Do it yourself book covers

More than just listing the do s and donts of effective covers, read. So if youve written a great novel, it pays to invest in professional book cover designer. Authors legal guide to stock photos for book covers don. The next challenge well be to laminate the inner book pages using photo paper instead of text paper and see if one can glue it up and hold it together with a cover. Do it yourself book binding tutorial part 1 diy bookbinding. A poor cover creates unnecessary friction that prevents a reader from clicking to sample or purchase a book. Do it yourself book covers is well written in an easytofollow style. I highly recommend looking over the monthly book cover contests at the book designer. Thankfully, authors have more ways than ever to give their books polished, goodlooking covers. Once your cover design is just right, hit the download button and use your new image to promote and advertise your newest book. Now you can make your own professional looking book marketing images. Save your 3d image as a jpg, or transparent png if you want to change the background.

My award winning book cover designs have worked to double sales overnight, and turn a nonseller into an amazon chart topper within days. How to create paperback book covers for your selfpublished. Great content deserves the right book cover designer. Will is a novelist and has selfpublished a number of books. How to find the best art and photos that nobody else is using. The do it yourself bible and song book combo is the perfect solution for your ministry needs, and you can select this durable binding in leather or leatherette, in one of several colors, to complement your briefcase. He sent me the cover of a recent collaboration and i asked if he would write about the experience of designing book covers for his own books. Apart from your ability to execute a design, the most important aspect of book covers is their ability to connect with the target market. Book covers promote the sale of a book and generate discussion. But theres a bit of a rub where cover design is concerned, which is that ma. Featuring indepth articles highlighting common document binding and finishing solutions, doityourself tutorials and troubleshooting guides.

Please browse and upload the jpg or png file for your book cover design. Jealous every time your author buddies show off their pretty new. Every time youre near a bookstore ask yourself these questions and jot down titles of books that have covers you like and why. The five secrets to a killer ebook cover magnolia media network. Heres your chance to introduce yourself, ingratiate yourself to your readers and offer insight into your writing that only you can provide. A simple little origami paper trick started a new interest for me in bookbinding and eventually this handmade bookbinding tutorial. They protect books from wear and tear and give kids canvases to express themselves. Design book covers with canvas free book cover maker. Do it yourself ebook covers unless you have some experience using photoshop, gimp, or similar graphics programs, and are willing to open an account to buy highquality stock images, i would strongly advise against making your own book cover.

Premade book covers and ebook covers for independent authors on a budget. It came from my desire to have printed copies of some of the many ebooks i have collected over the years. I personally am trying to do thinner laminate about 1. If youre not too keen on hiring a professional and would rather tackle design duties yourself, here are a few resources to help you along the way.

A little practice at cutting and wrapping will yield nice, neat corners like this. Learn how to make three different diy brown paper bag book covers for school. Free book design templates and tutorials for selfpublishing authors free book design templates and tutorials so you can make your own book cover. Book cover design bestselling amazon book cover designer. Position the book covers and the spine on the reverse of your chosen fabric or leather and mark out so that there is a border of about one inch 25 mm all round.

Its easy to get burned by people who are just out to make a buck, or wellmeaning designers. Book cover design tips for your next release author. Yes, we really do judge books by their covers huffpost. Doityourself ebook cover design wordmaster selfpublishing library 4. A doityourself guide to creating ebook covers creatives. An eyecatching design can make the difference between a book that sells and one that stalls, so dont let your future bestseller get passed over due to a soso cover design. Ideally, book covers are best left to a competent cover designer. There are a few fiction and nonfiction cover template samples to play with. The cheapest and easiest is to saddlestitch the book. No doubt, a fine cover gives the author an advantage, coker says. Jealous every time your author buddies show off their pretty new promo graphics. Despite what some might say, book covers arent actually in decline. The five secrets to a killer ebook cover magnolia media. Apr 27, 2011 do it yourself ebook cover design posted on april 27, 2011 by john oneill in an experiment today, i found that, in a pinch, i could design my own ebook covers for upload on the amazon kindle, barnes and noble nook and publishing sites, using microsoft powerpoint.

The best free online graphic software for your book covers. Canvas book cover maker makes designing book covers amazingly simple even for nondesigners. Lessons from a doityourself book cover designer by will. This forced me into a position of paying someone to design a cover or do it myself. Derek murphys cover design secrets should be mandatory reading for any writer who is on the verge of publishing. My diary of a wimpy kid doityourself book100% youtube. Dont forget there are lots more templates in the epic book. I met will entrekin on twitter, and here on my blog where he comments. May 31, 20 no doubt, a fine cover gives the author an advantage, coker says. If a book has good graphics, good quality covers and an eyecatching font, its bound to sell more copies. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Here you will find a growing collection of premade covers.

Believe it or not, you can actually design an entire book cover using only microsoft word. Need an optin offer or free ebook cover that doesnt look like a monkey went to town with ms paint. Hardcover binding supplies diy hardbound bookbinding. Gimp is not an easy program for the graphicallychallenged, brian has. Gimp is not an easy program for the graphicallychallenged, brian has smoothed out a lot of the bumps. And, with the internet enabling effective and fast exchange of documents, feedback and ideas, people are sharing their favorite book covers across the web. I recommend writing in first person because youre writing for the web. Doityourself ebook cover design posted on april 27, 2011 by john oneill in an experiment today, i found that, in a pinch, i could design my own ebook covers for upload on the amazon kindle, barnes and noble nook and publishing sites, using microsoft powerpoint.

