Book Cover Design, Amazon for Authors, and eBook Formatting for Kindle
Learn about book cover design, Amazon for authors and all about eBook formatting in this episode. This is part four of the “Procrastination to Publication” series.
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In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- Book cover design options and resources
- Amazon for authors and how to properly prepare your book for publication
- eBook formatting for Kindle
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Can’t listen right now? Read the transcript below:
The fourth step is book cover design. There are several options that I want to share with you to consider.
DIY Book Covers
The first option is to do it yourself. I don’t recommend this option to anyone, unless you have a background in design and you know how to use graphic design software. Investing even a small amount into your book cover will be well worth it.
Use a Book Cover Template
You can also start with a book cover template. has templates you can use and there are over 100 eBook cover templates in the member’s area of Author Audience Academy.
DIY covers is another option. They provide Microsoft Word templates for book covers
With a template, you will still want to change it enough to make it unique and your own. You want your book cover to stand out, not look similar to other books on Amazon.
Hire a Designer
I highly recommend hiring a designer. Your book cover is your first impression to all readers, and can make a big difference in the sales success of your book. Therefore, a professional design is important.
* Find a designer on Amazon – One way to find a book cover designer is to find book covers you like on Amazon, click the “look inside” feature, and look at the credits. See if there is a credit to the designer. Sometimes they will even include an e-mail address or website so you can contact the designer directly.
For example, I like Kim Garst’s cover for her book “Will the Real You Please Stand Up.” By using the “look inside” feature, I can find out that her cover designer was Rachel Lopez from http://www.r2cdesign.com. I could then contact Rachel for a quote to see if I want to use her for my book cover.
See how easy that is?
* At Fiverr, you can search for eBook cover designers. Many of them will design a cover for you for as low as $5. However, Fiverr designers can be hit or miss, so you may want to hire several designers at the same time and then choose the cover you like the best. I have used Fiverr for some of my covers and have found I have to be very specific with what I want. The best thing to do is find several covers you like on Amazon and send the links to a designer to give them an example of what you want. Within the Author Audience Academy forums, I share the designers I use on a regular basis.
* 99Designs – With 99Designs, you can post your book cover design project, and then a bunch of designers will give you cover concepts. This is especially helpful if you have no idea what you want to do for your book cover. This process ensures you end up with a professionally designed book cover, without a huge investment. And if you don’t get any covers you like, you can get your money back.
* Joel Friedlander Book Cover Design Contests – Joel hosts a book cover design contest each month and told me many authors find their cover designer by looking through some of the winning covers. You may want to look through some of the past covers and see if there is a designer that fits the style you want.
* The Self-Publisher’s Ultimate Resource Guide: Every Indie Author’s Essential Directory-To Help You Prepare, Publish, and Promote Professional Looking Books. There is a section that includes cover designers. I recommend getting the Kindle version as you’ll get the updates as they come out.
* Other recommendations – There is a list on my TrainingAuthors.com site with other designers to consider.
Photos to Use
For your book covers, one of the things I want to emphasize is that you need to use images you have the legal rights to use. Therefore, you cannot simply use Google images that you like for your cover. Your images either need to be ones you have taken yourself, photos you get from a photographer you hired (with the agreement that you can use them commercially), or you can use royalty-free stock photos.
For stock photos, I recommend Fotolia or Dollar Photo Club. If you only need a few pictures, use Fotolia as you can pay for individual photo credits. However, if you use a lot of images on social media, on your blog, and for your books, I recommend Dollar Photo Club. It is $10 per month and you get 10 downloads of print-quality images. That is really a good deal.
Your Cover Should Look Good as a Thumbnail
Your book cover should also look good as a thumbnail. When Amazon promotes your book using the feature “Customers who bought this also bought,” they will only display the thumbnail version. Therefore, you should be able to read your title clearly, even at the thumbnail size.
Get Feedback
I also recommend that you get feedback about your covers. You can find a Facebook group of authors, or post your cover options on social media. If you used 99Designs, you can ask your followers to vote for their favorite cover. Or you can post several options you got back from Fiverr and ask for feedback.
It is really important to get feedback from people who know graphic design and/or are from your target audience.
