FantasyEpic Fantasy
Cinematic scale · high-contrast title treatment
Free Online Book Cover Maker
Create a Book Cover That Looks Like It Belongs on the Shelf
Start with your book title, author name and genre. Explore cover designs that fit your story, choose a direction you like, and customize it in an easy-to-use editor.
Free to start · No design experience needed
- Editable templates
- Your own images
- High-quality export
Made for authors. Designed to be edited.
Start with a cover direction and make it your own inside the Pixels Mark editor.
Romance · Fantasy · Thriller · Nonfiction
Book Cover Ideas
Explore Book Cover Ideas for Every Genre
A fantasy cover signals something different from a thriller, and a memoir reads nothing like a romance novel. Explore visual directions shaped around familiar genre cues in typography, imagery and composition, then use the maker to create a cover that fits your own book.
These examples are creative directions for inspiration. Your editable templates appear inside the Book Cover Maker.
Fantasy
RomanceContemporary Romance
Warm imagery · elegant type hierarchy
ThrillerPsychological Thriller
Dark atmosphere · immediate visual tension
NonfictionBusiness & Nonfiction
Clear hierarchy · confident typography
Literary FictionLiterary Fiction
Quiet composition · editorial restraint
MemoirMemoir
Personal imagery · thoughtful pacing
Found a direction that feels right for your book?
Add your title, author name and genre, then browse the editable cover templates available in the maker.
How It Works
Create Your Book Cover in Four Simple Steps
You don’t start from a blank page. Add a few details about your book, explore cover directions for your genre, choose a design, and customize it in the Pixels Mark editor.
- 01
Step 1
Add Your Book Details
Enter your book title, optional subtitle, author name, and genre. These details help shape the cover directions you see next and carry into the editor so your core text is already in place.
- Title
- Subtitle
- Author
- Genre
- 02
Step 2
Choose a Cover Direction
Browse cover templates suited to your genre and choose the direction that feels closest to your story. Each design gives you a structured starting point instead of an empty canvas.
- Genre-aware
- Structured layout
- 03
Step 3
Customize in the Editor
Edit your title, subtitle, and author text, then adjust fonts, colors, imagery, and positioning. Refine the layout until the hierarchy and composition feel right for your book.
- Typography
- Images
- Colors
- Layout
- 04
Step 4
Download Your Cover
When you’re happy with the design, download your finished front cover as an image file. Before publishing, compare the final dimensions with the requirements of the platform you plan to use.
- Front cover
- Image export
Your title and author details follow you into the design.
Start with the basics, choose a direction, then spend your time refining the cover instead of rebuilding it from scratch.
Pixels Mark Editor
A Novel
THE
SILENT
CITY
Olivia Hart
Properties
EDIT TEXTCHANGE FONTCHANGE IMAGEADJUST COLORMOVE & RESIZE
Make It Yours
Customize the Details That Define Your Cover
A template gives your cover its structure, but the decisions that make it feel like your book are still yours. In the PixelsMark editor, you can adjust the typography, replace or reposition imagery, refine editable colors, and change the layout until the composition fits your story.
Typography
Your title, subtitle, and author name carry most of a cover’s first impression. Change the font, size, color, and text hierarchy so the title reads clearly at thumbnail size and reflects the tone of your genre.
Imagery
Replace the template’s starting image with your own upload, choosing artwork that fits the mood and genre of your book. Reposition and crop imagery to make it work with the title and overall composition.
Color & Visual Style
Adjust the colors of editable text and design elements to strengthen contrast and shift the mood of the starting design. Small color changes can make typography clearer and help the cover feel more appropriate to your story.
Layout & Positioning
Move and resize the title, subtitle, author text, and imagery to refine spacing and hierarchy. Small positioning changes affect how the eye moves across the cover and what it notices first.
Cover Design Principles
What Makes a Good Book Cover?
A cover has to do more than look good. At a small size, it needs to signal what kind of book this is, show the eye what matters first, and give the right reader enough context to want to know more. These are decisions about hierarchy, clarity, and genre as much as personal taste.
