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    How to Get a Cheap Book Cover
    How to Get a Cheap Book Cover
    How to Get a Cheap Book Cover
    Ebook309 pages1 hour

    How to Get a Cheap Book Cover

    By Joleene Naylor

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    About this ebook

    A great book cover doesn't have to cost a fortune. This book covers everything from hiring someone else, to all the DIY tips you need like finding the right font, locating the perfect picture, and illustrated step by step instructions on how to put the cover together in four popular art programs.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJoleene Naylor
    Release dateSep 27, 2010
    ISBN9781452324388
    How to Get a Cheap Book Cover
    Author

    Joleene Naylor

    Joleene Naylor is the author of the glitter-less Amaranthine vampire universe, a world where vampires aren't for children. Comprised of a main series, a standalone prequel, and several short story collections, she has plans to continue expanding with a trilogy and several standalone novels.In her spare time, Joleene is a freelance book cover designer and for-fun photographer. She maintains several blogs, full of odd ramblings, and occasionally updates her website at JoleeneNaylor.com. In what little time is left ,she watches anime, plays PokemonGo, and works on her crooked Victorian house in Villisca, Iowa. Between her husband, family, and pets, she is never lonely, in fact, quite the opposite. Should she disappear, one might look for her on a beach in Tahiti, sipping a tropical drink and wearing a disguise.Ramblings from the Darkness at www.JoleeneNaylor.comYou never know what you’ll find in the shadows.....

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      Book preview

      How to Get a Cheap Book Cover - Joleene Naylor

      Intro:

      As you scroll through this document, your first question might be, who are you, and why should I take your advice?

      To this, I’m forced to say, What!? You’ve never heard of me!? *gasp*. How can this be?

      Actually, it’s not surprising; I’m not exactly famous. I’m an independent author who does book covers on the side for some extra cash. Oh, and because I just love book covers. When I was a kid I used to make up book synopsis so I could draw the covers. Abnormal? Maybe, but I enjoyed it.

      Before we go any further, though, you might want to check out my portfolio (isn’t that a really snazzy word?) so that you can see for yourself I’m not a brainless hack:

      http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666/sets/72157623412340567/

      If you’re still reading it means you agree that I’m not a talentless yokel, or else you’re a zombie looking for a snack. For the latter, I marinate my brain nightly in jalapenos, so you won’t like it, and for the former, I’ll take a moment to explain why I felt the need to make this little book. If you don’t care, then feel free to skip ahead.

      (And no! You cannot taste my brain!)

      I truly believe that anyone can be artistic - and I mean anyone. I don’t care if you can’t even draw a stick person, you can do something. Art is like photography, or like some authors try to make writing; it’s full of jargon, expensive supplies, too many theories and a lot of mumbo jumbo. I think that’s what turns people away, so we’re going to throw all of that out the window and concentrate on a no frills approach to designing and making your own book covers.

      I’ve broken the information up into sections, so you can try to skip around to the sections you need. Sometimes I may have given too much information. If so, skim past it and go to the next part. I’ve also included some pictures where I think they’re helpful, and added in some examples because it’s not only easier to understand with an example, but it’s easier for me to explain. Many of the examples are from my books because I own the information, and it’s always best to use things you own when you can. (No one can sue you later!)

      At the end of some of the sections, I’ve also provided helpful links. If you ever find that one of these links is broken, then please drop me a line at Joleene@JoleeneNaylor.com and let me know which one.

      And I’d love to see your book cover. But, we’ll never get one done if we stand here all day yacking, so let’s get on with it.

      BOOK COVER REQUIREMENTS

      These change all the time. As of this publishing, the requirements for the various sites are:

      Smashwords:

      Cover must be oblong (aka book shaped) and at least 1,400 pixels wide. The size I submit to them is usually 2769 (tall) x 1821 (wide). Must also have the author name and book title on the cover. They will accept .jpg, .jpeg or .png. (more details her - http://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq#covers)

      Amazon:

      For best quality, 2,500 pixels on the longest side, but they will accept 1,000 pixels on the longest side. They prefer book shaped covers ie taller than it is wide, but will accept square or landscape images. Must be a .jpg (more details here - https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A2J0TRG6OPX0VM).

