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Wattpad readers judge stories based on covers, but you don’t need to spend a fortune on design.
When you first join Wattpad and see all those fantastic covers, you probably think, That cover must have cost hundreds of dollars or I need to hire a cover designer or It will take me ages to finish cover-designing courses. I’ve been there, believing I would have to spend loads of money on a good cover, but I was wrong. With no experience in cover design and no type of real income at the time I joined Wattpad, I found a way to make my covers for free or for less than the price of lunch.
The Wattpad optimal book cover size is 512 pixels wide × 800 pixels tall. It can be larger than that, but keep the proportions correct. Otherwise, the book either won’t fit on Wattpad or will look odd.
As you’re thinking about design, there’s one thing you need to keep in mind above all else: Make sure the words are readable. With around 90 percent of all Wattpadders using mobile devices, it’s more important than ever to think of how your covers will appear on small screens. Large font sizes are a must. If there is no way to fit in all the words, make sure the overall design is striking and memorable with a less-is-more approach (explained in the next section).
This also applies to contrast. If the background image for your cover is dark, then don’t use similarly dark letters that won’t stand out. If your book’s cover image is too light, darken your text. You want the title and the author’s name to be easy to see and read.
Wattpad Star Alex Evansley (@nonfictionalex) summed it up perfectly when she said, “A good cover invites everyone to the party. The story is why people stay.”
How do you do that? By adhering to a less-is-more mentality when approaching cover design. That means following the rules below.
A cover needs one image, a title, and the author’s name. A cover with all of that against a solid color background is better than one using three images and a funky font for the title.
Often the first step in designing a cover is choosing an image. Look for striking yet simple images that are memorable without being complex. Remember, readers have millions of choices on Wattpad. The idea is to stand out. Research what’s popular in your Wattpad genre. You may notice right away that writers pulling from the same free photo sites use the same images. You can either choose something different or use similar images in different ways. Also, picking images that are originally from popular entertainment, like movie characters, diminishes your chances of being unique—and likely violates copyright laws.
Where do I find free images for covers? is a question with a few different answers, but let’s get something straight first. Don’t use copyrighted images that you’ve randomly pulled from the Internet. On top of being illegal and unethical, it creates a huge hassle for the writer when/if she is caught—and it could sink her reputation, too. Simply put, the fact that an image is on the Internet does not necessarily make it available for anyone to use.
Use images the right way. Some will tell you there are gray areas. There aren’t. If the image isn’t explicitly free, ask the creator for permission or buy the image. If those aren’t options, create your own image or hire someone to do it for you. Fortunately, you don’t need to spend money or time to wind up with a great cover image. I recommend four free websites that offer high-quality images: Pexels.com, Canva.com, Unsplash.com, and Pixabay.com.
Buying an image from sites such as iStock and Shutterstock increases the chances that the image isn’t as common to Wattpad. Since paid sites offer more options than free sites, the chances are better that the image will more closely match the book’s theme.
iStock and Shutterstock can get expensive, but there are paid alternatives. Canva sells some images for a dollar, even though the website is free to use. Don’t dismiss these low-cost images. For example, I used one for my book Don’t Text Back:
It matched the theme of Don’t Text Back, it’s striking, and it didn’t break the bank. Whether you have the same luck depends your needs, but the point is to give low-cost images their due consideration.
If you’re not finding the right image, you could also ask your readers to create a cover image for you. Many Wattpadders are illustrators and photographers, and the reward of having their work featured is often enough of an incentive. Throwing a few dollars their way won’t go unappreciated either.
When it comes to actually making the cover, the good news is that there are several options available online that don’t require software installation. I’ll focus on one in particular. Canva.com is not only easy to use and capable of turning out a professional cover, it also comes with a built-in Wattpad template. You don’t need graphic design experience for this. Learning how to make book covers on Canva doesn’t take long. Canva offers two-minute video tutorials on how to add text, images, shapes, and more.
Don’t confuse simplicity with ineffectiveness. The first time I used Canva to make a cover, my book received many more reads, votes, and comments on Wattpad than the cover I had before. Furthermore, Wattpad’s own data shows that twenty-three times more readers will check out a story with a cover versus one without. It’s hard to translate that into hard data for individual, subjective cover designs, but the point is clear: Covers matter.
Let’s put the design elements mentioned earlier into practice. Here’s a cover I designed with Canva:
The image was originally much lighter, but I knew I needed to create contrast to make the title pop. Using Canva, I darkened the image. To make the title stand out even more, I placed black font in white boxes. It’s easy to read, even if it’s on a mobile device. Also, this cover sticks to the “less is more” approach with the simplicity of the layout. It has three primary elements, which are listed below.
