When I first started doing eBooks, I designed all my own covers. It wasn’t until the last few months that I began hiring other people to design them. Little did I know how much easier it was doing it that way, as well as how shitty my covers were compared to the $5 ones I could get from Fiverr. So without further ado, here are a few ways to get a cover for your ebook.
Designing your own cover
Unfortunately for some people, their skills are not exactly the best with Photoshop or GIMP. There’s a solution for that, but it might cost a few gold doubloons. The most inexpensive option is to use the Amazon built-in cover designer. It might not be the most beautiful option, but if you’re on a tight budget it will do.
If you’re going to design your own covers, you may or may not need stock images. A stock image is an image you buy the rights to use, so you don’t get your ass sued by the photographer.
If you plan on staying in the publishing game for a while, most websites offer packages you can use to either download x amount of images a day for x amount of days, which are usually cheaper than pay as your go options. This can cost upwards of $5 depending on the size of the image. Also, look out for deals on different websites. A few weeks ago I managed to snag an AppSumo deal that gave me 100 images for less than $50. I can now download images as I need them, instead of being forced to a schedule.
The only site I used to get stock photos is DepositPhoto.
I usually download the largest size image I can, as they can be re-sized to smaller products. I always use a rectangle for my covers, 1563 pixels wide by 2500 pixels high. Creating a cover can be as simple as slapping a title and author name on a stock image and calling it good, but if you’re a wizard with the image manipulation have fun with it. A good idea would be to look at how other covers in your genre are designed and try to model yours after them. Just don’t rip off other covers. I’ve seen far too many shit-storms from semi-successful authors throwing hissy fits because someone robbed them of their cover design.
Using Fiverr
The next option would be to find someone on Fiverr to create your cover for you, which can cost at least $5. Not breaking the bank, but there are still additional costs to go along with it. Most of the time you’ll have to provide your own stock images. Be sure to tell them the book title, subtitle, author name, and what image to use, and also you’ll leave a positive review when they’re finished. Just be aware that for $5 you’re getting a $5 cover. It’s not going to be the very best.
Fiverr designers might have additional offers available to purchase for additional reimbursement, paid in multiples of $5. They might offer one-day turnaround for an additional $5, or provide multiples designs for the same project. I’ve used Fiverr plenty of times. That way instead of going back and forth because you don’t exactly like the one design they sent you, you can pick from a pool and go back and forth with your favorite.
Pre-made covers
For around $25 and up you can purchase pre-made covers. Pre-made covers are covers that someone created, are fully designed but have a generic title and John Doe author. You shouldn’t be worried about other books having the same cover design as yours either, as when pre-made covers are purchased most designers take them down from sale. Just be sure to read the website you find it on. There are hundreds of websites selling pre-made book covers, a quick google search will find you everything you need.
Commissioned work
The big done-dada is getting a fully commissioned cover done. This can cost anywhere from $200 to $1200 and up. This will net you professional service choosing everything for you, from images to fonts to the color scheme. I don’t know a damn thing about this because I’ve never commissioned a cover before, so I’m not even going to pretend like I do. Stay safe.