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Saturday 21 January 2012

Cover art... been tinkering!

Having decided to try and get my first manuscript ready to self-publish in the next 6-8 weeks, I've spent the past few days learning how to do it - how to format, what the essentials are (e.g. title page, license, disclaimer etc) and it also raised the question of a book cover.

I know that the book cover is really important but I'm not in a position to pay for someone to take it off my hands. So, I've downloaded the necessary software program to do-it-myself (GIMP and it's free!) and then scoured the internet for potential covers and within 24 hours(ish), I've come up with a first draft that I'm really rather proud of.

What do you think?



When I'm ready to publish, I'll purchase the royalty-free license for the background image and then update the first mock-up until I'm totally happy with it.

As I said, this is still only in the draft stage so if you have any comments then please get in touch.  Hubby has already told me that he isn't fussed on the title font at the bottom so that could well be changing on the next version...

Revised version (still using unlicensed image with swirly watermark) - focusing on the text... better or worse?




5 comments:

  1. I'm with your husband on the title font, Aurelia - and will your name stand out on the thumb sized image you get on Amazon? I'm looking at your sidebar and it seems to merge with the white background.

    The silhouette image is fresh and interesting. Love that.

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  2. I like it. I'm with Liz. I wish I could do that.
    Just curious, what did you use to make it? It looks awsome!!!Love the little dog.

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  3. I downloaded free imagining software called GIMP (www.gimp.org I think otherwise just type it into google) that is similar to adobe photoshop. You then build up your image up in layers and can apply speciak effects. Thankfully I'm pretty computer savvy but it took some getting used to and I've barely scratched the surface. I got the image from a load of stock images at www.dreamstime.com.

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  4. Thanks for your feedback Liz, I will go and have a play and see how it goes...

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  5. I like the 2nd. The title stands out. So does the title. Great work.

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