Whether it’s a children’s book, a young-adult novel, or even a series for adults that you’d like to add some visual interest to, illustrations are a great way to bring a story to life. The images can be included throughout the pages of the text, and of course, on the front and back cover. Illustrations aren’t only fanciful; they can also include maps, charts, graphs, and more. Artwork adds magic to fairytales, helps to depict and better explain key concepts, allow you to get your point across more clearly, and of course, they can help to attract prospective readers and encourage more engagement with a text.

In other words, book illustrations can make your writing stand out from the crowd. They can mean the difference between readers selecting your writing over other texts. Because they offer so much value, you want to be sure that your illustrations are as striking and attention-grabbing as possible. They should also help to increase the understanding of your words and your message, as well as establish a deeper connection with your writing. Since illustrations are so important, it goes without saying that you want to make sure that they are as visually appealing as possible, that they really relate to your writing, and that they truly do foster greater understanding of the message, information, or story you are trying to tell. 

While you might be a wordsmith, however, artwork may not be your forte. If that’s the case and you have a great story that you’d like to add interest to within the pages, you’d like your cover to pop so to make your book more appealing to readers, or both, to ensure your illustrations serve their purpose, you’re going to want to hire a professional who has a deft hand and a great imagination; someone who can bring your vision to life and truly enhance your message. But how do you go about finding a reputable, credible, and reliable book illustrator? Here are some tips that can help to point you in the right direction.

Know the Details of Your Book

It might sound silly to say, but it’s absolutely worth saying it: before you seek the services of a professional illustrator, you’re going to want to make sure that you know the particulars of your book. By knowing this information, you’ll be able to convey it to prospective illustrators and increase your chances of finding someone who will suit your needs. Examples of the key details that you’ll want to know include:

Your Style Preference

You’ll also want to know what your style preference is before you start looking for a book designer for your writing. There are so many different styles of artwork that can be used for illustrations, and there’s no right or wrong option. Do some research; look at the illustrations in some of your favorite books, or browse online to get an idea for the different styles of artwork. What kind of color palette to you: black and white, pastel, bold, etc.? Do you prefer more cartoon-like images or realistic pictures? Does a live medium, such as pen and ink or watercolor, speak to your taste, or are you more drawn to digital art? 

Summing It Up

By taking the above factors into consideration, you’ll have an easier time finding the right professional illustrator that will really make your book one-of-a-kind.

While working in a regular office, you sat under fluorescent lighting in a grey sterile, bland cubicle. However, with working from home, you are the one to design and maintain your office in any way that you would like — provided it’s well organized.

Your functional home office holds everything — textbooks, computers, keys, and even your pets. Within a short period, it may look more like a frat house than a home office. Here’s how to stay organized while working from home.

Start fresh

Maybe, you’ve never seen the top of your desk for a couple of months. It’s time for a clean sweep. First, collect every piece of paper and pen off the desk. Then, clear your desk, leaving only your computer. Although it seems overwhelming to clear off documents on your desk, it gives you a fresh start. Organize your items accordingly by creating three piles (scan, save and shred). With that, they won’t scatter or pile again to your working space.

Also, remember to clear off your desk after every workday. Don’t leave any item lying unorganized on your desk. Instead, place your files in separate folders corresponding to different clients or projects. In this way, you’ll quickly locate them (your files). This is an excellent strategy to organize your place of work, especially if you are working with different clients.

Thinking vertically is another idea. Storage is vital in any office. Regardless of how many papers you shift to the cloud, there shall always be some papers scattering around. And of course, to make your office functional, you’ll need a pen, stamps, and many other items.

The problem is that many functional home offices are small, making storing difficult. So, taking your storage vertical is a perfect way to utilize the available space.

Create more organizational space for your work using the walls. Furthermore, consider highly functional storage solutions like hanging clipboards. This will allow you to change what is featured on the wall quickly.

Develop your daily schedule

Bookkeeping and freelancing can give you a lot of freedom over time. However, this can lead to procrastination. Since no one commands you and you are responsible for yourself, you may forget meetings and important events.

