Design Your Cover

They always tell you to never judge a book by its cover, but we all know that covers play a huge role in the marketing of your book. It is the reader's first impression of your style, genre, and theme. 

One of the simplest ways to create a book cover on your own is with Canva. It is a free tool that the school granted us all access to and helps you create fantastic designs. Here are some of the basic steps to making your book cover with Canva.

1. Click "Create a New Design" at the top right corner. 

2.  Create a custom sized project. For the book you will be printing with the Creative Writing Club, the size will be 10.5" across and 9" tall. Make sure your dimensions are correct!

3. When you open the new project, you will be starting on a blank slate and that can be difficult. On Canva, search "Book Covers" and the website will show you a bunch of templates. While we cannot use the templates since they are not the right size, you can always just copy and paste the template into your 10.5"x9" cover and adjust it from there. 

4. Avoid putting words or designs towards the edge of the template. This is the "bleed" zone, which is an area that might get cut off in the book's printing. That extra space is there just-in-case something happens and your words/pictures don't get cut off.