Read on Twitter
Book covers: I've seen some doozies during #indieapril, and I just want to give you a quick couple of tips. I'm not going to be glib and say hire a designer. I can't afford it, and it's no one's business why, but you can make a decent cover yourself if you have to. 1/
1) Look on Amazon & find out what's selling in your genre. Don't copy them, but figuring out what readers are looking for is *important* Don't be precious about it. Your cover is only wrapping paper & after a reader admires it for 2 seconds, they're going to rip it open. 2/
2) Go to a stock photo site like http://depositphotos.com , dreamstime, or canstock. Other sites are pricey per photo. Don't use a free one! I don't care how broke you are, it's not safe. Find a photo that can blend in with step 1 with little to no manipulation on your part. 3/
3) Figure out your font. Use https://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/ to figure out the font you liked from the covers in step 1. This is probably the worst mistake I've seen indies make. Font is not an afterthought! This website will give you close alternatives. 4/
Find a font you can use for commercial use. Don't get sued! I use https://www.1001fonts.com/free-for-commercial-use-fonts.html for some free ones. There's a limited selection. I also go to https://www.creativefabrica.com for cheap fonts that are always available for commercial use. 5/
Use http://canva.com to put your cover together. Play with font placement on your stock photo, use a clean font for your author name. Think about branding. 6/
Play with photo placement (zooming in, cutting off the models head, etc). I like to play with my photo in some their templates to see how it looks. 7/
You don't have to spend a lot of money on a good book cover. If you don't have a package, a photo on deposit photos is seven dollars. I did this for someone in a FB Amazon ads group in ten minutes. I'm sure she won't mind the promo. 8/
I don't have many photo manipulation skills. I try to find stock photos that don't need much work. I like to collect fonts. I like to play with templates and develop my "eye." Just because you know photoshop doesn't mean you can make a nice cover. Practice. 9/
Keep an eye on what's already selling. Google the top 100 books in your genre. Standing out isn't going to help you in this case. You draw readers in with your cover, title, and blurb. You keep readers and make them fans with your story. Good luck! 10/10