To be more organized, you need to learn how to manage your time. Before starting your day, make sure you have a daily schedule set up.

If you are just starting out, it can be pretty challenging to determine deadlines and time allocations. Also, as a starter, you don’t know how long it takes to complete a particular task or project.

However, you shouldn’t be worried much about it since you’ll be familiar with everything as time goes. Just try and figure out how much time you’ll need to do a task. Then check the activities you can finish in a day with other events you scheduled for that day.

List down tasks you can accomplish for a day

Jobs such as freelancing are always associated with flexibility and freedom. However, with much space, you may end up not knowing whether you were productive on that day or not.

For easy monitoring of activities, put down all the tasks you need to finish each day. You can do this manually or use online lessons management to track your daily activities.

Maintain tidiness

Clearing your desk and your workspace alone isn’t enough.

Although it seems tempting to work in your pajamas, it’s good to refrain from doing it for several reasons:

● It might not be easy to get into the work mindset. Can your subconscious associate pajamas with bedtime? Of course not. Therefore it might be challenging to focus at work.

● Looking good can help you feel good.

Set and enforce working hours

Working from home and controlling yourself doesn’t mean getting shorter workdays. In your functional home office, you need to know how to separate work from home. Therefore, it is essential to set your working hours.

Apart from helping you know when to start your task, setting working hours lets your clients know when you’ll be available for contact.

Avoid multitasking

Multitasking doesn’t work. It instead lowers your productivity since you are not focused on the scheduled tasks. Instead, focus on one task before handling another one.

Be flexible

You don’t need to be too rigid to focus and stay organized. Some circumstances are unavoidable. For example, you are doing everything to ensure a distraction-free day, and then suddenly, your kid becomes ill. Since you are the manager of your home, you’ll have to handle it all.

After the destruction, it might not be easy to focus on your scheduled activity. And that’s the weakness you need to eliminate. You need to be flexible and be able to focus back on your task after the distraction.

The good thing about having a flexible schedule is that you will and must be adaptable.

Use customer relation management

Working from home means you are self-employed. Therefore, you need to ensure you have the right tools for you to be at your best. One of such tools you shouldn’t is) writing software.

Take a break

Working continuously can be overwhelming. So you need breaks after every significant task. With that, you’ll get to reset and adjust your focus.

The bottom line

Organizing your functional home office is the first step in creating a better workflow. It can help you stay focused and on top of your workload. Additionally, it can help you track the job applications you are sending. A clean home office is easier to maintain and can motivate you to keep it tidy.

Although it seems challenging to work from home, you can overcome destruction and focus on your daily tasks with the right strategies. In the end, staying organized while working from home should not be challenging.Rose Rosie is a writer for the personal finance website, Joy Wallet, which provides readers with useful information, resources, and tools to help maximize their financial fitness.

Do you dream of making it as a self-published author? Sure, so do thousands of other people. The road to publishing your first piece of work is challenging. The high barriers to entry are why so many aspiring authors fail to get their work into the public eye.

However, if you have the right resources, you can make it work for you. Technology changed the landscape for self-publishing authors, and now it’s much easier to get your work the attention it deserves.

In the past, self-publishing writers and authors would need to visit premises, buildings and spend time on the phone to get what they needed to publish their work. Now, with the advent of the internet, you have everything online, available right at your fingertips.

This post unpacks a few actionable strategies authors can use to self-publish a book.

Up your Game

If you’re planning on self-publishing a book, you need the right resources to help you through the process. Inspiration is easy enough to find with a bevy of blogs and video streaming sites providing millions of hours of content in all trending categories.

By using writing and editing tools, you get better results with your publishing efforts. These tools are available through software solutions and online courses. Take some time to invest in your skillset before heading out into the market.

Use the Right Formatting

When you have a final polished product, you’ll have the option of uploading it to a self-publishing website. It’s important for authors to remember that some sites have different file requirements than others.

