Writing Your Kindle Ebook: Your Ebook Cover and Length
Today 2022
Want to write an eBook and publish it for ereaders like the Kindle? I receive many questions from my students about writing to be published on these platforms. The most common concerns are about the ebook’s cover, and the ebook’s length.
In this article, I’ll focus on Amazon’s Kindle platform, because that’s the most popular. The other platforms are similar. You should read each website’s Help and Support files before you upload your ebook.
Firstly, let’s discuss the eBook cover.
Creating a Cover Image for Your Ebook
When you’re creating cover art, you need one image: Amazon calls it the Catalog/ Cover Image. That’s the image that’s shown on Amazon’s site.
Your actual ebook, the file that’s downloaded by customers, may have a “cover” image, or not. If you choose to include one, it’s part of the file you upload — it’s an embedded image. Just add the image to your file before you convert the document file into HTML.
Amazon has a minimum size requirement for your Catalog image: it must be at least 500 x 800 pixels.
For my own ebooks, I create just one primary image. It’s 600 x 800 pixels. I use it for the Catalog image, and I embed it in the file too, as cover/ title page. I resize the image to fit inside MS Word.
A couple of years ago you’d create this image in gray scale. Nowadays, with eBook readers able to display color, create a color image.
For most of my covers, I first choose a royalty free image. Then I add the image to the cover design, leaving blank space at the top and the bottom. The book’s title goes at the top, and the author at the bottom of the design.
While I’m creating cover images, I like to create some advertising images too — a couple of banner ads, and other image advertisements. I’ve already got my image editor open, with the photograph loaded, so creating these additional images takes just a moment or two.
Your Ebook’s Length
Your eBook can be whatever length you choose to cover your topic to the reader’s satisfaction.
Remember however, that the eBook sample which Amazon lets customers download free is around ten per cent. This means that if your ebook’s very short, the sample will be short also.
It’s advisable to give your readers some idea of your ebook’s length in your book’s description. For example: “15,000 words” if you’re writing a short nonfiction book. Or if you’re writing fiction: “300 print pages”.
Now you know how to create your cover art, and that you can choose your ebook’s length, I hope this article helps you in writing your Kindle ebook.
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