PP guide to cover pages
This document explains how to create a new cover page for a book. You may need to create a cover page when:
- The book has a blank cover or no cover at all, or
- The book's cover is too damaged or obscured (by library stickers, etc.) to use
In these cases, all you need to do is create your own cover image, include it in your images folder, and tell ebookmaker where to find it. This document gives general advice on how to do this, and some specific tutorials on the process.
Alternatives to Creating your Own Cover
If you aren't comfortable creating your own cover, there are alternatives.
- If the project includes an image of the original cover, it is recommended that that cover be used if possible. If the cover image is damaged, obscured by a library sticker, etc., it still may be usable. See if you can find another image of the cover elsewhere (it must be the exact edition to be usable). Or, post on the team thread for the We've Got You Covered team, who can help rescue this kind of cover.
- If the cover is blank or unavailable, consider using the book's title page. Whether this makes sense will depend on the formatting of the title page, the size of the title, etc.
- If neither of the above work, or if you're not sure, you can always ask the We've Got You Covered team for help or advice. The team can also create a cover for you; you'll be asked to provide images from the book if they're available or possibly a copy of the title page.
DP policies
Only Use Materials from the Project
It is DP policy that, when we create a new cover for a coverless book, we confine ourselves to images that are found within the book itself.
In creating your cover, you may use:
- Any image included in the project itself
- If necessary, an image from the same edition of the same book, if you can confirm that it is exactly the same edition as the project images
- Any of the blank book cover images from this wiki
- Original elements consisting of plain text, block colors or gradients and simple shapes, with an appropriate disclaimer
You may not use images from any other source, including:
- Images from another edition of the same book
- Images from other books or sources, even if they are public domain
- Original art more complex than a simple box or a block of text
Public Domain Dedication
It is DP policy that, when we create a new cover for a coverless book, we confine ourselves to images that are found within the book itself rather than images found in other versions of that book or other possibly public-domain images. PG also requires that where a new cover is created, a Transcriber's Note should include the following sentence:
- "New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain."
Note that the wording of this statement has changed. Also, historically, text of this nature was sometimes added directly to the cover image, but it is now preferred to include it in the TN.
Title-pages from the book may be used as a cover and, since they are a part of the original book, may be used without the above statement in the TN.
If a book has a cover image but it is blank and contains no images or text, it is preferable to treat the book as coverless and arrange to create a cover for it following the guidelines expressed above.
Translations of the cover art statement - note that they may need updating (15 April 2023)
For French books the wording would be -- "La page de couverture, créée expressément pour cette version électronique, a été placée dans le domaine public."
For German books the wording would be -- "Das Umschlagbild wurde vom Bearbeiter gestaltet und in die Public Domain eingebracht." The above sentence, however, is useful only in the context of US copyright law and could therefore remain in English should the PPer wish. If the book is "gemeinfrei", the text would be: "Das Umschlagbild wurde vom Bearbeiter geschaffen. Ein Urheberrecht wird nicht geltend gemacht. Das Bild darf von jedermann unbeschränkt genutzt werden."
For Spanish books, the wording is "El transcriptor ha creado la imagen de la cubierta y la sitúa en el dominio público."
Cover Size and Dimensions
Information on the size, resolution, and dimensions you should use for the cover--as well as other useful information--is in the official Cover documentation.
Common Tasks and Resources
Adding your Cover Page to Your Project
When you have finished creating your cover image, possibly using one of the methods below, there are a few tasks to ensure that your image is displayed correctly, and that we meet PG's requirements on created cover pages.
A) Copy the cover image you have saved into the images folder you will upload. You should name it cover.jpg.
B) Don’t forget to add the following line to your HTML file - it needs to be within the <head> section - just after </title> is a good place. This is to tell ebookmaker where to find the cover image:
<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />
C) If the cover is anything other than the unmodified cover or title page of the book, add the public domain declaration discussed above.
Blank Book Covers
A cover will look better if the background has some texture rather than being a single flat color. As background for your cover, you can use:
- The actual book cover, for books with blank or decorative covers
- Decorative endpapers, if present
- One of the blank book cover images hosted on this wiki
Choosing a Font
Remember that your cover should be identifiable when viewed as a thumbnail, on a small phone screen, or in black and white on an ereader. Choose an easy to read font and use the largest size that fits.
It is good practice to use an open source font or a font with permissive license terms, like those distributed by The League of Movable Type. While the design of a font is not copyrighted in the United States, many fonts today are downloaded subject to a license agreement that may limit their use.
Methods and Walkthroughs
Now that you have your blank cover image, all you need to do is add text to it to create a usable cover.
