How to Design a Book Cover in Canva (Beginner Cover Design Tutorial)

[@Deenatheknittingauthor]

I use canva pro for making covers and love it. You can change font to make it not flat. Tons of tutorials out there to do some amazing things. Plus Canva keeps getting better with newer editing tools being added all the time. Love it. You can delete background with pictures and video and erase out parts of a picture. So many things you can do!❤

[@Deenatheknittingauthor]

Also you can just use transparent to work cover.. so you don't have to do lines or square.

[@thomasmcgauley1330]

@@Deenatheknittingauthor how big a difference is there between pro and free? im a writer but i have to teach myself some design skills. my policy is usually: if its free its for me!

[@bob51502001]

So I hope u can answer me. I made covers both on and outside of canva. I've yet to just build a cover on the existing template though. I can not get the covers to fit the template. When I stretch my cover design over the template parts, usually the top, disappear.doesnt matter if it's a PDF or png. help?

[@Deenatheknittingauthor]

@bob51502001 did you create a template from Amazon based on your page count and size of book? If you custom your size on canva you can arrange your cover accordingly. I would have to see exactly what you are doing to see where you are going wrong but it sounds like you don't have thr size custom to size and page number of your book the cover is for

[@Deenatheknittingauthor]

@thomasmcgauley1330 I would say a huge difference. Mostly because of the editing tools and also the library of elements photos and videos. There are many different fonts and so much more. I pay yearly and it is cheaper than when I paid monthly. I had free though for yrs

[@ExiledThrone-o8f]

This was super-helpful to make a quick sample for my novel. Doing it made me appreciate how hard it can be and I decided to choose a designer (of course!) to make the final one. Thanks Mandi, more power to you.

[@HenrieAsconir]

Hi Mandi! Finally I published my first book in Amazon and other EReading apps, titled:Archangel world at war. Though it was not edited yet, I still publish it. Watching your vlogs helped me a lot to make it happen. I would like to say “Thank you” for imparting your knowledge and talent to newbies like me. : )

[@NTZCh7]

What do you mean by "not edited yet"?

[@Alyxyzv.v]

Did you make any sell yet?

[@deniseslaughter1965]

Thanks, again, Mandi! You hit the ball out of the park! I self-published my FIRST book using Canva and I absolutely LOVE it. "From Weeping To Joy" - found on Amazon and The Book Patch. I'm working on my second book and was looking for more content about CANVA and here you are!

[@katelynraebooks]

I admit I have the pro version of canva rather than the free version, but I enjoy it for making covers and it can do a lot. Sometimes you've got to be inventive to get exactly what you want, however, the results once you find the solution can be great. I suppose it depends on your genre and what your looking for in a cover, but its been great for me.

[@KCMitchell-z1i]

I just found you and, WOW, I'm impressed! I love how you jump right into the subject, rather than all the promo some other creators do. You are a 'no nonsense' instructor, which I def appreciate. Thanks for all the info and tips!

[@yoursoulisforever]

Thank you for your excellent presentation. I came to remember how to do the layout on KDP template. I've done it twice before but it was a while back, so this was a great refresher plus I learned something new regarding the borders. One thing I would add and maybe I missed this but I think it is necessary to remove the template layer before the download which most people would know except for beginners. Again, thank you for your very helpful video.

[@joyfulwriter7964]

Thank you for this video! I successfully designed my first book cover with Canva using your advice.

[@MandiLynnWrites]

Love to hear it!

[@ptrbryant]

Thank you so much for all the information in this tutorial... all useful steps and no filler! Thanks!

[@ChloeRobert-q9e]

Amazing tutorial I have a question though what are the best fonts to use for a book cover design and which software did you use for the recording and editing

[@MrGiarc13]

Great advice and guidance. Very thorough. Thank you. One observation I would like to make is that my need for cover design tips was quite urgent. So a prompt at the start of the video telling me that your instructions would be in the last 7 minutes of the video would have been useful. Or maybe just a copy of your file and edit out the first 20 minutes to leave the last 7 minutes as a separate video itself...

[@ronaldoofficialCR7-j4o]

Really helpful video !! thank you so much

[@histired]

i created the characters of my story with AI to better match their descriptions in the book bc I didn't know how else could i find images. I did some editing and added text and so on. Tysm for this tutorial bc honestly as a person who definitely cannot draw but dreams of publishing their book, having to make the cover was stressing me out lol. I have exams at uni to do too so *cries in med student* I definitely appreciate the easy explanation of this vid!

[@deteringl]

This was very helpful! Thank you!

