Your ebook cover has one job in the places where most readers meet it: it has to look right and read clearly at the size of a postage stamp. Online stores show covers as small thumbnails, so a design that works only at full size will fail where it matters. This guide covers KDP's cover requirements, how to choose an image, how to lay out the title and author name, how to check the thumbnail, and how to export the right file. The last section shows how to do it in Quillen's ebook cover designer.
The short answer
Make the cover a tall RGB image with a height-to-width ratio of at least 1.6 to 1. KDP's ideal size is 2,560 pixels tall by 1,600 wide, saved as a JPEG or TIFF. Use one strong image, a title large enough to read as a thumbnail, your name in a smaller size, and strong contrast between text and background. Check it at about 100 pixels wide before you finish. Quillen's ebook cover designer starts from the right canvas size, shows a safe-area guide and a thumbnail preview, and exports a JPEG at KDP's ideal size.
What KDP asks for
These are the figures from KDP's ebook cover help pages at the time of writing. KDP's pages are not perfectly consistent with each other, so check the current cover requirements before you upload.
| Requirement | KDP guidance |
|---|---|
| File type | JPEG or TIFF |
| Ideal size | 2,560 pixels tall by 1,600 pixels wide |
| Ratio | Height to width of at least 1.6 to 1 |
| Minimum size | 1,000 pixels tall by 625 pixels wide |
| Maximum | 10,000 pixels on the longest side; file under 50 MB |
| Color | RGB |
| Resolution | 300 PPI is the safer target |
What you need
- Your title and author name, exactly as they will appear on the book.
- One main image that is at least as large as the final size, so it stays sharp.
- Two or three comparable covers from your genre, so you know what readers expect.
- About an hour for a first design.
Step 1: Study your genre
Covers send a signal about genre before anyone reads a word. Romance, thrillers, fantasy and literary fiction each have familiar looks: typefaces, colors, how much of the image is a person or a landscape. Look at the covers of the bestselling books in your category, at thumbnail size, and note what they share. You do not need to copy them, but a cover that looks like a different genre will attract the wrong readers.
Step 2: Choose one strong image
A cover works best with one clear focal point. Busy collages turn to mush at small sizes. Whatever image you use, check the following:
- Resolution. The picture should be at least 1,600 by 2,560 pixels, and larger is safer.
- Rights. Use artwork you made, commissioned, or have licensed for commercial use in a book cover. Check the licence terms.
- Room for text. Leave an area, such as sky or water, where the title can sit clearly.
- Contrast. A very light or very busy area behind the title will fight with your lettering.
Step 3: Build the text hierarchy
On a cover, text has a strict order of importance:
- The title is the largest element and must read at thumbnail size.
- The author name is next. If you are well known, it can be larger.
- A tagline or series line is smaller and optional. Anything too small to read in the thumbnail is decoration, not information.
Choose a typeface that fits the genre (a clean modern sans for thrillers, an elegant serif for historical fiction, and so on), avoid more than two typefaces, and keep important text inside the safe area, away from the very edge.
Step 4: Color and contrast
The title must stand out against whatever is behind it. Light text on a dark area, or the reverse, usually works. If the background is busy, add an outline, a soft shadow or a subtle band behind the title. Also think about the store page: a very light cover can disappear into a white page, so KDP suggests a thin grey border for light covers.
Step 5: The thumbnail test
This is the check most amateur covers skip. Shrink your cover to about 100 pixels wide, then to about 60, and look at it from arm's length. Can you read the title? Does the main image still read? If you squint and the cover turns to a blur, simplify it: enlarge the title, reduce the number of elements, or increase contrast.
