Cover shop

Tips

I know that no one can make the best cover for your book better than you can. But how can you make the book cover without skills, you ask.

Well, this chapter is just for that.

I'm sure most authors would like to make their own book covers so they can take credit for them. This chapter is to teach you the basic and important skills of making a book cover. Just in case you'd rather make your own cover. But if you don't give a care, feel free to skip this chapter and wait for a cover from me.

Let's get to it then, shall we?

P. S. All these tips are from experience.

Tip #1: Know what your book is about

One of the most important things is to know what your book is about. Well, you must be wondering: Now, Rose, why would I make a book cover for something I don't know?! Please don't call me a dumb child yet; let me further explain . . .

You need to know these things about your book: genre, plot, theme. These elements determine how your book cover is going to look like. If your book is a romance, you surely can't have a picture of a knife on your cover. You'll attract the wrong readers. When you know the plot of your story, you'll know the different pictures, colours, or fonts needed and it'll make it easier for you to find them. If your theme is 'optimism', you may need a calm background for whatever image you are going to use.

Remember when I said I'll read your books when I accept your requests just to be nice? Yeah . . . I wasn't being nice; it is vital for me to really know what the book is about, so I make the perfect cover.

It's important that you make the right cover for the right genre, plot, and theme.

If you have any questions, please ask.

Tip #2: Brainstorm

This is also very important. You gotta take time to think of ideas for your book cover. Once you know what your book really is about, you now choose ideas depending on the book's genre, plot, and theme. And as you brainstorm, don't just take the easy way out and try and mimic a nice cover you saw before. Be original. Ask yourself, "What makes my book cover idea different and special?" Even if your title is the bomb, your cover still holds some power to bring in or take away readers.

This is the most important part for me, which is why I recommend you to take some time to brainstorm ideas. It's not advisable for you to just 'go with the flow'. Believe me, I'm talking from experience.

Another advisable thing is to brainstorm multiple ideas. As they say, "the more the merrier".

Tip #3: Find good pictures

Once you have your idea, you probably have your book cover made in your head. Now, it's time to bring it to LIFE! And by life, I mean pictures.

Unsplash, Gettyimages, We HEART it, Pinterest, and Tumblr are my favourite websites to go to when I'm in need of free, good quality pictures. I recommend them to y'all (and no, they are not sponsoring this book.)

Your pictures need to be clear. Like, very, very clear. Clearrrrrrrrrrr! It will look unprofessional if they aren't (I'll speak about this later).

And they need  to fit the frame for Wattpad book covers. The right size for Wattpad covers is:

1410 x  2250

Here's an example of something that doesn't fit:

In result, when you post your book, it will look like this:

See, now your picture doesn't even fit and some of it is cut out :(. I cannot emphasize enough how important this is. It is VERY VERY important for your picture to be the correct size. And if it isn't, then you can just stretch it using Picsart's editing tools.

Once you find the right picture, you can move on to putting your text . . .

Tip #4: Good font, good colours, good life

Here are the rules for text:

-Use at most two types of fonts on your book cover. Only two or less. Please two. I promise it's important.

-The color of your text should be similar to at least one of the colors in your image / background.

-The font must go with the genre, plot, and theme of book.

-I'll say this again: only two or less fonts are allowed on the whole of your book cover.

-The text must be visible. How are readers going to read my book when they can't even read the title?

-The text must be away from the edge of your cover. That way, you'll avoid it from being cut out and hard to read.

-Make sure your text doesn't blend with the image / background. It will be hard to read if that happens. Just look for a colour that's on your image / background that is different to the color of the part your text is on. Let me explain further . . .

Please do me a favour and look at the cover of this book for a quick second. So, since the text, "Cover shop", is around a white space, it certainly can't have a white color. But it needs a color that is on the image. And which other color is there? Yellow. So, I used yellow, not only because it's on the image I used, but also because it is different to the color of the part the text is on. But, if the text was on the yellow paint, then I would use white text.

-Use unique font. Don't just go for that boring font you use to write the titles of your essays. LOL. You can find almost whatver font you need at Fontspace.com, or Phonto.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone here. This was sort of like a rant for me 'cause I'm soooooo tired of seeing these mistakes all the time. They make me wanna ask the author to allow me to make a cover for them.

Text is very important on the cover. If you have any questions, PLEASE ask. I'm begging you to ask; I don't want you to leave confused. I want you to leave with a smile on your face. Everyone deserves to have a smile on their faces . . .

More tips are in the next chapter. See you then!