Ebook Cover Design: How to Make a Cover That Sells (Sizes, Rules and Free Tools)

People do judge a book by its cover. They judge an ebook by a cover the size of a postage stamp, on a phone, while scrolling past it at the speed of a reel. Your cover has about one second to say "this is for you".

Here's how to design one that survives that second.

The thumbnail test (do this first, always)

Shrink your cover until it's about the size of your thumbnail. Can you still read the title? Can you tell what the book is about?

If not, the cover isn't finished. Ninety percent of bad ebook covers fail this one test. They look lovely at full size on the designer's big monitor and turn into coloured soup in a search result.

What a cover needs (and nothing else)

1. The title, big and bold. Usually the biggest thing on the cover.
2. A subtitle that says who it's for or what they get.
3. One image or graphic. Not five. One.
4. Your name or brand, small.

That's the whole list. Testimonials, website links, "BESTSELLER" badges on a book that hasn't sold yet: all of these belong somewhere else (and the last one belongs nowhere).

The right size

Amazon's Kindle guideline puts the ideal at 2,560 pixels tall by 1,600 wide. Make it once at that size, then reuse it everywhere. See the full Kindle Direct Publishing guide for the rest of Amazon's requirements.

Fonts and colours

• One display font for the title (bold serif or a strong sans-serif), one simple font for the rest.
• High contrast. Light text on dark backgrounds, or dark on light. Cream on beige is a crime against eyeballs.
• Colour signals the genre. Business and money guides lean navy, black, gold and orange. Health leans green and white. Romance leans warm pinks and reds. You don't have to follow this, but you should know you're breaking it.

Making it in Canva (free)

1. Create a custom design at 1,600 × 2,560 px.
2. Search "ebook cover" in templates and pick one with a big title area.
3. Replace the text with yours, then delete everything that isn't title, subtitle, one image and your name.
4. Download as JPG (for Kindle) and PNG (for your website and Instagram).
5. Do the thumbnail test. Fix. Repeat.

Using AI images on your cover

AI tools can create a lovely background or illustration. A few honest rules:

• Generate the picture, add the text yourself. AI images still garble words. A misspelled title on the cover is the fastest way to lose a buyer's trust.
• Check hands and faces. AI loves giving people an extra finger. Or, occasionally, an extra hand. (Ask me how I know. Actually, don't.)
• Read the tool's licence for commercial use before you sell anything with the image on it.

Mockups: the cheap upgrade

A 3D mockup (your cover on a tablet, or as a standing book) makes the product look real on your sales page and Instagram. Canva has free mockup templates. Use one on your page, but put the flat cover inside the actual ebook.

The five mistakes that kill sales

1. Title too small to read as a thumbnail
2. Too many elements fighting for attention
3. Low contrast between text and background
4. A blurry or stretched image
5. Fake badges, fake quotes or fake "best-selling" claims

My strong opinion: if you're choosing between paying for a fancy cover and paying for an editor, pay for neither on your first ebook. Use Canva, follow the rules above, and spend your time on the writing. A clean, readable, honest cover will outsell a ₹5,000 cover on a book that isn't finished.

Where the cover fits in the bigger job

The cover is one step in making an ebook. If you're earlier in the process, see the ebook template for structure, how to publish a book in India for where it goes next, and the guide to writing an ebook for the whole route from idea to sale.

And one last thing: your cover isn't permanent. If sales are slow after a month, a new cover is one of the cheapest experiments you can run. Just don't change the cover, title, price and description all on the same day, or you'll never know which one worked. That's not testing, that's panic with extra steps.