What do you think of the new practice of filming book trailers? Those film snippets about an upcoming book, styled like a movie trailer?

I like. I like them because they take advantage of modern tech to promote reading. I’ve seen a couple that really made me want to pick up the book NOW. How can that be bad?

Purists might have a beef with the idea, perhaps saying that it panders to our media-drunk society, and that people ought to read for reading’s sake–not because of a gimmick. But can we ignore where books are going? We are headed down a slippery slope towards enhanced ebooks–a combination of medias of which the printed word is only one part. And if reading is ultimately about storytelling (whether fiction or nonfiction) this can be a great thing, an exciting thing.

I love to get lost in a good book. And while I haven’t read an enhanced ebook, it sounds like a fun ride. It sounds like it might create a shortcut to getting lost. And everyone agrees that the floodgates are opening to ebooks of all flavors–good, bad, and downright awful. How will we know what’s worth buying? These ebooks won’t have passed through the gatekeepers of editors or agents.

Maybe book trailers will be one help in making those decisions.