How to Create an Ebook Cover for Macintosh Users

Even the books you write exist only in electronic form, it is extremely helpful--and in some instances necessary--to have an image that represents a book cover for the work. You can do the job with pretty much any photo editing and graphic design program, though the Mac offers its own photo and design programs that are inexpensive and highly capable tools.

Things You'll Need

• Photo editing program
• Page design program

Instructions

1. Determine the final size of the cover you need, then create the image of the book cover larger than that. You'll drop the size down later. If you're offering the ebook on your own website, choose whatever size you wish, though it's best to maintain a vertical to horizontal ratio of about 1.5 to 1.

2. Select a photo, if you're using one, in iPhoto or another photo editing program. Crop the image to fit the cover, either filling the entire dimensions or only part of the cover, depending on your design choice.

3. Edit the photo to brighten the image, correct colors or create special effects. For special effects in iPhoto, open the gallery of effects and click on the one you want. Effect include converting a photo to sepia tone, boosting colors to a surreal palette and many more. The high-end photo editing program Adobe Photoshop offers more extensive choices in its effects gallery, including some that can transform a photo to an image that looks drawn or painted.

4. Add graphic elements such as rectangles, circles or lines, either within the photo editing program if it has that capability, or by placing the photo in a design program such as Pages in Apple's iWork. The elements, made with the rectangle or circle tools in the program's toolbox, can be of different colors or shades of gray.

5. Set your title, byline, and any other wording you want on the cover. Any design program will allow you to set the type, change the size, fonts and colors, and adjust their placement against the backdrop of graphic elements and photo.

6. Save the completed cover image you created as a JPEG or TIFF, and reduce the size to the required dimensions at a resolution of 72 dpi. Some services that sell ebooks will automatically create a thumbnail image of your cover from your full-size version, but for your own website, create a separate file for a thumbnail.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your graphic elements simple so they direct focus to your title, not distract from it.

References

• Apple
• Adobe