Hate/Love Book Trailers

Mr. Obie Joe collectively, for he/she is more than one, have a hate/love relationship with book trailers. Most of them -- as in the majority -- are forgettable because:
• The production values are hideous. If it's not bad lighting or jittery editing, the music is muzak and the featured author uncoached.
• The story being told -- usually of why this author wrote the book -- lacks drama.
• There's no real point to it; the trailer introduces the author, talks about the book, and that's it.

Plus, if we see one more book trailer with shots of the author writing and thinking, well...

Then we saw this new trailer: www.chipkidd.com Chip, wonder man, we want you. We want you to design, write, promote a book for us anytime.

Now, note his book trailer says nothing really of relevance to the book or the man, but damn, if it doesn't make you want to buy the man. Uh, the book. Totally, the book.

Serious conversation about serious black lit

A book is about an idea. Sometimes about one person's idea, but more often, a book contains ideas derived from conversations from dozens.

For black-identified literature -- meaning, books inspired by the black experience -- Mr. Obie Joe has sought to participate in more conversations. Frankly, it's been a tough going; there's not enough of it, and much of it feels confined to arch categories.

That's one reason the Mr. Joe is very happy to hear of the ringShout blog. The kick-off party was just a few weeks ago. Led by novelist Martha Southgate, the group of book sellers, writers and publishers hope to move the conversation in many ways, including a booklist, reviews, and tool kit for authors. (Thanks to fellow Baltimorean Felicia Pride for the tip).

The content is a bit light right now, so just bookmark the site and check back: www.ringshout.blogspot.com

Who knows your book better?

Of course, a decent book publicist reads a client's book. Preferably before signing the employment contract...

So, if you, as the author, ask your publicist to pick out the best quotes or excerpts from your book, you might expect a bit of hesitation. Sure, a publicist knows your book, and what the market wants, particularly for matching an excerpt to the publication.

But, really, who knows your book better than you? Why would you want the task of picking the quotes and/or excerpts to go to anyone else but the person who wrote it?