[@ashleighasempire]

All is well. Dollar general, family dollar, dollar tree…. are our jam. It allows us to get our favorite snacks for movie nights and anything else the children desire to get with the money they earned. This message isn’t for everyone! It’s simply to encourage and give hope to the Mother that may need it! God is good, keep going!!!❤

[@kathrynblomberg9898]

I looked at several tutorials on making a book cover and yours is the only one I made it all the way through. I liked your speed and the details you included. It took me a bit to figure out what KDP was. But I am very happy to now know how to get the sizing template for a wrap. That was my missing key. But the rest of your information was presented in a way that I didn't go crazy waiting to get to that. I use Canva pro a lot already. I do think that while you can do the background remover it is not quite as polished as what people seem to be able to do in Photoshop. Other effects are clunkier so it might take a bit more time in Pro but the learning curve is lower for Canva. So if someone has a bit more time and a little less money, or doesn't need to get as deep into all the possibilities, Canva is probably the better choice. Good job in presenting fairly. And I like your little addition of AI especially why you don't like it and how people need to acknowledge when they use it. Thank!

[@Shum-p9r]

Youre a life saver, if im not broke some day ill be coming to you for a cover FOR SURE

[@letsexplorcorners]

I love using canva, and have used it for most of my book, the only difficult is when you want your text to look metal or pop out, then you have to place around with the effects. It fun to create the cover for the book that you want. Thanks for showing this.

[@stephaniehill3860]

Good pacing on this video! Thanks.

[@MandiLynnWrites]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@RahulKumar-qn9en]

Thank you mandi. I successfully designed my first book cover.

[@theeyeofthecoconutshell]

Amazing video! Thank you for your help!

[@thepurpleufo]

Thanks for another excellent tutorial. Had no idea Canva could be used this way.

[@good5928]

There's a piece of software called Krita maybe take a look at seeing if you could do a cover on that program. You'd probably have to source the photos from somewhere else though,

[@galaxy5893]

I love Canva so much.

[@kukulcangod1]

22:00 NOW that is super expensive when it comes to being a dummy unable to do it, it would've taken me 5 times longer than you, dear cute one, so I'm mighty grateful for your guiding video, I'm a subscriber believer😁 Dang you are so smart and dynamic...my ADHD envies you dearly curate one!!😁

[@BSR_ONE]

Thank you a lot. Following you from Morocco

[@destresswithyoga]

Great info! Thank you!

[@577zkerr]

Thank you for this. I'm trying AI tools for my first fiction cover. It's been helpful in generating concept arts, not much more. I'd want to hire a person on principle anyway though. Books are for people. They should be by people.

[@mudassirbellomufti3992]

Thank you very much, it's really helpful

[@cynthiawlaughlin5435]

I do not use photoshop. Just designed my own. Any courses suggested to advice?

[@miraklemoments973]

I use both PS & Canva and have to admit for a small fee, Canva is great, one can certainly make text look less flat, it's a matter of being creative and playing around, there are also many tuts on manipulating text

[@tanvivelmurugan9959]

I luvvvv using canva

[@AuthorJNKayla]

I made a cover for my short story Fae Blood in Canva and I think it was really easy and I could easily make cool and simple cover. THe biggest problems for me were actually deciding what colors and fonts I would use

[@IAteFire]

Easy color hack is to bring in a picture of a book cover you like and Canva will load them in and let you pick from them

[@shebreathesingold8043]

I'm not on amazon yet but from what I heard from another youtuber is that Amazon's AI question isn't shared with readers. It's just some internal tracking they are doing.

[@Deenatheknittingauthor]

That is correct.

[@Deenatheknittingauthor]

I am not sure about text though? Haven't looked into the actual writing part and what is included in that. Is grammarly considered? Word doc? Prowriteaid? Any editing program? If so then what isn't considered using AI? Canvas? Photoshop?

[@syenite]

​@@Deenatheknittingauthor From what I gather, they are asking about *generative* AI. If you are using PWA or Grammarly to find punctuation mistakes or running it through the sticky sentences report, or using Rephrase, than it's not generating anything and you do not need to disclose "AI" use, otherwise I need to go back to the books I published 7 years ago and add the AI attribution. If you are using their Sparks feature and it actually writes several sentences for you and you do not make substantial edits to those sentences, then you would need to disclose it.

[@Deenatheknittingauthor]

@syenite it woukd be crazy if all our editing programs are considered. I can't live without spell check lol. Sad but true!

[@waynejones5635]

Awesome. Thanks for this video.

[@BkLaRose]

hi i have a question about this, if you can help it has more to do with the pages after making the cover

[@JoseCarrillo-es7kl]

Great job! Do you need to leave space for the barcode if it is already incorporated in the design? I will use my own barcode and ISBN. Thanks

[@jumbo2143]

you did a really good job, it was so helpful. thank you so much. lady

[@ChantalAchziger]

Thanks for the info! I wanted to ask why the book wrap custom template size in Canva is 11" x 8.25"? when the overall dimensions are 17.454" x 11.250"? Maybe I'm missing something but wondering if you can clarify that part. Thanks in advance!

[@MandiLynnWrites]

The difference in size is taking the bleed intro account, which is extending the image further so when it is trimmed in print, it will be the correct size.