Color Schemes
A website I like to use to get ideas for color schemes is . You can use it to get ideas for your blog theme, social media graphics, logos, or book covers. Find a color scheme you like and send it to your designer as an option.
You may also get some ideas for color schemes and design here: http://bookcoverarchive.com/
Cover Dimensions
There are specific cover dimensions you need for Kindle books. Make sure your designer creates a cover within these specifications: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2J0TRG6OPX0VM#dim
Now that you have a book cover, it is time to prepare your book for publication. You are now over halfway through the process and have the most difficult part done. You are getting so close to the finish line. I’m cheering you on!
Day #5: Prepare for Publication
The next step is to prepare your book for publication by optimizing your book for Amazon for authors. However, do not let these decisions keep you from publishing your book. The beauty of self-publishing is that Kindle allows you to go back and make changes to your book at any time. You can go back at any time and change your keywords, categories, book description, and even upload an updated book interior. Even if you don’t choose the best items right now, choose something, and get your book done.
These are the steps you will need to complete in order to publish your book on Amazon.
Amazon for Authors:Choose Your Keywords
As I already mentioned earlier, you will want to research keywords for your book. You get seven keywords for Kindle and five for print.
For Google, you can use their keyword planner tool. It is free to use, and a way to see which keywords people are searching for the most on Google. You will need to sign up for a free Google Adwords account to use it: https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
For Amazon, I recommend using the paid tool, Kindle Samurai. It will give you a lot of helpful information on keywords that potential readers are using within Amazon. It makes the process of researching keywords so much easier. You can also use Amazon’s search bar to manually find keywords. Download this free PDF report to find out more: www.shelleyhitz.com/amazonkeywords
Amazon for Authors:Choose Your Categories
Once you have chosen your keywords, the next thing you want to do is choose your categories. You get two categories for Kindle and two categories for print. What I recommend doing is to search the Kindle store for books similar to yours and find out what categories they are in. Scroll to the bottom of their book sales page until you see the heading “Look for Similar Items by Category.”
Drill down through the categories to get as specific as possible. When you click on the link for “Business Writing,” you will see a screen like this, which will tell you the number of competing titles in that category:
For business writing, there are currently 2,119 other competing books in that category.
I recommend choosing one category that is bigger. Yes, there will be more competition in it, but there will also be more readers searching within that category.
I also recommend choosing one category that is smaller, where there are fewer competing books in that category. This smaller category will be easier to rank for in the bestseller list. Amazon only lists the top 100 bestsellers in each category. Once you get in that top 100 list on the paid bestseller list, you can say you are a bestselling author. Pretty cool, huh?
If you want detailed descriptions on how to find the keywords and the categories, I recommend checking out these additional resources:
Marketing Your Book on Amazon – Kindle eBook
Amazon for Authors:Book Description
A book description will draw your readers in, ask them questions, and put your most powerful benefits in the description.
If you want help writing your description, I recommend the eBook, Amazon Advantage.
Prepare Your Front and Back Matter
Once you write out your front and back matter, you can use it over and over again for your books. After you do that, you can create a template for the other books in your series.
One thing you can do is look through other books on your bookshelf or on Kindle, using the “Look inside” feature. Take note of what they use in their front matter and back matter. I don’t recommend copying someone else’s book, but you can use it as a model.
Something that needs to be in your front matter and your back matter is a call to action: Have your readers sign up for a free gift, and provide their email for your email list. This free gift should be as closely related to the topic of your book as possible.
For example, for this book, the free gift I offer is the corresponding video and mind map training. It is very closely related to the book. You can download the mind map and video training for free here: www.shelleyhitz.com/procrastinationtopublication
You can also include a call to action to buy your other books, and include a short blurb asking for reviews.
Here is an example of what you can include in your front and back matter:
Front Matter
* Title page
* Copyright page/publishing data
* Table of Contents (TOC)
* Optional: Foreword
* Optional: Acknowledgements (may be part of back matter)
Back Matter
* Optional: Appendices
* Optional: Glossary
* Optional: Acknowledgements (if not at front)
* Optional: Endnotes (if not using footnotes)
* Calls to Action (list, next book, reviews)
* Author bio
Pricing Your Book
The final decision you will need to make is how to price your book. The sweet spot for pricing eBooks seems to be $2.99 – $4.99. This is due to Amazon’s royalty structure. They will pay you a 70% royalty for books priced $2.99-$9.99 on Kindle.
