Tutorials cover the gamut of design topics, from web design and photographic techniques to advertising and interface design. This is perfect for selfpublishing authors including business owners creating ebooks or for publishers. In this gimp for beginners class, youll learn how to use the gnu image manipulation program gimp to create a 3d book cover. Download the specific cover template needed, as seen below. Free book cover templates for indie publishers, selfpublish authors who are just starting out or on a limited budget or dont have the skills or time to design their book covers. Design book cover for free with online templates adobe spark.
The video is a little poor in quality because this is not my usual video production. The first thing you do is to go to page setup and set up the size of your cover. Choose from our library of professionally designed layouts. In fact, the cover design determines the sale of a book eight times out of ten. 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. Create a stylish book cover by customizing a professionallydesigned template from adobe stock. Design a createspace book cover with gimp duration.
It is the visual form of the message inside and if done right is one of your greatest tools for turning readers into buyers. Learn how to edit a professionallydesigned book cover template from adobe stock using adobe indesign. I will define layers, highlight features found in the layers panel, and show you how to use layers properly in your compositions. Canvas free book cover maker is ridiculously easy to use even for the novice or notsotechsavvy writer. The artists guide to gimp effects is the followup text to the first book ever published on gimp, the artists guide to the gimp. This video discusses how to make a book cover in gimp. Gimp is a crossplatform image editor available for gnulinux, os x, windows and more operating systems. Make a book cover spine with gimp selfpublishing with dale. I found that it was a good program but a little complicated. Now, i will go into a detailed tutorial on how you can create a simple, attractive ebook cover design. The best free book cover makers and a few paid ones. Your book cover just how you want it choose a template and customize it to get an original book cover design. Having more time than cash, i wanted to see how much i could accomplish without spending any money.
How to create a free print book cover for kdp freedom to. Is it possible to design a book cover using gimp only. In this book ill show you how to use the gnu image manipulation program gimp, a free photoshop like program, to produce professional looking, high quality graphics on a budget. Work with yoru designer to choose your favorite design, finalize the color and font options, and thats it. 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. I knew it was going to be something special when i first saw your work product, but the comments from everyone even friends.
In this course ill show you how to use the gnu image manipulation program gimp, a free photoshop like program, to produce professional looking, high quality graphics on a budget. Java how to design login and register form in java netbeans duration. We recommend hosting a book cover reveal as a way to stir up more anticipation for your novel before your book launch as well. Cathi, just a quick note to let you know how well your book cover design has been received. If you are a graphic designer who need free book cover templates this site is for you as well.
To see the hex color code, youll need to go to windows at the top, click on dockable dialogs, and select colors. Adobe spark is a free book cover maker that lets you craft a vision from your writing. May 07, 2019 the final step for your book cover design is to finalize it. How to create a free print book cover for kdp freedom to vent. Make sure it sells out by creating an awesome cover design. Y our cover is the window to the soul of your book. I will tell you the simplest way to make a cover with your word processor. If you set out to design your cover by yourself, you can either use a picture editor software, like photoshop or its free alternative, gimp, or go online and try a book cover designer app, like canva. More than just listing the dos and donts of effective covers, read. I have seen many online ebook sellers who market their ebooks without a cover image, but most professionals these days use 3d image even if its a free ebook. How to create a print book cover on kdps template without. Youve done the hard work and created an amazing book. Complete guide to book cover sizes why do they matter. How to choose the right book cover dimensions in 3 simple.
Just select a template, edit the content and youre done. The longer answer is that gimp gnu image manipulation program is a powerful graphics program, and for most of us making our own book covers, it has more power than we need. Bring your vision to life you can design yourself an amazing book cover, no need to hire someone else. Yes, you will find multiple online free tools and softwares to create free book cover designs. Fix your images, add stunning filters and edit text. How to choose the right book cover dimensions reedsy. Free psd book cover templates free book cover templates. Finished ebook cover design using gimp remember, if you have a lot of white space behind the e book, it will also save this space in the image. How to make a book cover spine with gimp createspace posted on august 10, 2017 august 10, 2017 by dale in my video createspace cover template. Gimp for beginners, book covers and free graphic design write, selfpublish and market on amazon 5 at. Im sure ill go through a few more iterations before im happy with mine.
However, if you didnt create a solid book cover, youll go to gimp and use the color picker tool to obtain the background color for your spine by clicking on the back cover background. Over 300,000 authors trust the professionals on reedsy, come meet them. Once you find the correct folder, the file is going to be something that says at the very end of it, front. At this size, your cover is big enough to use for a print book, like at lulu and createspace, or you can still use it as en ebook.
