You don't have to spend a fortune for a book trailer. Here are some options for both professional services and do-it-yourself.
Windows Movie Maker, which is free with most newer operating systems, lets you edit and arrange movie clips, put them to music and add narration. Some examples are on the Microsoft site. If you don’t want to mess with with video, you can also make a trailer from photos, as I did with my trailer for Write at Sea.
For Mac Users, the iMovie and iPhoto will do pretty much the same thing for videos and photos.
For photos and music you can be creative with a couple licensing options:
There are free creative commons photos from sites like Flickr and CreativeCommons.org.
Royalty free photos generally require a one-time fee but you don’t have to pay for each use. There are usually additional terms based on the amount and type of distribution. My favorite is istockphoto.com.
For Music, check out RoyaltyFreeMusic.com, stockmusic.net, or istockphoto.com.
For both creative commons and royalty free items, be sure to read the license terms carefully to make sure it will suit your needs.
If you find that you absolutely don’t have the time, interest or skill to make your own trailers, have someone else do it! A couple reputable companies are Visual Quill, Book Candy Studios and Dew Point Studios.
Update: Visual Quill was the sponsor of the 2011 Emerald City Writers’ Conference.
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