COVER DESIGN

In the previous post we used GIMP to create a title page. Designing a cover image is really just more of the same. If you need to, return to the earlier session (INTRO TO IMAGES) to see how it's done.

For Kindle Direct Publishing, you'll need two versions of your cover.

The big one (1600 pixels wide, 2500 high, 300 dpi) is used for display purposes on Amazon's Web page. It's one of the two items you send to KDP when you publish. (The other is the "mobi" file of your compiled book, created by KindleGen or Kindle Previewer.)

The smaller one is used for what is called the embedded cover, which becomes a part of your mobi file during the compiling phase (about which, more in a later post) and comes up on the Kindle screen when you push the "display cover" button.

The full size page of a Kindle is usually given as 600 by 800 pixels.

But that’s the standard, original spec. Kindles come is all sorts of sizes and screen shapes these days. Plus, there are Kindle aps for other platforms, including iOS. It complicates matters.

I captured a book cover image from Amazon, opened it in GIMP, and cropped out the Look Inside thing. The final image was 293 x 437 pixels. Using the Kindle-preferred long side spec of 2500, the width comes out at 1676—close to the average width of a hardback book.

(I measured a few books around the house and came up with two different ratios, one for paperbacks (1500 x 2500) and one for hardbacks (1689 x 2500). Averaging the widths: 1595. My suggestion of 1600 x 2500 uses the average of paperback and hardback widths. A compromise.)

The important thing is not to distort your cover’s natural proportions. A circle on your cover should remain a circle on the Kindle screen—and on the Amazon site.

You can use the Scale tool in GIMP to convert your big cover to a smaller version (510 by 800 pixels—a little narrower than the title page) for use as the embedded cover. Again, pick a width that preserves the proportion of your actual cover (which, for best results, should fall within the specs for paperbacks and hardbacks).



After the scaling procedure, click Image and select Fit canvas to layers.

 

The preceding procedure is for folks who want to do things themselves. (I'm usually one of those guys.) However, for best image quality and least hassle, I recommend this: Let KindleGen convert your display cover and put the result in your mobi file.

If you printed out a copy of your display cover (at 300 dpi), it would fill up the paper with an image eight and a third inches tall—roughly as tall as an average hardback book.

That's nice, but forget about the big size, okay?

The most important size is the SMALLEST.

See, folks may have to decide to request more information about your book based on seeing a thumbnail-sized image on the order of three-quarters of an inch by one-and-an-eighth inches.

Maybe even smaller.

Try this: Open a copy of your best cover in GIMP, click it with the Scale tool and shrink it down to 55 by 86 pixels. Click Image and select Fit canvas to layers. Set the scale at the bottom left corner of the image window to 100 %.

That's the thumbnail image of your cover.

Does it make you want to learn more about the book? Can you even tell if that thing IS a book cover?

Here's the deal, folks: big "title," big "author," one image.

That's about all you have room for when you're designing an e-book cover.

Keep that thumbnail image in mind at all times. If the thumbnail is good, chances are the full size version will be awesome.

In all likelihood you're going to have to fiddle around with your cover for a while before it does what you need it to do. Just remember to check it in the grayscale mode (click Image, Mode, Grayscale), because that's all you're going to get in the standard Kindle and DX versions.

And don't let your cover bleed into the page, either in a Kindle or on Amazon's site. If it absolutely MUST be white, put some sort of border around it.

Keep it simple!

Save the intricate line drawings (and smaller fonts) for your title page, or some other place inside your book where you don't have to submit to the tyranny of thumbnail images.

Some e-book coaches will advise you to have your cover created by a professional. That may or may not be an option for you, money-wise.

Check out the books on your shelf; spend a lot of time on Amazon looking at lists of books (or anywhere covers show up in thumbnail). Note what jumps out at you.

Maybe you CAN put together something like that.

Big "title," big "author," one image.

Check out the Hunger Games series. Maybe you really can put together something like this.


 
Here's same cover in the thumbnail:

I'm betting you could rearrange and resize the elements of this cover to work even better in thumbnail. Here's my version:

 

Okay, that's an incremental improvement, at best.

Two things could help: a shorter title and a shorter name—which would both benefit by allowing a larger font. The title of your book is pretty much in your hands. As for your name, maybe now is the time to think about a pseudonym. If you've already decided to use a nom de plume, picking a short one could help you out in a number of ways.

I think the amateur cover creator goes furthest astray when he gets too ambitious. Keep your cover image so simple it just HAS to look like it's been done by a professional e-book designer.

Anyway, have fun fiddling with covers.

Next time: chapter-start images.