I’ve got to admit, one of the things I love best about being a Vital Virtual Assistant is part of my job is creating ebook cover designs.
I recently completed a really fun ebook cover design for the first in what will no doubt become a series of ebooks. The first edition is the Down and Dirty, Quick and Easy WordPress Tutorial on How to Create Easy HTML Sidebar Widgets in WordPress.
I was allowed a lot of freedom in this project – probably because I’ve designed other ebook covers for Virtual Impax products such as the Fast Track to Blogging Success and the 8 Week Power Blog Launch.
The process of designing an ebook cover begins with understanding who the audience is for the ebook. Once you know the audience for the ebook, then you can choose the colors, the typeface and the image for the ebook cover deisgn.
When it came to the Down and Dirty ebook cover design - I had to choose between two images. The first image was a little orange smiley face style guy wearing a mortar board and standing beside a chalkboard. The second image was the little green monster you see on the cover of the ebook.
I really struggled between those two images. Kathy at Virtual Impax had already let me know that she liked them both and that she would leave it up to me to make the final decision.
I struggled a bit. The original image was definitely “more professional”… but something about the orange smiley face was bothering me. Then it hit me. Walmart used to use a yellow smiley face guy in their advertising. I definitely didn’t want to “align” my client’s ebook with a store like Walmart.
Then, I thought about the little monster – was he professional enough? When I asked Kathy, she said that she “set the tone” by naming the ebook “Down and Dirty”. She appreciated my insight and I licensed the little green monster image for use in the ebook cover.
Oh, speaking of licensing images – using images that you (or your ebook cover designer) haven’t properly licensed is just ASKING for trouble. If you’re reading this – and you’ve ever had someone design a website, ebook cover or logo – be sure to ask them about what source they used for the images. See, if the “image police” come knocking – they won’t go after the designer you used in India – they’ll go after you. After all, the image is appearing on YOUR website or ebook. Once the company that owns (or manages) the rights to the image gets done with you – THEN you get to send your lawyer after the designer to try to recover the pound of flesh you lost in your legal battle with the image rights company.
If you can’t find your original designer – or if you don’t like the answers you hear – contact VVA Web Help. We can help!
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