Last week, we discussed writing and publishing Kindle short stories. Several authors wanted to know the easiest, fastest and least expensive ways to get book covers.
Here are three ways.
1. Amazon: Use Kindle Cover Creator
The easiest way is to let Amazon help you. Amazon’s new utility, Cover Creator, does it all for you — more or less.
If you don’t have a cover for your book, you can use the KDP Cover Creator to make one based on an image you provide or a selection from our gallery of stock images, customizable with a variety of different layouts and font sets.
2. Buy Pre-made Covers
The Book Cover Designer offers hundreds of book covers which are done for you. All you need to do is add your own text. Simple. 
3. Hire a designer on Fiverr
I did a search for “ebook covers kindle” on fiverr.com, and found many people willing to create $5 covers for you.
If you’re hiring someone on Fiverr however, do READ what the person offers. On a couple of the gigs I looked at, the designer charged $5 extra for the PSD (Photoshop file), which I think should be sent to you anyway, but then $10 for a great cover INCLUDING the PSD file is more than terrific.
Tip: when you hire a designer, ALWAYS get the PSD file. You may want to create a series of books, with similar covers. Without the PSD, you can’t do that.
Another tip: ask the designer where the image came from — you need to be sure that you have the rights to use the image.
4. Do It Yourself — Easier than you’d think
This is my preferred option. I like tinkering with Photoshop.
Here’s the basic process:
* Find an image at a stock image site like Dreamstime, or iStockPhoto (check the rights);
* Find a font. Fonts make or break your cover — here’s an excellent article which includes links to free fronts;
* Edit the cover image — add the text in an image editor. I like The GIMP for a free alternative to Photoshop;
* Tinker, tinker, tinker… and DONE.
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