Does a book trailer like this work, or is it just plain cheesy?

Oh, dear. I'm sure there are authors who swear by book trailers, but that just felt awkward to me. Like, I kind of wish I could un-see it. Maybe that's harsh...

I guess if he's happy with it, then, great?

I think book trailers can be very effective.

That one was hard to watch, though. The delivery was so stilted, I didn't even finish, so this one won't work on me.

I can't get it to work here (my connection doesn't like YouTube etc), but I always ask people: how many books have you ever bought because of a book trailer?

The audio trailers on Escape Pod brought me to both Scott Sigler and N.K. Jemison, off the top of my head.

Absolute and complete turn-off, for me. Not even remotely interested in who this person is and what their book is about.

I think book trailers can work, but this one doesn't.

I'd say this trailer has the reverse problem than you think. It's not that it doesn't say enough about the book. It's that it gets caught up in repeating the book description, so it's really saying too much of the wrong thing. It's a step above the slideshow of boring captions, but is falling into the same hole of being sure people will find having the Amazon product description read to them entertaining.

The only trailers I've had unconnected people send me have been entertaining for people with no prior interest in the book. They usually barely touch on the book (and the video may be about a more general genre or book subject, with the book just shown in the background or at the end). They're often funny. So people go look at the book.

Imagine in this case we cut the chat and have the man in the paperbag running down the street and getting into trouble as he flees. You don't have to tell people why he's running. That's what the book is for. It just has to make people laugh.