How to make a book cover design photoshop tutorial youtube. The best tools, tricks, and tutorials to create your book cover art yourself. Book design includes not only the graphic design of the front and back cover, but also the layout and typographic design of every page within your book. Make sure it extends to the red bleed lines at the top and bottom to ensure that your art prints correctly to the very edge of the paper. Apr 02, 2020 adobe indesign is the pro designers software of choice for creating beautiful book covers. But fear not, because you dont have to be a technological whiz to create a striking cover design with canvas free online book cover maker. Book cover design can be a really fun and rewarding job for a designer, if they know how to go about it. Heres a short stepbystep of the book cover i just made for james carters. Book covers today have to work even harder to stand out amongst crowded shelves, and to look arresting at short distances or shrunken down to thumbnail size on sites like. If your book stands a chance at succeeding, its design has to match or, if possible.
Cover creator uses the book details you enter during title setup and adds your book s isbn to the barcode area of the back cover. Even if youre a relative beginner to indesign, this tutorial will show you how you can create printready covers for paperback books quickly and easily. The diy book cover designer successful selfpublished authors tend to talk more about their marketing efforts than the ins and outs of how they created the actual book. Sad to say, thats the way many actually are created. Walk into a book store and you cant help but be struck by the range of styles used in contemporary book cover design. More than just listing the dos and donts of effective covers, read. Even some of the most critically acclaimed and widelyread books are. This is especially true for many classic books that predate digital publishing and often lack cover artwork and compelling designs that drawin readers or help to promote a book title online. Book cover design rules, tips and tricks presented by fred showker as part of judging the wiley design challenge. Make sure it sells out by creating an awesome cover design. Read this tutorial to learn some rules to designing a. Scott fitzgeralds novels are a lesson in putting a fresh spin on a classic text. When uploading your own images to cover creator, make sure.
Even if you end up hiring a designer, learning the basics of cover design and how to use some free online design tools will make it. Designing a book cover cover design shares the same basic elements as page design. Sometimes the books are a part of a narratorial series think harry potter, and sometimes they are a part of a collection think penguin classics. Canvas free book cover maker is ridiculously easy to use even for the novice or notsotechsavvy writer. Designing a book cover for a classic title to make it modern and compelling for readers is a big task. Sinem erkas has been designing book jackets for eight years, and her typographic covers for f. Design book covers with canvas free book cover maker. Designing ebook covers lets design beautiful ebook covers your client wrote the next great ebook. See more ideas about book cover design, book design and cover. We have had the pleasure of designing hundreds of book covers for talented authors across nearly every genre. And every day is different the process of designing a cover takes ages and at any one time ill be working on at least half a dozen titles. Learn how to setup your indesign file to create a 6x9 book cover. Apart from your ability to execute a design, the most important aspect of book covers is their ability to connect with the target market. When you are designing a book cover, you are visually representing the chapters, paragraphs, characters, events, settings, and ideas, all in a single image.
This will allow you to visualise the arrangement of type and images, and judge how well elements are centered on the page. Here youll see some outstanding photoshop work but are they good book cover designs. Learn how to make book covers in this comprehensive indesign. The basic how to make book cover design in photoshop cc, i hope you enjoy this video.
I hope i get to do one before they stop printing them. Diy book covers free book design templates and tutorials. A hardback book s pages are sewn or glued into a case made of cardboard which is then covered with cloth or paper. Well give you a free estimate and answer your questions. However, ebooklaunch does excellent custom covers for a very reasonable price, and im confident they can help you if youre looking for something more affordable. Select the rectangular frame tool and drag to create a frame that surrounds the front cover page. How to design your book cover free is a powerful design centered stepbystep explanation of how you can start today. Call us so we can discuss your book design and project needs. In this tutorial well be creating a print paperback cover. 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. Access the cover by clicking the icon at the top left of the main toolbar. Below are some of my favorite design software, book cover design templates, and places to find book cover designers.
