How to design your own book cover
as an act of play and devotion
I find the joy of the 'doing' increases. Creativity increases. Intuition increases. The pleasure of life grows. And negativity recedes.
David Lynch
Book Cover Creation as a form of creative play
The process of writing a poetry collection, or a book of any kind, is so daunting that I have found it helps to just begin with the assumption that you will complete it. After I have a pile of poems, but before I do anything with them (edit, flow, etc), I like to begin the next phase of the process with the cover - not because it will be the final design (it will almost definitely not be) but because it’s a task that primes your mind for the process of book creation. It tells the small, frightened child within you, this is fun and we can do it! Look, here’s what it might look like!
And it helps the overwhelmed creator inside you to think about your project in a way that is unassuming and not as intimidating. What might you call this book? What are some of the vibes or ideas within it? When you create a book cover just for yourself, just to plant the image in your mind, you only need to concern yourself with making a cover you personally like and feels motivating!
How to Make a Quick Cover in Canva
Open Canva and search for "Book Cover" templates.
Pick a template that has a layout you like. (Ignore the images and fonts since you're going to change them anyway)
Replace the sample image with your own photo or an image from Unsplash or Creative Market. You will have to upload the images first.
Edit the text to include your title and name (remember to make sure it’s legible at a small size)
Adjust the colors and fonts until the mood feels right. Trust your instincts.
Download your design (I recommend PDF for printing or PNG for digital use).
a quick side-note on professional cover art
When I made the cover for my very first poetry collection, Secrets & Stars, I was able to hire an illustrator whose style I loved. (Hi, Emmie, if you’re reading this - I'm forever grateful!) I reached out to her first on Instagram to ask if she did custom work and then we moved to email to figure out the details. I asked for a fox in space with mushrooms growing out if it and she made that request sound totally normal! Then, I had her read through a few of the poems and we figured out about 10 more illustrations she might do. This process was so fun and rewarding!
Her art captured something I could feel but couldn’t yet fully articulate. It helped shape the book itself as I finished it and honestly, I credit her with a huge part of that book’s success.
Ok. Let’s Create a Cover
You don’t have to be a graphic designer or hire a professional artist to do your own book cover, but it helps to know some things about how graphics (both images and text) effect our emotions if you want to create something that draws readers in and makes them pick the book up. I think, especially for poetry, that covers are one of the most important features of the book when it comes to actual book sales.
When you’re designing your cover for a self-published or hybrid publishing collection, you might want to think about a few key things…
It needs to be unique enough that there aren’t 10 other books out there with the same cover - this can happen when you use a template in Canva or a photo from Unsplash and don’t do enough tweaks to make it truly your own.
You need to be able to read it. Some fonts are beautiful but aren’t very legible, that can be fine for something like a logo, but is a bit of a fail when it comes to book covers. The title should be legible when the book is tiny and on someone’s phone screen.
Consider your genre. There are visual signs within book genres and it’s helpful to know them and consider them. While you might want a book that looks totally different from every other poetry collection out there, if the book looks like a an epic fantasy from the design elements but is actually nature poetry, people will be really confused.
Get some inspiration. I recommend going to a real live bookstore and looking at your genre. Take pictures of your favorite covers (the ones that would make you pick up a book and flip through it) and see if there are overlapping elements.
Humans rely on design to tell us genre & mood, it’s a really powerful tool.
A Few Tools I Love:
Canva:
The easiest starting place. Tons of free templates, fonts, and images. Upgrade to Canva Pro if you want access to even more options (totally worth it for a short sprint if you're deep in creative mode).
Unsplash:
Free, high-quality photography you can legally use for your covers. Look for slightly more abstract or textured images to avoid the stock-photo vibe.
Creative Market:
If you want something more polished, this site sells beautiful fonts, illustrations, textures, and templates at reasonable prices. You can purchase a few elements to make your design feel truly bespoke (this is exactly what I did for Hermit Season).
Color Theory: A Few Favorite Palettes
Color sets the mood before a single word is read.
Your cover’s palette is its emotional signature. Here are a few tried-and-true combos and how they tend to feel to a reader:
Earthy & Organic
Sage • Brick • Ochre • Olive
Grounded, intimate, rooted in nature.
Perfect for poetry that leans into memory, the body, or the seasons.
Moody & Minimal
Charcoal • Cream • Slate • Mahogany
Thoughtful, contemplative, a little mysterious.
Great for introspective or melancholic collections.
Bright & Playful
Mustard • Magenta • Teal • Peach
Lively, creative, full of personality.
Ideal for experimental or joyful work.
Spiritual & Intimate
Black • Gold • Indigo • Cloud White
Sacred, subtle, a little surreal.
A strong fit for mystical, lyrical, or dreamlike writing.
Download the Cheat Sheet for step by step instructions on how to create a cover using Amazon’s KDP templates and Canva.
I hope some of these ideas will spark your creative excitement! I would LOVE to see your book cover mock-ups. Post them in the comments, or hit reply to email me privately.
As always, I try to keep my newsletters free, but I am a professional writer and paid subscriptions are a huge part of how I can keep being a poet and provide creative resources like these.
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with artistic joy despite the systemic collapse,
Alix
This gives me so many ideas! 😀
I love that you shared this about your process, because I started making notes and visualizing the cover of the poetry collection I'm working on pretty early in the process, and I was so worried that I was getting way ahead of myself, but I think it really did help me feel like I was actually doing it! This has also helped remind me that I need to get back to figuring out next steps. I think I started realizing I was getting closer to being done and got scared about inviting more people into the process for editing and publishing. 🙈