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Making an ebook/book cover - COOL!

Here's what I learned yesterday...

For the longest time, I have wanted to know how to make a graphic look like a book cover. I've always hired this kind of work out and spent anywhere from $50-$200 each time I've had it done.

I don't mind paying for it, especially when the quality is good, but when I get back an ebook cover that looks junky, it has made me wonder if I should just learn how to make ebook covers myself.

Well, I had occasion to do so yesterday.

Jackie Harsha (a member on our GreenJoyment site) wrote an ebook (and print book) about how to cook using solar cooking.

It's a great idea, and something we've been doing with GreenJoyment for a while now (making solar cookers and cooking with the sun), so it's a natural fit to be selling Jackie's book through our site.

But Jackie didn't have an affiliate program, or any way to track the traffic we were sending her.

So I got the idea that we could sell it through our site, and split profits 50/50.

Good idea, and Jackie thought so too.

So, I checked out her site (http://www.heavensentfood.com where she's currently selling the book), and the only graphic she had to represent her book was this one:

Heaven Sent food solar cooking cookbook cover

Now, there's nothing wrong with that cover, but chances are good that it will sell a little better if, when people purchase it, it looks like a book.

So, I set out to find a tutorial about how to do this.

Even with my minimal Photoshop experience, I was able to combine a couple of tutorials and build a cover design that I'm pretty darn proud of (especially considering it's my first attempt).

If you have Photoshop, here are the tutorials I used to make my very own book cover graphic (The video was extremely helpful!)


http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/water-reflection/page-2.php

Other stuff I looked at in the process:
http://www.pure-graphics.org/page.php?id=110
http://www.bookcoveromatic.com/photoshop-tutorials/How-to-Make-an-Ezine-Cover-for-Ezine-Articles.html
http://www.emmettlollis.com/tutorials/photoshop/photoshop-book.asp
http://tutorial.jcwcn.com/2D-Graphics/Photoshop/Basics/2008-06-15/9042.html
http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/News/Feature/Graphic-Thoughts-My-Top-10-Photoshop-Moves,-Pt.-2-52070.htm

So there you go! Now go make your own ebook or box cover for your products. I think anyone can do it with Photoshop and these tutorials.

Oh, and what do you think of my cover?

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Posted on February 6, 2009 3:41 AM
Full Web Address: http://strive4impact.com/making-an-ebook-book-cover-photoshop.html
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