That takes care of the basics. The characteristics listed above would’ve been enough for a Wattpad cover, but I added two extras. There’s the sticker on the lower right and a tag line at the very top. The sticker, earned as part of a contest, acts to entice the reader, so it made the cut for the cover. I left enough blank space for a sticker in the original version. Consider doing the same when designing your covers. The tag line was completely optional, but note how it doesn’t clutter the design. It’s small and unassuming so that it doesn’t compete with other words on the cover, like the title. If you choose to do a tag line, keep that in mind.
Here’s one more cover of mine that was made with Canva:
This example would seem to violate the “less is more” approach because there are three images: two in the background and one in the foreground. However, the background images almost disappear into the design, which allows the foreground image to pop. It also helps that the background images consist of two neutral colors (black and gray) and the foreground image features three bold colors (peach, yellow, and pink). This design technique is a great way to add depth to a cover and still keep things simple.
The title is a little different, too. The name of this story is Stay Away from Georgie. However, the “Stay” is at the top of the cover, and “Away From Georgie” is near the bottom. This is an effective way to lay out longer titles because cramming all the words into a single line doesn’t always look appealing. Another option would’ve been to cluster the words together across two or three stacked lines.
Decisions like these would come after nailing down the basics. Again, stick to the principles of “less is more” with a single image, the title, and your name. Once you have a rudimentary cover down, you can play around with other elements. This is a great way to build your confidence since you know you can always go back to that basic cover and use it if all else fails.
If you’re stuck deciding between different versions of covers, ask your readers to make the decision for you. Post the versions on social media, and tell your readers on Wattpad how to vote. Maximize this by randomly selecting voters to win prizes. You could also create hashtags for each cover and require your audience to use the hashtags on social media in order to vote. This not only keeps your votes organized, it also creates a viral effect on social media that could attract new readers in the process.
Professional book designers abound, but this isn’t a chapter about how to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a cover. If you’re looking to hire out design, there’s only one site you need to know about: fiverr.com. Fiverr is a website where you can hire someone to perform a task—including cover creation—for a minimum of $6 ($5 to the designer and $1 to Fiverr). Look for designers with experience in your genre, and be sure to review their portfolios to see if the aesthetics are a match (that would apply to any designer, actually). When you choose a designer, let her know what the story is about. For example, if you mention that your book will be full of blood and gore, she may design the font to be red or appear bloody. Don’t assume that the designer knows the right specs for Wattpad. Tell them the exact dimensions and file type you need. For Wattpad, a 512 × 800 jpeg file is perfect.
Here are some covers I created on Fiverr:
If your story is already live on Wattpad but your cover isn’t ready, you’ll need a placeholder. This would be uploaded the same way as any other cover. The difference is that it’s a super-simple design. Stick the title and your name against a solid background color. Choose “512 × 800” for your dimensions. Bingo. You have a placeholder cover.
It’s better to go with a placeholder than no cover at all. Again, Wattpad’s data shows that stories with covers receive twenty-three times more reads than those without. By using a placeholder, you’ll reap readers and buy yourself time to finish the official cover.
Once you have designed your new cover, it only takes a minute to post it on Wattpad. Keep in mind that the cover can be replaced quickly if you need to do so. This is especially helpful if you turn the story that cover is attached to into a series. The books in a series should all share similar colors, fonts, and images. You could build your personal brand in this way, too. For example, I write a lot of stories involving mansions, ghosts, and wooded areas. For my covers, I frequently use ghosts and mansions. This helps new readers know what genre I write in (horror).
Take advantage of how easy it is to change stories’ covers within Wattpad by freshening them up from time to time. Styles and personal preferences change, and there’s no reason to feel stuck with a cover. You could also run experiments to see which cover design is most appealing to readers. Try one cover one week and another the next, and then examine the story’s stats. Along those same lines, you might also ask readers to choose their favorite cover from a few that you’re considering. Wattpad is built for this kind of feedback, so take advantage of it.
Nearly every writer must tackle the issue of cover design, and that means you’ll find plenty of support from other Wattpadders. They’re perfect for bouncing around new ideas, asking for feedback, troubleshooting the cover-creation process, and providing encouragement. For a deeper dive into design, consider joining the Multimedia Designs club on Wattpad. You’ll find an entire community focused solely on covers and other design projects. Find it by clicking on the “Community” tab on Wattpad and then selecting “Clubs.”
Jakayla Toney is an American writer of young adult novels, 2016 Watty Award winner, and Wattpad Star. She is known for her horrifying and creepy ghost stories. Authors such as R.L. Stine and Mary Downing Hahn are her influences.