Canva is the Answer

It took me over a week, but I have now spruced up my all my eBook covers and added Amazon A+ content to individual book pages. In this gal’s opinion, it looks rather flashy. Kate McVaugh Amazon None of this could have been done without utilizing Canva.
Canva

I only found out about the online, mostly free, graphic design site about a year ago, after noticing some classy book/author graphics. I asked around and was directed to their site.
Initially, I made a few simple graphics that could add to my short-lived twitter account. I then used it to produce a few things for my blog. But the book cover thing didn’t happen until a week ago.

It turned out that all the time I had spent on my book covers might have been defeating the purpose of author exposure. Although I had spent hours on covers, and they look great as paperbacks, those images did not translate to readable eBook covers on small devices. Blame for that is clearly my doing. As a person who does not like to read on a kindle, does nothing but text on her phone, it never really penetrated the brain that the rest of the known world lives on their tiny screens. I got to work.

Back when I was first able to self-publish, the only tool at my disposal had been the KDP cover creator. Although quite limited, one could play around and get a decent cover, especially when I provided my own cover art. (photographs.)
On my book, Broadsided in Bali, I had a clear idea in my head, but it was impossible to achieve with the limits of KDP publishing. I turned to the internet and poured over tutorials on creating a book cover.

With only Word, Paint, and a purchased image of a temple in Bali, I came up with a cover. It took hours and hours – which I thoroughly enjoyed – and was quite pleased with the end result. If you had asked me two weeks ago if I still liked the cover, I would have pulled it off the shelf, looked at it, and replied Yes. Ask me now and the answer would be different. None of all the fancy stuff I employed on the cover translates to a tiny kindle image.

As for my other seven books, I took a good look. They all seemed professional and clean to me but did not stand out, especially in tiny form. Time to get to work using Canva.
Oh my goodness, I told myself after I started. I had no idea it was this easy and fun to create a cover on Canva. My preference is to use photos and there is no end to what is available on their site. For Murder, Jaz, & Tel Aviv, I went for a shot of the city coastline. When it came to the series sequel, Jaz, Tall, Men, & Mayhem, I found a night shot of the same scene. (for that one I had to subscribe to the Pro account, but it’s a 90-day free trial.)

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