He sent me the cover of a recent collaboration and i asked if he would write about the experience of. Jul 23, 2019 one of the most important book cover design tips is to limit yourself to two typefaces. Yes, youll need to write about yourself on your website. Premade book covers, highquality designs for a small price. Fix your images, add stunning filters and edit text. Premade book covers, made to overcome your competitors. Your guide to branding yourself as an author ny book editors. Whether you hire a book cover designer or make them yourself, theres a good chance that your book cover will use stock photos. Study over book covers in your genre to see what works. But if you do decide to make your own cover, here are 7 steps that youll want to follow. You simply adhere the two books with a plastic sleeve and zip them neatly into the cover. My diy book cover blunders celebrating independent authors.

A great book cover design, at its most basic level, is something that will help readers take you and your book seriously. Do you think goodreads has permission for all those thumbnails. While you may think youre fine because you paid the designer or the stock photo site, what youll learn from reading this article is that you may not be safe at all. As already mentioned, you can use any material you want really, although very thick material will be difficult to fold and glue but hey, who knows how patient and skilled you are. Sep 10, 2014 10 things most humans cant do duration. Online retailers like amazon do not distinguish between traditional and selfpublished books which means independent authors are often competing again big 5 publishers.

Customize your book cover design by typing in your books name, changing the background, choosing a color scheme, and selecting your fonts. Finally, you can create your own book covers using the simplified methodology outlined in the book. Even though weve all been told since childhood to never judge a book by its cover, the fact is that book cover design does attract readers. Very often i dont worry about putting a cover on the book and just bind the pages or i cover the book with plain heavy cardstock and handwrite the title.

Pause the video, get some popcorn, cause this is gonna be a long video. Choose from our library of professionally designed layouts. How to create a book cover for free publishdrive blog. A complete guide to create professional ebook covers even if you are not a professional your ebook cover is the first thing anyone sees of your book. One of the most important book cover design tips is to limit yourself to two typefaces. Publishers and authors love when you use their book covers. Youll begin to see a pattern of your tastes start to emerge. Make sure it sells out by creating an awesome cover design. Diy book cover diy washi tape notebooks diy book covers. This covers composition is strongthe eye is drawn to the center of the hero imagebut the fonts are out of control and cheapen the whole look and make it seem less professional. How to design an indie book cover publishers weekly.

For this method you lay a small stack of pages together with a cover made of card stock, put two staples along the spine to hold it together there are special saddle stitch staplers for this task, and then fold it in half. Mar 31, 2008 there are several ways to go about making a book. Book cover templates and guide sample heres a link to the sample package. Joel friedlander does a wonderful job of summing up why a cover works, or doesnt. Author, book binding, book publishing, creative writer, disk formatting, do it yourself, indie publishing, selfpublishing. I understand that many of us lack the budget for this, but keep in mind that the diy learning curve, as ive hopefully demonstrated, can be embarrassingly steep. I found a blog article with a link to a pdf file that, when printed out and folded, created a very useful little 8 page expense tracking booklet that would slip in. Open canva and select the kindle cover design type or insert your own custom dimensions. Finally, an easytouse tool for making book mockups and 3d covers. The 3d book cover creator youll love to use diy book covers. We all know that books are, in fact, judged by their covers.

Jackson explains how to use a free program called gimp gnu image manipulation program to combine text, colored boxes, and inexpensive images to. Use canvas impressively easy to use free online book cover maker to quickly design custom book. Book covers a selfpublishing guide to creating quality book covers using free tools and inexpensive images here it is, the book youve been waiting for. Doityourself ebook cover design trials of an ebook author. Because of this, and because the marketplace is so crazy competitive, your cover can make or break your book. The doityourself bible and song book combo is the perfect solution for your ministry needs, and you can select this durable binding in leather or leatherette, in one of several colors, to complement your briefcase.

The guide is directed at users of windows 7, but it has also been used successfully by mac os users. Authors legal guide to stock photos for book covers dont. Novel book covers do great when they send an emotional message congruent with the story, while nonfiction book covers that are witty and intriguing sell well. Do not decide on a book cover until you have read this book. My award winning book cover designs have worked to double sales overnight, and turn a. When i set out to design a cover for my book it was because the online publishing company, smashwords requires a cover with the title. In general, nonfiction speaks to the brain while fiction speaks to the heart. Do it, gurl fabric book cover its that time of year to get ready to head back to school, so jamie has a diy to help protect. Do it yourself hardcover bookbinding about time publishing blog.

Upload your own photos or choose from over 1 million stock images. There is no escaping the fact that great book covers or ebook covers will give a book the best chance of being noticed by potential readers. Jan 21, 2012 when i set out to design a cover for my book it was because the online publishing company, smashwords requires a cover with the title. Design a book cover in seconds with this tool placeit. Design book cover for free with online templates adobe spark. The opposite can be said of a terrible ebook cover, as it is a surefire way of telling book buyers to stay away. Diy book covers free book design templates and tutorials. Endsheets are made by folding larger sheets of either a similar or complimentary substance. The bookblock is prepared in a similar way to making a paperback see yesterdays post, the exception being that there are two endsheets and a saddle of muslin or some other material instead of a paper cover. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading ridiculously simple self publishing. See more ideas about diy, diy tutorial and diy notebook. Gbc proclick do it yourself presentation kit 516 spines clear. Finally, a do it yourself guide on creating book covers here it is, the book youve been waiting for.