For instance, EPUB files are the benchmark standard for ebooks, and they offer easy access for mobile users. MOBI files are the better choice for publishing your work through Kindle on Amazon

Some platforms may also require you to upload your content as a PDF file. However, you’ll need to convert the PDF to the right file format using a paid service or conversion software.

Look at Retailers

Many bookselling websites and retailers have independent guidelines offering you royalty rates, linking opportunities, favorable pricing, or useful distribution information.

Some online portals let independent authors publish books for free in digital formats, while some charge a flat rate that includes advertising services and even print-on-demand services.

POD helps you avoid the expense and hassle of holding stock of your book. When the seller gets enough orders, they print the book and distribute it for you. It’s a great option for presales as well.

Acquire an ISBN

To make your book available in public libraries or physical book stores as a hardcover, you’re going to have to register yourself for an International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

Fortunately, that’s not as much of a hassle as you would imagine. You can apply for your ISBN through the online portal at the official website. While it’s not absolutely critical to get an ISBN, you’ll find it opens a lot more self-publishing avenues for your work.

Marketing and Distribution

Finally, after publishing your work, you need to promote it to capture an audience. Posting on free sites like Medium can help you capture a targeted audience. Promoting your book through a social media advertising campaign on Facebook can also help you reach a wider audience.

There are dozens of free courses available on platforms like YouTube that teach you how to market your book. Authors can build a free website and use it to promote their books and capture leads to grow their list.

By using an opt-in marketing option, your fans could leave you their email address for your mailing list in return for access to a chapter of your new book.

Oh, where do we start from! Writing a book is such a chore. Yet you will find authors with hundreds of bestsellers — just think of the Witcher books. How do they do it? There they are, and here you are – struggling to get your first manuscript ready even by your relaxed deadline iteration.

There’s no magic. Writing a book is a professional job. It’s not a hobby. Those who take book writing seriously and love their work can always find time to work on writing.

Paragraph by paragraph and page by page – you’ll also get there. All you need is confidence in your written word and some tips to guide you along the way.

And that’s precisely why you’re at the right place. Today, we’re going to talk about some very effective yet less popular tips for writing a book.

In the words of the great Mark Twain, “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” Oversimplification, yes, but an accurate one.

Strap your seatbelts on. We’re going for a ride.

Just begin

First things first.

If you’re still just planning on then it’s time to start. Forget about the formal beginnings. Just write the first chapter. Let out your mind. Write what you always wanted to. Remember the thrill of the time when you first came up with the idea. Revolutionary, wasn’t it?

Stop reading this article. Write faster. Come back here again and thank us later.

Break it down, organize, and schedule

Next up is breaking things down.

No problem is unsolvable. Break your problems and obstacles down. Even if you are not facing problems, divide your writing project into tasks and sub-tasks. Keep this project management list of sorts handy. You can use tools like Trello or Google Tasks to build a detailed multi-level list.

Monitor the lists. Don’t be too strict on yourself. Give yourself time to finish the tasks otherwise you’ll start to hate these tasks and won’t bother with them.

Just keep them for the sake of documentation and slowly start to build a schedule around your well-organized tasks list.

Make feedback an integral part of your writing

Feedback doesn’t start when you’re done with the manuscript. Share your progress with people you trust. Alternatively, share minimally with your fans online. Having your own blog or website is nice, but so is sharecropping (like Medium or Wattpad) or your favorite social media platform.

Know what makes you more productive

Coffee? A quiet place? Some meditation? Lots of water? What makes you tick?

If you don’t know what gives you a productivity boost then you’re not doing it right. We’re all living in a world full of things to do, people to please, and money to make.

Find out what makes you tick so you can use it as a boost even amid all the chaos and to finish that next chapter soon!

(Optional) Get an accountability partner

Get someone who holds you accountable for your writing. You’d be surprised seeing how well it works.

