One of the worst mistakes you can make when it comes to creating your ecovers is to not think about the longevity of your ecover. What we mean by this is; does your ecover look good enough to portray what your book is about over the next 10 years or more? Or is your ecover just a reflection of a current trend, that once outdated, will not be meaningful anymore?
This is definitely something for you to think about. Too many authors put hours and months into writing a book. When it comes to creating the cover they only spend a quarter of the time, if that.
You don’t want to be in a rush to create just any old ecover. Instead really ensure that your ecover portrays what your book is about. Don’t use any fancy words that won’t stand the test of time. Give some thought to how people in 3 or 4 years will think when they see your ecover. Will they immediately know what your book is about or not?
When it comes to the color and design of your ecover consider where you are selling your book. Are you only going to offer it as a digital download, on sites like Kindle and the iBookstore. Or are you planning on having printed versions too?
If you want to have printed versions of your book then make sure your design and color choices are appropriate for print. Keep in mind too, that you need to use high resolution images for printed covers. The image quality should preferably have a DPI resolution of 300. If not when printed the cover will not look professional, sharp or clear.
Another consideration to bear in mind is that if you decide to change your ecover on your published book, it may require more work than you think. On the Amazon Kindle site you can simply go in and edit your book with a new ecover. It sometimes takes a while for the new version to show up on your book though.
If you publish through CreateSpace you will have to submit your book again for publishing. So in essence you are publishing a new version just because you want to change your cover. Just something to keep in mind.
What all this means is that you can save yourself time and effort if you just think before creating any old ecover. Make sure your ecover reflects your book today and in the future. This will just mean fewer revisions for you in the end.
