Category Archives: Book Design

The Do’s and Don’ts of E-book Cover Design

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The Do's and Don'ts of E-book Cover Design

You worked hard to write a book, and now you’re ready to publish. Woo hoo! But, wait. Have you thought about your e-book cover yet? As an e-book author, you face unique challenges when it comes to designing that perfect cover since it will only be seen online. 

E-book design is way more important than most authors realize. If your e-book cover doesn’t grab a reader’s attention, you could potentially lose a sale or even several thousand. Your design must represent the book you’ve created, draw in readers and make your title stand out from the competition.

That might sound overwhelming, so here are a few do’s and don’ts to consider as you create (or hire a pro to create for you) your e-book cover: Continue reading →

7 Traits of a Great E-book Design

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You already know Booktango makes it easy for you to publish your e-book. But, not all e-readers are created equal, so it’s always nice to have little reminders of what universally works before you upload your manuscript. Make sure to follow these seven traits of a great e-book design, which came straight from our e-book design experts:

  1. High resolution cover. Professional-looking covers need to be high-resolution – at least 200 ppi (pixels per inch)
  2. Consistent style. Make sure your style flows throughout the book. You don’t want your readers to feel like they’re in a different book with each flip of a page that has a new layout, random pictures or different font type. Continue reading →

And the Survey says … Design Your Book Cover with Confidence

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Feature Release: Side-by-Side Book Cover Compare and Social Media Sharing

A few months ago I wrote a post about three valuable elements of great book cover design. Those elements included:

  1. Create a title that evokes curiosity
  2. Create a compelling visual
  3. Design with the reduced visibility of your cover in mind

Sometimes as authors we can get so close to crafting our book that we forget we’re not the audience for our book. For example, we might design our book cover based on the colors and visual elements we like instead of thinking about what our audience might like. In a former life as an ad executive for JWT, I found we often needed to remind our clients, “It’s not about you; it’s about your customers.” In your case, as an author, sometimes you need to remember, “It’s not about you; it’s about the people who will read your book and tell their friends about it.”

There are times when you know in your gut what your audience wants in a book cover. There are other times when it would be ideal if you could solicit feedback from prospective readers and allow their feedback to guide your design.  Continue reading →

Book Templates Are Dead

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Say no to meatgrinders!

When it comes to indie publishing in general, and e-book publishing specifically, there have been many methods, platforms and tools that force you to either give up control over the entire process or to figure everything out by yourself.

With some companies, you blindly send your manuscript through some sort of automated meat grinder process, and you’re left simply hoping that everything will turn out okay on the other end.

At Booktango, we don’t believe there’s a one-size-fits-all mold for churning out e-books. We’re not an e-book factory. To us, e-books are a work of art. They’re not to be abandoned to automated conversions, forced into set book templates or processed through anything even slightly resembling a meatgrinder. Your manuscript deserves some human attention — a little TLC — as it makes its big transition into the e-book world.

Continue reading →