Are you planning on self-publishing through CreateSpace and aren’t sure how to begin creating your book cover? Today, I’d like to demystify the process.

Lately, I’ve been immersed in creating the cover for my upcoming SF adventure novel “The Truth Beyond the Sky”. And I’ve really been enjoying the process, despite the fact that this project has completely confiscated my life as only graphics work can.

First, a common-sense disclaimer: I have been developing my skill as a graphic designer for over ten years, so don’t expect your result to look like mine. And if you’re a newbie to design, you’d be better off using CreateSpace’s Cover Creator.

If that didn’t scare you off, then you’re ready to proceed. (And for Avani’s sake, please do NOT use MS Paint.)

How to Use CS’s Cover Template in Photoshop

1. Finish writing your book (Seriously, that’s the more important bit. And plus, how long it is will determine how wide the book spine is!)
2. Layout your book in Apple Pages or MS Word. (I recommend you use one of CreateSpace’s “interior” templates to make sure that the margins and sizes of the pages of your book are correct.)
3. After laying out your book, you’ll learn a Very Important Number. Namely, the number of pages in your entire book.
4. Go to CreateSpace’s Template generator and enter:
   • The “Interior Type” — which will be B&W for most books, unless you want full color pictures inside of your book.
   • Trim size — which is the actual size of the book. Vast majority of fiction books are 6×9″ or 5.5×8.5″. (The Truth Beyond the Sky is 5.5×8.5″.)
   • Number of pages — which you know now! (TBTS is around 300 pages.)
   • Paper Color — which tends to be “cream” for fiction and “white” for nonfiction.
5. Hit “Build Template”! — This will generate a template for your book, taking into account trim size, bleed, and the number of pages for the spine width. More pages = Thicker Spine.
6. Download the resulting file. After you unzip it, you will get folder containing a PDF and a PNG versions of your template.
7. Open the PNG version in Photoshop (or similar program). You will notice that it’s pretty huge. Probably around 5700×3900 pixels. This is because printed work should be at a resolution of at least 300 pixels per inch.
8. Create a new layer, use the paint bucket to fill it with white, and then set the opacity to 90%. (This way you can still see the guidelines faintly, but when you’re done, you can easily block the guidelines out for the final printout.)
9. Play around. Seriously, play! Experiment with different typefaces and sizes. Experiment with stock photos from http://www.freeimages.com (just be sure to follow the image license). Above all, give yourself at least 10 hours total of brainstorming and polishing before you even begin to feel good about the result. A good cover takes time. You may want to get feedback from people whose taste you respect. (Also be sure that your cover fills or exceeds the bleed area. Read the instructions on the template. It’s so important, I’ll say it again: Read the instructions on the template.
10. After you’ve achieved a result that you’re happy with, choose “Save as” in the menus, and choose “Photoshop PDF” (or just PDF) as the format.
11. Upload the resulting PDF to CreateSpace!

Note: Keep in mind that this template will only work when submitting a book to CreateSpace. For other book printers, you’ll need to see what they offer.

Progress on The Truth Beyond the Sky book cover

At the very least, I hope that the tutorial above points you in the right direction. If you’re totally lost, I may be able to offer some help on twitter… if you ask kindly.

The proof is in the pudding with these types of things though, so I’ve put my own progress with the book cover below. Perhaps it will be helpful. You’ll also notice that I’ve extended the guidelines in the last image in order to help me cut and fold test prints. This is not strictly necessary, but since I’m printing out test copies at home before I even order a proof from CreateSpace, I’ve found them especially helpful. 🙂

Coming together quite well, I’d say.

I dreamt of the book last night.

I dreamt that I was finally holding it in my hands, feeling its smooth, cream-colored paper between my fingers. I think it even smelled good!

Anyway, it’s turning out to be a lot easier to layout the book in Apple Pages than I first imagined. Modern apps do a great job of formating page headers and footers, etc. (And thankfully CreateSpace provides a really useful template that, while in MS Word format opens up fine in Pages, so I was able to base my book document off of that.)

So everything went smoothly. Everything except the page numbers, that is.

Believe it or not, getting the page numbers to automatically generate from chapter to chapter was the biggest stumbling block I encountered… until I learned what the heck a “section” was in Pages.

To get the page numbers working correctly, I had to:

1. Insert a new section for each chapter
2. Go to the “Section” tab in the Layout Inspector
3. Check the box that says “Use previous headers & footers.”

And since the first page of the chapter isn’t supposed to have a page number (Check any book you own — it’s true!), you also have to check a box that says, and I’m not making this up, “Make the first page different.”

Anyway, it’s all working beautifully now. 🙂

A Goal Stated Publicly

I’d like to take this opportunity to state a goal publicly. I’d like to have a “proof” copy of the book (basically a test run), by September, months before my public release. This means completed cover and all that jazz. To do that, I need to complete the following tasks:

1. Compile feedback from close friends and rank them by priority
2. Implement the feedback that feels right and agrees with my logic
3. Complete book cover
4. Order 1st proof copy
5. Read through proof & markup any mistakes
6. Submit revised manuscript to SF blogs for review
7. Meanwhile, lend proof out to smart people for error spotting & cover feedback
8. Get positive reviews back from blogs & quote them in appropriate places
9. Make a final pacing, grammar, and spellcheck pass
10. Export and upload Kindle & PDF formats to Createspace

I don’t know how long it will take for book review sites to get back to me, so I may let that slide. In either case, I’ve got a lot of finalizing work ahead of me; but I’ve gotta say, after seeing the first few chapters with page numbers and properly formatted chapter headings, I’m getting pretty excited. I’ve studied a lot of SF and Fantasy books that I own, and it hasn’t been too difficult to “take a page from their stylebook” and bring that level of professionalism to my own layout. (It also helps that I used page layout applications extensively when I was in college.)

I had been exporting the book as an 8.5×11” PDF to share with friends, but now… Now, with the page size set at 8.5×5.5”, the margins properly set, proper indentation, the fancy ligatures, and the page headers, something finally hit me.

This looks exactly like a “real” book.
And this is MY book.

Wow.