This isn’t a tool usually deployed by authors, or anyone in general. This is something that always works. If you had two similar projects – and one of them was with a partner who was also invested (not necessarily monetarily) in some way – then that project will be accomplished faster.

Have someone who holds you accountable.

“You didn’t make any progress today? Ah, that’s fine. Oh, yesterday was the same? We might have a problem.”

Over time, you’ll be programmed to give the project a fair deal of time and attention no matter how packed your day is.

Other tips:

Teaching children to accept others and fight unconscious biases they may pick up is an essential part of educating young ones. The earlier you can instill values of inclusivity, the better!

To that end, we’ve picked out five of our favorite children’s books about diversity that convey lessons about cooperation, acceptance, and coexistence. While this post is primarily aimed at recommending new reads to parents, kindergarten and elementary school teachers can use these books just as well in the classroom.

1. All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman

For ages: 3+ years old, or any child heading to school for the first time

Follow a schoolteacher and his class through a school day where everyone, no matter their differences, is treated with the same attention and respect. A great picture book for kids about to attend school for the first time or a resource for teachers to use in the classroom, All Are Welcome is perfect for introducing concepts of diversity and inclusion to kids just getting out into the big, wide world.

2. Same, Same But Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

For ages: 4-7 years old

Elliot and Kailash, from the U.S. and India respectively, keep in touch as pen pals and discover they have a lot of interests in common. Though their daily lives might look different and they’re on opposite sides of the world, their friendship doesn’t waver! This is a touching and insightful look at developing friends from other cultures, which can help kids cultivate an interest in perspectives and lifestyles that differ from their own.

3. Suki’s Kimono by Chieri Uegaki, illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch

For ages: 4-8 years old

Suki’s kimono, a gift from her obachan (grandmother), is her pride and joy — and she refused to be dissuaded from wearing it on her first day of school. While other kids gave her some trouble at first, Suki holds firm, and eventually the other kids come around to thinking Suki’s kimono is just as cool as she does. A sweet lesson in standing up for oneself and one’s cultural heritage, Suki’s Kimono has morals for any BIPOC student in the minority who might feel embarrassed or ostracized about things they do differently — and for non-BIPOC kids about the importance and value of different cultural traditions.

4. A Different Pond by Bao Phi, illustrated by Thi Bui

For ages: 6-8 years old and up

A more sobering tale, but arguably even more valuable, A Different Pond follows Bao Phi’s childhood story of fishing at a local Minneapolis pond in the early hours of the morning — not for sport, but for food. While they fish, Bao’s father tells him about a similar pond he remembers from growing up in Vietnam. A Different Pond is a Caldecott Honor winner, and a truly deserved and powerful one at that. Phi never sugarcoats reality in it, instead teaching kids a real lesson about ethnic as well as socioeconomic diversity.

5. See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng

For ages: 10-14+ years old

Finally, for more advanced readers, Jack Cheng’s See You in the Cosmos is a great choice for audiences around the 5th grade reading level. A bittersweet story about a boy’s obsession with space travel and how to hold onto your dreams despite what life throws your way, any child will likely find some inspiration — and life lessons — tucked away inside an engaging plot.

We hope you enjoyed this list of some of the best children’s books about diversity and inclusion! If you want to find more books to read with your children or young students, Red Clover Reader’s selection of interactive children’s books has you covered.

As a GNU/Linux user, you’re probably fiercely independent, willing to tinker to get the best results, and, as you’ve embraced being in a digital minority, used to the annoyances that going against the grain sometimes causes. You also almost certainly keep up with many of the latest software trends. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, you may be quite tantalized by the book writing software you’ve seen springing up everywhere — and wonder which is not just perfect for your needs, but also features that lovely little penguin checkbox to let you know that you can actually use it.

What book writing software is the best for Linux folks? Well, that entirely depends on your needs — and your reason for choosing Linux also factors in. You essentially have two options when it comes to book writing software. You could choose a downloadable piece of software, or go with a SaaS approach that’s used in-browser, thereby bypassing OS requirements. Let’s take a look at what’s available in today’s exciting world.