01
Thumbnail Readability
Most readers encounter a cover at a small size first — in a search result, recommendation grid, or digital library view. If the title and central visual idea disappear at reduced size, the design becomes harder to understand before the reader sees it larger.
Too Complex
A Novel
SHADOWS
OF THE
EMPIRE
A kingdom divided by secrets, power, memory, war, and a family that refuses to disappear.
Eli Morgan · A Dark Fantasy Saga
SHADOWS
OF THE
EMPIRE
Title and focal idea disappear
Readable
A NovelSHADOWS
SHADOWS
OF THE
EMPIRE
Eli Morgan
SHADOWS
OF THE
EMPIRE
Title stays clear at thumbnail size
02
Genre Signals
Readers recognise visual patterns before they read a description. Typography, colour, imagery, and composition can suggest whether a book is a thriller, romance, fantasy, memoir, or nonfiction title, giving readers useful context without making every cover look the same.
Fantasy
A Novel
THE WILD REALM
ELI MORGANEpic worlds
Romance
A Novel
WHERE WE BEGIN
ELI MORGANEmotion
Thriller
A Novel
LAST KNOWN TRUTH
ELI MORGANSuspense
Nonfiction
A Novel
THE FOCUS FORMULA
ELI MORGANClarity
03
Visual Hierarchy
Title, imagery, subtitle, and author name do not all need equal emphasis. A clear hierarchy tells the eye what to notice first, what to notice next, and which details can sit quietly in support.
A Novel
THE NORTHERN LIGHT
ELI MORGAN1
TITLE
Primary focus
2
IMAGE
Supports the title
3
SUBTITLE
Additional context
4
AUTHOR
Credibility
04
One Focused Visual Idea
It is tempting to represent every character, location, object, and plot point at once. In many cases, a stronger direction comes from choosing one clear visual idea and letting typography and supporting elements reinforce it rather than compete for attention.
Too Many Ideas
A Novel
THE FALLEN CROWN
ELI MORGANCrowded composition
One Clear Idea
A Novel
THE FALLEN CROWN
ELI MORGANSingle idea, stronger focus
Use these principles as a starting point, not a rigid formula.
The strongest direction is the one that fits the book you are actually trying to present.
Book Cover Sizes
What Size Should Your Book Cover Be?
There’s no single correct size for a book cover. The right dimensions depend on whether you’re publishing an ebook or a print edition, and where you plan to publish it. An ebook generally uses a front-cover image, while a print cover may combine the back cover, spine, and front cover into one file. Always confirm your publishing platform’s current specifications before final export.
Ebook Covers
Front coverEbook covers are front-cover-only designs, shown in portrait orientation across stores, apps, and reading devices. Because readers often see them as small thumbnails first, the title and central image need to stay legible at reduced size. Exact pixel dimensions vary by platform, so check the current image requirements before upload.
Amazon KDP / Kindle
For Kindle ebooks, Amazon KDP currently recommends a marketing cover image of 2,560 pixels high × 1,600 pixels wide. A paperback or hardcover is different: the production cover can include the back cover, spine, and front cover as one continuous layout. KDP calculates the required dimensions from details such as binding, trim size, page count, paper or interior type, and bleed. PixelsMark focuses on the front-cover direction; use the publisher’s current template or cover calculator when preparing the complete print file.
Kindle marketing cover
2560 × 1600
pixels
Other Publishing Platforms
Every publishing platform, distributor, or print-on-demand service can have its own requirements for file format, resolution, color mode, and bleed. Some are strict about exact dimensions; others accept a range. Before final publishing, confirm the current specifications directly for the format you plan to use.
Before You Publish
Final cover check
Design decisions come first. Production specifications come last — and they should come from the platform that will actually receive the file.
Confirm the exact dimensions and file format required for your publishing format.
Check that the title and main visual remain clear when the cover is viewed small.
Confirm image resolution and quality requirements before final upload.
For print editions, use the publisher’s current spine, bleed, and wrap specifications.
Platform requirements can change. Treat any dimensions on this page as publishing guidance and verify the latest specifications before your final upload.
