Self-Humiliating Your Way To Literary Stardom
The Wall Street Journal ran down the list of authors who have created YouTube videos to promote their books, and it turns out there's way more than enough writer videos to call it a trend! Video makers include Meg Cabot of Princess Diaries; Chuck Palahniuk of Fight Club; Naomi Klein of Shock Doctrine; Sherre Hirsch and Jen Lancaster. There are even companies that specialize in making these "book trailers." Is this a sad case of desperate scribblers whoring themselves out to an increasingly apathetic public? Probably! But it can be fun to watch!
"Making a promotional video can involve sacrificing some personal dignity," notes the Journal, after describing one writer who interviewed the protagonist of his novel, played by a man in drag.
And it turns out "there is scant evidence... that the average book trailer actually has much impact on book sales."
But how sad is it that, 15 years ago, there really was no mass outlet for a video of Cabot using two dolls to stage a scene from Pretty In Pink, as show in the first of three dignity-sapping author videos below? The brave experiments in writer exposure must continue, if only so we can all see more awesome doll play.
