Can You Create an Ebook Cover With Affinity Publisher?

Affinity Publisher is a desktop publishing application compatible with Windows and macOS. Intuitive page layout software allows you to create professional flyers, posters, magazines, and more. No subscription, Affinity offers a free trial and a one-time fee for purchase with three bonus templates.

You can use Affinity Publisher to create your Ebook cover. The application has layouts specifically for books of any kind, and its templates are ready for print or the web.

Affinity publisher has nearly the same number of features for desktop publishing as the industry standard, InDesign, but without the monthly subscription that will run you approximately $251 a year. Keep reading to learn how to use Affinity Publisher to make your next Ebook cover.

How to Create a Simple Ebook Cover With Affinity Publisher

There are numerous resources for learning how to make a professional-looking cover for your next Ebook. Courses you can take over the internet that will show every tip and trick for a small fee. Books you can purchase online or at your local bookstore that will walk you through the process step-by-step.

This article will show you the basics of book cover design and how you can easily execute the perfect Ebook cover. There are a few basic elements to cover design:

  • Cover Layout
  • Cover Backdrop
  • Typography

Let’s delve deeper into each element and provide a user’s guide to tackling each facet of an Ebook cover. For a user-friendly Ebook cover experience, visit placeit.net and try one of its user-friendly templates.

Cover Layout

The first thing is to set up the layout of your Ebook cover in Affinity Publisher. Navigate to File > New > Document. Staying within the New Document dialog box, you will change some settings.

  • Type: Print
  • No. of Pages: 1
  • Uncheck Facing Pages
  • Page Preset: Custom 

You’ll adjust the dimensions at the bottom of the dialog box. There is no Ebook standard, but conventionally PDF Ebook page sizes are typically 20.8-by-33.3 inches or 22.2-by-35.6 inches for Kindle. So, you can set your dimensions to 528.32-by-845.82 mm or 563.88-by-904.24 mm.

Now click on the Colour tab and adjust the Colour Format and Colour Profile for screen reading. Since you’ve chosen Print as your type, they may already be selected, but double check, just in case.

  • Colour Format: RGB/8
  • Colour Profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1

You have the Margins tab, and the Bleed tab left. The industry standard for margins is 8 mm for paperback, but since we are working with an Ebook, you’ll use the standard for platforms like Kindle, 12.7 mm for top and bottom and 20.32 mm for left and right. Bleed is specifically for print so you can leave that at zero.

Before we finish the setup, name the custom preset for future use. Navigate to the paper stack icon to the right of Page Preset and select Create Preset. Type in B-Format Ebook, click OK to save, then OK to create the page.

The last thing you’ll do before moving on to the next phase is mark the center point of your Ebook cover so you can place your other elements correctly. Use the Ruler from the left panel and drag the vertical guide to about 264 mm or 282 mm, depending on which dimensions you selected.

Cover Background

To start the creation of your cover, now that the page layout has been completed, you need to add a new layer. To do this:

  1. Navigate to Layer > New Layer and click on the Layer 1 tag to rename it to Image, then hit OK.
  2. Use the Rectangle Frame tool and place your mouse on the main page, then drag to extend the image frame to all four corners of your page, beyond the margin borders.
  3. Now you select your image via File > Place. Remember, this is just the backdrop of your cover, so choose something that will work with any other elements you would like to incorporate, like typography or other images.

You can use the Properties option in the toolbar to Scale to Max Fit or play around with the other options available. Now is the time to set your transparency gradient or apply other effects to your image. Be sure to Lock the Image layer before moving on.

Typography (Title, Author, Tagline)

To create they typography for the title, author, and tagline:

  1. Navigate back to Layers and select New Layer.
  2. Click the default layer name and type Front-Cover Text.
  3. You’ll want to use the Ellipse Tool to create the places your text will go. Use your frame guides as a reference for positioning.
  4. You can make the ellipse the full width of the frame or scale it down; it’s entirely up to you.
  5. If you need more than one ellipse for your tagline or the author name, select the first ellipse and then Edit > Copy and Edit> Paste.

It will paste over the first ellipse, so select to move it wherever you please. As with the background image, you can play with the transparency gradient and other effects to allow the text to stand out against the backdrop. To set Transparency for the ellipse:

  1. Select the Wine Glass icon in the tool panel and choose the following settings:
    1. Type: Radial
    2. Fill: White
  2. Then click on the white ellipse and move the Gradient Stop to your desired level.
  3. Lock the layer before moving on to select the typography.
  4. Again, you will add a new layer and rename Typography.
  5. Now select the typeface for the title of the Ebook. It can be all in the same text or multiple but work with one at a time.
  6. Use the Artistic Text tool, type your title, and set the font, size, tracking, and caps. Position the text frame in the center of the ellipse.

Now that you see it against the background, you can select the color of the text. Repeat this process for different text elements on the cover. After you add the tagline and author name, you can lock all layers. The only thing left is to export the file as a PDF (web). Click More in the Export dialog box for Advanced settings before selecting Export.

Conclusion

Now you have the basics of Ebook cover design in Affinity Publisher. You can learn more via any of the resources mentioned above on the web or at your local bookstore.