You have an incredible opportunity to convince someone to buy your book if you have the right cover. If it is bland or if it doesn’t accurately represent the contents of your book, then prospective readers will move on. 

If you have the artistic ability, then, by all means, take a crack at designing your own cover. I am not fortunate enough to have that talent, so I ask my artist friend, Clau Guzes, to create images that I can use for my cover using Cover Create at KDP and in my books.

If you don’t have an artistic friend, then you can search for one on a variety of freelance platforms. Upwork, BookDesignTemplates, Reedsy, 99designs, and Fiverr all have oodles of designers in every price range and ability. 

Do-it-yourself options include Canva, Pixlr, DIYBookCovers, and GIMP.

Whichever option you choose, your cover should entice readers to pick up your book and page through it, whether literally or virtually, depending on the format. 

Look at other book covers written by other authors in your niche or genre. Are there similarities in the cover design or image choice? You’ll want to mimic them. 

When you’ve narrowed it down, you could make a poll and ask your readers which they prefer. Polls create an excellent opportunity for you to connect with your fans.

The image and design that you ultimately go with should portray the main idea of your book. Take a look at these cover designs gathered by Reedsy for some cover design inspiration. 

Assignment: Choose or design an image you want to use on your cover.