LibreOffice Writer

Yes, of course you’re already familiar with that one. Because of that, and because it’s free and open source, Linux users might consider LibreOffice Writer to be their default choice. It’ll do absolutely everything you need it to if you don’t like bells and whistles, have familiarized yourself with all of LibreOffice’s advanced settings, and want to write and edit your own books without real-time editing and grammar suggestions, thanks very much. You’ll also, of course, be aware that, if you’re working with editors who use Microsoft Word, LibreOffice can cause some friction as well as technical irritations.

Reedsy Book Editor

The Reedsy Book Editor is a crisp, intuitive proprietary software that enables easy collaborative editing as well as making typesetting and formatting effortless, no matter what your goals are. Being an online tool, all you need to to access any of the manuscripts you’re currently working on is an internet connection and a browser. Creating an account and getting started with Reedsy’s book editor is free of charge, and its convenient features will make convincing anyone you are working with to use it, too, will be a breeze.

Zettlr

The Zettlr Markdown editor is a wonderful choice for authors writing non-fiction and academic manuscripts, who will discover that citations no longer have to be a pain to format. Having said that, novelists may also like Zettler. This free and open source software goes the extra mile by making sure you can access it even if you haven’t jumped on the Ubuntu bandwagon and instead choose to use less widespread distros.

NovelWriter

Because novelWriter’s setup allows writers to experiment with the structuring of their novel and makes creating outlines, changing them up, and searching your comments straightforward, novelWriter may just be great book writing software for you if you’re just starting a novel and aren’t sure where you are going with it yet, or if your creative process leans toward the chaotic and you want your software to help you get organized.

Google Documents

While some Linux users will shun Google docs, let’s not forget to mention it — because the simple fact is that it’s easy to use, easy to carry across different computers, and, more important than all else, easy to collaborate on. If you are at the stage where you’re hiring freelance editors to trim your manuscript, Google docs can be the simplest way to work together. Because almost everyone has a gmail account, almost everyone can access it and most are willing to do so.

ProWritingAid

So, you want to stick with your trusty old LibreOffice Writer, but you do crave all those nifty extras? ProWriting aid is a pretty spectacular, GDPR-compliant, paid tool that offers in-depth grammar and style suggestions as well as a handy thesaurus. It integrates seamlessly with many word processors and comes with a browser extension as well.

Book writing software choices for Linux users are only going to keep expanding in the current years, but even now, you already have a very decent series of choices — whether you need a collaborative editing platform, grammar and style help, formatting rescue, or easier citations, the tools you need to write your book are waiting for you to pick them!

We’ve all beenthere. We have a novel in the works. It’s so close to being done.It’s been months in the works. Every friend and family member hasbeen asking when it’ll be done and we tell them “soon, soon”.But there’s that one part that we’re stuck on. That we can’tfigure out and can’t find ideas for. We are stuck in the infamousrut known as writer’s block. And long story short, it sucks.

The good news isthat there are solutions. There’s no one-size-fits-all cure forwriter’s block, unfortunately, but there are some basic things youcan do to help get the creative juices flowing. Try these tips andsee if it helps at all.

Take a walk and payattention to your surroundings

Try taking a walk inthe park or in a nearby area. During this walk, don’t just walkidly, but instead, pay special attention to everything you see. Thatplant that you know is there but never looked closely at? Payattention to it. Look into the texture of the leaves. Notice theladybug wandering around. Pay attention to the birds chirping nearbyor how the dirt has little holes in it for whatever animal lives init. Pay special attention to the people around you. Look at whatthey’re doing. Study their body language. Are they happy? Sad?Anxious? Look at people talking. Are they romantically involved? Howcan you tell? Is one more into the other? Is there something going onbeneath the surface? Pay attention and take note. Soak in all thesedetails during your walk and then see how you feel about your story.Often times, new ideas will start flowing. Nature has its way ofsparking new ideas.