More than 1,300 covers, searchable by designer, title, author, publisher, publication date, art director, photographer. Youve done the hard work and created an amazing book. The best free online graphic software for your book covers. Im particularly excited about how my last book cover turned out and thought id share my process. May 11, 2011 but with nonfiction, skimming the book is usually enough to get me ready. However, just because you can make your own covers, doesnt mean you should without guidance, you can use all my tools and still make ugly covers. Yet architects, product designers, and other key professionals in this new field. In this tutorial, carlyn beccia will show you the steps she used to redesign one of her favorite childhood stories, watership down by richard adams. Its easy to open the templates, switch the images and edit the text, and save the file as a readytouse cover. By creating alternative covers for books, they will engage with the plot, characters, motifs, and tone of the book in a new way. If cover creator doesnt meet your formatting needs, try our doityourself guidelines ebook and paperback and templates paperback.
Many cover creator templates allow you to choose an image from our image gallery or upload your own image. If your client does not yet have a barcode, you can reserve a 2 x 1. Weve covered the two cardinal rules of book cover design, 1. I spend more time visualizing ideas in my head than i do actually creating the cover. Designing a book cover might seem complicated, but the technical aspects are actually much easier than youd think. Basically, book cover design is one of the books most important assets and can have an enormous impact on sales so you need to get it right. Every printed book requires an isbn barcode in the book cover design. The first way to promote a book is to have an attractive and relevant cover. Mar 28, 2018 how to design a book cover for print and free template downloads how to make your own book cover. But with nonfiction, skimming the book is usually enough to get me ready.
A great book cover design, at its most basic level, is something that will help readers take you and your book seriously. Weve even seen authors themselves, or authors friends or family members designing covers. If the popularity and ease of selfpublishing has you thinking its easy, think again. So i made over 150 book cover templates in ms word, so that authors could use a program they are already familiar with. Designing book covers few people think about the way book covers come into life, and most think you just call an artist and say make a book cover. Designing a book cover linkedin learning, formerly. Hi everyone, in this tutorial, i have explained about design book cover, graphic design in photoshop. Derek murphy of creativindie covers is a brilliant designer and has designed a number of my own book covers. Lets be honest, we all judge a book by its cover most of the time and there are legions of blogs dedicated to the pastime. Jan 27, 2016 designing a book cover for a classic title to make it modern and compelling for readers is a big task. Oct 27, 2015 designing a book cover, including design tips, ways to use photoshop to add artistic effects, and how to load your finished cover to blurb.
Whether the cover of your new novel needs to make a bold statement or your freshly baked cookbook cover needs to pop, bookbabys designers will create a custom book cover that you can be proud of. We discuss spine width, layout, colors and typography. A paperback book s pages are glued together with a paper cover and then cut to size. Get images for your cover you can choose an image from our image gallery or from your computer. Cover design secrets you must know if you want anyone to buy. They have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi dots per inch.
So it is the responsibility of your book designer or you, if you choose to design your book yourself to ensure that the details of your book lead your future readers to your book, give off a. Ill dip in here or there, but its strictly an informationgathering trip. How to design a book cover for ebooks and more stencil. How to find the best art and photos that nobody else is using. However, the one issue that selfpublishing authors always seem to face is promoting their book or story. It covers nearly fifty years of design work and will be appreciated by anyone who loves goreys unique and strangely beautiful style. Learn how to design a book that will be cherished for years to come. Learn how to design your own book covers with my online video course, cover design secrets that sell, a huge package of design templates, recommended fonts for every genre, and resource lists to help you find the best cover art and photography. But although i personally believe in paying professionals, im also aware that some people want to have a go themselves, or need to because of. Although the tutorial is quick and not detailed, it is precise and straight to the point. Learn how to make book covers in this comprehensive. This is an introduction to book cover design, based on a presentation i gave at a writing conference in ecuador. Nigel french breaks down the components of an elegant and readable book, starting from the ground up in adobe indesign. Once you learn how to use and place guides, youll be making book covers in no time.
Learning objectives upon completion of this lesson, students will. This is great, as the tutorial shows the importance of guidelines margins and also focuses on the overall book cover rather than just the front page. Your stepbystep guide to book cover maker, book cover design, book cover template, book cover designer and more. View part 2 designing book jackets based on the design in this tutorial. Its always best to design the front of your cover only first, before you create a full cover, with spine and back. Customize your book cover to suit your book genre change the images.