Below are three methods using three different tools:
- A method using a text editor and vector graphics, by chapka. The main benefit of this approach is that it avoids the need to learn how to use a complex image application, since most edits and changes can be made in HTML with a text editor and a web browser. You will still need a vector graphics application like Inkscape, but not to edit the file, only to convert it from an svg to a jpeg when you're finished editing.
- A method using Photoshop Elements, by charliehoward. The main drawback of this method is the cost; using Photoshop Elements requires a subscription. It is also a complex application that can have a bit of a learning curve for new users.
- A method using XnView by windymilla. XnView is a free image editor and converter. However, it does have some limitations compared to Photoshop Elements. With PhotoShop Elements, it is easier to use and to adjust your layout; with XnView once you have placed text, etc on the page, you will not be able to adjust its position, except by un-doing and re-doing. However, XnView is free.
Note that while XnView is free software, it is not open source. There is an open source alternative to Photoshop Elements and XnView, called Gimp, but we do not currently have a tutorial available for that software--if you use it, please contribute one!
Using an SVG Template
This is the recommended method if you prefer to create and adjust the cover with HTML-like tags and CSS in a text editor and preview it in a web browser, rather than downloading and learning to use a dedicated graphics program.
Full instructions and the template you will need to follow them are available here: Cover pages with SVG.
Using PhotoShop Elements
To create a custom cover, using a blank cover image, using PhotoShop Elements:
1. Drag your blank cover image onto the PSE shortcut to open it, or start PSE and find/open the file.
2. To change the color (other than selecting one that's already the color you want): press Ctrl-U to open the Hue/Saturation/Lightness menu, then drag the first slider (Hue) left or right slowly, until you like the color. If you want a grey or black color, drag Saturation all the way to the left and drag Lightness until it's as dark/light as you like. When satisfied, click OK.
3. Optionally, add a picture from the project's higher-res illustrations: open the cleaned-up picture you've already prepared for the book, copy/paste it into the Blankcoverh3 pane, and resize it so that there's enough room for the title and author to be large enough to read easily (see below). It'll be a Layer, and you'll want to leave it that way, at least for now.
- Optionally, put a frame around the picture: select the picture, go to PSE's Edit menu, select "Stroke/outline selection," then choose the width (just a few pixels will suffice), inside/center/outside (probably outside, but you'll want to experiment), color, and blending (lots of room for creativity here). Click OK and if you don't like it, Ctrl-Z to undo, then try something else. PSE also has a library of fancy borders, but it's harder to use.
4. Select a font for the Title and Author. At the recommendation of an old post in a Forum thread, I downloaded and installed "Gentium," as it's a Public Domain font. In fact, this does not matter, as you can use any font you like, without violating any copyrights or trademarks. (I sold fonts in a past life; what you cannot do legally is convey the underlying font file [.ttf etc.] to someone else, unless it's a Public Domain file.)
- Use as large a font size as will fit: 144-208 point generally works for me (the dropdown font size menu only goes up to 72, but you can type in larger sizes), and perhaps smaller for "By" above an Author's name. Choose "Centering."
- Recommendation: use a font color that is complementary to the book cover's color.
- Recommendation: make the Title and the Author separate layers, so that, when done, you can move them around.
5. Recommendation: when you are happy with the cover, save it as a .tiff or PhotoShop file (.PSD) to preserve the layering in the admittedly unlikely event you may want to improve it later on, and to avoid the "lossy" degredation of .jpg files. Call it "cover.tif" or "cover.psd" and save it in one of the project's folders, but not in the "images" folder.
6. Use "Save As..." to save "cover.jpg" into the project's "images" folder with medium-to-high-quality ( 7 or 8 ), depending on how large PSE thinks the resulting file will be. When this documentation update was made in 2024, our Cover documentation Guidelines did not set a filesize limit for covers, but most of them will look fine at no more than 512K-768K. Using "Progressive jpg" will make the file a little smaller and let it seem to load a little faster.
7. You're done, and since you haven't altered the blank image you started with, you can use it in future projects.
NOTE: If you also have IrfanView and save your cover as a .tiff, IrfanView will let you specify the maximum .jpg size when saving a file. IrfanView understands layering in .tiff files, and will just flatten the layers when making a .jpg.
Using XnView
Note: The size of the covers mentioned in the paragraph below is no longer appropriate for cover images.
1. Download one of the blank book cover images from this wiki.
2. Save the file as coverblank.tif into the folder you will work in.
3. Open the blank cover with XnView. You may be able to do this by right-clicking coverblank.tif and choosing Open With… If not, then start XnView and use File | Open.
4. Now save it as a jpeg file with a suitable name. Use File | Save As… to do this. Make sure that the “Save as type” near the bottom says something like “JPG – JPEG / JFIF”. Click the Options button and make sure the Quality slider is set to about 70 or 80. Click OK to close the Options window, then type in a suitable filename (e.g. cover.jpg) and click Save.