Read some stories orwatch some videos

Try jumping into other people’s creative ideas. Is there a movie you’ve been itching to see? Watch it. Pay attention to it and see what you like. This will often lead to ideas. Consuming some Indica has often been known to relieve writer’s block.

Want a more budgetoption? Try doing some online reading. There are tons of free storiesaround in this day an age. Try some flashfiction sites. Enjoy a few stories. Again, pay carefulattention to the details and see what you like. Have an opinion. Ifyou have the poetry itch, maybe try reading from some poetrywebsites. There are even tons of readingapps out there.

If you’re feelingkind of busy, perhaps you can read shortstories instead. There are wide varieties of shortstories that might get your creative juices flowing, from scarystories to lovestories. There are some very short stories out there,so there is no excuse for not being able to find time for a quick 2minute read!

Want something more brainless? Even YouTube can be a good option. Find some good shorts (you might have better luck on Vimeo) and watch away. You want to get those neurons firing so by paying attention to creative endeavors, you’ll start warming up that creative muscle as well.

Do a free writingsession

Often times, a bigcause of writer’s block is our own uncertainty about our ideas. Doa simple writing exercise. Block off 30 minutes and just write. Theonly rule is that there are no bad ideas. When something comes toyour mind, just write it out. No filtering. No editing. Just be freeand write. It can be about anything. It can be any format. It can bepoetry. It can be random words. It can be related to the story you’reworking if you’d like. Just make sure you apply absolutely nofilters.

If you need awriting prompt, you can get a ton of prompts from TheWrite Practice or Writer’sDigest.

You can also try your hand at fanfiction. Fanfiction is a lot of fun and low pressure as the stories come with built-in characters, scenarios, and incentives.

This can be hard atfirst but gets easier and easier as you continue and by the end ofthe 30 minutes, you’ll find yourself flush with new ideas.

These tricks alwayswork for me when I’m stuck. Give it a whirl!

So, you have a fantastic idea for a novel and you can’t wait to start getting your ideas out on paper. However, if your goal is to sell your book, there are a few things that you are going to want to take into consideration before you start writing.

In addition to a developing catchy title and, a really compelling plotline, and characters that your readers will be able to relate to, there’s something else that you are going to want to pay attention to: the word length.

If your novel and its corresponding chapters are too long, you run the risk of boring your readers and losing their attention. If the word count is too short, you readers might end up saying, “That’s it?”

In other words, if your book and the chapters it contains have too few or too many words, there’s a good chance that your novel won’t have the success that you hope it will.

So, how long should your book and each of its chapters be? – It really depends on the genre. Web serials like Naruto Fanfiction and Percy Jackson Fanfiction can go on more or less forever.

Below, we offer a general recommendation for the average word count for different genres. While there are certainly exceptions to these word count rules, they severe as a handy guideline, as they’re the approximate word count that the intended audiences of each genre are looking for.

Middle Grade Fiction

This genre is for readers between the ages of 9 and 12. The attention span of this audience is relatively short, so if you’re writing a novel for in this genre, you’ll want to stick write between 30,000 and 55,000 words. For word counts of each chapter, divide the total number of words you intend on writing by the total number of chapters you intend on writing.

Young Adult

If you’re writing the next “Twilight” or “Hunger Games” saga – or even if you have a completely new and fresh idea that you definitely think will appeal to young adults, if you want to hold their attention, pay close attention to your word count. On average, a young adult novel should be no less than 55,000 words and no more than 80,000 words.

Again, you can divide those numbers by the amount of chapters you plan on having in your book and you’ll have an approximate for the word count in each chapter.

Adult Fiction

Whether you’re writing a thriller, a romance, or any other type of adult fiction, the average word length should be about 100,000 for your novel. If you go too far beyond this, it could seem too cumbersome to your readers, as well as agents and publishers.

To figure out how many words you should have in each chapter, divide 100,000 (give or take) by the number of chapters you plan on including in your book. Of course, some chapters may have more words and some may have less; just make sure each chapter has a good flow.

