This section will focus on tips, tricks, and things to consider when you create the various copies of your book. This includes formatting the inside of your Paperback book, creating the book jacket, getting an ISBN, and much more.

I’m sure as you’ve been writing your book over and over again, at some point you stopped to think about what it would look like in a physical copy. In your hands, on your shelf, lined up with other books. That means the cover, the spine, and the back. Or in other words, your entire book jacket.

Now of course, for this process, you can choose how much or how little of it you would like to control. If you really want nothing to do with creating the cover and choose to outsource it… Well honestly, I’m not sure why you’re still reading this part, but thank you anyway. Now for the sake of this being a self-help guide, I am going to assume you will be doing most of the cover work on your own. I’d like to point out, that the only thing I do not do, and will not be covering is the actual design/artwork of the cover. If you have seen my covers (which if you are on my website… I assume you have…) then you can see that they are a specific style, which I had to hire an artist for. I do not have those artistic skills, believe me, but we will get to the part about hiring help later. Still, I believe the tips below will be useful even if you are hiring a more traditional book cover designer.

Step #1 Book Cover Template

One of the great resources when it comes to creating your book jacket, can be found thanks to the book printing company, Ingram Spark. Ingram Spark also happens to be a place you will want to upload your book for print distribution, and we will get to that later, but for now, it’s a good idea to create your account. After that’s done, go to “Tools & resources” on the left-hand side menu and find the cover template generator. Fill out the information about your book, and you will be sent a template that allows you to build your book jacket to the correct specs. My book settings are displayed in the screenshot. Request a PDF version of the template, and have it sent to your email.

Step #2 Book Title Text

We’ve all seen some pretty creative title texts. The ones that catch your eye in a second, or blend with the cover so well it just seems to “fit”. And others that sort of just feel jammed onto the cover with no cohesion whatsoever. I am not a typographer by any stretch of the imagination, so I understand how hard finding good title text is. Coming up with a good title text font can really help sell your book, so you want to think of how it will play in conjunction with your cover, the themes of the books, and who your audience is. Like always, check out other books you like and see what they are doing.  If you are hiring a book cover designer, they might have some opinions on title text fonts as well. It’s always good to pick other people’s brains.

Typically, I like to start by googling different fonts. Space fonts, fantasy fonts, goofy fonts, etc., and try to compile a list of fonts I think might work.

Note* Not all Fonts are free and available for commercial use. It is typically noted what the restrictions of fonts found on the internet are, and often times the creator is looking for a simple donation for you to license the font, but others choose to have their fonts only for private use. Make sure to check!

Step #3 Book Front Cover

For me, this is one of the best parts of writing books. I love thinking about how a cover could be laid out, and what sorts of ideas I could try. It’s an art, and I like art. So when it comes to your cover, you want to think about what works best for you, while also being enticing to readers. Do you want something simple, like a basic symbol, do you want characters on it? Also consider your audience, and what others in your genre are doing. That said, there is no rule on the cover. The only thing I would highly advise against is going into Microsoft publisher or something, throwing some clip art images together, pulling some Google images that you have no legal rights to, and making a cover that way. It will look amateurish, and send people running away from your book.

Now, if you are like myself, and choose to find outside help for your cover, then there are a few things that are important to note.

First, you must be cautious. Especially when using the internet. This is a lot like hiring an editor, where due diligence is key. Though there are tons of great cover designers in the world, there is also no shortage of amateurs and or scammers looking to make a quick buck. It is extremely important to vet your applications. Look for people who can display a level of professionalism. That means, people who have websites, people with testimonials, people who are good at communication. There is a lot to be said about how someone responds to emails, how long they take, how they speak, if it is short and ambiguous, or if they are eloquent, polite, and reply on time. Also, always ask for examples of previous work. Remember, you are the client in this case, it’s not about feeling like you are bothering them, you have a right to ask this stuff, just as anybody would ask you in a job interview.

This is a paraphrase of the email I received years ago as an application to do my cover: (Name, location, and prices are made up FYI, this is not someone you can actually contact to make a book cover for you.)

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Dear Client,

This is (John Smith), I'm a freelance illustrator based in Canada. I saw your ad for a book cover artist and was hoping you would consider my work (examples on my website).
For quicker reference, here are a couple of examples of my art style.

I usually work using a flat rate for each piece, but my hourly wage is USD 30~35. I am quite flexible with fixes/revisions, so unless you don't want anything changed during the process, a flat rate would be more affordable than hourly. 

For commercial book covers, my fee is +100% over the regular price. This is a one-time payment, there will be no additional charges even if the book is reprinted or also sold digitally, provided that credit for the art is given.
For example: a single character Illustration with a background (such as the example shown above) is USD110 for personal use, which turns into  → USD220 for commercial use. 


Should you be interested, I would be available to start working immediately after 50% of the total payment has been advanced (100% is required to go beyond the sketch phase). I dedicate myself Monday to Friday to my freelancing, so if communication is smooth, delivery can be done within your set time frame.

In case you would like to work together, please provide details on what you would want for the cover so I can give you my prices. 

Thank you for your consideration.

