A strong image is a key part of any successful ad campaign, because it’s all your readers see! You can use BookBub’s in-form creative builder to create strong book ad images from simple templates. But if you want to create your own designs, and you’re not quite ready to master Photoshop or hire a designer, this post is for you. We’ve compiled eight examples of custom designs that are effective, but easy to replicate: each of these ads drove CTRs of over 3.5% and up to 15%!
What makes these ads so effective?
- They use the book’s cover art: A good cover will communicate a lot of information about your book to readers, so make use of that art!
- They use consistent branding: Pulling colors from your cover art into your ad designs will make the final image look cohesive.
- They’re easy to read: Your font should be large and simple enough to read at a glance, and it should have good contrast against its background.
- They have effective targeting: Even the strongest book ad designs won’t be successful if they aren’t reaching the right readers!
1. Match your cover branding
How to do it: If your book cover has bold, contrasting colors, use them in the rest of your image to create a cohesive look. Select colors from your book’s cover and apply them to your image’s background, text, and buttons or banners.
Helpful tool: Most design programs have an eyedropper (or color picker) tool you can use to pick up a color and apply it elsewhere. Or you can use a free online tool like this one.
2. Zoom in on your cover image
How to do it: Another creative way to use elements of your book cover is to zoom in on the part that most stands out or conveys your genre. Make this the background, then add simple button and banner shapes with text to finish the design.
Helpful tool: Make sure your text contrasts enough from its background to be easily legible. Coolors, an online color palette generator, has a contrast checker you can use to see how your text looks in different sizes.
3. Show a complete box set
How to do it: When promoting a box set — especially a big one! — displaying the full collection in your ad is a great way to communicate value. You can position the books’ spines along the top or bottom of your ad canvas, leaving space opposite for your ad copy. Match the text color to the book covers to tie everything together.
Helpful tool: The easiest way to make a 3D box set image is with Book Brush’s box set creator.
4. Add a banner to your book
How to do it: Adding a banner is a great way to call attention to key details in your ad, like a discount price or new release. Convey even more value by stacking other books from your series across the center of the image, then adding an eye-catching five-star review.
Helpful tool: You can find banner and star-rating graphics in design tools with built-in libraries of design elements, like Canva — many of which are free. Or, you can add a heavyweight diagonal line across your book cover and layer text on top.
5. Add depth with simple effects
How to do it: Simple effects like shadows can give your ad more dimension without much of a design challenge. To replicate this look, add your book’s cover and your copy, then add a large badge shape and position it partway off your canvas. Make the badge pop by adding a shadow effect to the edge and the text inside.
Helpful tool: On many design platforms, you can look for a drop shadow effect. If you’re using Canva, there isn’t a way to add a shadow to elements like badges, but you can to images you upload to the platform — so a workaround is to download the element with a transparent background, reupload it, then add a shadow (you’ll need to upgrade to Canva Pro for this).
6. Show multiple book covers
How to do it: Showing multiple book covers in your image is a great way to communicate value to readers — whether you’re promoting a series starter or the whole set. To imitate this look, use a solid background, then paste your book covers across the top two-thirds of the image to leave space for your copy below. This is particularly effective if, like in this example, your cover branding is consistent!
Helpful tool: You can use DIY Book Covers’ composite mockup creator to artfully arrange multiple book covers and formats.
7. Use other art as a background
How to do it: Have you commissioned art for your books that you haven’t used for a cover image? Add that art to your canvas as a background, then position your book covers around a focal point.
Helpful tool: DIY Book Covers also allows you to create mockups of your books on multiple devices.
8. Add a faded background
How to do it: This ad follows a typical ad format, featuring the book cover on the left and text with a CTA on the right; the faded background image adds a touch of depth. You can achieve this by dropping the background’s opacity, then complete the ad by layering on your cover image, ad copy, and a simple button shape with text.
Helpful tool: Look for the Opacity or Transparency tool in your design program to get the faded effect seen here. 5-10% transparency should be sufficient to make your background visible, but not distracting.
We hope these examples inspire you as you create your next ad image!
