Authors know how hard it is to make a book stand out, but using 3D book covers can give your book a unique look.
A 3D book cover can catch a reader’s eye and inspire them to pick your book on a shelf compared to the other ones around it. As an author, you know how important that moment can be.
Once they pick your book up, you’ll need to hook them with an interesting or intriguing story, but you’ll need a cover that gets them to look at your book in the first place.
Instead of hiring a professional designer, creating your own cover can save you a ton of money. A 3D cover might seem complicated to create, but we’ll show you just how easy it can be.
This article will go over what 3D book covers are, why you should consider using one, how you can create your own, and where to go to create one.
What Are 3D Book Covers
3D book covers are exactly what they sound like — a book cover with a 3D image on the front. Some authors choose to create one because it can give a unique look to a book or help tell a story.
A 3D book cover helps give some depth to the book cover and can help grab the attention of readers. As authors know, you need to have a book cover that stands out on a shelf.
Most books have just a few seconds to grab the visual attention of a shopper, so having an eye-catching cover can help your book stand out and interest them in reading the blurb on the back of your book.
Not only can you use 3D book cover for your book, but you can also use it to promote your work on social media or in any marketing materials.
Having various graphics to include in your social media posts, on your blog, or in your newsletter can help remind people to check out your work or order a copy.
How to Make 3D Book Covers
With the use of technology, thankfully creating 3D book covers is easier than ever before. Most sites have a drag-and-drop editor or have templates so you can create a cover in just a few minutes.
First, you’ll want to decide what kind of cover you’ll need or how many variations you might want.
Plenty of sites have a free option to create a book cover, but you’ll need to know in advance what you’ll need before you design your first one. That way, you’re sure to pick the right site for your specific needs.
You’ll also want to know if you’re looking for templates or for full creative control to design your own cover. Some sites offer templates but others give you more creative control of the final design.
This might also depend on your own graphic design skills, since you might need more or less design help depending on your own skill set.
You will also need to think about whether you have your own photos to use for your book cover or if you’ll need to find a site that provides images. That way, you’ll know if you need to find a site where you can upload ones or if they have a lot of images to choose from.
The most essential thing is to pick images, photos, colors, and so on, that align with what your story is about. You wouldn’t want to put a scary haunted house on the cover of a romance novel. You’ll need to think about what kind of message you want your cover to convey.
You will want to take the time to search through images or photograph your own images that truly encapsulate and explain your story.
If you’re debating between various covers, you can always ask people you know or your audience to decide between various covers. This is a good idea to make sure your book cover also accurately describes your story, since your audience will let you know what they think.
You might also need a site that directly integrates with your social media accounts or at least will let you format and size your images in particular sizes. That way, you will have perfectly formatted sizes which makes sharing your work on social media even easier.
Designing your 3D Book Covers
You’ll need a simple checklist to design a quality book cover. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Your book title and subtitle
- A general list of what kind of image you want
- Author’s name
- Blurbs to include (optional)
- General colors or themes you want to include
Having a checklist means you won’t forget anything essential. The last thing you want is to finally design your cover, download it, and realize you forgot to include something essential.
Companies to Use for 3D Book Covers
When it comes to creating your 3D book covers, you not only have a variety of companies to choose from, but plenty of them also offer templates so you can create multiple book covers.
Using a website can help you save a ton of money from hiring a professional photographer or graphic designer to create your book cover.
Book Brush
Book Brush company has a free plan that allows 15 image downloads and has a library of about 1.5 million photos to choose from.
For 3D book covers, it has over 200+ templates for you to drag and drop so you can create your cover in just a few minutes. There are plenty of texts to choose from and stamps to customize your cover.
Canva
Canva is a great option for authors to create 3D book covers. They have hundreds of layouts to choose from and give you full customization options. They also offer over 1 million stock images, graphics, and illustrations to choose from.
While most of their images are free, they do have some premium images that you can buy for $1. That’s a decent price when you consider how much it costs to hire a photographer or graphic designer.
Using drag-and-drop design tools, you can change the text, font, colors, images, or anything else you could want to customize in just a few clicks. It allows you to download your cover in PNG, JPG, or PDF files.
DIY Book Covers
If you need a 3D model of your book on top of a 3D book cover, this simple tool allows you to create the look of a book. This would be perfect to use on social media or on your website to create the look of a physical or digital book.
Media Modifier
Media Modifier lets you create visuals and mockups in just a few simple steps. They have hundreds of unique book covers to choose from and some are even organized by genre to help you find one easily.
The free plan gets you 100 free templates and 1,300+ free fonts. It integrates with Unsplash and GIPHY to create even better visuals or find high quality images to use for your 3D book covers.
Create Your Own Cover
Overall, creating 3D book covers is easy and should not be a barrier for most authors. Once you pick a site, you can create your cover quickly and start sharing your story.
