darkroaddesigns.com

Here’s the new paranormal romance by Indie Author Christine Zolendz!

I’m blogging a shout out for my old college buddy Anthony!  He’s an amazing artist, so if anyone who visits here needs an illustrator to create original pieces for the inside of their books, please swing by his website and take a look at his work!

http://artbyanthonyromano.weebly.com/

 

I just posted this on the Kindle forums and I figured I would repost here, just in case some people need a little help to do this on their own…

I’ve been receiving a ton of emails from Kindle Forum users about resources for creating ebook covers.  So, I thought I would put together a little post about the things I know, which may not be too much.  However, seasoned designers and authors please feel free to post anything here that you feel can add to this discussion.

 

A Kindle ebook cover should be in a JPEG or TIFF (think of it as a photograph) format.  The size requirement of the JPEG has changed over the last few months, I use 1800 x 2400 pixels.  The resolution (term used to describe the number of dots, or pixels, used to display an image) should be between 72 – 300.  I always create my covers at 300 resolution.  Simply because higher resolutions mean that more pixels were used to make the image.  This results in the image being crisper and sharper.

 

Here is a list of links for FREE sites to research FREE images to use for your covers.  Did I mention they were FREE!

http://www.sxc.hu/

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/top-images.php

http://www.arspublik.com/

http://picdrome.com/

http://www.freephotogaleries.com/

http://www.freestockphotos.biz/

http://www.photoshopsupport.com/resources/stock-photos/nasa-planets.html

http://publicphoto.org/

http://totallyfreeimages.com/ (Great for Real historical images)

http://www.dotgovwatch.com/?/archives/8-The-Best-Copyright-Free-Photo-Libraries.html

http://freerangestock.com

http://www.everystockphoto.com/

http://www.morguefile.com/  (Don’t freak out about the name, it’s not a bunch of dead people images.)

http://www.cgtextures.com/index.php

http://www.stockvault.net/

 

 

Here is a list of links for images you will need to pay for.  An image can be purchased for $2 – $30, it all depends on the site, the size and the license.  For your ebook cover a standard license is good enough.  Unless you sell over 500,000 copies, then you need to go back and buy the extended license.  But, if you’re selling that many books, I’m sure you won’t mind

 

http://www.bigstockphoto.com

http://www.dreamstime.com

http://www.istockphoto.com/

http://www.123rf.com/

http://www.shutterstock.com/

http://www.corbisimages.com/

http://www.gettyimages.com/

http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/

http://www.veer.com/products/images/?s_kwcid=veer&gclid=CK_u_fbZ2rACFUFo4AodYydl2Q

http://us.fotolia.com/

http://www.canstockphoto.com/

http://www.jupiterimages.com/

http://www.fotosearch.com/

 

So what do you do when you find the perfect picture?  Doesn’t everybody have Photoshop?  Before you jump on me, I am kidding.  We all can’t take from our children’s college fund or remortgage our homes to buy PhotoShop.  HOWEVER, let me tell you how I did buy it.  If you are a TEACHER or STUDENT or ANYONE WORKING IN AN EDUCATIONAL faculty (Yes, I am screaming) you can purchase Photoshop for a lower price.  I bought it for less than $300.  You do need to prove that you are in school, or your child is in school, or you work in a school.

Fortunately there are other ways to edit your images.  Here’s a list of links to FREE (yep, I’m yelling again) editing sites:

 

http://www.gimp.org/

http://inkscape.org/

http://pixlr.com/editor/

http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

http://picasa.google.com/

http://fotoflexer.com/

http://www.getpaint.net/

Now, unless you are willing to spend hours learning (and pulling your hair our) I would stay away from trying to create image composites for your cover.  What is a composite?  It’s the blending of multiple images into one.   I don’t know if I will be able to link this successfully, but here is a great YouTube video of a cover creation:

http://www.youtube.com/v/yoDCiTsS7dU&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3

Lauren Panepinto, creative director at Orbit, ran her video screen capture as she designed a cover for the book series she works on. As she wrote on her company blog:

“Over 6 hours of my onscreen compositing, retouching, color correction, type obsessing, all condensed down to a slim sexy one minute 55 seconds of cover design. Trust me, no one wants to watch it in real-time…and even then I left out the not-as-riveting-onscreen stages of my cover design process, such as reading the manuscript, sifting through Alexia photoshoot outtakes, background photo research, etc.”

