If you produce any type of digital product you will need to use some type of ecover for it. Ecovers today have changed, they do not always have to look like the traditional book cover you are used to seeing.
Today you will find ecovers that take on various shapes and forms including:
- Cards
- DVD
- Video box
- Video Player
- Shopping bags
- CD cases
- HDTV images
- Laptop images
- IPad
- Magazine covers
- Bundle of products
- Boxes
As you can see it is very easy to get really creative when it comes to creating an ecover for your product. When creating your ecover use the type of image that best represents your product.
For example if your product is based around videos then it makes sense to use an ecover that depicts either a video box or a video player. Shopping bag type covers are great for products that people buy online such
as a guide to buying Christmas
toys or gifts.
toys or gifts.
Card ecovers are good for membership sites, financial products and even sites that are offering gifts for special occasions such as birthdays, weddings and anniversaries.
Knowing Your Buyers
If you know who your buyers are and what their interests are you can design an ecover that is aimed towards them. For example if your product is aimed at teenagers and young adults who love gaming then your ecover needs to suit this age bracket. You would create an entirely different cover if your product was aimed at seniors.
Before creating your ecover take the time to learn what your potential audience likes. Find out what their interests are, what their age group is, level of education and their spending budget. All of these things will help you both target the correct market and help you price your product accordingly.
Designing Your Ecover
Use the following points to create a visually appealing ecover for your product or book.
- Appealing title that is bold, large and easy to read
- Compelling subtitle that shows a benefit of your product
- Photo or image which depicts what your product is
- Place your text in an area that is not overly busy in your image so that it can be clearly seen
Once you have the basics of your design in place it is important to decrease the size of the image and see what it looks like smaller. Remember places like Amazon will only show a thumbnail image of your cover. This image needs to look great and it needs to clearly show what your product is about.
Tools Required to Create Your Ecover
- Photoshop
- Gimp
- Online Software – Recommended for ease of use
- Royalty free images or purchased image
The online software which we highly recommend will save you time and frustrations if you are not adept at using Photoshop or Gimp. The added benefit is that it has all the design templates which we mentioned above and more are added on a regular basis.