Book Signing Photos to Polished Reel: Canva Makeover for Authors

You took photos at the book signing. Now what? Lady Sara, who creates the Reels for the Fresh Fiction subscription box, turns photos and two short clips from a real author signing into a scroll-stopping 17-second Reel, live and step by step, using only free tools. Working in the free version of Canva and Instagram’s Edits app, she shows how to trim and speed up B-roll, remove background noise, add motion to still photos, pick music that’s cleared for business accounts, and place text where Instagram won’t cover it. Then host Sara Reyes and the audience dig into Test Reels, remixing old Reels so they count as new content, and why every author needs a reusable B-roll library. In this video: • Why your Reel should land under 20 seconds, and how a 17-second cut still tells the whole story • Trimming B-roll and speeding it up to 1.3x so it moves faster without looking distorted • Removing background noise for good with Canva’s free Extract Audio tool • Adding motion to still photos, and the “opposites attract” trick for zoom in/zoom out • Fixing landscape photos in a vertical Reel with a blurred background, so nobody gets cropped out • Choosing music that’s actually cleared for commercial use on a business account Chapters: 00:00 Welcome & what we’re building 02:00 Canva setup: size and drag-and-drop 05:00 Trimming and speeding up video 07:15 Removing audio (Extract Audio) 09:00 Adding motion to still photos 15:00 Fitting landscape photos with a blurred background 18:00 Adding music: commercial vs. personal use 22:00 Adding text and the Reels safe zone 24:45 Edits app demo: text effects, cover, scheduling 32:00 Q&A: Stories vs. Reels 34:45 Test Reels explained 37:00 Remixing old content so it counts as new 39:00 The Edits AI assistant 43:00 Building a B-roll library (bookstores, signings, tagging) Free tools used: • Canva (free version) • Instagram Edits app About Fresh Fiction Fresh Fiction has connected readers with the authors they love since 2004, through daily author interviews, new release news, contests, the Fresh Fiction Video Book Club, and newsletters that reach nearly 100,000 readers. Our Marketing Tips sessions give authors practical, no-fluff help with social media, newsletters, and reader outreach. Visit freshfiction.com to see how Fresh Fiction can help put your book in front of readers. #AuthorMarketing #InstagramReels #CanvaTutorial #AuthorTips #Bookstagram #BookTok #SocialMediaForAuthors #ReelsTips #FreshFiction #WritingCommunity