THE COVER

An eBook cover consists of the front cover, the spine and in some cases the back cover. Some software will even allow you to use all three to create a 3-D rotating book image - which can be a real eye-grabber. We'll get into that later.

We're going to create an ebook in EXE format, which will NOT run on a Mac unless you have what is called an "emulator" - a special program that allows Mac users to also run Windows. In an update we will also show you how to create a PDF eBook, which will run on virtually any operating system - but it will lack some of the features you find in an EXE eBook. In yet further updates, we'll show you how to create eBooks that will operate on still more devices such as cell phones, certain ebook readers that require their own proprietary software.

The eBook we're going to create is on the topic of iridology. The subject matter for this demo is unimportant, since you can create an ebook on any topic you wish. I chose this particular subject because one of my web design clients is an iridologist - so, Brenda Star, this is for you!

The first thing I do is create a new folder somewhere in My Documents. In this case I just called it ebook and I put it in a folder called Iridology.

The second thing I do is think up a title for the ebook. I want something attention-grabbing that will help sell the ebook by making people want to learn more. I think I'll call it What Your Eyes Say About Your Health. Keep it short - even this is just a bit on the long side.

Next, I want a subtitle that will in just a very short space tell the reader a little more about the contents than just the title will do. I'll call this:

Normally, I would use my name and my client's name (when I ghost-write an ebook for a customer). So, in this case the authors will be:

Here I use the title (What Your Eyes Say About Your Health), a subtitle (A Beginner's Guide to Iridology) and the author credits (By Brenda Star and Jim Moore)

The spine is simply a repeat of the title (What Your Eyes Say About Your Health)

The back cover is a bit wordier, but still concise and to the point, loaded with words and phrases that will make the reader want to see more. This requires a knowledge of sales copy. I happen to know from experience that those who follow natural health, as opposed to drugs and surgery, harbor a deep mistrust of drugs and surgery. Why do television shows get more viewers and newspapers & magazines get more readers with controversy? Why does "bad news" consistently outsell "good news"? Humanity has a natural tendency to distrust its institutions - with historically good cause - and also has a desire to know the truth ... the story behind the story ... things that are being covered up. The back cover incorporates all of these and leads off with the question: "New Age hoax or natural health wonder?", implying that there will at least be some balance and objectivity to the contents.

The back cover repeats the title, subtitle and author credits, which then lead into the following copy. Notice how the lines are broken - there is method to this madness. Always try to break lines by phrases or begin each line with a key word or phrase.

What Your Eyes Say
About Your Health
A Beginner's Guide to Iridology
By Brenda Star and Jim Moore

New Age hoax or
natural health wonder?

This simple, natural approach to
the early detection of disease
has ancient roots, but has
been ridiculed by modern science.
Is there something here the
medical and pharmaceutical
industry doesn't want you
to know?

Read it now and
make up your own mind!

Always include a copyright notice in any ebook you create. There is no need to spend the hundreds of dollars needed to register a federal copyright - BUT if you don't, it makes it very difficult to sue someone who steals it as their own. I know, because once a major national magazine offered me $1 million for a major story on the assassination of President John Kennedy, then stole it and printed it for free.

Again, this isn't necessary. Personally, I like to get right into it. Your readers probably does, too.

This is especially important in non-fiction books of an educational or instructional nature, but does not apply to most fiction (though you could). This helps the reader find his/her way to the sections they are particularly interested in without having to thumb through the whole thing.

You'll see that in this example (and practically all of my own ebooks), I always have the contents visible - even as they read the book. I do this through a special web design technique called "iframes" (some might use just "frames"). You can also do it more simply with the Table of Contents (think TOC) on just one page - but the reader has to have an easy way to go back and forth from the page they're on to the TOC.

It's a good idea to create this first - because it serves as an outline for your ebook project as you create it.

But wait! I don't know yet what I'm going to say! I don't have the "body" or meat of the book. I don't have any "copy" prepared.

That's OK for right now. First we'll create the empty shell - just after we create the front cover, spine and back cover. I want to include the cover in the ebook itself, so we will create it first. I like to create three sizes - big (400 pixels wide), medium (250 pixels wide) and small (150 pixels wide).

Create the big size first, then save it as "cover-big-01". Resize it to 250 pixels wide and save it under a different name, such as "cover-med-01". Then repeat the process for the small graphic, saving it as "cover-sm-01" for example. Keep the names short, all in small letters, and use dashes instead of spaces in the filename. Whatever pixel width you choose, keep it consistent so your catalog will look more professional.

These three elements (front, spine and back) can be created in a photo program such as PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro. That creation can then be used in other programs that are designed specifically to create ebook covers or software box covers, along with CD/DVD covers. Below are the cover, spine and back cover I created.

**CLICK THE THUMBNAIL IMAGES TO SEE FULL-SIZE SHOTS**

THE BACK COVER	SPINE	THE FRONT COVER

I have a piece of art I want to use, so I copy it into the ebook folder I created earlier. NOTE: I will be using Microsoft Front Page to design this ebook, so the screenshots you see will be from that program.

I opened the photo file in PhotoShop, cleaned it up (smudges, spots, etc.) and resized it, then added the text you see here. In future updates to this ebook I plan to have a link to a separate ebook tutorial that will show beginners how to do what I have done here.

TIP: Often, if you buy resell rights to someone else's ebook your purchase will come with the artwork you need so you don't have to start from scratch like I did here.

There are also many eCover programs available you can use to simplify the process and avoid the expensive cost of PhotoShop (about $700!), but they can't produce results as good as PhotoShop or Paint Shop.

For the moment, I don't need the spine and back cover to use the front cover in the ebook itself, so for now we'll move on.

The second video will show you how to then transform that image into a 3D ebook cover using 3D eBook, a very inexpensive ($25) program that will do some amazing things! In future updates I will show you how to go a step further and transform that cover into a 3D rotating cover that shows the top, bottom, back, spine and front cover actually rotating like a movie. In fact, it is a movie of sorts.

Now, finally, we have something that looks like a real book! By having this in front of you, you will be inspired to go through the next steps and to create (and complete) a quality product whose inside will match the high quality of the cover.