Costs Associated with Self-Publishing

When it comes to self-publishing, there are certain costs that you are going to have to incur. In this article, we’ll be discussing each of those costs so that you know what is involved in self-publishing your book. While you can save money on many of these costs by doing the work yourself, if you have the budget for it, it is a much better idea to spend the money because there are definite benefits to going with professionals in many of these areas. Let’s look at five of the major costs associated with self-publishing.

Writing the Book

The first cost will be discussing is writing the book. You’re going to have to write the book while you hold down a full-time job because the actual act of writing does not pay anything at all. Writing a book, starting with the novel outline process, can be pretty grueling. You’re only going to get Peyton people by your book, or when you get a major deal with the publishing house. If you self-published, then obviously you are going to have to wait until sales role in, and even after sales have rolled in for a month, you are still going to have to wait at least 60 days to get the money from Amazon.

Editing the Book

You may also have to pay for the cost associated with editing the book. Editing the book is an important step in the process, because you want your narrative to flow properly and you want all of the grammar and spelling mistakes to be removed from your book. In essence, you want your book to be as professional as possible when it goes up for sale on major sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Designing a Book Cover

Another cost associated with writing a book is getting the cover design. The truth of the matter is, people do judge a book by its cover and they are going to judge yours by its cover as well. That means that you may have to spend some money in order to get a professional cover designer to create the perfect cover for your book. This way, you can give it the best chance possible of becoming a bestseller.

Formatting the Book

You are also going to need to format your book. This means making it look good on the inside. Depending upon which you are going to use, the print book format or the e-book format, you’re going to have to do different formatting. However, in either case, you are going to need to do some work to make it ready for publication.

Promoting the Book

Finally, you’re going to need to promote your book. There are lots of different ways that you can do this. Some people like to use the pay per click method of advertising with Google, while others like to use the CPM method of advertising on banners where books are discussed. One of the best sites to do this for reasonable price is the Kindle boards. However, there are lots of websites that you can advertise on.

Using Fading to Make Your Book Cover Better

One of the best tricks to use to create your book cover design is fading. Fading is when you merge two different pictures together or you merge a particular color background with a picture. This is a simple trick to learn, but it can make your covers exponentially better in quality. In this tutorial, we will look at step-by-step instructions on how to use fading.

Step One: Create Your Book Cover Template

The first thing you have to do is create your book cover template. You have to have the right dimensions for your book cover. Most people are designing for the Kindle cover. Since the dimensions change all the time, we will not be including the exact dimensions here. Instead, use a search engine like Google to search for current Kindle cover dimensions.

Step Two: Import Your Image

The second thing you have to do is import your image. The easiest way to do this is by using the file and open commands in Photoshop, opening your image into a brand-new document, and then copying the entire picture and pacing and and whatever cover template you have. Expand it or shrink it using the edit and free transform to get it to fit whatever cover template you happen to have.

Step Three: Import Secondary Image or Create Background

The third thing you have to do is import secondary image or create a color background. You can double-click on the background the comes included with every new document and it will transform it into a layer automatically when you press okay. Then, use the fill tool and choose a color from your swatches and then fill that background with that color.

Step Four: Create a Layer Mask

The next thing that you are going to want to do is create a layer mask. Click on your primary image, the one that you are planning to fade, and then find the layer mask button below the layer. It is a box with a circle in it. Once you click the button, there should be an extra icon next your layer to denote the layer mask.

Step Five: Use the Gradient Tool to Create a Fade

Your last step is to use the gradient tool to create a fade. You simply start at the outside of your image and then drag your gradient tool inward a slight distance to create a fade. The further you drag it inwards, the further in the fade is going to be. You can do this from any side that you want.

Step Six: Repeat as Much as Necessary

You will have to repeat this several times in order to get the fade that you want. Even if you’re only using one side, you are still probably going to have to do the fade five or six times in order to get the result of the want. It depends upon how much fade you want from your image and what background layer you have.

For more information on designing a cover, check out Reedsy