DIY or Designer?
Design It Yourself or Work With a Designer?
Some authors want to make every design decision themselves. Others would rather describe what they need and let someone else handle the visual direction. The right approach depends on how much control you want, how comfortable you are with typography and imagery decisions, and how specific your project needs to be.
Design It Yourself
Use the Book Cover Maker
Start from a cover direction that already fits your genre, then shape it into your own design. You control the title, imagery, editable colors, and layout directly, working at your own pace until the cover feels right.
A structured starting point
You’re customizing an existing direction, not building a cover from a blank canvas.
Direct creative control
Every change to text, imagery, editable colors, and layout is a decision you make yourself.
Work at your own pace
Adjust the design whenever you like, without coordinating around anyone else’s schedule.
Good for a clear vision
If you already know roughly what you want, you can move quickly from a starting direction into a cover that reflects those choices.
Free to start · No design experience needed
Work With a Designer
PixelsMark Professional Design Service
If you’d rather hand the visual decisions to someone else, a designer can work from your brief and project needs to develop a direction for your cover. This suits authors who want design input rather than a self-guided process.
A bespoke creative direction
The design is developed around your specific book rather than adapted from a starting template.
Professional design input
You get another set of eyes making the typography, imagery, and composition decisions.
Room for specific requirements
Useful when your project has particular creative needs beyond a template-based workflow.
Less hands-on design work
You describe what you’re looking for, rather than making each visual decision yourself.
A separate design service · Tell us about your project
Common Questions
Book Cover Maker FAQs
Straight answers about editing, images, downloads, publishing requirements, and when a professional design service may be the better fit for your project.
Yes, it’s free to start. You can choose a cover direction, enter your book details, and customize the design without a design background. If you’d rather have a designer handle the visual direction instead, Pixels Mark also offers a separate professional design service.
No. You start from a structured cover direction built around your genre rather than a blank canvas, so the layout, hierarchy, and typography already give you a foundation. From there, you’re making design adjustments instead of building the entire cover from scratch.
Yes. Where the selected cover direction supports editable imagery, you can upload your own image and adjust its position and sizing within the layout.
Yes. The title, subtitle, and author name are editable text, and you can adjust fonts, font size, and editable colors within your chosen cover direction. Available controls depend on the specific editable elements in that design.
Yes. You can design a front-cover image for ebook or Kindle use. Publishing-platform requirements can vary and change, so confirm the current cover dimensions, format, and image-quality requirements before your final upload.
It depends on your format and where you’re publishing. For Kindle ebooks, Amazon KDP currently recommends an ideal marketing-cover size of 2,560 × 1,600 pixels. Print-cover dimensions depend on factors such as trim size, page count, paper type, and bleed. Always verify your publishing platform’s current specifications before final upload.
No. The Book Cover Maker currently focuses on front-cover design. A complete print cover typically combines a back cover, spine, and front cover into one file, with its dimensions depending on production details such as trim size, page count, paper type, and bleed.
Yes. Once you’re satisfied with the design, you can export and download your front-cover image. Before uploading it to an ebook store or publishing platform, check that the exported file meets that platform’s current dimensions, format, and image-quality requirements.
Yes. Pixels Mark offers a separate professional design service where a designer works from your brief to develop a visual direction for your cover, for authors who would rather not make every design decision themselves.
Use the Book Cover Maker if you want direct control and are comfortable customizing a starting cover direction yourself. Consider the professional design service if you’d prefer a more bespoke direction or want a designer to handle the visual decisions for you.
Publishing-platform specifications can change. For final production, always confirm the current requirements of the platform or printer receiving your cover file.
BOOK COVER GENRES
Explore Book Cover Makers by Genre
Ready to Start?
Start With a Cover Direction That Fits Your Book
Add your book title, author name, and genre, then choose a cover direction that fits your story. From there, the design is yours to shape — adjust the typography, imagery, and layout until it feels right.
Free to start · No design experience needed
This tool is built for front-cover design. Always confirm your publishing platform's current specifications before final upload.