That old piece of advice, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” has never really been followed; in fact, 93% of purchasing decisions are based on the logo, product, packaging, and other visual perceptions. Books are the same way. How hardcovers and paperbacks look and feel have high importance when marketing written content. The front cover or spine cover leads to the potential reader picking up the book, gazing at the back, the inside flap, the first few pages… Truthfully, your cover is incredibly crucial to your book’s success. Read on to learn the top 10 book cover design t ..read more

The famous idiom is “Never judge a book by its cover,” however, regardless of how realistic it might be in an impractical sense, the reality of the vast book industry is that most readers indeed use the cover to decide on whether they should purchase the book or not. With several books for readers to make a selection from, the very first “sales pitch” is the cover. If the cover does not immediately catch the readers attention, it will definitely be passed over for something more riveting on either side. The “Big Question” now is, how do you make an ideal cover design? We have taken the time to ..read more

In these ever-trending, ever-changing times of technology comes a new set of challenges and opportunities for self-publishers. Depending on budget, need, and personal preference, there are many design options; from the traditional route of hiring a professional book artist to design your book ($$$$) to doing the design work yourself ($), the overall goal is the same: To get discovered and sell books. But designing a book to sell—whether you’re paying someone else or doing it yourself—is not without its risks. You’re vying for the reader’s attention amongst a hugely crowded landscape, especiall ..read more

Like pairing certain wines with food, combining the right fonts will bring out the best message impact — and can also work well with your book covers. Check out this helpful infographic by conversionminded.com: BookCreative will work with any font in your computer. It is simple to add new fonts to your computer by following these quick instructions. Find a font that you like from somewhere like http://www.1001fonts.com/. Download the Font and open the folder containing the download. Search “Fonts” in the search box by the start menu. Click on the Fonts (Control Panel) link to open the F ..read more

BookCreative is an indie publishers dream! Here are the top 10 reasons why: #10: Easy to work with No huge learning curve to learn. Just jump right in and start designing. #9: Compatible with both Mac & PC platforms Download immediately and start designing on either a Mac or Windows computer. #8: Customer Support Fast, friendly, no-judgment customer support… Made up of professional book designers who understand and really help #7: Design your own book covers Save money by designing your own book covers. Its quick and easy with no design degree required to produce a great cover. #6: Format ..read more

Are you a book designer looking for more clients and sales? Here’s a handy guide that reveals a simple, yet highly effective way to get the exposure – and trust – you need to snag those ideal clients. Having a service-based business doesn’t have to be complicated. Search for book designers on the web, and you’ll find a sea of different pricing structures, but the same way of pricing: they charge by the hour, page, or word; or a flat fee with add-on costs for images, modifications, additional concepts; maybe extra fees here and there, so on and so forth. There’s no clear cut, tangible structure ..read more

Ever since I was about three years old and discovered happiness was a 64 count box of Crayolas, it’s been easier for me to understand and absorb life concepts if I can draw them, or at least visualize them in tangible forms. Let’s just say if I had to draw my life out with crayons, it would look like Picasso chugged too many Cozmos… It’s a bit distorted, twisted, but undeniably fascinating, at least to the average suburbanite…. Yeah. I’ll save that story for a night when I’m alone with some Pinot. Anyways, in order to help maintain a daily essence of well-being, I have taken to measure li ..read more

If any of these covers were men to me, they would be Sam Elliott. Or Kit Harrington. Leonardo Di Capprio. Charlie Hunnam. Gerard Butler. Okay, all of the above… So besides clearly having an inscrutable, eclectic taste in men, what am I saying? That these covers have ROCKED MY WORLD. I fell head over heels in lust with them. And really, I don’t say that much. As a cover design specialist for 18 years, I’m super-highly judgmental about design. I don’t just love any new bright and shiny thing that crosses my path. Except shoes. But the real reason why I’m so gaga for these design ..read more

So your book has finally reached the end of that long tunnel. This year has been challenging, but you’ve poured your heart and soul into this project. Challenge accepted – and WON. It’s finally time to publish your baby! But now you’re stressing again… What about design? As a smart, savvy author you know the importance of a good cover. The only thing is, how do you champion this project without an art degree? Of course, BookCreative is your BEST resource for all the tools you need to create a beautiful book… no bias here. But for creative direction, we have a wide selection of kindle temp ..read more

Today, someone asked me how to design a cover for Kindle (KDP) in BookCreative. There seems to be a lot of outdated and general misinformation out there about Kindle cover specifications, so I went directly to the Source: According to Amazon’s KDP: “To ensure the best quality for your image, particularly on high definition devices, the height of the image should be at least 2,500 pixels. Ideal dimensions for cover files are 2,560 x 1,600. The minimum image size allowed is 1,000 x 625 pixels. The maximum image size allowed is 10,000 x 10,000 pixels and your image must be less than 50M.” Well, t ..read more