You're about to publish your fabulous Kindle ebook…will it stand out from the hundreds of thousands of other ebooks featured on Amazon?
One of the most important elements you need to add to your ebook is a cover image. While it may not be quite as important as your content, it is the first thing people will see, before they even read a description or review of your ebook.
You need to create a cover image and virtual book images of your cover you can use to promote your ebook.
There are a few ways to create your cover:
- Hire a graphic designer – if you have the budget, then I recommend going with a professial designer vs. doing it yourself
- Use Fiverr or elance and request bids for design services
- Create it yourself with royalty free images
I'm frugal so I like to do it myself for low cost products like a Kindle ebook. When I create high fee products , I hire a designer (I highly recommend Heidi Frieder of ArtHead).
Back to ebooks.
For my $.99 ebooks I usually buy a royalty free image and create a simple cover. Make sure to choose a large image that is colorful so it stands out on the page. My favorite source of royalty free images is BigStockPhoto. I buy credits in bulk and buy images for blog posts, reports, and PowerPoint presentations.
You can see I'm not much of a designer. I create a simple cover with the image I purchased, title, my name and the URL for my website. The next step is to use the two dimensional cover image to create three dimensional images to promote your ebook. Take a screenshot of the cover image you've recreated so you have a jpg you'll need to create three dimensional promo images.
Over the years I've bought several software programs to create 3D product images. They all required you to download software and then install it on your server. And, the results were not that great. Then, a few months ago I was introduced to a great online program called BoxShot King. Nothing to download, easy to use and more than 40 types of product images you can create in about 1 minute. Love it! The image above is a "package" of three product images I created with BoxShot King in five minutes.
BoxShot King also includes many extra graphics you can add to your image. In two of the images above, I added an badge that says "Free Bonus" since I offer access to free videos when people buy the ebook. Ellen Britt did a beautiful job on her ebook cover for The Littlest Angel, with an gold ribbon on the cover annoucing a bonus.
Why is this important? The image reassures your buyer that your content is a "real" book and that they can consume it on their Kindle device. They don't have to imagine it, they can see it as it will appear on their reader. The 3D product image can be used on Amazon, your blog, social media sites and sales pages if you also sell your ebook on your own site.
While writing this post, I realize I need to update my ebook pages on Amazon to include the 3D images. I think they are more compelling and interesting than flate 2D images.
Would love to get your comments about using images to promote your ebooks. Do you create 3D images for your ebooks and digital products?
Another good site to promote your books:
http://free-kindle-books.deha-solutions.com/promote-your-book/
Denise, this was very helpful info; I have often wondered about the 3D image, and always have to ask my designer to do it for me. Thanks for the tips!
And I meant to add…for fiction works, I believe a professional designer is a must. For the Littlest Angel, we also used (as you mention) something to get folks back to the website and signed up for our list. This is something the majority of fiction authors don’t realize they should be doing.
Great article Denise! Two things make for ebook buyers on Amazon…a compelling description and a professional looking cover. Your instructions will enable anyone to put up a cover for their non-fiction ebook offerings without spending a fortune on a designer.
Don’t you find the 3D images too small to see well in the Amazon search thumbnails?
Thanks for stopping by, Ann. I think how well the image shows on Amazon depends on the design and the format. I recommend experimenting since you can edit your Kindle listing.
Denise, Thank you for sharing BoxShot King! I am very much not techie and normally leave design to my graphics person.
I can use wordpress though, and this looks like it’s just as easy as that. If so, it would be a savings after probably doing 2 or 3 images myself.
I was thrilled when I found BoxShot King. It’s really simple to use and you can create good looking, professional graphics.
I saw your image of the ebooks on Pinterest and love them. It does look a lot more professional. As an avid kindle reader and marketer, I initially bought a lot of marking books in the 99 cent to $3 range. While some of them had value, a lot of it was mostly junk. That experience has made me reluctant to buy low price kindle books. When I saw the cover to “How to make your Blog the Centerpiece of your Business” that thought didn’t pop in my head at all though. It looked very professional and the order was a “no-brainer”. Getting ready to curl up on the couch and read it.
Thanks for stopping by Susanne, and thanks for your kind comments. I’m not much of a designer, yet, it doesn’t take but a few minutes to create something that reflects a professional touch for one’s content. Blog on!