Question for Graphics folks re: templates for ebooks

Just curious...how hard is it to create some simple templates for ebooks? I'm not gifted, but have managed to put headers on my websites.

I enjoy the graphic part of creating, just not real good at it yet and trying to learn new things, such as some generic ebook templates that I could share or maybe one day be good enough to sell.

I'm still trying to work up the nerve to do some website templates as well, but there are so many good ones out there already, so I thought maybe I could offer something to 'dress up' ebooks so they're not just white screens with words on them.

Can anyone give me any direction? I don't have Photoshop, have been using paint.net, and haven't tried Gimp or any others. Is it even possible to do what I'm wanting to do without a costly application like PS?

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

Honey

 

You can purchase Photoshop Elements for under 100 dollars. Well worth the money. Try ebay for lower prices. Creating ebook templates is easy. If you are unsure how to make one, I would suggest copying one already made into photoshop elements and editing it on your own until you get the hang of it.

 

If you are looking to make covers for e-books, you will need some sort of program for creating graphics. Gimp should meet all of your needs.

On the other hand, if you want to create beautiful page layouts like the inside of a book or magazine I suppose you could use Gimp, but you really should use some type of desktop publishing software. Indesign and Quark are the professional (expensive) versions of this but there is Scribus which is free and appears to be rather in-depth.

 

Thanks so much for the responses. I'm looking to make templates for the *inside* pages of ebooks, though, not covers...not yet, anyway...LOL!

You know like a colored bar or hearts or leaves or geometric shapes or whatever down one side, or a wide colored margin at the bottom that fades up into white...just something to dress up an ebook so it's more than just black text on a white page.

I'm looking at Scribus right now, and boy, does it look like it'll do a whole lot more than what I'm talking about! The biggest concern I have about, and bear in mind that I haven't finished looking yet, but the screen shots of the software I've seen so far are all in German! I'm hoping there's an English version on there somewhere.

Anyway, if I can do what I'm wanting to do with something like Gimp, I'd much rather use that. At least I'm semi-familiar with that type of application.

Thanks again, and if anybody else has other suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Honey

 

Here is a free resource for creating amazing ebook covers: http://www.absolutecovers.com/blog/2008/06/03/free-ebook-cover-action-script/