How to make your own DIY Book Covers in MS Word! (with Templates)

I’ve been challenged for a while to come up with a way to handle the huge demand for quality book cover design. I love what I do but clients have to wait too long, spend too much, and the process can sometimes become frustrating. It’s not easy to learn Photoshop or another graphic design program. The Cover Creator software at Amazon or Lulu isn’t bad – but not great either. I finally had a breakthrough this spring, when I decided to try designing book covers in Microsoft Word.

I know it sounds crazy, but Word 2010 has some really excellent features, and after some time practicing, I’m now able to make covers in Word just as good almost as good as the ones I’m making in Photoshop. Here are some early samples. PS) These covers may seem familiar; that’s because I’ve modeled them after best-selling books to show you that covers made in MS Word can match just about any style. These cover templates are just starting points; after you’ve customized them, changed the fonts or colors and picture, the similarity will be much less noticeable. As I mention in the instruction guide, you should always check the first few pages of your genre’s bestseller list to make sure your cover isn’t too much like a more famous book.

Non-fiction Book Cover Templates

Fiction Book Covers Templates

The really awesome thing about these, is that anybody with MS Word can edit them! The layers are already blended in with soft edges perfectly. You can replace the elements, photos, colors and text and Word will keep all the settings I’ve picked. You can replace the background with anything else. You can retype the titles and subtitles, and add your author name. (There’s even a layers function, so I can leave in several different text layouts on each cover!) All this means that, for the first time, I’ll be able to offer self-publishing authors a really easy way to use amazing book cover templates, and produce a cover that’s way beyond most indie authors’ homemade efforts.

These DIY book cover templates aren’t meant as a total replacement for high quality professional book cover design; but they do offer a new option previously unavailable. I know authors want more control over their cover, and that many of them want to make a cheap or free book cover by themselves using the programs they are already familiar with. Many authors are already trying to use Word (or Publisher, or other programs not meant for design) to make their own book covers, often with horrible results. You can give a guy a hammer, chisel and block of marble, and he couldn’t begin to make a decent statue. But give him a template, some instructions, some guidelines, some structure and he’ll have a much better chance at success. These templates offer a kind of training wheels…

I’m packaging them together with a quick start guide, some training samples and videos. With my guidance, you can quickly learn to make your own cover in MS Word, completely customize one of the templates, and in about 15 minutes, you’ll have a very stylish, high quality, totally unique book cover. You’ll be able to update the text whenever you want, make changes on the fly, and make your own sequel covers. And instead of charging my normal rates, I’m putting together a package of 100 of these templates, in all different genres, and I’m going to sell it cheap (I’ll also make a free sample package available for those of you who can’t afford to spend anything).

I’m pretty sure there’s no other product or package available to indie authors right now that comes even close to what these DIY kits are going to offer you, so I’m really excited about them. They’re going to be a big deal, and I’m partnering with some of the biggest names in indie publishing to get the word out. Using both kits rather than hiring designers could easily save you $500, but more importantly it will give you more control, so you can get what you need done without waiting on anybody else. And, they won’t just be a churned out template; all the files are going to have a ton of options, so with a couple tweaks your files will be totally unique. Once the website is live, I’ll post more information on this site, but if you want to get early access (and download some free samples you can play with and test out) please join my email list for updates. Or click below to find out more:

Make your own covers with book design templates (click me)

 

Think DIY book covers are a cool idea?

Impressed by my samples? Please share! [Tweet “You won’t believe these book covers were made in MS Word!”] [Tweet “DIY book cover templates will soon let indie authors make book covers in MS Word”]   You can also visit the unique page I’ve set up to watch a video of the templates in action: www.diybookcovers.com