Perhaps the First Multimedia Trailer for a Book?

In the animal kingdom, a human year is the equivalent of what, seven dog years? In the Internet kingdom, time is likewise compressed when it comes to design and technology. What was wicked hot a year ago can be today's cold oatmeal.

Rewind to the Internet equivalent of the Pleistocene era: 2003. At that time AuthorBytes introduced what may have been the first multimedia trailer for a book. (We say "may" because one can never be too sure of who invented what when it comes to the Net.) The package was a funky little player that opened like a cigarette case or makeup compact and sported a pop-up antenna reminding you that an image was being beamed to your computer (sort of). The subject of the player was none other than Chris Bohjalian's then-forthcoming collection of essays, Idyll Banter (Random House).

Looking back, we're amazed that anyone actually let us use his or her book as a guinea pig for our foray into the multimedia world. But Chris has turned out to be one of those incredible authors who has no particular fondness for technology, but has embraced the Internet with incredible tenacity: he uses technology to the max. He eagerly trucked up to a studio in Burlington and recorded a script. We added music. We added visuals. We completed the Flash action scripting. And the door of our funky little player opened. We put the player on his site. Chris emailed a link to everyone he knew, offering them an opt-out in case they didn't ever want to hear from him again (again, he was ahead of the pack — offering an opt-out two years before the CAN-SPAM laws). But people loved it, especially folks in reading groups.

Fast forward to 2007. The form for our trailers has sure changed a lot. And the underlying technology has vastly improved. All new AuthorBytes trailers are YouTube friendly and are available in a variety of interfaces. Still, there was something nifty about the little door that opened and the faux antenna. . . . Maybe if we wait long enough the original player design will be considered retro. It might even become hip.

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