Everyone's Guide to Wattpad

Graphic Designers! When Making Something..

For those of you that make covers, banners, and other such things, I dedicate this part of the guide solely to you. If you make these things on your own or make them for other people, you should listen.

If you are a writer, you should know that 98% of people on Wattpad judge a story by it's cover. If it isn't good, how will people get into looking at the description, which should be the bait for readers to read your story? You don't. A nice cover is needed.

Fortunately, this will be a fairly short lesson, mainly since I will be talking to you about what we expect. I will not be teaching you how to make one. I learned long ago that I will never learn how to do that kind of stuff. Writing is my art but making covers is yours, so let me assist you.

To Do and Not To Do

I will start with everything you should not do, since it's pretty easy to spot those.

Do not get too fancy with the fonts. It needs to be large and legible. Also, keep text to a minimum. Don't try to put half the description on the cover. It is eye-straining and quite repelling. If it's tiny on the page you are creating it on, imagine it five times smaller.

Do not do too much fading! Fading can make or break you. I've seen a cover where there were two pictures, both at 50% fade, and I couldn't see them both. It's like trying to choose what you see. Like writers, stay on topic. If it isn't a huge detail, make it a little visible. If it's the main subject, it should be clear and the first thing I see when I glance at it.

Do not use real pictures unless it can overall look professionally taken! Taking pictures of a really cool scene in life won't look so cool on a cover. Almost all of us have seen this. Trust me, don't try using a real-life picture without major photoshopping.

Do not have too much going on in the cover! We should/will see that cover that has a so much detail the main subject seems a lot less main. Avoid those professional pictures with nice poses. It seems like there's a lot to look at, and the subject doesn't seem so subject-y! Again, the subject needs to pop out from all the rest, not blended into the picture.

Now that we have that set aside, let's look at things you should do and aim at.

What kind of cover are you wanting/making? Is it going to be simple with a nice solid-color and a bit of texture, while having the title big and grand, making it look nice? Or is it going to be an assortment of pictures with major photoshop, cropping, and fading?

Stick to the theme. If it's a Romantic Humor story, create one that has a guy and a girl flirting or something. Don't stick them in front of a haunted house (unless it's something they want [or if it's a subcategory]). If it's Sci-Fi, it should be something not in modern day! Don't put some shirtless guy on the cover if it's a story called "Jumping to Jupiter" or something Sci-Fi like that. See my point?

Place the Author's username on the cover. Don't place your name on it unless you are writing it. Don't ever place something like 'Created by OrangesPersonalCoverMaker'. It's like McDonald's advertising themselves in front of Barnes and Noble without permission.

Another thing, try not to use black-and-white pictures. It's colorless and pretty unattractive. Sticking a title that has color on it makes it look even worse.

Now you might all hate me for saying some of these things, but just look at the covers on the Hot List! The writing might be horrible (usually isn't on those lists) but the reason they are up there is because enough people are reading it. The first thing someone looks at is the cover. There they were hooked in and began reading.

Covers also show how deeply motivated you are into the story. If you don't care for it much, then you might be sticking with a cover Wattpad starts you with. Not purposely! If you are motivated by a story, then you will search/make long and hard until your standards are met.