Making a decent ebook cover is one of the hardest self-publishing obstacles to overcome.

In fact, amount 5 will be the only tool you are able to use without Firefox!

When I published my very first ebook, I didn’t want a 3D ebook cover. All I wanted was a flat image with massive writing on the top, like the copies of print book covers you see on Amazon and all of the booksellers’ sites. Right after Googling and downloading some free of charge software program (nothing more than 3D boxes most of them) and plenty of experimentation, trial and error, I created my ebook cover image on Word. I featured one of my own photographs and applied Word Art graphics to create the titles. It was totally absolutely free and my ebook has taken its spot in the Amazon digital charts with out disgracing itself. Since then I’ve produced ebook covers in various ways, all of them completely free.

1. VERY SIMPLE EBOOK COVER Photograph or image with title and author name underneath.

5. Notepad++ | Text Editor

This amazing plan is one hell of a replacement for notepad. I do nearly all of my programming with it. Even when operating in a WordPress environment, I code in Notepad++ then paste it over into the WordPress HTML view. What I appreciate most about this excellent tool are the little items that Notepad++ visual does to help. It colour codes your code, and has collapsible divs. You can also highlight one div, and it will find it is partner! A must for those of us with… messy coding habits.

Advantages: Clear, unfussy and does the job.

If you might have no suitable photographs you’ve taken (or can take) yourself, there are plenty of royalty-free photography sites. If you’d rather have artwork, come across an image you like on 1 of the artists’ central sales web sites (eg saatchi-gallery) and ask the artist’s permission to use their work in return for a credit on the inside page. They may possibly well be delighted to obtain the extra (free) publicity for their work. A cut and paste image from their internet site (once you have got written permission) will work fine.

Open a blank WORD document. Click INSERT > PICTURE and upload your ebook cover image.

4. Colour Grabber Thingy

What about when the graphic designer sends you an image mock-up devoid of telling you a thing as very simple as what the colour of the navigation is supposed to be? Sure you can take a screenshot of the site you like, load it into Photoshop, and use the eyedropper tool to locate out what the color is, but what a hassle! ColorZilla adds an eyedropper towards the browser allowing you to locate out what the colour is on any section of the page.

3. FireShot

c) Size it appropriately and sort your title and author name underneath.

In order for it to be accepted by the computer as an IMAGE, take a screenshot of the ebook cover.

TO MAKE A THUMBNAIL EBOOK COVER FOR THE SALES SITES:

Press COMMAND + SHIFT + 4 all at the same time. Your cursor turns into a cross. Release the buttons.

Need to take a screenshot of the final site to use inside your portfolio? Want to send a client an image of the shadowsite, before letting them mess about in the real thing and point out the obvious (“this link does not work yet, waahhhhhh”) locations that haven’t been implemented yet?

2.

If you’d rather imitate a print book cover and have your titles OVER the images it is somewhat a lot more complicated.

a) Get your image onto a WORD document page as before.

b) Click Word Art.

You may wish to understand additional info on my site on How To Take Screenshots On Windows and also How To Take Screenshots.

Other Rants from the Blogosphere!

If you have a knack for providing style advice to others, you might want to market your skills and earn a profit from the comforts of your own home, while helping others find their new image from the comforts of their homes. Many people desire an image make-over for professional reasons, social reasons, and personal reasons. With an excellent web-based program called “My Private Stylist”, you can enjoy making a passive profit in the world of image consulting. You can start making money offering people self-help style advice with this fabulous online reseller program.

First, “My Private Stylist” was created by International Image Expert, Ann Reinten, AICI, CIP. Ms. Reinten is the founder and CEO of Image Innovators and The Australian Image Company. She provides affordable image consulting and style advice to women and men from the ages of 17-70+. Now, with the web-based program, “My Private Stylist”, you can gain access to all of the success lessons necessary for providing style advice, while also earning a profit. “My Private Stylist” is similar to the program “Your Personal Style Solution”. You can access banners, brochures, emails, and marketing letters that will help you enjoy turning a profit from the comforts of your own home. Having a web-based program is essential for anyone interested in receiving money as an affiliate reseller.

You can learn how to provide others with self-help style advice at an affordable price with “My Private Stylist”. Put a link, or a banner on your pages, when people click through and purchase the program, get 40% of the sales. Moreover, you can receive 25% of any style guide or e-book that is purchased from your site. You can also receive a profit from your first-line affiliate resellers by earning 10% of their sales. While you’re drinking your morning cup of coffee, you can be making money. You can download a pdf at OperationStyleCash.com to find more information on the fabulous reseller program. Show the way for others to make money too.

