Authors-Readers Connect discussion

I've wanted to make my own e-covers for a long time now. I also want to save the hundreds of dollars I would have to pay someone else to do it.

So, David, and other members who happen to read this, what do you use to make your own e-covers? I know one program that's easy is, Canva.com

That's easy, yes, but another good and free way to do it is through Picmonkey.com which is what I use. I find a base picture/design/image that I like from a stock photo website and use that. So, for instance, on My Abigail I found the picture on a stock photo image, added my own title and name, and walla! That's it. You can do all of that on Picmonkey.

Once you do that, you download it as a pdf and upload it on KDP as your cover, or whatever other website you use.

It's easy, but it does take some time. For my newest cover, Enden, I found an old book-looking image and put some overlays on it, which I also found on the internet.

Hopefully that helps! If you have questions, I'm here!

Thanks, David. Of all the other advice I've received, Picmonkey never came up. So, I'm going to relay this to them.

You know I'm going to have questions. Stay tuned...

Alright! I'm here, Groovy, when you figure out your questions!

For quick freebies/reader magnets I use Pablo For Buffer. Its mainly for use for articles but I've found they make good simple covers.

Interesting. I'll look into that.

Thanks, Justin.

I've seen some really cool indie covers though, and there are some great sites for making them or getting them cheap. So if anyone is reading this and doesn't trust themselves to make their own, don't worry! There are plenty of cheap ways to get one, and you might as well give it a shot. You might surprise yourself!

I hope this is allowed, let me know if it isn’t, and I’ll delete!

If you’re not the creative kind, there are loads of people that create pre-made covers that you might like.

I’ve just started doing this and my covers can be found here: https://bit.ly/2VTNAvY

They’re affordable for authors who are just getting started, but I can also do custom covers too ☺️

I'm currently re-doing all my covers using Canva and stock photos. I used a pro once and the cover was awful. I had to get my $ back. I'm hoping it won't be difficult to also update the paperbacks on KDP.

I don't make my own for my books but I do for my short stories on various sites. I do so by using public domain images, Canva, Pablo by Buffer and work from there.