How to Create A Bestselling Book Cover on Wattpad

How to Make the Best Looking Book Cover on Wattpad

Lets be honest with each other for a minute. We all judge books by their covers. If you look at two different books here on wattpad, one with an eye-catching cover, and one with the generic cover that wattpad gives you, which one are you going to pick?

Obviously the one with the nice cover.

A cover is what draws people in, making them want more. It's what sets your story apart from everyone else's on the surface. It's a marketing tool. Everyone wants something pretty to look at- even if they don't want to admit it. I have over 300 books, and I constantly find myself facing the most beautiful covers outwards, or stopping in the book store to look at a different version of a cover for my favorite books.

We can be all high and mighty all we want, but it doesn't change the fact that covers work. There's a reason there's a whole team behind each one, and a reason there is a science behind it. It is someones FIRST impression of your book.

I was walking through Target today and went past the book section. One book immediately caught my eye, and I ended up buying it. Why did it catch my eye? Because the cover was clear, beautiful, and professional. There wasn't anything unnecessary. It got to the point, but in a beautiful way. But there is a keyword just mentioned....

That's right people- Professional. There is such a thing! Story covers don't have to be a sloppy picture with wild fonts and colors, or even a bad photoshop job. But that's what a lot of the covers on here are, aren't they? It was worse when I first started here on wattpad. People have gotten so much better with their covers over time. But we can still strive to be better. After all, we're publishing stories on a site for more than one purpose- we'd all love to get as many reads as possible, right? We'd all love to have a following. And what comes with lots of reads and a following?

Publishers.

Whenever you go to the cover making forum, you always see all these discussions with cover makers. I'm telling you, eight years ago you were extremely lucky to have two cover makers here. So we've come a long way!! But back to the point... when you click on a discussion, usually the covers are either pictures that are such bad quality, along with hundreds of fonts and crazy colors. Most of the time, you can't even see the title because it blends into the background. Trust me, I was one of those.

So here is a fact that may shock some people: Simple is better (GASP!). No really, simple is a lot better than complicated. To make a good book cover, you don't need photoshop or Pisca, or any of those fancy photo editing devices. Honestly, you can tell when someone used those to make a book cover. There is always just too much on the picture- unless you know how to do it right (peep my photoshop edition of this guide).

When I was younger, I used picmonkey (not going to lie I have no idea if this is still a thing... wow I'm old). If you know about that site, you know that it's exactly like picnik (Oh Picnik, Rest In Peace). That's where I made all my covers, banners, and story ads. Now I use photoshop... but that's a whole separate guide. Right now, in this guide, we are going to be talking about how to make a BASIC, beautiful cover.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm better at making covers than everyone- not in the SLIGHTEST. I've just learned from my OVER ten years of cover design,and I know what to look for and how to create it so it looks professional. I've learned about business and what attracts people, and what turns people off. I've taken classes on freelancing, marketing, and design, and all I do is apply what I have learned to my covers.

There is a specific way to design covers. You don't just throw everything on the picture. There are ways to position things as well as ways to word things that catch people's eyes. From the font the title is written in, to the way the authors name is set up and exactly where. A good book cover means you get more reads.

This guide is to show you all how to make a great looking book cover without all the fancy stuff. A good, amazing, professional book cover that people will love.

What will this guide include?

Guide to pictures (finding your perfect picture)

Guide to fonts

Guide to color scheming

Guide to positioning

Guide to shading and other freaking cool but simple effects

Guide to banner making

How-to be the best cover maker

How-to handle people

How-to run a business

How-to stay organized

I hope that you'll stay in touch through this whole thing!

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