[@ChantalAchziger]

@@MandiLynnWrites After seeing your reply I re-watched the section and realized I was talking about a different size book, my bad! Thanks for the reply and it all makes sense now. This video was very helpful too so thanks :)

[@LisaParkesWildheart]

Thank You. This was great.

[@StrutInFaith]

GOD BLESS YOUR HEART! Thanks Mandi

[@sarawrightbooks2619]

I used Canva Pro to make a cover for my lead magnet. It's a little more convenient for layering the little vector elements that would make the cover more unique for a fantasy or sci-fi book because it's right there in the same software. I'll admit trying to get the typography right is much harder, but it is doable. It took me awhile to figure out how to make a version of the shinny metal look, but I figured it out with about four or five text layers. It's not as good as the photoshop version, though.

[@waraprof.6815]

Nice tutorial

[@gheorghesimon2152]

Thank you!

[@KarenLewin-bi1td]

In regard to putting the guides in, why would we not just do the most interior one, as the front and back art work are going past the bleed edge anyway? I know about having guide to make sure no text or bar code gets out of the safe zone. Am new to all this, so sorry if I am missing something on this.

[@fionamclean6533]

Thanks for this, although a bit too much of pushing photoshop, i want to use canva as easier than photoshop and not wanting to put effort into learning ps at the moment.

[@doseoflex]

With the png download of the cover after you do the template, what size would you change the png to if you had the paid version? Does it matter or can it still be used with the default size? I'm following this video making my cover now step by step and I have the trial.

[@MandiLynnWrites]

For the ebook cover? When you upload it to KDP they may limit the file size so bigger isn't always better.

[@AutumnAprodithe]

I hope you can give your review and maybe a tutorial on other free alternatives like Gimp and Photopea.

[@tlc2695]

Hi, how can I make a front and back cover that are continuous front and back with an image in Canva?

[@DeborahBohn-n6t]

Mandi, I'm looking for a cover design as well as someone who can help teach me Amazon ads, SEO and getting sales (of course). My books are simple (lower and mid content books), but cover design and ads are difficult. What might it cost to receive your help for a children's activity book?

[@tomaria100]

Thanks, Mandi!

[@hayrayzwim6370]

Thanks for sharing

[@gradysimpson3275]

can you down load a free picture and paste it in?

[@mtm7031]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@HarryOsirian]

I just download the KDP template in CANVA. Then set the transparancy very low. No need to make rulers and guides. The template shines through.

[@A13x1a_]

20:31 bookmark

[@hayrayzwim6370]

Hello I'm a first timer here. Yes, I've been using Canva for my book cover coz I'm a beginner

[@thetruemanshowuk]

Not wishing to sound a little bit thick, but isn't Canva Ai? And isn't the whole of Amazon run on an automated system.

[@MandiLynnWrites]

Canva isn't AI, just the part where I mentioned they offer AI. And automated doesn't mean AI, though I'm sure Amazon is using AI on their backend.

[@eunahgaelle75]

Haba ng introduction

[@alicecellia]

Amazon does not penalize use of AI at all. So, it is just fine to use it. No problem.

[@sonia68ish]

i found this so confusing as she keeps switching between canva and photoshop. It was so hard to follow, maybe it is because I am so new to this.

[@gorgeousbeauty6723]

I agree I was trying to skip that part

[@Caroline_Creative]

Would you ever convert your courses to work with Affinity?

[@kukulcangod1]

18:08 AI socks from whatever in-app apps for chat GPT for example

[@kukulcangod1]

19:11 Amazon will detect it AI! So "AI VS AI" ...That is my next book!!😅😅😅 In fact let me get into training mode by watching all the Terminator movies back to back!!!...With there are better movies made with AI about AI...Mmmmm😅😅😅😅

[@haydenyuy7060]

I use Canva all the time. I am not the most tech savy, which is why I don't use Photoshop (plus it's more expensive). I tried the AI images just to see how it would come out, but I ended up with some really wonky stuff.

[@eishalmalik2576]

can u make a cover for me

[@Awesome-pf3xm]

It would have been great if you had just showed how to use canva..without continually raving on about how photoshop is best..you obviously just wanting to see your courses.. also Ai is really good and free

[@camilliapeters4696]

There is a person on Esty ATM selling Canva templates as finished book covers and not just one that's lazy lol

[@Mike_Fortin]

AI image generation is not the greatest, there’s still a need for a manmade artwork 🖼️

[@sargewilliepete2174]

The way you have the corner of your video CLIPPED and then you blitzkrieg through actually navigating how to do things. SMDH! Today we're going to paint today - FAST FORWARDS through the painting - then slows the video down at the end TA-DA! Useless!

[@marstonfobbsentertainment]

Too much Photoshop info. Just stick to Canva details.

[@coolcreek2032]

I come here because I want to make a book cover in Canva. But you keep talking about photoshop. I had to quit watching, you sound more like a Photoshop promotion.

[@hunterbidensellingusa4778]

I tried listening. Too much rambling, babbling nonsense......................

[@leonaheraty3760]

Thanks! 😊