Book trailer maker: your characters, animated and speaking
Nima's Long-form Video is a book trailer maker that animates your own pages. You paste a scene or a chapter, pick a look such as claymation or comic book ink, approve the cast it draws from your descriptions, and get a trailer in which your characters speak the book's lines with their mouths in sync. The first trailer, 15 to 20 seconds, is free. Longer films are made on a monthly plan metered in minutes of film, from as low as $10 per finished minute, up to a hundred minutes a month.
Your first trailer is free.
What you get
Most book trailers are stock footage with text over it. This one is your story, staged: the people you wrote, in the rooms you described, saying the lines you gave them.
- Your characters, drawn from your descriptions and kept the same in every shot.
- Your dialogue, spoken. Each character has their own voice, and their mouth moves with the line.
- A narrator, if you want one, reading your prose between the speech. Switch the narrator off and only the dialogue is heard.
- Your words, not a rewrite. Spoken lines come only from your text, and nothing is cut unless you agree.
- A free trailer first, so you see your book on screen before you spend anything.
How it works
- 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.
What it costs
| What you make | Text you paste | Film length |
|---|---|---|
| Your first trailer | any scene | 15 to 20 seconds, free, one per account |
| A trailer | about 150 to 300 words | 1 to 2 minutes |
| A chapter | about 750 words | 5 minutes |
| A short story | about 1,500 words | 10 minutes |
| An hour of film | about 9,000 words | 60 minutes, from more than one upload |
Films are made on a monthly plan metered in minutes of finished film: two, ten or a hundred minutes a month, with one, two or five rounds of notes on each film. Extra minutes are $10 each and never expire. That works out from as low as $10 per finished minute; the plans and their current prices are on the pricing page. Film length follows the text at about 150 words a minute with the narrator on.
For what authors pay elsewhere, from free templates to studio work, see how much a book trailer costs.
Trailers made this way
The duel from chapter five of The Three Musketeers, in cut paper, the look called paper love. The Frankenstein film at the top of this page is claymation. Both were made from the novels' own text, and each opens on a title card, which we make on request. There are more, with notes on why each one works, in book trailer examples.
Who it is for
Authors with a launch, a preorder page or a backlist title that needs a new push. Self-published authors who want something on BookTok that is not a stack of books and a caption. Small presses making a trailer for each title on a list. Writers of short stories, plays and screenplays who want to see a scene staged.
You need the right to adapt the text. Your own book qualifies, and so does anything in the public domain. If a publisher holds your film or audio-visual rights, ask them before you post a trailer.
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.
Guides for authors
How to make a book trailer
Pick the scene, cut it to 150 words, cast it, voice it, post it. The whole method.
Book trailer examples: from a 90-second film to a full chapter
Five animated book videos, with the scene each one chose and what to borrow from it.
How much does a book trailer cost?
Free templates, hired trailers and animation by the minute, with real numbers.
Book teaser: what it is and how to make one for free
A teaser is one moment and a title. How to choose the moment, and how to film it for nothing.
Animate my book: how to turn your book into an animated film
What it takes to see your own book animated: how much text, how long, how much.
How to make an animated audiobook
Every word read aloud, every scene on screen. How it is made and how long it runs.
Book to screen: adapt your own novel as an animated series
Most optioned books are never filmed. The other route is to adapt the book yourself.
Animated audiobooks: classic novels you can watch for free
The whole text read aloud with every scene on screen, and where to watch them free.
The best book trailer makers in 2026, compared
Eleven tools sorted by what they actually make: animation, AI clips or templates.
Fiverr book trailers: what $200 buys, and the alternative
What a freelancer delivers for $30 to $200, and what you can make yourself for less.
Common questions
What is the best book trailer maker for fiction?
For fiction, the useful question is whether the tool can show your own characters and let them speak. Template editors assemble stock footage and text, which suits non-fiction and cover reveals. Nima's Long-form Video draws your characters from your descriptions, keeps them consistent in every shot and has them speak the book's own lines, which is what a scene from a novel needs.
Is there a free book trailer maker?
Yes. Long-form Video makes one free trailer per account, 15 to 20 seconds long, fully animated with voices and music. You see it as a storyboard with the voices first, and a free 7-day trial renders it. Longer trailers and full films are made on a monthly plan by the minute, from as low as $10 per finished minute.
How long does the text need to be?
Between 150 and 10,000 words per upload. A 60-second trailer is about 150 words of text, so one strong scene is enough. Ten thousand words is about an hour of film, and a longer book goes chapter by chapter.
Can the characters say lines from my book?
Yes, and only lines from your book. Long-form Video never writes dialogue that is not in your text. Each speaking character gets their own voice, which you choose from five auditions, and their mouth moves with the words.
Can I make a trailer for a book I have not finished?
Yes. Long-form Video needs one scene, not the whole manuscript. Paste the scene you would read aloud at an event.
Is it made with AI?
Yes. AI draws the pictures, voices the lines and animates the shots, directed by Nima. You review the look, the cast, the voices and a full draft before the final render.
Do I own the trailer?
The film is yours to download, post and share. You are responsible for holding the rights to the text you upload.
See one scene of your book on screen before you spend anything. Make my free trailer.