Even if you have the budget to spare for an editor, hiring a professional to design your book cover is a different story altogether. Aside from pricey professional fees, you also won’t be able to guarantee that the final design matches your desired vision.
Luckily, various online design tools can offer a practical solution. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll break down 5 beginner-friendly design tools to help you design your ideal book cover in minutes. Let’s dive in!
Top 5 Free Book Cover Makers
Designing an effective book cover doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. Using these tools, you can Create With AI and ensure a high-quality cover design to complement your story.
Visme
Key features
- Brand Kit
- Premium Assets
- Download as JPG, PNG, PDF
- Templates and Design Assets
- AI Designer
Pricing per month
- Basic (Free)
- Starter ($29)
- Pro (price starts at $59)
Pros
- Data-driven graphic elements ideal for educational covers
- Supports custom Brand Kits
- Supports print-friendly PDF formats
Cons
- Very few book cover templates
- Limited typography controls
- Assets are mostly for infographics/presentations
Our thoughts
While Visme offers some strong branding features for graphic design, the platform offers very few templates and design assets for book covers in general. This can make it difficult for authors who prefer starting their design using a template rather than from scratch or unrelated templates.
Snappa
Key features
- 6,000+ templates
- 5,000,000+ HD photos and graphics
- Custom font uploads
- Remove image backgrounds
- Team collaborations
Pricing per month
- Free
- Pro ($15)
- Team ($30)
Pros
- Ideal for quick book cover designs
- Built-in royalty-free stock photo search
- User-friendly interface
Cons
- Limited fonts
- Very few customization tools
- Lacks a built-in branding feature
Our thoughts
While Snappa can be a great option for authors in need of a simple design tool for making quick cover designs, it may be less ideal for creating more detail-oriented or customized book covers. The tool also offers fewer templates when compared with other design tools like PosterMyWall.
Desygner
Key features
- Premium Templates
- AI Image Creator
- Asset Storage
- Resize Designs
- Animations Tool
- Remove Backgrounds
Pricing per month
- Free
- Pro+ ($9.95)
- Business ($29.95)
Pros
- PDF Editing support for revising covers
- Bulk resize and reformat tools
- Robust Brand Kit features
Cons
- Very limited fonts selection
- Limited AI design features
- Smaller asset library
Our thoughts
Although Desygner supports a variety of cover formats, including e-books and paperbacks, it’s not especially suited for designing book covers due to its limited book-specific assets and templates. Still, its branding tools and PDF editing support can be useful for revising existing outputs.
VistaCreate
Key features
- 100,000+ design templates
- 1M+ royalty-free photos, videos, and vectors
- AI Object Remover
- AI Image Generator
- Sticker Maker
Pricing per month
- Starter (Free)
- Pro ($13)
Pros
- Includes built-in animation tools
- Large selection of stock photos
- Easy-to-use resizing tool
Cons
- Fewer options for genre-specific templates
- Limited assets on the free plan
- Limited export options
Our thoughts
Similar to Snappa, VistaCreate offers a highly beginner-friendly interface ideal for designing book covers easily. While its built-in library of templates and tools can be sufficient for basic designs, some users may find its overall features to be limiting—especially for specific genres.
PosterMyWall (Most recommended)
Key features
- AI Background Remover
- 1M+ free and customizable templates
- AI Redesign
- One-click resizing tool
- AI Writer
Pricing per month
- Free
- Premium ($13)
- Premium Plus ($30)
Pros
- An extremely large library of book templates
- Strong marketing tools for book promotion
- User-friendly and highly responsive interface
Cons
- Limited features for advanced image editing needs
Our thoughts
For authors and beginner designers alike, we highly recommend PosterMyWall for a variety of reasons. On top of its extensive library of ready-made and customizable book cover templates, PosterMyWall also offers a wide selection of handy AI tools for more creative and eye-catching cover designs.
Most Common Mistakes to Avoid When Designing a Book Cover
Not everyone has experience or graduated with a degree in graphic design. But while the professionals also deserve credit in their own right, we’re here to tell you that you can also easily design your own book cover using just a simple online design tool.
To help ensure an effective cover design, below are the most common mistakes to avoid:
Using too many fonts
If you’ve never designed a book cover in your life, you might think that piling up those fancy fonts will make your cover stand out. Unfortunately, doing so violates a simple design principle that can be easily avoided.
To help ensure that your cover design title, subtext, and author name are easily readable, we highly recommend limiting your font styles to 2 to 3 choices.
Choosing low-quality images
Unfortunately, if you found a specific image online that you want to include in your cover design, you can’t just copy and paste it into your template. By doing so, you could be sacrificing the quality of both the image and your overall design.
Instead, make sure to carefully select images that you want to include and ensure that they are high-quality and commercially safe to use.
Ignoring genre conventions
While it’s completely fine to get creative with your cover design, you also can’t just design your cover randomly. In fact, it’s highly recommended to take note of how book covers in your specific genre are designed and to use them as a reference.
That doesn’t exactly mean copying the cover designs of other books, but instead using them as inspiration to ensure that your target audience can easily identify your book as something they’d want to read.
Not testing your cover design
Once you’re satisfied with your overall cover design, it’s definitely not a good idea to simply export it and immediately upload onto your e-book. To ensure that there aren’t any spelling errors, misaligned graphics, and low-quality images, we highly recommend testing your cover design beforehand and/or having another person take a look at it through the lens of a first-time viewer.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can I design a book cover on my phone or tablet?
Yes! In case you don’t have access to or are not comfortable designing your book cover on a laptop or desktop, it’s completely possible to make your design on a mobile device. With design tools like PosterMyWall, you can easily download the application onto your device and get started with your cover design even while on the go.
How do I choose the right template for my book cover?
When selecting the right template for your book cover, it’s a great idea to input a search bar prompt that aligns with your specific genre. Whether that be romance, horror, or suspense, applying this simple tip can help you get access to templates that are more in line with your specific book.
What is the best online design tool for creating book covers?
While there are various design tools that you can check out online, we highly recommend PosterMyWall due to its affordability and ease of use. Even if you’re someone who’s never designed a book cover in your life, you can get access to a wide variety of book cover templates and some handy AI-powered tools to help you achieve a creative and effective book cover design with ease.
Take the Next Step in Your Publishing Journey
Whether you’re an aspiring horror fiction writer or looking to self-publish your first book of poetry, designing your own book cover can be an effective and cost-efficient way to achieve your exact vision. With tools like PosterMyWall, you simply need to browse through some templates, play around with AI tools, and customize to your heart’s content!
