Book Trailers - Make One Yourself or Pay Someone to Do It?

Who should make my book trailer?

It's question I didn't need to ask myself since I have some graphic design know-how, Photoshop, and was able to work my way through the process using Animoto. They've got an easy-to-use platform, nice templates, subtle effects and a large selection of license-free music.

I'm not suggesting I've made my two book trailers with the production level of a professional service. But in deciding between the make-your-own and pay-someone options you'll need to consider two things.

Mostly, you'll need to consider how much it will cost to make your trailer. If you're willing to pay someone, I found two sites online, The Books Machine and Circle of Seven Productions.

Between the two, The Books Machine has the prettier website, and offers other services to both readers and authors. I didn't investigate further on those other services, but looked at what they do for you in terms of a book trailer. Their package comes in currently at $390.

Circle of Seven Productions has an awful looking website (if you care about such things) but is easy to navigate. Their basic book trailer package includes a lot for $525.

Both sites make great looking (if a bit over-designed for my taste) book trailers.

I've never added it up what I spent to make my trailers. I'll do that now, calculate what I spent to make my book trailer for Loveweaver.

I previously had spent a lot of time at Dreamstime searching for images of my hero, heroine, and background images that I used to make my book cover.  Even though the money was already spent, for sake of this calculation, here's the total for those plus two additional images I needed: About $100.  For other needs, I did hunted around online for "free" low res images that I could blur or revise for background detail.

I used Animto's trial version online until I got the hang of it and then purchased one month of official use for $42.

So, it cost me just under $150 to make my own trailer. The trailer for The Maiden Seer was done via the same scenario, although, I had already purchased the month of Animoto.
The other thing to consider is do you have the skills and talent to design a trailer yourself?  You'll need to search for images that suit you, choose the appropriate music, and create an effective storyboard.

Anyway, what I'm getting at a dozen paragraphs later, is that it's very possible for you to create your own trailer if you want to save some serious cash. It's at least worth going to Animoto to play around and see.