Make it your own by changing the typography, artwork, and colors. Although i signed with a great publisher for my ebook, i opted out of print, deciding to selfpublish a paperback edition of my novel. After all, its usually determined by the books trim size. The course uses the creation of book covers for selfpublishing as the basis for demonstrating the use of the program. Please refer to the spine chart at the top of this page to correctly design your book. Best software for diy book design alliance of independent. Upload your own photos or choose from over 1 million stock images. Jan 28, 2019 if you set out to design your cover by yourself, you can either use a picture editor software, like photoshop or its free alternative, gimp, or go online and try a book cover designer app, like canva. There are only really three things that make people pick a book up. The first step is a cover, and thats an important one. Smashwords how to make an ebook cover with gimp part 1 a. The books cover art that appears on the ibooks store also known as the marketing image is the image delivered alongside the book asset and does not refer to the cover image included in the book asset. How to make a book cover with gimp, i rushed through the process skipping over two very important steps in. You see, richard knew the contents of the book were important.
We have some great book templates to help you get your book out to the public and start selling copies today. I include how to add photos, text, and eyecatching gradient backgrounds for a modern and dramatic design. It has preset kindle cover samples with the dimensions of 1410. Top 5 free book cover makersdont break the bank, create your. Making an ebook box set cover in gimp i know its been a while since i promised to show yall how to use gimp to make a cover for a box set, but i have an excuse. See, as soon as bob hammond heard about it, he immediately demanded that i make him one. In this tutorial we walk you through how to design a book cover in gimp, using one our diy templates. Youll learn how to create a book cover design from start to finish, understanding the best settings for print vs. In this course, ill show you how to use the gnu image manipulation program gimp, a free photoshoplike program, to produce professional looking, highquality graphics on a budget.
Free psd book cover design templates book cover mall. Create a book cover in minutes, with easy to use tools and a wide range of professionally designed templates. Nonfiction and spiritual book authors receive a minimum of 5 book cover proofs to choose from. Note that this is a fairly advanced class so you should be familiar with the gimp.
Creative book designer creative publishing book design. The book uses the creation of book covers for selfpublishing as the basis for demonstrating the use of the program. Smashwords how to make an ebook cover with gimp part 1. Weve spent years charging hundreds of dollars for book covers but we have decided to take all our teams talent and give it to you for free. This is a great tutorial for selfpublishers and authors. I guess not, free tools provide limited access to editing and does. The book cover design is one of the most critical factors in a books success. How to make a book cover in gimp selfpublished authors. Ill be using the book cover i created in my 2d book cover class in this demonstration. I will define layers, highlight features found in the layers panel, and show you. Are you looking to create an attention grabbing book cover without breaking. Downloaded it and found it to be very helpful and easy to follow, so part 1 was purchased. Design an attentiongrabbing cover that will make everyone turn around. Mar 03, 2019 i will tell you the simplest way to make a cover with your word processor.
So you can fit the art over the template, leave the white space as is, save as pdf and it will still work just fine. Derek murphys cover design secrets should be mandatory reading for any writer who is on the verge of publishing. Design book covers with canvas free book cover maker. What he failed to realize, however, is that people do, in fact, judge a book by its cover in reality, according to the book smuggler, 79% of people say book cover designs play a decisive role in their decision to purchase a book so, are you a richardor will you learn what it takes to design a book cover that will sell your book. With it, you can find a book cover template that suits your genre and style, and you can customize it until you have a sleek ebook cover thats perfect for your verbal art. Whittakers part 2 of how to make a e book cover with gimp. I include how to add photos, text, and eyecatching gradient backgrounds. Its often been said, dont judge a book by its cover. Opening your book cover in gimp and setting up the workspace go to file, open to locate the book template you downloaded from our website. Open canva and select the kindle cover design type or insert your own custom dimensions.
Once youve located the xcf file, open it up and you should see the front cover. To design a physical book cover with gimp youll need 3 things. Book cover design design a creative book cover online. What we rarely mention are the dimensions of the cover. When we talk about book cover design, we often talk about the color palette, typography and use of images. I will use gimp for this tutorial since it is available as a free download, however, if you use another software program the process will be very similar. Convert your catalogue cover images and paperback book cover images to a suitable size to embed within your ebooks. It is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes. Diy book covers free book design templates and tutorials. Assuming you can get your colors right, its possible to do a professionallooking cover yourself, using gimp. Whittakers part 2 of how to make a ebook cover with gimp. Set up and design book covers in gimp using layer masks and blend modes to create interesting effects. Work out the specifications for a paperback book cover or generate one in createspace, and then design your cover in canva with a little image manipulating in gimp.
Can you, the author, also be enough of an artist to design a cover that is as good as your book. Its also developed by a community, which is cool in some ways, but brings its own little quirks. Our book cover templates have been created to give your book the full opportunity it deserves without the hassle of having to spend a lot of money. If you have an apple computer you use pages program. The techniques demonstrated can be used to create stunning graphics for any purpose including. Doing my interior and cover design would allow me artistic control, for better or worse, of the product. They recognise the authors name and liked their earlier work. Well start with the process of downloading gimp and finish. Cover templates are basically the same size as your book with. Learn how to design book covers for print or digital using the latest version of gimp. Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, gimp provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. The pixel limit for the interior cover, as with all interior book images, has been increased to 3. Canvas book cover maker makes designing book covers amazingly simple even for nondesigners.
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