How to Use Book Brush

 

Since the app is a paid service, first choose your subscription level. Again, there is a free tier, but you cannot save projects. Essentially, it’s the free trial.

Once your account is created and logged in, you land on the homepage. Everything you need is right here.

Let’s start with book covers. 

• Click on the templates from the left, Cover Templates or on the upper right menu bar, choose Tools, then Covers Creator. I’m using Cover Creator to start from scratch. (The templates are still listed at the bottom even if you choose Cover Creator.) 
• Hit Create New. The Cover Creator screen has a warning regarding your subscription level, i.e., I can make but not save. 
• Choose your book type. I’ll continue with an e-book. 
• Next, choose which vendor to format for: Kindle, Kobo, Wattpad, and Kindle Vella. You can also create a custom cover by putting in your own dimensions for the cover.

Background:

• The left side of the screen has elements to add to your cover. 
• Click Background. 
• Choose from the library or upload your licensed photo. You can search their library. 
• Once the photo is added, click and drag the image back and forth to find the section of the image you want. This is great for repeating a slightly altered image for a series or for creating a print cover. 
• Once the image is up, a menu bar appears above with options to flip or change transparency. Click More Options to add a menu on the left with additional choices. Included are Size, Gradients, Color, Border, Blur, Overlays, and Filter. Essentially, you can alter the photo in many ways to create the perfect background image. (Animations are available, but only on paid plans.)

Text:

• Click on the Text option on the left menu. 
• Click Add a Text Box. Multiple boxes can be added. 
• Click on the text box to open a new menu on the left. 
• Inside the new text box, erase the current text and type your title, author name, or whatever is needed. (There is a spell check.) 
• Bold, italic, underline, all caps, and alignment are next. Under that, find font, size, color (you must press Okay on the color pop-up menu, old school but…). 
• Next, there are options for transparency, shadow, shadow color, line height, letter spacing, and you can make the text a button. 
• Last, there are options for text background color, transparency, shadow with color, rounded corners, and a border with color. Again, animation is only for paid subscribers. 
• To change the position or size of the box, click on the picture. Use the directional arrows on the edges to change the size. Click and drag to move the element. You can flip the words (arrow in the upper left of box), trash the text box (trash can upper right), or copy the box (plus sign bottom left).

Images:

• The images section has a series of community stamps to be added to the cover. Things like vendor images or bestseller stamps can be easily added to your cover. 
• Click and drag the image to the desired spot and adjust the size. 
• Next on the menu is a place to upload your own images depending on your subscription. 
• Last, you can search for images to add a small icon or pic to the cover. This last section seems better used for ads than covers. 
• Stamps and Images can be customized further if you click on the element and then More Options above it (gray menu). 
• Choose from the left menu to flip, make more transparent, blur, filter. 
• Next is background with color, transparency, shadow with color, and rounded corners. 
• Last is Background Remover. This is a premium option that lets you pull a person, animal, house, or whatever from their background and use the image. Credits are used for this option, and a More Info button is there to explain further.

And that’s just the cover people!

Under Custom Templates, there are a slew of choices for ads including Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub. Click on Platform to see all the options. You can also choose templates designed for genre, a certain descriptive (like a dog or coffee mug), and partners like Book Funnel. These templates are customized, much like the cover with a few more elements.

Book Template allows you to add a 3D cover of your book to the ad image. These are considered an upload if you used a pre-made cover from somewhere else. Options include print, digital, audio, and cover-reveal images. Background, Text, and Images are the same as under Cover Creator, except you can add video to your background.

Next week, we will look at trailers and videos for Book Brush.