Buyers judge your book in a 160-pixel thumbnail next to fifty competitors. A cover's only job is to win that glance. These rules do exactly that.
The seven rules
- Legible at thumbnail: if the title isn't readable at 160px, nothing else matters
- Big type, few words: title + one short subtitle, nothing else
- High contrast: light text on dark or the reverse — never mid on mid
- Signal the genre: business books look like business books for a reason
- One focal point: a single strong shape beats a collage
- Consistent series style: your catalog should be recognizable at a glance
- Test at small size before publishing — shrink it and squint
Marketplace dimensions cheat sheet
- Amazon KDP eBook: 1600 × 2560 px (1.6:1)
- Etsy listing images: 2000 × 2000 px context shots
- Gumroad: flexible, 1280 × 1810 works well
EbookCreator's cover designer applies these rules by default — pick a style, adjust the type, export at the right dimensions per marketplace.