Anyone doing ebook covers? Show them off!

[LDBoblo]

Another curious post of mine. Does anyone out there actually make covers for ebooks they read?

By making covers, I'm not talking about taking the paper book cover image and pasting it to the first page. I'm talking more about from-scratch covers, which could be tacky clip art or simple text or just about anything that improves the presentation a little bit.

I'm especially curious if anyone is doing this for public-domain books, like those on Gutenberg.

I'd love to see what kinds of images folks have come up with.

[Jellby]

I've done some covers for the books I've uploaded here, when I don't find other satisfactory covers. They're usually just a picture or painting with the title and author. I'm attaching some samples.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

By making covers, I'm not talking about taking the paper book cover image and pasting it to the first page. I'm talking more about from-scratch covers, which could be tacky clip art or simple text or just about anything that improves the presentation a little bit.

I've done some. Here's a selection. Mostly I try to find an appropriate image and add text. For the Edgar Rice Burroughs covers I got a little fancier. If I was re-doing the Rider Haggard covers I'd choose a different font - the fancy font doesn't reduce in size for thumbnails as well as a solid font.

[crutledge]

There are two kinds of people that I have problems with. Those with lots of money and those with lots of talent.

Wonderful Covers!

I hope more folks post samples that I can emulate.

Charlie

[LDBoblo]

Thanks for the responses so far. I look forward to seeing what other folks bring to the table as well.

I am not much of a pictures person, especially on e-ink. My covers generally lean towards the minimalist, though admittedly not quite as sparse as some of what you find (see Feedbooks basic cover below). I focus more on just some simple text, and pehaps a little bit of simple black/white decoration.

For those of you who do images...where do you look for them usually?

Edit: I'll toss up the cover I whipped up a few minutes ago to replace the Dracula one (don't tell anyone)...not perfect but it'll do for the time being.

[HarryT]

I now use a standard layout for my covers - black background, picture of the author, and name and title of the book. This has the benefit of showing up very clearly when reduced to a thumbnail for those device (such as the Bookeen ones) whose primary method of choosing a book is from the cover thumbnail.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

For those of you who do images...where do you look for them usually?

Mostly I just search through google images. Other good places (if looking for an original cover) are abebooks, and various author sites.

For instance, I found the image I used for the Tarzan book covers in a scan of the original dustcover. http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/tz1.html

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Edit: I'll toss up the cover I whipped up a few minutes ago to replace the Dracula one (don't tell anyone)...not perfect but it'll do for the time being.

I'd suggest making your cover images 600x800. They show up at that size on the CyBooks Gen 3 and on the Kindle.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'd suggest making your cover images 600x800. They show up at that size on the CyBooks Gen 3 and on the Kindle.

Nah, the cover isn't an image file that I intend to have anyone else use. I don't presume to make covers that other people want, just to make me feel better about what ebooks I have.

The jpg was just a snap from a screenshot of it in Adobe Acrobat. The actual file is PDF and INDD.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

For those of you who do images...where do you look for them usually?

The web, mainly Google Images. Sometimes I can take the illustrations from the book (as in the first of my examples). I often know the general atmosphere I want for my pictures, so I can search for "snow landscape" or "english society" and see what I can find (most of the times, nothing interesting). Other times I know I want a particular painting or illustration, then it's easier to look for it. The Web Gallery of Art is a useful resource too.

By the way, I also put a picture of the author in the title page, after the cover. I start searching Wikipedia for that.

[Latinandgreek]

All of these covers are great!

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Another curious post of mine. Does anyone out there actually make covers for ebooks they read?

By making covers, I'm not talking about taking the paper book cover image and pasting it to the first page. I'm talking more about from-scratch covers, which could be tacky clip art or simple text or just about anything that improves the presentation a little bit.

I'm especially curious if anyone is doing this for public-domain books, like those on Gutenberg.

I'd love to see what kinds of images folks have come up with.

I did one for Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". While I *like* the Atlas-Holding-Globe cover, I preferred this one.

Derek

[crutledge]

I just finished this using GIMP 2.6 and a Google search.

Charlie

[Valloric]

Originally Posted by crutledge

I just finished this using GIMP 2.6 and a Google search.

To tell you the truth I think you went overboard with the title font. Personally, I can't read all of that. I can only make out a few words, and only after trying real hard.

P.S. I have perfect vision.

[netseeker]

Just some of the covers used in my german uploads. Basically i have six or seven Gimp templates and each new cover is just just a modified copy (other main image, other fonts but basically the same layout).