If you join as a member, youll get access to a huge collection of book cover templates, so that you can design your own book covers quickly, without starting from scratch. Designing book covers is an exciting assignment for any graphic designer. How to design a book cover for print and free template. Something you may encounter during your journeys as a book cover designer is designing a set of books. View part 2 designing book jackets based on the design in this. 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. Our knowledgeable team has years of experience in print design in a wide variety of genres.
Derek murphys cover design secrets should be mandatory reading for any writer who is on the verge of publishing. How to set up your cover document in indesign step 1. Getting words and ideas out to the world can be liberating. If you have access to adobe photoshop and have time to play around, you can make a pretty amazing book cover by yourself. Designing book covers with photoshop and illustrator. I had a breakthrough when i discovered microsoft word has features that make designing easy if you know what youre doing. Mar 30, 2017 8 cover design secrets manipulate readers into buying books. When designing a book cover david airey graphic designer. Mar 27, 2010 learn how to setup your indesign file to create a 6x9 book cover. Design book cover for free with online templates adobe spark. Heres everything you need to create a book cover their readers will love. I guess not, free tools provide limited access to editing and does. In this course, well start with examples of good book cover design, brainstorm ideas, and well create designs with adobe indesign, photoshop, and. Truth be told, yes, you should judge a book by its cover, especially when it comes to comic books.
Our custom book cover design will get your book or ebook noticed. We have extremely high standards for our book cover design and creative work and our book cover designs always stand out with premium and professional level design aesthetic. However, if you want to create an ebook cover you should choose web rather than print and set the dimensions of your cover in pixels. Canvas book cover maker makes designing book covers amazingly simple even for nondesigners. But if you do decide to make your own cover, here are 7 steps that youll want to follow. Online retailers like amazon do not distinguish between traditional and selfpublished books which means independent authors are often competing again big 5 publishers. To see the kind of cover you can create with the tool, check out these examples. Designing for sustainability is an innovation shaping both the design industry and design education today.
Decide if you are going to tackle this project yourself or hire a professional cover designer to do it for you. To get the official isbn barcode, you will need to contact your client. Introduction to cover creator cover creator is a free tool intended to help you design a basic cover that meets kdp specifications. This is a critique and a tutorial to teach and illustrate good cover design rules dtg magazine design department dtg magazine, the original design zine since 1990. Who to ask for help if you need a professional book cover design artist. This class covers setting up your document, placing and styling text, working with images, creating the book cover, and preparing the book for printing. If youre looking to inspire a great back cover, read this post thats all about the books back. When designing nonfiction covers, we want to communicate to the reader the benefit of buying and reading the book. Making book covers is fun and if you publish a lot of books learning how to design your own book covers may save you a lot of money. How to design a contemporary book cover creative bloq. And the book cover archive is a great resource for the appreciation and categorization of excellence in book cover design, edited and maintained by ben pieratt of general projects and eric jacobsen of whisky van gogh go.
At the time, fitzgeralds stories were out of, so loads of publishers were republishing his books, and i imagined many of them would end up as pastiches. Writing a book or story can be incredibly fulfilling to a writer. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a book cover of the size 5. I might be working on, say, a vampire love story, a romance anthology, historic fiction, an urban thriller and a graphic novel in fact thats pretty much exactly what ive got on right now.
We cherrypicked 68 brilliant covers to give you some book cover ideas. Affordable book cover design creativindie book cover design. With those two rules youve focused on the intent of the book, and youve attempted to zero in on the psychological positioning of the reader. How to make your own book cover in adobe photoshop. This is a book of action and doesnt just tell you how i created my covers, but also reveals the secret to helping you also unleash your inner creativity. Upload your own images or choose from our stock library of over 1 million photographs, graphics and illustrations. On the paperback content tab, scroll down to the book cover section and click launch cover creator. Caring about fantastic book cover design is one of those nonnegotiables for all authors. Yes, you will find multiple online free tools and softwares to create free book cover designs.