In this article, I will take you through a step-by-step process to follow when choosing your ebook designer.
You will also learn what to look for when choosing a book designer
introduction
The purpose of using graphic design for your ebooks is to make it attractive to your prospective buyers.
It can also serve as an instant gratification for your readers; as it makes them conjure up the feelings they can associate with buying a physical equivalent of your product.
People always judge books by their cover.
Even if your ebook contains great tips and valuable information, people really want to see a cover of your book.
It seems that the cover gives the ebook distinctive value; as it is located above the first paragraph, it is the first thing they see.
Importance of Your Ebook Cover
Getting a cover for your book is very important and it is analogous to buying a book from barnes and noble.
Would you buy a book that is bundled together in a stack of paper even for $10?
No!...
You want a book that is binded together with a nice looking cover.
You want something with an official bind and cover.
Also, no matter how good a book is, it must be packaged well.
The value of a paper book is increased exponentially when it is binded with a glue and a nice cover.
Therefore the ability of an of ebbok to sell well is increased ten fold by packaging it appropriately with a good cover
With this it is not advisable for you to market your ebook without a cover art and design
What if is free?
If the book you intend to offer is a free ebook that you want to include as a bonus to other products OR
That you want to popularise your site with, drive traffic to your websitet or simply for viral marketing, then the cover art is less important.
But if you can put an effort to writing an ebook and packaging it, then it deserves to be covered.
Benefits of Adding Cover Art to Your Book
1. It gives people and web surfers instant picture of your ebook when they are browsing your web page.
A well known fact is that surfers only scan web pages when they are browsing the internet and only stop when something caught their attention.
The cover art of your ebook can speed up sales on your website if it is attention grabbing; since most people don't read everything on sales page.
2. It puts a graphic at the beginning of your ebook.
Whenever your readers open your ebook, the first thing they see is the cover art. This engraves a feeling of familiarity.
It make your book look official making it look more like buying a traditional paper book.
How to Design and Get Cover Templates
for Your Ebook
This can be done in two different ways; you either:
a. DIY (Do It Yourself) or;
b. Hire a professional designer.
1.
Do It Yourself
If you decide to design your ebook yourself, fine!
There are couple places you can find cover templates on the internet:
Internet Sites
There are websites that offer free templates if you agree to put a reciprocal link back to their site on your web page.
There are also paid cover templates available on the internet.
Just search google with this keywords "cover templates"
You will be presented with lots and lots of websites you can choose from.
Buy Ebook Cover Software
You can purchase ebook cover software off the internet.
This requires work as you will have to design your cover template yourself.
This gives your the freedom of choosing random cover art that you like for your ebook.
You also get full copyrights and exclusive owner-ship to the finished work.
2.
Hire a Professional Designer
You can hire a professional cover designer to design your ebook cover art.
This comes with certain benefits over the other types of getting templates for your ebook.
They are:
a. You get complete and full copyright to the finished work and exclusive ownership.
b. Professional designers will do the work very quickly for you. Your cover may be ready in a matter of days and this will help speed up your project.
c. You don't have to waste time on a nifty software to create your own cover thereby saving yoy ample time to invest in other part of your project.
d. professional designers are familiar with what types of fonts, buttons, graphics, colours that is suited for your website and ebook marketability
.
e. He/She can also create matching design for your page menus, headers, footer et cetera; to increased marketability
How Much Will this Cost You?
You can hire a cover design professional for 50$-$100.
Let say you hire a designer for $50 and they design your work, thereby increasing your sales 5% more.
You sell 50 copies for $50 as a result of the design, wouldn't you be happy.
This is a win-win situation.
How to find a cover designer
You can ask or search in your local or community arts group for cover designers at a reasonable price
Another way to get an ebook cover designer is through internet search; typing the keywords "ebook cover designer" will return pages and pages of results that you can check.
There are freelance cover designers just like freelance writers who specialize in cover design and are ready to put your project on the world wide web.
Also, there are companies that offer graphics that can be use for cover design; they could design your book too at a token.
A less stressful way to do this is this;
Look at web pages where a couple of ebooks are offered for sale.
Check out each ebooks cover and see which one strikes your attention most that you will like to be design for you.
Next contact the webmaster and ask them if they could tell you who designed their ebook cover.
Be straight-forward and honest when doing this.
If you are rejected by one webmaster, contact another. This is a quick way to find a qualified designer for your project.
How to Choose the Best Designer
After contacting the web-masters and you are referred to certain designers.
Navigate through her website and scroll to down to the bottom of the page to fine her terms of service.
Check what price she charges for projects.
You should also look for samples of her work.
Contact the website administrator and ask for testimonials; ask her to refer you to people you she has worked for before.
When researching her, you should look for things like:
a. Does the designer have repeated work?
b. Does she have examples of her work on the web pages?
c. Is the designer responding to your questions?
d. Did she designer have positive testimonials on the web page?
e. Will the designer be able to offer additional work like website banners, buttons and related services?
The work that you do plus the time invested in finding and contacting a reputable designer will pay dividend in the long run especially if you plan to write other books that may need this.
You have learned how to find cover templates for your ebooks, here to look for cover templates and what you should look for when seleting a cover art designer.
