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Regardless of what your mother and the old saying told you, most of us do judge a book by its cover. And if you’ve written a book, you’re going to want a great book cover to attract the most people.
So how do you make a great book cover mockup online? One of the best places to do this is at Placeit.net, one of the premier design sites on the web. Placeit recently introduced book cover mockups to their design lineup of everything from t-shirts to tote bags.
Placeit offers very easy to use controls and an intuitive interface. Read below and we’ll give you step by step instructions on how to make a book cover using Placeit.net.
Step by Step Instructions For Creating A Book Cover
After doing the hard work writing the book, the last thing you need is to spend time coming up with a book cover. We have a simple solution for you. Making a book cover can be both easy and fast with Placeit. The instructions are simple to follow and include:
- Go to Placeit.net
- Select “Book Covers” from either “Mockups” or “Designs” in the top left menu
- Choose a template that fits your needs best
- Enter the book title and author name on the left side of the screen
- Choose a font and font color for your text
- Choose a graphic or banner on the right side of the screen
- Pick a background
- Click “Download” in the top right menu
That’s it. Using the above instructions, you’ve just made a book cover. We tried it and it’s incredibly easy.
Reasons to Choose Placeit
There are many reasons to choose Placeit for your book cover mockup. We like it because it has:
- Simple user interface
- Easy instructions
- Huge library
- Stylish templates
1. Simple User Interface
Placeit is one of the easiest mockup tools we’ve found on the internet. It’s easy point and click work. You can also search for exactly the image you’re looking for. After that, it’s just a matter of filling in the prompts and you have a book cover.
2. Easy Instructions
The mockup tool has very clear-cut instructions for the user. It’s hard to go wrong with the way it’s laid out on the screen. It literally takes seconds to find what you’re looking for.
Even those with no design experience should have no problems making a mockup with Placeit.
3. Huge Library
Placeit boasts the biggest library of any mockup tool on the internet. Almost 5,000 images exist on the site. The benefit to users is that they invariably find an image or mockup that suits their needs.
4. Stylish Templates
Of all the sites we reviewed, Placeit.net has the most up-to-date, stylish templates. Among the ones we encountered were:
- Professional
- Casual
- Tropical
- Holiday themed
The clip art is sharp, and the verbiage is on point. However, Placeit also offers customization so you can create an original design. Among the items you can customize are:
- Brand color
- Uploading custom image
- Selecting a graphic representing your brand
- Choosing your own verbiage
More Features of Placeit
Placeit has been around the internet since 2012. They have over 90,000 pre-made templates for you to choose from and they’re adding new mockups all the time. These mockups aren’t just for book covers. Placeit offers many categories for design and mockup. They also offer mockups for:
- T-shirts
- Logo Design
- Hats
- Tote bags
- Hoodies
- iPhones
- MacBooks
- Social media posts
- Banners
Placeit promises you can never mess your design up and, after playing around with it for a while, we found that was true. It is very difficult to make a false design step on this site, since it’s all laid out neatly for you, in a user-friendly and intuitive manner.
Placeit uses a monthly subscription fee model for the site. You can get a price discount if you buy an annual subscription. There is also an option to buy per project or piece. Depending on your needs, this may be the cheapest alternative for you. The price gives you access to all of the templates and mockups.
Placeit versus Other Sites
We reviewed Placeit versus other sites on the web and found some clear conclusions. The other sites also use mockup design templates. They include:
1. Stencil
Stencil is a free app that is easy and quick to use. It doesn’t have the huge library Placeit boasts or nearly as many templates.
Bottom Line: We liked it because it was free but it didn’t have the versatility we needed or nearly as many templates as we liked.
2. Design Wizard
Design Wizard has almost as many categories as Placeit, so you can not only do book covers but also:
- Flyers
- Kindle Covers
- Sale Posters
This program is easy to use but is not free.
Bottom Line: We like it because it’s user friendly but if you want a professional looking design, you’re going to pay premium rates for it.
3. Snappa
This is a free desktop graphic designing software that makes it very easy to make your own designs in a very short time.
Bottom Line: We like it because it has a large library and is easy to use. We don’t like it because, in a free account, you’re limited to only 5 downloads a month. The free cover designs don’t look very special. You will have to pay for better cover designs.
4. Adobe Spark
Adobe Spark is free and has unique design templates only available at that site. The designs are very well made, and they have a lot of them.
Bottom Line: This was our second choice for the best online book cover mockup, right behind Placeit.net. It only lacks the user-friendly interface of Placeit, which kept it in second place.
5. Poster My Wall
Poster My Wall is mainly known for:
- Posters
- Flyers
- Social Media Campaigns
There is a good selection of book cover templates and it’s free. It can be hard to edit, however, and that free price comes with a watermark.
Bottom Line: It’s user friendly but we have to pay to get the watermark off the book cover, which defeats the purpose. It’s also not as easy to edit as Placeit.
The Final Word
You have only a few seconds to catch a potential reader’s eye. You must have an excellent book cover that matches the tone of your book. Once you write your book cover and design your book cover, what should you do next? We have a few ideas for you to do on the cheap:
- Promote your book on social media – Get your book in front of as many eyes as possible. Use your awesome book cover design to gather views
- Create a writer’s page on Facebook and GoodReads
- Turn each chapter into a blog post on your personal blog
- Contact influencers and ask them to share it
- Write a guest blog post for sites covering the topic
- Visit your local newspaper and radio to share the book and possibly get interviews
- Create an Amazon page and a GoodReads page
- Write a press release and send it out
A well-written and interesting book, combined with an eye-catching book cover and publicized by you on several different channels can intrigue people into buying your book and, hopefully, giving it a good review.
BONUS: Placeit was kind enough to extend a 15% off discount to All Free Mockups readers. You can find the coupon here.