Looks like she used Adobe Bridge, Photoshop, Illustrator, MS Word for Mac, and Shutterstock to make her masterpiece.

Only 6 HOURS!  Now maybe you won’t be so taken aback by a designer when they have high prices, it takes many hours to create one picture.

A few tips: In my experience a simple cover is best.  Always be mindful what your cover will look like in a thumbnail size.  Make sure your title is readable.  Cover art with white or very light backgrounds will disappear against the Amazon Kindle Store white background.  If you need the cover white, add a small border.  Make sure the image has something to do with your genre and what the book is about.  Sometimes the best covers are straight fonts and colors with nothing else.

When you put your cover together and it’s completed, make sure you flatten all layers in whatever editing software you are using.  Merge and flatten.  It will make the file smaller and will be able to be uploaded.  You cannot load a file over 1.21 gigerwatts (I am joking it’s really up to 40 MB in size.)

 

(This was taken straight from KDP:)

“To upload your cover, just follow these steps:

 

1. Log in to your KDP account at http://kdp.amazon.com/.

2. Select the “Actions” drop-down menu next to the relevant title and choose “Edit book details.”

3. Scroll down to the heading labeled “Product Image.”

4. Click on the button named “Browse for Image…”

5. A pop-up window will appear. Click the button named “Browse.”

6. Locate your cover image file on your computer, click “Open.”

7. Click the “Upload Image” button.

8. Uploaded Successfully! will appear along with the preview image.

9. Scroll to the bottom of page and click “Save and Continue.”

Lastly, I am not a great writer.  I say this to apologize to all the authors who have just read this and wanted to scratch their eyes out because of all my mistakes.  I have written and published but I have a wonderful editor.

Most people on these forums know that I design covers.  I have worked with many of the authors here, but please do not take this post as spam or an advertisement for my services.  I haven’t placed an add here for a while, because I know how much it annoys writers and I respect that.  However, if anyone wants to view my website and see the wonderful indie authors I’ve worked with, here’s my link: http://darkroaddesigns.com/

Christine

 

 

Randall J. Morris, author of The Journals of Jacob and Hyde created a blog post all about the evolution of his cover!  Check it out!

Evolution of the Cover  than go buy the ebook!!!!  The Journals of Jacob and Hyde

It’s no secret, I’ve been waiting for this ebook to be published ever since author Randall J. Morris emailed the very first chapter to me so I can design his cover.  This is an excellent writer and and an excellent read!  It puts a twist in the tale of a classic!  Go download it TODAY!!!!!

In a few days the Randall will be posting on his blog…the evolution of his book cover!  I can’t wait to see it  Until then, scroll over the title and visit Amazon to buy it!  It’s a great price!

THE JOURNALS OF JACOB AND HYDE

One of my authors asked me to create a banner for the book cover I had designed for him.  So here’s my first try at a banner with a tiny bit of animation of the text.  Now, I’m itching to learn all of it.  Amazingly enough I had no clue I had the POWER to create these animations.  Now, no one is going to be able to pull me away from my laptop!

I’m blushing…here’s my newest covers for some Erotica!

                    

Here’s my first historical fiction cover… Of course featuring the insanely talented photographer Marcus Ranum www.ranum.com

I am so excited to be working on the new covers for some up and coming Indie Authors.  Here’s just a tiny little sneak peek of what’s in store!

The Journals of Jacob and Hyde by a truly talented writer – Randall J. Morris

 AND the third book in the Gina Series by one of my favorite authors, Aaron Atkinson!  Gina – The Savior

Check out Alyse Bingham’s Blog We Write Worlds!  She posted an interview with me!  Thanks again Alyse for taking the time to get to know me!