      PubIt:

      Cover must be between 761 pixels and 2,000 pixels on the longest side.(I usually submit one that is 2,000 x 1315) Must be a .jpg. (more details here - http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com/pubit_app/bn?a=mv&t=support)

      Create Space/Lightning Source, etc:

      The books cover size will depend on your trim size and your spine width. The book cover must be 300 dpi and will need to be submitted as a PDF.

      THE BASICS

      1: The Purpose of a Book Cover and a Note on Cheap

      You may think this is self explanatory, but I’ve found there are two ways to view a book cover. The first is as the author, who often wants their cover to be an exact reproduction of their characters or scene, in other words, an image that makes flesh the words they see in their head. The publisher views a book cover as something that sells the book; something that is quick, catchy and pulls the reader in. The trick for the cover artist, whether you’ve hired them, or whether you’re doing the work yourself, is to try to create a marriage between the two. Sometimes that’s easier said than done. But, if you’re doing the work yourself, you’re more likely to accept any sacrifices you have to make.

      Another thing to remember is that nothing in life is completely free, and what you save in the wallet, you have to expend in time. It will probably take you a lot longer to weed through free images to find what you’re looking for than it would to pay someone else to do it for you. And true, you don’t have to spend a lot of time. Any old image will work (provided it meets all licensing requirements, etc.), but if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well, or else you wouldn’t be reading this right now.

      2: Looking for an Idea

      Even if you hire someone to do you book cover, the first thing you need is an idea of what you want for your cover. You may be thinking, Hey! I’m the writer! I’m not an artist! This isn’t my department! but you’ve looked at books before, haven’t you? You know what you like to see and what you don’t. That’s half the battle!

      When looking for your idea you first need to consider your genre. For example: the cover for a thriller will be very different than the cover for a cook book. Besides the obvious reason, this is because certain colors, shapes and images create instant impressions when people look at them; even before the title, blurb, or description have been processed. Though you might not have noticed this before, you can quickly find the pattern if you know you’re looking for one.

      A good place to start is amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Browse through books that are like yours, and you’ll soon see the patterns emerge. For example, go to amazon.com and search for the keywords vampire book. Did you notice that all the books are either mainly black or else dark blue or purples? The dark colors give the impression of night and darkness. A secondary color you’ll see is red, sometimes in the form of a rose, an apple, or the more obvious splattered blood. The red isn’t just eye catching, but it serves to make the reader think of blood, which demonstrates violence without having to actually portray a violent scene. A similar device is the use of a woman, often with the curve of her neck accentuated. This gives the cover a sexual element without having to actually include sexual images. And what is a vampire if not violence and sex? Every genre has a formula like this and the more covers you look at, the more obvious it becomes. Some of them you already know subconsciously, such as a romance book or a horror novel.

      You said we weren’t getting into theory here?

      And I’m not, really. I could go on and pick apart many of the other genres, but that could get pretty boring for everyone else. If you want to delve deeper into the how to’s and why for’s, then by all means do so, but for the sake of this book I’ll simply repeat, Look at other examples in your genre. Then, decide whether you want to go with the flow, or do something completely different.

      3: Design Tips

      If you talk to authors and artists, you’ll find they often look at book covers differently. The author tends to see the book cover as an exact illustration of something from their story, while the artist sees it as a vague representation that reflects the key tone. So who’s right and who’s wrong? The answer is both and neither. The key to a book cover is to make it catch the reader’s attention and communicate something to them, and that can differ by author and story. Here are some things to think about:

      Using your characters. Usually a person’s first cover idea involves their characters. Every writer wants to look their creations in the eye and see them made flesh, but this isn’t always a good idea. If your book is a romance, young adult, humor, or in some cases speculative fiction (think sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal), or a series that is defined by the character - and sells on instant character recognition - then go for it.

      Perfect representation? The goal of your cover isn’t necessarily to illustrate your book, but to catch a reader’s eye. That may mean that you need to sacrifice details. You may have a story that features a haunted brick mansion that sits on a hill, surrounded by a dense forest and gargoyle statues, complete with a stained glass cupola, a broken widow’s walk and a boarded attic window, but the image on the cover doesn’t need to exactly duplicate that. Any large, creepy brick house will get the idea across. In fact, unless you’re going to draw the house, or do some major image manipulations, it’s doubtful you’ll find a photograph that fits your description. The same goes for images of your characters.

      Is it too complicated? Just as a writer wants to see their characters, so too do they want to see those all important defining scenes brought to life, and what better way than on your cover? However, this rarely works. A

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