Covers

Creating a book cover can be one of the most important steps in the publishing process, yet the importance of a great cover cannot be overstated. I am blessed to have a bit of digital creativity, so I’ve mostly designed my own covers… except for Inlaws and Outlaws – The DNA Mystery of A Music Icon’s Son. That cover was a gift from my piano instructor, using the sheet music from my First Father’s smash hit “Back In Baby’s Arms” that my First Father wrote for Patsy Cline and included some fancy font-work. The result is an eye-catching design that pulls the reader in. The back of the cover offers a teaser and a short bio with the author’s photo.

Do not neglect the back cover, either – this is your one chance to draw the reader into your story, stimulate the urge to purchase and continue reading. For that, I took a short sampling from the book’s Forward and made it fit. Below that is a short author bio and head shot. If you are using Amazon’s CreateSpace, they have appropriately sized templates you can use that take into account space for bar codes and depth of the “spline” (the middle section between front and back), but you’ll have to make your design in Adobe Photoshop or a similar application. As if that wasn’t enough, most publishing houses (including Amazon) will only accept PDF files for publication.

If you’re not inclined to tackle the project on your own, there are still options. You can hire it done on a web site such as Upwork, or even use the Cover Creator tool available on CreateSpace.

Of course, you can always contact us for advice or help with your project – good luck, and happy creating !