Create a Free Book Cover Mockup Using Canva | 5 Step Tutorial

Welcome! I want to show you how to easily create a beautiful book cover mockup these using the free image editing platform, Canva.

Just to clarify, this should all be possible for free, within minutes.

---

Watch this Canva tutorial on YouTube?

---

Example Cover Mockups from Canva

Here are a few example mockups I was able to create before my coffee was even cold.

If you were wondering, fancier mockups are indeed possible. Once you are comfortable with the basic theory, you will be able to create more detailed mockups in a jiffy.

Why Bother Creating Cover Mockups?

Within my day-to-day publishing activities, I use cover mockups in a few different ways.

1. They look great when used tastefully as part of author website.
2. They also work well within your email signature, subtly promoting your book.
3. I love how they look when used as social media cover images on LinkedIn or Facebook author profiles.
4. General book promo posts online or over WhatsApp.

What you need?

Before starting, you need 3 important things.

1. A rectangular, high-resolution, image of your book’s front cover. See recommended cover image specs.
2. A free Canva account.
3. Cup of coffee. ☕

---

Step 1: Access your Canva account

Let’s access your Canva account, either via the web browser www.canva.com OR

by using Canva’s free desktop app. Download here.

Step 2: Start a new design

1. Select the circular “Create” button on the menu LHS
2. Type “Book cover” into the top prompt, “What would you like to create?”
3. Select the appropriate option: “Book Cover”.

Note: You could also just start a new design with a custom size of 1410 x 2250 px

Step 3: Choose the right cover mockup template

1. I select the “Element” option from the far RHS menu
2. Scrolling down the list, select the “Mockups” option near the end
3. Next, search for the phrase “book” in the top search box. (Within the mockups section)
   • You could also manually browse the section labelled “Print”.
4. I select my preferred mockup.  (I had to scroll down a little to find it.)
5. You should now be seeing your selected book mockup template on your main screen.

Step 4: Uploading your front cover

1. Click “Upload” option from the far LHS menu.
2. Select and upload the high-res rectangular front cover image of your book cover.
3. Once uploaded, drag your cover to the cover mockup frame.
4. This should automatically insert your front cover into the mockup frame/ template.

Step 5: Reshape and then export

1. Once your front cover has been inserted into the frame, reshape the image to take up the majority of the space within your Canva design. Do this by grabbing and dragging the corners of the new mockup.
2. To export your new mockup, select in the “Share” button from the top RHS of your screen.
3. Then select the “Download” button.
4. Change the download selection labelled “File Type” to show PNG format.
5. I recommend selecting the options to “Compress file” AND “Transparent background”
6. Lastly, select download. Save the new file to an easy to find location.

Done! 🎉

---