If you look in the directory across the top of the CA Library Blog, you’ll see a heading for Book Trailers, a page dedicated to a growing collection of short promotional videos from our friends at Barnes & Noble.

I spent some time over the weekend updating the page: the list now has over 130 separate trailers for books available in the Academy Library. Browse the list — you’ll find original videos promoting new books, as well as interviews with authors talking about their new books. If you keep the Academy Library catalog open in a separate window, you’ll be able to quickly check which titles are currently available.

Many of these trailers are professionally-produced; publishers spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for high-quality, custom videos to promote their books, just like movie studios. Here’s an example of one of these custom trailers:

Watch a trailer for The Reckoning, the third book in the Darkest Powers Series by Kelley Armstrong. The Reckoning

Pretty slick. But some publishers don’t have the resources for expensive videos. They opt instead for more generic promotion, incorporating stock photography. But they can still have an impact:

Told in an arresting, fresh voice, Julia Hoban’s Willow is an unforgettable novel about one girl’s struggle to cope with tragedy, and one boy’s refusal to give up on her. Willow

The point? You don’t have to spend a ton of money to create an effective short video to promote a book. In fact, you may not have to spend anything — using carefully selected images, text and music available under Creative Commons licenses, along with Windows Movie Maker, you, too, could create a short video to convince others to read your favorite books.

If you’d like to learn more about creating custom book trailers, see Mr. Bateman in the library!