Step 6: Export the right file
Export at KDP's ideal size, 2,560 pixels tall by 1,600 wide, as a JPEG at high quality. JPEG keeps the file small. PNG is fine for flat designs but gives bigger files. Open the exported file once, at full size, to make sure nothing is cropped.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Result | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Tiny title or author name | Unreadable in the thumbnail | Make the title the largest element and test at 100 px wide |
| Busy background behind the text | Lettering gets lost | Simplify the image or add an outline or shadow |
| Wrong aspect ratio | KDP rejects it or crops it | Keep at least 1.6 to 1 (height to width); aim for 1600 x 2560 |
| Low-resolution image | Blurry cover | Start from an image at least as big as the final size |
| Too many fonts and effects | Looks amateur | Use two typefaces at most and one effect |
| Light cover with no edge | Fades into a white page | Add a thin grey border |
| Ignoring genre conventions | Wrong readers click, right ones skip | Study the top books in your category |
Do it in Quillen
Quillen's ebook cover designer gives you the right canvas, text styling, a safe-area guide and a thumbnail preview, and exports a JPEG at KDP's ideal size.
- Open your book, click Cover in the top bar, and choose eBook cover. The designer opens on a 1600 x 2560 canvas, with your title and author already placed. A note at the top reminds you that KDP wants a 1.6 to 1 image, ideally 1600 x 2560 pixels.
- Add your image. Click + Image and pick the file. Quillen places it and offers Fill cover and Fit width buttons to size it. It also picks colors from the picture and, if Auto-match background when the image changes is ticked, sets the background to match. You can click one of the swatches, or use Match background to image.
- Style the title. Click the title text. The panel on the right shows Style presets (Clean white, Bold outline, Soft shadow, Gold gradient, Fire, Neon sign, Retro 3D, Arch title, Wave, Horror and more), then font, size, bold, italic, underline, alignment, letter spacing and line height. Below that are fill (solid or gradient), outline, shadow, glow, highlight box, shape and 3D extrude. You can also add a Google Font by name.
- Style the author name the same way, and add taglines with + Text.
- Keep text inside the green dashed safe-area guide. It is on by default; untick Show safe-area guide to hide it.
- Check the thumbnail. At the bottom of the left panel, Thumbnail preview shows the cover at 128 and 64 pixels wide, with the question "Can you still read the title?"
- Choose export settings. Under Export, pick a size: 1600 x 2560 (KDP ideal), 2000 x 3200 (HD) or 2560 x 4096 (large). Choose JPEG (recommended) or PNG, and set the JPEG quality (95% by default). Tick Thin grey border (for light covers) if your cover is pale.
- Read the checklist in the right-hand panel, then click Export JPEG. If Quillen finds problems with the file against KDP's limits, it lists them and asks whether to export anyway.
- Use it for your book. Click Use as book cover to make it the cover shown on your Home screen and included in your EPUB. Use Save project if you want to reopen the design later.
If you plan a print edition too, the same design can be turned into a paperback cover with the Create paperback cover button, which copies your layers to the front of a full-wrap cover.
Checklist
- Genre conventions checked against top books in your category.
- One clear focal image, at least 1600 x 2560 pixels, with rights sorted.
- Title is the largest text and readable at 100 pixels wide.
- Text sits inside the safe area, with strong contrast.
- No more than two typefaces.
- Exported as a JPEG at 1600 x 2560 (or larger), RGB.
- Thin grey border added if the cover is light.
- Opened the exported file once at full size.
Common questions
What size should a Kindle ebook cover be?
KDP's ideal size is 2,560 pixels tall by 1,600 pixels wide, with a height-to-width ratio of at least 1.6 to 1. The minimum is 1,000 by 625 pixels. Check KDP's current cover help page before uploading.
What file format does KDP want for an ebook cover?
JPEG or TIFF, in RGB. Quillen exports a JPEG at 1600 x 2560 by default, with larger sizes available.
How do I know if my cover is readable as a thumbnail?
Shrink it to about 100 pixels wide and check that you can still read the title and recognize the main image. Quillen's designer shows a thumbnail preview at two small sizes as you work.
Does my ebook cover need a border?
Light covers can fade into a white store page, so KDP suggests a thin grey border for them. Quillen has a Thin grey border option for light covers.
Can I turn my ebook cover into a paperback cover?
Yes. In Quillen, the ebook cover designer has a Create paperback cover button that copies your design onto the front of a full-wrap paperback cover, which you can then size for your trim and page count.