Title says it all, really. If you haven't yet bought a copy of On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance (you haven't!? Why not?!), then hop on over to Amazon, before the end of the 5th of October, and pick up a copy for free.

Or, alternatively, wait until after that date, and then buy one at full price. Personally I'd prefer you chose that option, but I wouldn't blame you if you went for the free option - that's what I'd do, in your shoes.

It's already up to #1 in the Space Opera category. How far will it go by the 5th? I guess that's up to you guys.

Go forth and click buy! :)

Amazon US. Amazon UK.
 
Don't judge a book by its cover. How often have we heard that before? And it's one of the strangest sayings around (well, I'm sure there are some weirder ones, but for the purposes of this article, it's one of the strangest). That's simply because you should judge a book by its cover.

Perhaps that sounds a little harsh - and in a way, it is - but we all know, from years of experience, that a high-quality cover gives a good indication of the quality of the book itself. Not always of course, but it's a good general rule to have.

As well as that, a book cover also tells you what genre the book is, what the writing might be like, whether it's comedic, or serious, and so on. When you think about it, it is quite astonishing the amount of information you can get just by glancing at a book's cover. I can't even count the number of times that a unique, or stunning cover has led me to click on that book, and to then read the blurb.

So a book cover is your main advertising for your book. The book itself may be stunning, it may deserve to be the next Harry Potter, but if no one actually reads it, then no one is going to realize that it should be the next Potter. And if it has a poorly-designed cover, then no one is going to read it (or even the book's blurb).

Therefore, as so many people say, you need a decent cover. However, the next bit of advice is usually 'hire a professional to do it'. Which is great, and if you have the spare change, then you definitely should hire a professional. They're going to know the genre conventions, and they'll know what's worked in the past (assuming you don't go for a super-cheap design from someone on Fiverr, who may not even have the rights for the images they use - it has happened).

But maybe you don't want to hire a professional. Maybe you can't afford it for your first book, or maybe you just want to have a go yourself. And hey, if it doesn't work, the beauty of self-publishing is you can always update the book cover.

Before you start designing

Amazon state an ideal cover image would have a height-width ratio of 1.6. That means you image should be 1563px by 2500px, at least. Personally, I would recommend making it 2500 by 4000px, since you can always resize it to be smaller later.

Another thing to think about it having decent software to create a cover image. Sure, you can use a free online creator (Amazon even provide their own), but you're unlikely to get a good-looking, unique result that way. Instead, the ideal tool for the job is Photoshop. Obviously, the full-blown version is rather expensive, but Photoshop Elements would do nearly as well, and is quite cheap. Or, alternatively, you could go for a free image editor like Gimp or Paint.net - both of which are very decent.

You also need to think about what genre your book is before you start designing. Is it a thriller, a sci fi, comedy, a romantic novel? Or maybe it's non-fiction. Whatever it is, it would be advisable to look through Amazon at books similar to yours, and work out the conventions that are used.

As an example, thriller books often have a image of a road leading nowhere, or something suitable atmospheric, along with big, blocky text, perhaps a shadow of a man, and a quote from a reviewer, or another author. In fact, including small text - either a quote, or tagline - is a neat trick for making your book seem more professional - all the traditional books have something like this.

Resources for book design

Images

Once you know roughly what you want your cover to like like, it's time to find some imagery and fonts to make it work.

There are plenty of sites that provide free stock imagery, so it's always worth having a look at some of these. Stock.xchng is probably the most well known, and has a decent range for a free stock photos site. Other options to try include Stock Free Images, Pixel Perfect DigitalStockvault, and morgueFile - which actually seems like a very good one; their range seems of higher quality than other free sites.

Of course, with all of these, you need to be sure the image is free for commercial use, and not just personal use.

However, you often struggle to get something for nothing, and it may be worth spending a little bit of money on a stock image. There will be a much greater range to choose from, and your book cover will invariably look better as a result. Try iStockphoto first, since their pricing can often be very reasonable (especially if you choose just to view the cheap images, using the slider on the left of the site), and they have a very good range.

Another very good site for stock imagery is Fotolia. I've often found the best images on this site - their range seems to be the best on the web, in my experience. And their per-picture pricing is usually pretty reasonable as well, albeit no better than many other places (even though their subscription pricing sounds good).

Other options to try include Shutterstock, and Dreamstime. If you can't find an appropriate image on one of these sites, then you've probably not put the right search criteria in.

Also, an added benefit for registering with these paid-for sites is they'll often send you emails about free images of the week. Who knows, you might get lucky and discover the perfect photo that way.

Fonts

When you have an image, you then need a great font to go with it. And don't just use Arial, or Georgia, or Comic Sans!! (If you use Comic Sans, you deserve to get no sales!).

You need to spend almost as much time finding a font as you do finding an image. The single best place to start is Lost Type. All their fonts look utterly stylish and amazing, and the best thing is, they're all free. Or at least, they can be free. When you've found a font to download, they ask you to 'enter your price'. So you can either pay nothing (if you have Scrooge-like tendencies, like me), or as much as you want. Whatever you decide, you'll be getting good font. Just make sure it fits the atmosphere you're trying to create with your cover.

If Lost Type doesn't have a suitable one, then there are plenty of other sites. Try Google Fonts first off. They have lots of fonts free commercial use, and there's probably something decent in there. Alternatively, FontSquirrel is a great resource for commercial-use fonts. They probably have the largest range.

Yet, if you still haven't found your ideal font, you can always try a site like 1001 Free Fonts, or dafont.com. However, you do have to be more careful here to make sure your font is free for commercial use, as well as personal use.

Finally, if you want to pay for a font, Creative Market is a great site, I've found. They have lots of stylish fonts, and other design elements. It's worth a look if you don't mind spending a little (or just sign up, and get the 'free goods of the week').

Feedback on your cover

So hopefully you now have the elements to create a stunning cover. Try a few versions, with different images, and different fonts. Make sure that the text is large enough to read when the cover is just a thumbnail, and make sure it grabs your attention when you do view it small (and try not to use a plain white colour for the text - it can sometimes work, but often it may look a bit amateur).

Once you have something you like, it's a good idea to get some feedback on it. This can be family and friends, but they're unlikely to be very objective. The better idea is to ask online. For instance, there's a good Google+ community where people often get feedback on covers they're working on, and Amazon's forums can often be great here.

Then, when you're happy with it, it is simply a matter of uploading the image to Amazon, or wherever else you're publishing your book. Then just sit back, and prepare to get on with the dreaded task of 'marketing'.
 
Test.