5. At any point you can use File | Save and click Yes to overwrite this file, or use File | Save As… if you’d rather save under another name (e.g. when you are experimenting with something and would like to be able to get back to your original).
6. Next, choose your colour. You can do this using Image | Adjust | Hue/Lightness/Saturation…
7. Slide the Hue slider to pick the colour (e.g. 60). Slide Lightness to make it lighter or darker (e.g. 10). Slide Saturation to strengthen or dilute the colour (e.g. -30). Those example values will give you a pale blue. If your computer is not too slow, you can probably tick the “Apply to image” box and see the changes directly in the image, rather than just in the thumbnail. When you are happy, click OK.
8. In order to get text and/or images nicely aligned or centered, you might find the Grid helpful. Use View | Grid Settings… to choose the grid spacing (e.g. 40), thickness (e.g. 1) and colour (e.g. grey). Then choose View | Show Grid to overlay it on your blank cover – it won’t appear in your saved cover.
9. If you want to add an illustration, then see below. If not, carry on.
10. You will need to place each piece of text separately. For example if your title is “The Best Book in the World” and you want it on 4 lines like this
The Best Book in the World
with "The" and "in the" in a smaller font. then you will need to place 4 pieces of text. This is where the grid will come in useful.
11. Now begin to add text using the Image | Add Text… option. There is a keyboard shortcut for this, Shift+T, which will save you some time.
12. In the Add Text window, you can choose the font (e.g. Gentium Basic, Bold, Size 36), and the Text colour. You can experiment with a different Outline colour, and the Opacity (e.g. 50% to allow the cover texture to show through). Alignment Center is easiest for placing centered pieces of text one below the other. You might want to use Alignment Left or Right if you are placing several lines of text in one go.
13. Add the title, the author and the date by referring to your title page (check carefully for typos!) If you are like me you will probably make frequent use of Edit | Undo (shortcut Ctrl+Z) when you place it slightly wrong. You can undo several steps, then Redo them (shortcut Ctrl+Y) if you want to.
14. Zoom out to 20% or 25% size to see what your cover will look like as a thumbnail – most importantly, can you read the title?
15. Use File | Save and click Yes to save your final version.
Additional XnView information on adding an illustration to the front cover
Insert these at point 9 above.
16. If you have a hi-res image that you want to include on the front cover, load the hi-res illo into XnView. Crop it to remove any border you don’t want – you probably don’t want a white border, so depending on the type of illo, you may well crop right up to the picture. Look in the status bar to find the aspect ratio of your illo. It should say something like “1148x1752x24, 0.66” Your aspect ratio (0.66) is the ratio of width to height and is important to retain or your illo will look stretched or squashed.
17. Now go to the cover you have prepared so far. Decide how wide you want the illo to be, e.g. 150 pixels. You can get an idea of the size you want by clicking and dragging a rectangle on your cover in XnView and looking in the status bar at the bottom. The size of the area you have selected appears to the right of the other numbers, and will say something like “150x226, 0.66” Note that the aspect ratio 0.66 shows that you have judged the ratio of width and height to approximately match the illo you will be pasting. From now on, each time you switch back to the cover page, take care not to click accidentally in the graphics area, or you will lose the selection area you have set up, and it will be a bit fiddly to get it exactly right again.
18. Now go back to the illo. Use Image | Resize… set the width to the size you chose (150). Make sure that “Keep ratio” is ticked so the image doesn’t get squashed. Click OK to resize it. Note that you do not need to save this resized image - you will just copy and paste it in a few minutes. If you do save it, make sure you don't overwrite the original illustration file. In the status bar you can now see the actual height of your resized image (e.g. 150x229), which will be close but not necessarily identical to the height you dragged on the cover page in the previous step.
19. Go back to the cover page. Carefully grow/shrink the height of your selected area to make it match the illo (in this case 229). Drag the whole selection rectangle around on the page to choose exactly where you want it.
20. If do not want/need to add a black border to your illo, then omit the next three steps.
21. To add a black border of 2 pixels, carefully grow your selection by 2 pixels on each of the 4 sides – you can zoom in to make this easier, and there is a little grab box in the middle of each side of your selection. The selection will now be 4 pixels larger in width and height than before (e.g. 154x233).
22. Now use Image | Adjust | Hue/Lightness/Saturation… and slide Lightness to -100. This will make the selected rectangle go black.
23. Now shrink the selection back by 2 pixels on each of the 4 sides, returning it to its original dimensions, but it is now surrounded by a black border.
24. Now go to the illo, and use Edit | Select All (Ctrl+A) to select it all, then Edit | Copy (Ctrl+C)
25. Return to the cover and use Edit | Paste (Ctrl+V) – your illo should now be on the cover page.
References
The first wave of details and discussion are in this forum thread.