Tag: free music

Free Online Resources for Self-Publishers

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FREE courtesy of Pixabay!

Just over a year ago I wrote a post highlighting some free online resources for writers. Since that time, I’ve discovered even more wonderful free resources for photos, music, backgrounds, fonts, and more, so it’s definitely time for an update.

Each site has a section regarding licensing, which needs to be read prior to downloading and using content. Some sites don’t require any attribution, but some do, so make sure to read the fine print.

Links to all the various sites won’t be included in this post, because minions can get into trouble with Google for posting too many scammy-looking links. But at the bottom of this post will be a link to one of Indies Unlimited’s fabulous resource pages, where you can find links to all the sites mentioned.

First up, Photos: Continue reading “Free Online Resources for Self-Publishers”

Making a Book Trailer with Windows Movie Maker – Step #2 Adding Music

books-moviesLast month’s article was a tutorial on how to make a video trailer with Windows Movie Maker (WMM). Today we will cover adding music to and finalizing your video.

Lots of sites offer royalty-free music (and images) that you can use for your video trailer. You can find out more about these on the Indies Unlimited Video Trailer resource page. I used Incompetech to download royalty free music for my six book trailers. Kevin MacLeod has done an excellent job structuring that site to help find the type of music you are looking for. You can easily play music there before downloading. Once you click on the download, it places the music on your computer. Kevin doesn’t charge for the music, but donations are certainly appreciated!

Go to your project by opening Windows MovieMaker. You should see the screen below for a project in process. Continue reading “Making a Book Trailer with Windows Movie Maker – Step #2 Adding Music”

Video Trailer Nuts and Bolts

Movie Clapper BoardMany people are intimidated by the thought of making video trailers for their books. I used to be. Then Carol Wyer taught me how to use Animoto, and I became a video trailer-making junkie.

A lot of people just take their book’s description, type it into frames, and then show those as a slideshow with music. That really isn’t going to draw the interest that could be garnered by this visual media.

You need very little to make an effective book trailer video. And, depending upon what platform(s) you use to create your video, everything you need may be at your fingertips. Here are a few tips I use which you may find helpful: Continue reading “Video Trailer Nuts and Bolts”

If it says free, can’t I use it?

CC Logo
CC Logo Shirt, by CreativeCommoners, available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/creativecommons/2900307100/ under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0. More licensing information here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Blog posts, websites, book covers, bookmarks, trailers. For writers, we sure do use a lot of photographs.

If you’re like me, your photography skills leave a lot to be desired. Luckily, there are some inexpensive (even free) options available, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we can download and use willy-nilly.

More often than not, there are some requirements we must meet in order to use even free photographs. Otherwise, we might find ourselves on the wrong side of a copyright infringement suit.

Creative Commons is my favorite place to search, because they make it easy to find free photos, artwork, music, and audio. They have very specific requirements for use, however. Let’s walk through the process. Continue reading “If it says free, can’t I use it?”