Making your own eBook covers using Paint Shop Pro is easy with a bit of knowledge. If you self-publish, your own books why not do the covers as well. Here is the knowledge you need.
The software
First, you need Paint Shop Pro. Abode is the creator of this program and it is great from any designing needs you may have. Sure, it is expensive at just under a hundred dollars but it will pay for itself in just a few uses. When you have a designer create your eBook cover, you will spend $35 dollars for a simple cover and up to $75 dollars for a more elaborate one.
I personally feel that if I put my heart and soul into a story and self publish it to keep all the control, why should I pay a cover designer to create something for me. I lose some of the control within my project, not to mention the money.
Granted there are other software programs out there, I recommend this one because I have used it for years and there are trail versions available so you can learn the software before you have to purchase it.
Gaining knowledge
When you decide on the software, go ahead, and play with it. Make simple graphics and get to know the capabilities of the program. There are several tutorials online for Paint Shop Pro or related programs that can give you the knowledge you need free of any charges.
Making your eBook Covers
After you have some basic knowledge of the software, make a new image of 1,400 wide and 1,600 or 2,000 high. This will give you an eBook cover image, which is taller than it is wide. Most places where you publish your books will require that size.
You can make a simple cover with text only or you can download an image to use. Make sure you can use the image without violating any copyright laws. The website Mourgefils has tons of images you can use for commercial ventures free of any change as long as you change them somehow. Simply adding text to the images will make them legally okay to use for eBook covers.
An Example
When I created the cover for my 3x heart attack survivor book, I search on the Mourgefile website for a heart image. I downloaded what I thought was the best one. It was too small to use by itself so I added a few black spots because it went with the white background of the heart.
The heart image itself had red, black, and cream colors in it, and that determined the color of font I needed to use. I added choose a fancy font for the sub title and mixed red and black to create the letters. For the main title and my name, which was on the black background, I choose a simple white font that was easy to read.
Conclusion
Since I had some knowledge and was willing to try it, I created my own cover. The price was free and I think it looks good. It is easy to read and is eye-catching to potential buyers. I saved myself some money and was able to keep more control of my eBook.