However, $0.99 may make more sense for short nonfiction books. But, know that you will only earn a 35% royalty for books $0.99-$2.98. Find more information about royalties on Kindle here: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A30F3VI2TH1FR8
One strategy for pricing your book is to research five to ten similar books in your niche that are selling well. Make sure these books are a similar length to your book, a similar genre as your book, and bestsellers. Then write out the book title and price of each book. Figure out the average price.
For example:
Title 1 – $2.99
Title 2 – $3.99
Title 3 – $0.99
Title 4 – $2.99
Title 5 – $0.99
Average = $2.39
Now it’s time to decide what to price your book.
Average price of similar books from research above $________________________
Sweet spot for your eBook based on length, genre, content $________________________
Price that makes the most sense for your book $________________________
Remember to test, track and tweak!
What About Free?
You may want to consider offering your book free through the KDP Select program. This can be effective especially for new authors that are unknown. It can also be helpful when you have a book series, to offer the first book free.
KDP Select is a 90-day exclusive eBook contract. This means that during your contract, you cannot sell the eBook anywhere else. And only 10% of your book can be available online in digital format. However, you can sell print, audiobook, and translated versions.
The benefits to KDP select are as follows:
- Free promotions: Can offer your book free for a total of five days, every 90 days
- Members of KDP Unlimited, and Amazon Prime can download your books for free. These are called “borrows.” You do get paid for each borrow.
- Kindle countdown deals.
- Higher royalties in certain countries
Find out more about how to run a free KDP Select promotion here: https://www.trainingauthors.com/kdpselect
Lead Generation on Auto Pilot
You may also want to have the first book in your series be perma-free. Or if you are using your book for lead generation, set it perma-free to get new leads on autopilot 24/7. I did this with my book, Self-Publishing Books 101.
Amazon does not allow you to price your book for free, but will sometimes price-match your book if other retailers are offering it for free. Here is the process to get your book perma-free on Amazon:
- Publish your eBook on Smashwords or Draft2Digital for free.
- Then request Amazon to price match. Click the link “Tell us about a lower price” on the book sales page below the ranking.
- Expect to wait at least six weeks for Amazon to price-match your book.
- Note: Amazon does not price-match every book. If you don’t see a response, you can also try contacting KDP’s support directly to ask them to price-match your book.
Great job! Doing this work ahead of time will make your final step of publishing on Kindle so much easier.
Day #6: Final Edits and Formatting
Now it is time to make your final corrections and edits. If you have used a professional editor, you will need to accept or reject the edits from your editor. I also recommend reading your entire book one more time.
By this time, you will be getting pretty tired of your manuscript, but you are almost done, I promise!
Tools to Format Your Kindle Book
This step also includes formatting your book for Kindle. I recommend writing your book in a template. I have a Kindle template that I use for all my books and it is available within AuthorAudienceAcademy.com.
If I type my book in chunks of time, I type the book directly into my Kindle template. However, if I speak my book and have it transcribed, I copy and paste it directly into the template, as plain text to strip out any formatting. Kindle will be able to read hidden formatting, so make sure you are using templates the way they were intended.
I also recommend using the templates from Book Design Templates. They have both eBook and print templates that you can use. Or you can hire someone.
Outsource
You can hire someone for as inexpensively as $49. Check out the resources that I have for you here.
The Self-Publisher’s Ultimate Resource Guide: Every Indie Author’s Essential Directory-To Help You Prepare, Publish, and Promote Professional Looking Books. There is a section that includes people you can hire for eBook conversion. I recommend getting the Kindle version as you’ll get the updates as they come out.
Choose What Works Best for You
Remember to choose what works best for you and create a repeatable system. That has been part of the secret of my own success through the years. Instead of trying every tool, choose one that works for you and keep using it over and over.
Have Comments or Questions on Amazon for Authors?
Share them in the comments below.
Last Updated: August 22, 2024
