CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Step 4: Export the Cover as a .jpg File The final step is to save your cover as a file you can upload to sites such as Smashwords, Amazon, Draft2Digital or Kobo. To do this, you need to click on the ‘File’ tab at the top of the page, then select ‘Save’. This will allow you to save your image as an .xcf file. It is useful to have this saved so you can easily make adjustments to your base cover. Once you have saved your .xcf file, you need to click on ‘File’ again. This time, you need to select the eleventh option down, the ‘Export’ option. This will cause a pop-up window to appear. GIMP will default to two things. Whatever title you gave your .xcf file, will become the title of this document AND it will have a .png extension. As most sites require .jpg files. you will need to go in and change this. It’s as simple as placing the cursor in the ‘Name:’ box and making the adjustment manually, as you would for any other file name change. When you are happy with wh...

Step 3: Add the Cover Text You will now want to add text to your cover image. After all, readers are going to be looking for a particular title and/or author name. To do this, you will want to select the Text Tool. Once you click on the Text Too, you will see the panel you need to be able to select your font, font size and font colour. This is where you’ll find those tools. You select the font type in one of two ways: by typing the name of the font into the box next to the text symbol OR by clicking on the text symbol and using your mouse to scroll through the drop down until you find and click on the font you want to use. You select the font size by double clicking on the number next to the word ‘Size’, and then typing in a size (in pixels) for the font to be. I usually start with 260 or 360 depending on the length of the title. You select the font colour by clicking on the colour box in the Text tools and selecting the colour in the same way you chose th...