Wattpad Block Party - Summer Edition IV

AliciaMarino Presents: Cover Design Tips & Chat

Happy summer, lovelies. (Well, nearly autumn now, which means we're entering the best freaking months of the year. Woohoo!) Welcome to the 2018 Summer Edition Wattpad Block Party! Miraculously, KellyAnneBlount asked me to participate this year for the first time and I couldn't be more excited to get into this.

I've pondered a bit what I'd write for you guys. I considered teasing the new book series that I will be releasing soon after Tangled in Strings is completed. But I don't have nearly enough information to make it worth your while yet. I've recently been blessed enough to be embarking on my own publishing journey, but I don't think I know nearly enough to tell you guys what I think you should do to get your own stories published, other than the usual push-past-the-never-ending-rejections spiel.

Instead, I've decided to write a quick post on how I make my covers on Wattpad. Your choice to boo and laugh now. I've had quite a few people over the years ask me how it's done, what sites I use, etc. So, I'm going to tell you!

First of all, here is a compilation of some of the Wattpad covers I've made over the years:

My newest ones to date are clearly better, due to the fact that I found some amazing apps that work literal magic! Magic, I tell you!

So, let's get started:

1) First thing I do when I'm preparing to begin the cover making process is I plot out my main character(s). Jot down the important physical appearances- hair color, eye color, skin tone, hair length and have it by you when you are prepared to begin searching for your picture.

2) Finding the perfect picture is HELL. At least for me it is, because I'm a crazy perfectionist when it comes to covers. On Wattpad, it's great if you have the money to purchase your own stock photo but it's really not required. So, I either go to Pinterest, Tumblr or simply Google to find mine since I'm a broke college student who really can't afford it. Type in what you'd like to see on your cover. Since I write steamy romance, I usually prefer couples. I type in things from sexy couples to kissing to more specific searches, like dark-haired business couple. In short, it takes a LONG time.

Tip: Take your time sorting through the pictures. A good cover is so important to entrance readers to read your content. If you have a half-fast picture with difficult text, it's going to be hard to get people to take a chance on what you have to offer. It usually takes me days and many, many hours to find the perfect picture. It will be worth it, I promise you.

3) Once you've found your choice of photo, it's time to create the cover! Yay! Now, here is where this post becomes somewhat important.

These are the apps I use to create my covers (and mind you, I use them all throughout the process):

MOLDIV

~ Okay, guys. This is THE most important app I have for covers. It's completely free, but to get the deluxe package which I have, I paid something like $2.99. It is worth it. With the deluxe package, you get more filters, texts, and templates. It's really easy to navigate through and the filters are stunning.