How to Create a Kindle eBook Cover Using Windows 7 Paint Program
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 5:15 am
As noted in an earlier post, Windows 7 First Look: MS Paint, MS Paint in Windows 7, has undergone quite a makeover since Vista, and is now robust enough for people to use for actual applications, one of which is creating a good cover for your Kindle eBook.
First, to be clear, the cover you create for your eBook, is not something you actually attach or embed into to your eBook, it’s an image you create to display your eBook on Amazon’s Kindle Library.
Some examples:
Step 1: Create a background – In order for your book to attract customers, it has to have something about it that makes it stand out. Covers for eBooks, like those for paper books, should create a mood that matches the content of the book.
Backgrounds can be either created from scratch in Paint, or imported. Unless you’re artistically gifted, it’s usually best to import an image from somewhere else, which usually means downloading from the Internet.
Note: Only use public domain images
In this example, we’re going to create a cover for an eBook that is a literary piece called, “My Great Story.” Since we want to attract literary types, we need something to convey that. First go to stock.xchng because they have tons of pictures and graphics that anyone can use. Find something you like; in this example, we’ll use this stack of books graphic:
Save the graphic to your hard drive (right click, then Save Picture As…) and then start the MS Paint application. Pull in the background you downloaded using the File Open menu choice. For those that have not used MS Paint before, it’s in your accessories folder.
Notice that the image chosen has plenty of white space so that text will show through clearly.
Step 2: Type in the name of the book and author name – Pick a place in your graphic where you think the title will look good and then click on the A symbol to add text.
Hover your mouse over the location you think will work best, then click once and start typing.
… first the title of the book:
… then the author:
Use the menu options directly above the image to change the font, size and color of your text and then use the anchors to size and place your text as you would in any other Windows application.
Note: Be sure you’re happy with the font, size, color and attributes you’ve chosen before clicking away from your text, because you can’t edit these attributes after the text has been “placed.”
Step 3: Add effects – Add other art that you think will enhance your cover. In this case, a border would add some depth. To make it, click the square tool icon:
After selecting the square tool move the cursor to one of the corners of the image, hold down the left mouse button, then drag it to the opposite corner, then let go.
Since it looks rather stark, a double border in another color might help:
First change the color: In this case, we’ll choose the bright red square.
Note how the box labeled Color 1 changes to reflect the color you chose.
Then draw the red border as you did the first one:
At this point, the cover is ready; to use it on Amazon’s Kindle Publishing page though, you’ll need to make sure it fits within Amazon’s guidelines, i.e. it must be saved in JPG or TIFF format and be between 500 to 1280 pixels in size. If your image is too big, use another method, such as we described in an earlier post; PicResize – Free-online photo editor to get it down to size.
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