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Low-Stress, Pain-Free Book Cover Design for the Small Book Publisher

Author: Melody Clark

The standard belief is your book cover draws the reader in and your back cover makes the sale.  Most book sales, however, are not made in brick-and-mortar stores any more.  But while the kind of cover you require for your book depends upon many factors (including “Where and to whom are you selling it?”), it’s still the best idea to put your best foot forward when it comes to cover design.  Who doesn’t want to make a really good first impression?

The self-published author cannot compete financially with larger publishing concerns so he/she will need to curtail expenditures on different design aspects of their first book.  The quality of the cover design is one thing that shouldn’t be rendered too cheaply.  If you cannot afford to have a cover designed, expend some time and effort researching how to design it yourself.

There is free cover design content to be found on the Internet.  Before using it, take care to examine the rights being released in the download-able agreement.  One such location is http://www.sxc.hu  Most of the agreements clear the user for book cover use, but still take care to read the agreement.

There are myriad places where you can find low-cost book cover design or cover art help.  http://Elance.com is but one.  You do get what you pay for, but not all self-publishers can afford to pay for everything they need.  

If you have a good artistic eye (or if you have a friend with a good artistic eye), and use a template available from one of the print-on-demand companies, a royalty free photo, and some persistence, you may arrive at acceptable results for your book cover.  Remember to always abide by all the technical requirements for every market you’re after.  Book stores require certain trim sizes while Amazon does not.  Research, research.

Good software, although some of it is expensive, can also be a great investment.  Book Cover Pro is a good example.

Learn more about publishing a book.  Stop by Melody Clark’s site where you can find out all about new book publishing.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/self-publishing-articles/low-stress-pain-free-book-cover-design-for-the-small-book-publisher-2569772.html

About the Author

Melody Clark has been writing professionally for twenty-five years.  She has been publishing for thirty years.  Her blog is http://newpublishblog.com