s latest book, visualisation of Shiva and mythical battles that form the theme of the work recall a Bollywood potboiler, complete with the crackle of thunder and invading hordes. On the other hand, artist Vishwajyoti Ghosh’s first graphic novel, Delhi Calm, which is an examination of the Emergency in the national capital, is represented by red and black visuals and a simple yet
chilling scenario.
The sprawling market for new reads has sparked off a reaction in publishing circles. The need of the hour is to market books both cheaply and effectively. Roy believes that the necessity of low prices does not allow for the book industry to reach western levels.
“The market for English-medium books is extremely limited,” she says. “India also has a pathetic number of bookshops, only five thousand. So, our marketing has to be restructured completely. Book videos are unending publicity. They can be transmitted regardless of time, geographical space or financial losses.”
She says that within these limitations, publishing houses have to be extremely innovative. Hachette offered KP Singh’s new book, Delhi Durbar, with the popular refrain of ‘satisfaction guaranteed or money back’. Surprisingly, only eleven copies of the book found their way back to the bookshops.
But how popular are these videos, and how many viewers are they gathering? The trailers on YouTube have garnered a comparatively small number of views, and though publishing agents remain upbeat about its potential, readers remain sceptical. “Why on earth would I want to see a trailer for a book?” says Gautam, a college student and self-confessed bibliophile. “What separates a book from any other medium is that we can imagine the details for ourselves. That’s what makes a book a unique experience for every reader. A trailer seems like a desperate attempt to commercialise reading.”
Book trailers allow a ‘connect’ with the author, who has increasingly become a celebrity figure. “The ‘viral effect’ has been used by the media for several years now,” says Nandan Chakrabarty, an industry analyst. “Publishing has just recently realised how these methods can be used. It’s a chain reaction, especially with regards to a visual representation such as book mediums. It is word of mouth on a new level.”
Chakrabarty believes that the new market has not been exploited to the maximum. “The young consumer will not pick up a book unless they are sure it is worth their hard-earned free time,” he says. “A book trailer gives a realistic picture, more plausible than a glowing review by the publishers themselves.”
