Book teaser: what it is and how to make one for free
A book teaser is a very short video, usually 15 to 30 seconds, that shows one moment from a book and ends on the title. It is shorter than a book trailer and explains nothing: its job is to make someone stop scrolling and remember the title. You can make an animated one for free in Nima's Long-form Video: its first trailer is teaser length, 15 to 20 seconds cut from the text you paste, with your characters drawn and voiced and music under it. Every account gets one.
Your first trailer is free.
Book teaser or book trailer?
| Book teaser | Book trailer | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 15 to 30 seconds | 60 to 90 seconds |
| Words of your text | 40 to 75 | 150 to 225 |
| Shows | One moment or one image | One whole scene |
| Explains the plot | No | A little, by showing it |
| Best for | Cover reveals, preorders, ads, countdowns | Your book page, YouTube, launch week |
| Cost in Long-form Video | Free, one per account | Plans by the minute, from as low as $10 a minute |
There is no official definition, and many guides use the two words for the same thing. Where a line is drawn, the teaser is the shorter, earlier piece: Kindlepreneur, for example, suggests sharing a 15-second teaser a week before the full trailer. That is the sense used on this page.
What goes in 20 seconds
About 50 words, so choose them like a poet would. A teaser has room for one of these:
- The line everyone quotes. If your book has one, the teaser is the ten seconds before it and the line.
- The moment before. The hand on the door, the letter not yet opened. Stop before the answer.
- A voice. Your narrator saying the first two sentences, over the place where the story starts.
- A face. The reader's first look at the character they will spend 300 pages with.
Our Frankenstein film is the first kind. One paragraph of Mary Shelley, one room, and the eye opening. It runs longer than a teaser because we let the paragraph finish; the method is the same.
Long-form Video's own free trailer is cut differently: 15 to 20 seconds, several of your places and people, two or more of your lines spoken word for word, and your title at the end. It is a teaser in length and a trailer in shape, and it is the thing to post first.
How to make a book teaser for free
- Paste your pages. Open Long-form Video and paste the scene, chapter or short story you want filmed, between 150 and 10,000 words. Nima reads it, maps the scenes, the cast and the places, and asks before it cuts anything.
- Pick a look. Detailed claymation, felted wool, comic book ink, acid pencil, which is coloured pencil, or paper love, which is cut paper. Nima can draw your lead character and your main location in all five so you compare them side by side.
- Approve the cast and the places. Every character is drawn once, from the descriptions in your text, and every location is built once as a set. Leave a note on any picture and Nima redraws it.
- Pick the voices. Each speaking character gets five voice auditions, each one reading a line from your book. Choose the one that sounds like the person you wrote.
- Watch your free trailer. Nima cuts a trailer of 15 to 20 seconds from your text: several of its places and people, two or more of your lines spoken word for word, music under it, your title at the end. You see it first as a storyboard with the voices, give one round of notes, then start a free 7-day trial and it is fully animated. Nima emails you when it is ready.
- Make the film, if you want more. Pick a plan, metered in minutes of finished film, and Nima films the text scene by scene. You review a full draft with the voices, leave notes in each round your plan includes, then approve the render. The finished film is yours to download and share with a link.
Steps one to five cost nothing but a free trial. The trailer is yours to download when it is done, whether or not you ever make a longer film.
Where a teaser earns its keep
- Cover reveal. The teaser ends on the cover. The cover is the news.
- Preorder. Pin it to the top of your profile with the date in the caption.
- Countdown. One teaser, then the trailer in launch week.
- Ads. Short video is what the ad platforms are built for. A teaser is already the right length.
- A series. One teaser per book, in the same look, so the shelf reads as a set.
For TikTok, Reels and Shorts, post the vertical version; for YouTube and your book page, the widescreen one.
When you want more than a teaser
The same scene can run longer. A 60-second trailer is about 150 words. See how to make a book trailer for the method and what a book trailer costs for the numbers.
Formats and extras
Films come in widescreen and in vertical, so the same trailer fits YouTube and your book page as well as TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Music can be added. A title card for your book, your own artwork for the characters and your own voice for the narration are available on request. Write to hello@nima.mov and tell us what you need.
Common questions
What is a book teaser?
A short video, usually 15 to 30 seconds, that shows one moment from a book and ends on the title. It does not summarise the plot. It exists to make a reader curious and to make the title stick.
What is the difference between a book teaser and a book trailer?
Length and ambition. A teaser is 15 to 30 seconds and shows one moment. A trailer is 60 to 90 seconds and stages a whole scene. Many authors use the two words for the same thing.
How do I make a book teaser for free?
Paste a scene into Nima's Long-form Video. It cuts a trailer of 15 to 20 seconds from your text, draws your characters from your descriptions, voices their lines and animates the result. One trailer per account is free: you see it as a storyboard with the voices, give a round of notes, and a free 7-day trial renders it.
How many words is a 30-second teaser?
About 75 words with a narrator reading, a little more if it is all quick dialogue. Long-form Video's 15 to 20 second trailer carries about 40 to 50 spoken words.
Can I choose which part of the scene becomes the teaser?
Nima picks the lines and the moments and tells you what it chose, and you get a round of notes on the storyboard before it is animated. To steer it, paste only the passage you want, or tell Nima in the chat before the look is picked.
Can I get a second free trailer?
Each account gets one free trailer. On a plan you make as many films, each with its own trailer, as your minutes allow.
Twenty seconds of your book, drawn and voiced, for nothing. Make my free trailer.