Deborah Woehr

I read somewhere that a writer shouldn’t be a designer and vice-versa. Either you’re a writer or an artist, they say. Well, I think that’s a load of crap. Look at the books on your shelf. Many of their designs consist of manipulated images and fonts. With some patience and practice, you can create some nice book covers.

If you want an illustration and have no talent for drawing, then I’d suggest hiring a professional or an artist that is willing to work pro bono in order to build his/her portfolio. Study the books on your shelves and in your genre to determine what kinds of fonts and colors they use, how they lay out the text on both sides of the cover and the spine, and how they manipulate their images.

Do not use cheap “artist” software because it won’t be compatible with Lulu’s printer.

If you don’t own Photoshop, Gimp is the free alternative. I’ve never used it, but I’ve heard that it is very similar. Gimp has a book on Amazon that will take you from a rank beginner to a professional. You can also check out the author’s website at http://gimpbook.com for tutorials, if you don’t want to buy the book.

Start brainstorming ideas for your cover. Then start experimenting with different layouts and designs. The most important aspect of designing your cover is to convey your book’s message to your readers.

Back in June, I tacked two possible covers for Prosperity on this blog to see which one would be received the best by my readers. They gave me their answer. Try this approach and see what happens.

Your book covers (front and back) need to be 1838 x 2275 pixels in size so Lulu can print them correctly. You’ll have the option to create a full cover (front, back, and spine) or the front and back only. I chose the latter option because I didn’t have any special graphics for the spine.

Save the images as a 330 dpi .jpg file. If possible, convert your manuscript into a PDF. If not, Lulu will convert .doc and .rtf files for you. Now, we’re ready for the upload process.