Vasudhendra, writer and publisher in Kannada, released his 5 Paise Varadakshine (a collection of essays) earlier this month — not in an auditorium, but through a two-minute trailer on social media.
With black-and-white pictures and lines from the work, opinions of distinguished critics and personalities, this trailer has gone viral. The USP of the trailer is a smiling Prakash Rai telling readers “don’t miss this book” in the end.
This trailer also has information on how to get the kindle version of the work and about door delivery. Mr. Vasudhendra says he received many enquiries after the launch of the trailer.
He is not the first one to attempt this. In June, another popular writer, Santosh Kumar Mehandale, released the trailer of his book Yaava Preetiyoo Anaithikavalla . Mr. Mehandale’s trailer was dramatic and used visuals, music and dialogues. It opened with the soliloquy of a woman against the backdrop of the Arabian Sea.
While the trend of releasing trailers for books is not new to English publications, these audiovisual trailers for theatre productions and books are slowly gaining momentum in Kannada. Some book trailers are simple videos containing photographs accompanied by music, while others go for a more professionally made videos with animation, video bits, voice over, and so on.
“Younger writers, who are not yet established, find this useful. Social media provides a platform and trailers are an additional tool,” said Mr. Mehandale. This also saves on the expense involved in launching a book.
Publishers like Na. Ravikumar of Abhinava Publication and Guruprasad of Akruthi Prakashana also welcome this trend. “Publishers can also use trailers to provide visibility,” said Mr. Guruprasad.
Prakash Kambattali, another publisher, said the advantage is that it reaches a large number of people at a low cost. Of late, people buy books following debate on social media. A trailer further simplifies the process with reviews, presentations and opinions, said Dodde Gowda, manager, Sapna Books.