- John Smith

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The level of detail in that email showed me I would be working with a professional, and that this would not be any sort of scam. (Compared to many of the other offers I got….)

I also highly recommend creating a payment structure based on some milestones you set. DO NOT hand someone a full payment for a project unless you are 1000% sure you will not have them disappear off the face of the earth on you. Even then, I still wouldn’t recommend it unless you’ve been working with them for years.

Another thing I feel is important and applies to any situation where you are working with other people. Even though you are the client, I must urge you to remain flexible. It can be very difficult for a cover designer to try and take the idea within YOUR head, and bring it into reality. It might take a few revisions to get something you feel is suitable. If you have hired a reasonable designer, they will understand this as much as you need to. When working with a designer, you are hiring them for their skills, but it is your duty to give them the supplies for them to do what they do. Think of it like a cake. They might be baking the cake, but they can’t bake the cake you want if you don’t provide them with the correct ingredients.  By that, I mean, find references, find covers you like, provide them descriptions of the book, or the characters, and whatever else you feel could be important to their success. Because in the end, their success is your success.

Step #4 Working In Photoshop

Once you have your cover done, it’s looking slick and ready to sell, it’s time to create the rest of your cover with it. This is where you will want your template from step #1

We will be using Adobe Photoshop for this, and again, I will do my best to keep this simple to understand for those who have never opened up Photoshop. Hopefully, it makes sense. The good thing is, that you can open up your PDF file in Photoshop.

When you open things up, this is likely what you will see. Your tools are on the left, though you won’t need to worry about much there. On the right side, you will see your layer’s panel. Layers are exactly what they sound like. The one on top shows above everything else, all the way down to the bottom.

You will see small cut lines on your PDF, which is the perimeter of what you will be working within. Save this file, and name it something more appropriate, like usual.

First things first, I would crop (Hot key “c”) out all the unneeded stuff, so you can work while ignoring the info about the file.

You can also change the name of your layers if you so choose. It’s good to do for organization, but I won’t pretend like I do it all the time when I’m working fast either.

In your layer’s panel, you will see a lock symbol. Select your template layer, and then select the lock. This keeps it frozen in place, so you don’t have to worry about moving it by accident.

To insert your cover, go up to file, and choose embed object. Find your image, and select it. Once it’s in the file, you will also see it in your layer’s panel. Make sure it is above your template because remember, layers at the top cover layers underneath it. You can zoom in and make sure that your cover matches up with the template lines, and looks good.

Note* If you need to resize the image a tad, also make sure to hold shift when you do. This will allow it to keep its proper dimensions as it shrinks and grows.

With your cover in place, lock it like you did with the template layer. You should have nothing else to do with that from here on out.

With your front cover done, it’s time to move on to the spine. In my case, I have a white spine, but you do not have to follow my template.

Select your rectangle tool. You will see some options at the top of your screen, where you can see colours, add a stroke, and a few other unnecessary things. In this case, my colour as said before is white, with nothing else going on.

Draw your rectangle by clicking and dragging from the top of the spine to the bottom. It’s okay if it’s not perfect, you can adjust it by using the transform tool “Ctrl T”. But you do want it to fit tightly into those black slashes on your template.

Now the key info on a spine includes things like the book title, the author, and if it is a series, a book number. You can omit the author's name if you want, I’ve seen it done. I just don’t.

For this example, I will just use the book title. On your left-hand panel, select the T icon. This is your type tool. With that selected, click anywhere on the screen, and a text box will pop up. At the top of your screen, you will see that it looks much the same as InDesign. Choose your font, and adjust your size. When that is done, you will need to rotate the text so you can place it properly. Select your text layer, and press “Ctrl + T” for your transform tool. At the top, you will see an angle symbol. Type “90” into it, and your text will flip 90 degrees. Then just move it into position on your spine.

Lock your rectangle layer, and your text layer when you are happy with it. Now onto the back, where you will have your summary, and possibly some other information. Once again, for the sake of simplicity, let’s make another white rectangle and have it cover the back. Then select your text tool again. This time, instead of clicking once, click and drag. This will create a text box. It is the exact same as using the text tool, only your words will be bound by the box. By doing so, you can type out your book summary. Again, just like InDesign, you can use your properties panel to make needed adjustments, like line height and spacing.

Those are the key properties to making your book jacket. Now I understand…this looks pretty bad. But if you can learn the steps and skills from above, it opens you up to make much higher quality book jackets. Example below.

Step #5 Writing A Book Summary

How do you sum up your book in under 200 words? Believe me, I wish I knew. It’s difficult, that’s for sure, and sometimes I think it’s harder than actually writing a book. But I do have some tips that might help. First, try to create a sense of mystery in your summary. You don’t want to spoil big parts of your book, but you do need to set up your journey. Who is your character, and what is it they want? Then, what is preventing them from getting what they want?

If you have some sort of unique scenario, or intriguing world, like it’s a world filled with demons, or your main character can control magic, those are always good lead offs as well. As I suggest for everything, take a handful of books you’ve read, and know quite well, and then read their summaries. Because you know the book already, you should be able to tell what plot points the author left out, and what hooks of their story they included to draw interest.

This part is hard, don’t feel bad, it takes practice to feel like you have a strong summary.