How to Create a Canva Book Cover

You’ve got the ebook cover for your book done but now you need to make it into a paperback cover and have no clue how. Don’t sweat it. In today’s video I’m going to show you how to turn an ebook cover into a paperback cover. So, stick around:

What’s shakin, WriteRighers? Keith Wheeler here, and if you want to continue to get hints, tips and tricks on how to make self-publishing easier to navigate, then be sure to subscribe to the channel and hit your bell icon so you can get alerted each and every time I put out new content.

In a previous video, I showed you how to make an ebook cover using canva and I’ll include a link to it, here. I’ve gotten multiple requests asking me how to take that canva ebook cover and turn it into a paperbook or print book cover. So today I’m going to show you how easy it is to use canva for book covers. I’m going to flip the screen around and we’ll get this canva book cover tutorial started:

I’d love to know what platform you are self-publishing your book on. Let me know in the comments below.

While you’re doing that, I’m going to select the book cover template link. Now I’ll just fill in the info and click build template. Just click here to begin the download.

It’s going to download a zip file, I need to extract that info so I can use it to make my book cover in canva. So I’ll navigate to the zip file, right click and select Extract All.

Next, I log into canva and select Create a design. In the top right corner select Use custom dimensions. We need to create the full spread cover of our paperback book here in canva, so we’re going to start by making sure we’re working in inches.

Now to calculate the dimensions of our print book, we’ll start with width. My book is 6 inches wide for the front, 6 inches for the back, according to the template we downloaded, the spine is .25 inches and then a .125 inch bleed on both sides. So, 6 + 6 + .25 spine + .125 right bleed + .125 left bleed = 12.5 inches.

Calculating the height of my paperback book is much easier. It’s just 9 inches high + .125 bleed on top and .125 bleed on the bottom. So my height will be 9.25.

Then click Design.
Here’s my blank canvas in canva. I will now go to uploads and upload the canva ebook cover, I created previously as well as the .png template that I downloaded from createspace. Now if your .png file is over 25MB, the free version of canva won’t except it, so I just open it up in paint and resave it as a .jpg file and that’ll do the trick and then upload that to canva to make your book cover.

Once I have both files uploaded, just click on the bookcover template, stretch it to fill the screen. Then click on the ebook cover. Place the book cover to the right side to act as your front cover, stretch it to fit the entire area. Remember to cover the red bleed areas. Next move it around so it fits in the area but make sure nothing important falls into the red area as they may get cut off when the paperback book is being printed and cut.

The next part is my favorite because you can make it as simple or intricate as you’d like. To make the back cover for your print book, just click on element and select shapes. I usually just pick a square and drag it over the entire book cover in canva. In the top left corner you can change the color of the back. Click arrange and move it to the back and then back again. And there you have it.

If you want to make your canva book cover a bit more detailed, you can add in a text for the back cover description. When you add in text in canva, you can place it where you want, adjust the font, font size, arrangement, text color. It even allows for bolds and underlines. If you want to go further you can add in your author photo, another text box for an author bio. You get the idea. Just be sure to arrange everything so that nothing important is in the red area and that you don’t cover up the barcode area.

Then when you’re all done, you will click the cover template layer and delete it.

Make sure that everything is saved and download your book cover. Depending on the platform you’re publishing your book on, you can either download pdf or jpg. Since I’m using createspace, I’ll download pdf Standard. ***CORRECTION: For best image quality, download using PDF - Print option***

There you have it. A canva book cover tutorial on how to make canva book covers.

If you liked this content, be sure to give it a thumbs up to help support the channel and on your way out be sure to subscribe to the channel and smash that bell icon so you don’t miss a thing.

Until next time, I’m Keith Wheeler and remember to Write Right!

Contact me:
Instagram: @kwheelerbooks
Twitter: @kwheelerbooks

[malcolmshorter]

I'm not going to lie, I was ao frustrated with trying to figure out these book dimensions, I've searched countless tutorials and other how-to pages on the web. Nothing would help. And then I came across my saving grace. You show how simple it can be to make a cover, thank you so much.

[kaustav]

I learned a new skill today from this video. I will never hire any Fiverr guy from now onn. Your video saved a great lot of money from my pocket. Thankyou for the emmence value to just provided.

[JQRose]

I watched this video 4 years ago. But I needed a refresher today. Thanks for keeping this up for us to refer to when we get stuck.

[XYZ-wips]

He is the best teacher; love the way he explains !

[delilah]

Keith, I very rarely leave comments on the videos I watch, but I want to THANK YOU! I was about to toss my computer out of the window trying to make my cover for my KDP book. Your video was straight-forward, easy to follow and made total sense. Great content!

[Mimiandries_photography]

Wow! I was awake for a whole night trying to figure it out what's wrong with the measurements for my book cover and I was about to spend $1200 today for starting a course about things like this. But I said first let's give it one more try. I searched again on Google someting to help me see where I'm doing wrong creating the cover, and YOU SIR appeared. You made it so easy to understand.I already published my book. I'm glad that I found you and THAT YOU for sharing. You are the best! THANK YOU!

[kimberleyhawker]

THE FIRST YouTube video I've watched that was actually easy to follow! I've been playing around with Canva for awhile, but this video was straight forward and made it so simple. Thank you!

[tscook]

Oh my goodness!! Thank you so much for this content. I am so grateful to Jesus that I came across this video. I know that seems a bit dramatic and I don't care. LOL I pray you will be blessed beyond your imagination, Sir!! New subscriber!

[floridascribbler]

After reviewing the first few minutes of several tutorials that made my eyes glaze over, I found yours. Thank you for the informative, sensible, and clear directions. MUCH appreciated! :)

[brycearnett]

Had to jump on here and commend you on this tutorial. I can't tell you how incredibly frustrating it's been to find a simple video-explanation on this topic. Brother, you ROCK!!!

[angelicanorton]

Thank you so much! Your teaching style & tone allowed me to successfully achieve the goal of creating my first cover.

[MellisaDormoy]

Got it done and I AM SO HAPPY with how it turned out! YAY!! A BIG THANKS to you!

[joyroland]

I just had to write a comment - which I hardly do. I found this video very useful. I followed the video step-by-step and now I have a beautiful design for my new paperback book. May God bless you. Amen.

[prabhanjaytiwari]

Thank You So Much Sir! I was literally exhausted searching all over the internet and I was going to pay to some freelancer but thanks to your video, now I'll create my own PaperBack cover which make me feel so happy. :)

[girlletstalkwithray]

Easy tutorial and the best news now is that you don't have to do the maths yourself. The templates now come with the overall dimensions. Thank you

[KZoppa]

This was IMMENSELY helpful! Thank you! I've been stressing really bad about my book cover and now I'm feeling better about it. Thank you!

[KimberlyGasuras]

I have come back to this video too many times to count in trying to create my book cover and a book cover for a client. Thank you so much for this information, Keith!!

[knottyfoxmacrame]

Thank you, thank you - I'm confident I'll never get a cover rejected again!!

[yolanditacolon]

Best helpful video i've ever found about this topic! Thank you Keith!

[LoisFMiller]

Thank you, Keith! You helped me to kept my promise to my grandson, Harry. By following your instructions on how to make a Print canva book cover. We co authored a dragon book together and thanks to you, Harry got to share it with his 4th grade class last week! Your're a life saver! God Bless! Lurene Miller