So you have been blessed with an idea of a story that you know just HAS to be shared to the world. It's such a good idea, there's a chance you could make it into a best seller! But the problem is, you don't know how to write it.
That what this "h...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
This was one of the first drafts I made for my book. Making simple covers is a lot easier, obviously, but this took quite a bit of editing on my part. Though if you're making your own book, especially if it's a fantasy genre, you should try to make your own font for it's title, which you would then apply to the chapter titles as well.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
This was the second cover draft for the same book, which will also not be used as it is old and not fitting for the story anymore. Again, you should make your own font for a fantasy set story rather than what I did here. If you use images of people, or that were not taken by you, you need to have approval from the person or owner of the image before you use it.
So how should you design a cover? Well if you're writing your own book that isn't fanfiction, you won't get away with using images from the internet so easily. Unless you have rights to the photo, don't use any. Ever.
You can illustrate your cover, or if you're not an artist, you can hire someone else to draw one for you. You can take a photo yourself, and edit it (all assuming you have these skills or have the ability to get someone else to help you with this).
What I like to do is sketch out an idea for the cover I want on a piece of paper. It'll look super basic and plain, but it's just for you to get a lay out. Here's an example:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I imagine there will be trees in the background and perhaps fairies surrounding the girl on the stump. But this is what my sketch looks like.
Now, if you can't do this, there's other ways of achieving something similar for your basic plan of a cover. If there will be characters on the cover, find people to model them after. They can be people you know in person, or perhaps a celebrity or picture model. You can later create something similar to this person and/or pose to put into your cover. For example:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
This is the image I used to model my sketch after. They literally look nothing alike, but later when I'm creating the official cover based on my sketch, this image will play a huge role in getting me to that.
At the time of writing this chapter in February 2022 the cover for Land of Armonia did not exist. But I'm back now because my book HAS been published and it does have a cover now, so behold the finished product below:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Covers sell stories. I don't care about the saying "never judge a book by its cover" because everyone will. COVERS SELL STORIES.
That is all! If you have any questions or something to add, please leave it in the comments!
