NOTE: This post originally appeared as a guest post from us on The Book Designer. It has since been updated, with changes and a new site.
Images grab attention. The popular phrase, “A picture’s worth a thousand words” illustrates this fact. Pinterest blew up overnight because people could share what they liked in an appealing visual format. This is also why it is important to have a beautiful book cover for your book. An attractive cover can draw in someone who is just browsing and entice him or her to make a purchase.
Use this to your advantage
So, how can you use this attraction that people have to stunning images to promote your own books?
One way is to pull some great quotes from your book and then use one of the online tools we recommend below to spruce that quote up until it’s perfect for sharing. You don’t even need to have any graphic design skills to do this!
I’ll show you some awesome websites that will take your quote and make it look amazing, but first it is important that you find the right quote to use.
How to Find the Ideal Quotes From Your Books
If you already have a community of readers, try to find out their favorite quotes, because if they liked a particular quote from your book, chances are other people will like that quote too.
The easiest way to find what quotes your readers liked is to simply ask them. Send out a Tweet or a Facebook update asking your readers for their favorite quotes from your book and see what they tell you.
[Editor’s note: This article used to walk you through how to find the popular highlights from your book, but Amazon has since removed this amazingly useful feature from Amazon.com. Still, you know what your favorite quotes are from the book, and you can use any text to create cool images using any of the tools below. Plus, as suggested above, you can ask your readers!]
Pick a quote. The quote I liked was:
“In this environment it’s your passion, persistence and pluck that will sell your book, and those are all within your control.”
Let’s use that.
How to Graphically Spruce Up Your Great Quote
Luckily, you do not need to have any graphic design skills, because I found some great websites designed to make quotes look good.
You can use any one of these awesome quote image makers online to turn your book’s quote into a visual masterpiece. Don’t forget to include your website URL in any of these quote makers so people who find your cool quote image know where to go to buy the book.
Here is the list of beautiful quote image making sites (that’s the technical term) and a sample of an image that I made from each of them:
BONUS: Canva
When I first wrote this post as a guest post, Canva wasn’t around. Since it has come out, the most popular question I was asked is, “Why wasn’t Canva included in the list?”… well, now it is!
Canva is awesome because they help you to do better design with tons of amazing layouts, pictures that you can get for just $1 for backgrounds, and a great jumping off point for those who don’t know anything at all about design.
1. Pro Writing Aid
Pro Writing Aid has many styles to choose from that are generated automatically. It is very easy to use. If you don’t like the 5 or so styles they show you, you just click a button to have more generated. They also provide a bookmarklet you can add to your browser that allows you to create quotes from any site.
2. Quozio
Quozio is very simple to use. They include a bookmarklet as well, and have many great styles from which you can choose. Their images do not contain any watermarks.
3. QuotesCover
QuotesCover not only has a massive directory of quotes to use, but they also allow you to add your own custom quotes. Choose the “viral status” option on the second page. You can insert your own pictures on this site.
4. BeHappy
BeHappy is a fun site because you can add little icons, or choose from many different fonts. Also, they have many color scheme options.
5. Chisel
Chisel will require you to register to use the tool but registration is free. You can add your own pictures.
6. Pinstamatic
Sometimes, a particular quote doesn’t work well in a certain site, because of their size and font limitations. Each site is unique. I just pulled out a different quote from Joel’s book for use on Pinstamatic. Pinstamatic has a handful of quote designs.
7. PicMonkey
PicMonkey has many awesome features in the free mode, but they do show you more options that are available to you if you buy their premium service. I like PicMonkey because I can add multiple text boxes, which means I can add my website, other details, etc.
8. PinWords
PinWords has a few default images on their site, but they expect you to use your own background image, which could be good or bad, depending on whether you have a nice picture for a background or not. They do provide a bookmarklet to use in your browser.
9. Recite This
A downside to Recite This is that they include their branding on all images, so I prefer other sites. However, they do have some awesome styles available.
10. ShareAsImage
ShareAsImage just came out of beta as I am writing this; so there are a few bugs that they will hopefully work out in time. They only allow you to create 3 images with a free account before you need to pay. Their images contain branding, at least on the free account.
Wrapping It All Up
If you need something new to tweet, or you want to create beautiful images for your readers to share, pick a favorite quote from your book. Then, load up any one of these websites to create an attractive image to share with your readers; one that they can distribute on their own social profiles to get more attention for your book.
Don’t forget to include your book name, author name, or a way for people to find out more!