Working from home, you can gain money in at least two ways. No travel expenses, and profits from the sales you make. Many people are in need of image consultants to offer style choices to help them get ahead in the professional world. In the world of business, choosing the right colors, make-up, outfits, and overall image to project is crucial to becoming successful and being perceived as strong. Now, people can utilize the self-help program, “My Private Stylist”, to find the image make-over they need. Earn money, in this hot niche, just by showing people where to find the information they seek.

If you want to provide the positive self-image and style advice for people in need of an image make-over, you should consider investigating the popular web-based program, “My Private Stylist”. The program is based on the successful version, “Your Personal Style Solution.” Ann Reinten, AICI, CIP developed a way for women to receive the style advice and image make-over they need, and now, you can help people find the self-help information they need through the web-based program. You could earn a passive income, doing about anything, even sleeping. Internet businesses are excellent ways to easily earn profit, and even better, you can earn a profit while helping people find their professional and personal style. Once you join this free affiliate program, you can have access to all tools that will help you enjoy online success. Present the program to your visitors seeking fashion advice, and make money too.

Other Rants from the Blogosphere!

• Ways to make money online without spending a ten | Ways For Teenagers To Make Money
• My Affiliate Store | Affiliate News, Affiliate Launch, Affliate Networks
• What You Dont Know About Affiliate Marketing | Debt Relief | Financial Freedom | Independence
• Affiliate Programs Explained | Ike's Extra Money Making Ideas
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• Hot Cup of Coffee Causes Emergency Landing | The Sarcasmist
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• Traffic Anarchy Ebook
• Ebooks: Increase Your Income From Each Ebook You Write
• eBook Bundle Kindle | eBook Kindle Store | eBook Bundle | Daemon’s Books

Traffic Python is a new site that says it guarantees more CONVERTING web visitors and online advertising with very little effort or cost. So I decided to put it to the test…

My first impression was the site looks professional and clean, with an attractive look and feel. It is easy to read and understand. Joining the site was easy and painless–they do offer 2 upgrade options but they are not required to gain the benefits.

The Members Area is very well laid out and intuitive–I could figure out what to do after only a few minutes and was able to get up and running in less than 5 minutes. Inside the site, you create links and ads–the links you simply enter any URL links you use into the generator and it transforms them into “Traffic Python” links. You create ads for anything you want to promote using the Traffic Python Ad Generator, which is very easy to use. You can create as many links and as many ads as you like. And they are organized in a logical way–links are displayed in the order you create them but also your 5 most recent links appear on the main page for quick reference. Also, since the link generator is the tool you’ll use most, it is also right at the top of the main page when you login. Very smart!

After you’ve created at least 1 link and 1 ad you can start to generate traffic. Just use and promote the new Traffic Python link instead of the original source link you had. Every time the Traffic Python link is clicked, the page loads followed by a cool slide-up ad window at the bottom. It displays an ad PLUS an image with your affiliate link that goes back to Traffic Python. So if anyone clicks the Traffic Python image they see the site, and if they signup they become your referral. It’s a great viral feature because you can build referrals without even trying to just by using the site.

Now every time the ad window displays (your Traffic Python links get clicked) you earn credits that get YOUR ad displayed in the ad windows when other members’ links get clicked. So the more clicks, the more times your ads get displayed.

And this works virally–meaning as you make referrals into Traffic Python (either by promoting it or just using it and visitors click the Traffic Python image on the ad window to join) you also earn ad credits on THEIR link clicks. And this works up to 5 levels deep. So you can create a massive amount of free ad views and web traffic by referring others to Traffic Python also.

I didn’t get to test the full effect of a big downline yet (I just got the tool) but I can tell you the rest of the site works exactly as stated–my links got clicked, I earned credits, and my ads got displayed. Traffic Python even tracked my results so I know how many clicks and how many ad displays. That was an impressive unadvertised extra feature.

There is one more benefit and feature which might be the best of them all–downline emailing. You can email your downline with offers, promotions, or whatever you like, and here is where Traffic Python really shines. They took time to make the emailing often enough that it’s valuable as a user, but no so often that it’s a burden to your downline. But the best part about this feature (and actually the credit earning too) is that it tells you exactly how long until you can mail again. Now THAT’s cool.

Overall I have to say I am impressed with Traffic Python. It is simple yet powerful, and delivers on its promises. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to increase traffic and advertising.

See it and join here:

Unleash Your Traffic Python!