Ebook cover design: eight rules and a thumbnail test

Eight ebook cover design rules

1. Make the title the biggest thing on the cover. Buyers see your cover small, in a grid of others. If the title is not readable at that size, the cover is not doing its job.
2. Use few words. A short title, and a subtitle that says plainly what the book is: "A 30-day plan for paying off debt" tells a buyer more than a clever phrase.
3. Give the words strong contrast. Dark on light or light on dark. Text laid over a busy photo almost always gets lost.
4. Use one clear image. One object, one scene or one bold shape. Several small pictures turn into noise at thumbnail size.
5. Choose type that reads small. Bold, simple letterforms for the title. Save thin, script or decorative fonts for small touches, if at all.
6. Look like your category. A cookbook, a business guide and a children's book each have a look readers recognise. Study the covers in your category and fit in well enough to be understood, then stand out with colour or image.
7. Use a tall rectangle. A ratio of about 1 to 1.6, such as 1600 by 2560 pixels, is a common ebook cover size. Export at that size or larger so it looks sharp everywhere.
8. Keep your name smaller than the title, unless readers already search for you by name.

How to design an ebook cover

1. Look at twenty covers in your subject and note what the clearest ones have in common.
2. Sketch two or three rough layouts on paper before you open any tool.
3. Pick an image you made, generated or have a licence for.
4. Set the title large, then the subtitle, then your name.
5. Run the thumbnail test below and adjust.
6. Export as a JPG or PNG at full size.

The thumbnail test

Shrink your cover to about 200 pixels wide, roughly the size it appears in a shop grid, and look at it on your phone at arm's length. Then check:

• Can you read the title without leaning in?
• Can you tell what kind of book it is in three seconds?
• Does it still stand out in greyscale? If the words disappear, the contrast is too low.
• Put it next to three covers from your category. Does yours hold its own?

If any answer is no, make the title bigger, cut words or simplify the image, then test again.

Checklist before you upload

• Title readable at about 200 pixels wide.
• Subtitle says what the book is.
• Strong contrast between text and background.
• One clear image you have the right to use.
• No spelling mistakes in the title, subtitle or your name.
• Exported at full size in a tall format.

Covers from the AI ebook generator

If you make your book with the AI ebook generator, it designs covers for the book and you choose the one you like. Run the thumbnail test on that too. When the cover passes, add it to your product with the file and description: see how selling on Bookstorez works.

What selling on Bookstorez costs

Bookstorez is a global marketplace where creators sell ebooks, printables, planners, workbooks and templates, and buyers browse every seller's work in one catalogue. The Free plan has no monthly charge: 3 live products and 10 drafts, at 12% + 30¢ per sale with card fees and tax handling included. The fee is the same whether a buyer arrives through your own link or finds you in the catalogue.

Creator and Pro add featured weeks, which put your products in featured placements across the site, and more books a month from the built-in AI ebook generator. See every plan side by side.

Keep planning

Read digital products to sell, how to sell digital products, how to sell ebooks online or where to sell digital products for free.