: Is it possible to design a book cover using Gimp only? Since I do not have and do not use Windows, I in fact, does not have Photoshop Im wondering if its possible to design a book cover

@Smith574

You could technically use Paint if you wanted to produce the book cover so there shouldn't be a problem with using Gimp. However, your question is very confusing on what your intended goal is so I will answer it in regards to going the digital route.

If you are producing a cover for a platform to be used as a thumbnail, such as iTunes, there are requirements in regards to the size associated with it:


The book’s cover art that appears on the iBooks Store (also known
as the marketing image) is the image delivered alongside the book
asset and does not refer to the cover image included in the book
asset. The pixel limit for the interior cover, as with all interior
book images, has been increased to 3.2 million pixels.
The book’s cover art must use RGB color mode and should be at least
1400 pixels along the shorter axis. For best results, a good rule of
thumb is to use an image that is a minimum of 300 dpi.
The book’s cover art file must be a high-quality JPEG with .jpg or
.jpeg extension or PNG with .png extension.
The 3.2 million pixel limit on interior book images does not apply
to the external cover/marketing image that is sent alongside the book asset.
It is important that you do not increase the size of a smaller
image to meet the minimum image size dimension standard. Excessively
blurry or pixelated images will be rejected.


This section is located under Book Cover Art in the iBooks Asset Guide

In Amazon's guidelines under section 3.2 Cover Image Guidelines:

Kindle books must have a marketing cover image provided for use on the website detail page. The preferred format for the marketing cover is an image of 2560 pixels on the longest side and 1600 pixels on the shortest side with 350 dpi to ensure image clarity on Kindle HDX devices. The image file size should be 5MB or smaller.
If the marketing cover image size is smaller than the 2560 x 1600 recommendation, a reminder message is displayed at time of upload. Covers with less than 500 pixels on the smaller side are not displayed on the website.
If your cover image is smaller than the recommended size, Amazon strongly recommends that you create a new image that meets the size requirements. Do not stretch the image to meet the size requirements, because this may lower the image quality.
The content of the cover image must not:
• Infringe another publisher’s or artist’s copyright on the same cover.
• Mention pricing or other temporary promotional offers

Barnes and Noble:


We accept the following file formats: TIFF or JPEG. Use highest jpeg
quality setting. We will not accept PDF files or MS Word documents.
The longest side of the digital image must be between 1,400-2,000
pixels, with the shorter side proportional.
Scanner resolution must be between 100-150 dpi.
Do not send extremely high resolution scans.


That said I used what some would say are the top three players in the digital book world. I would suggest if you are creating a digital book and the included cover inside the book should be 900px wide and should yield around a vertical height of 1390px.

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@Alves566

Most publishers (print) want artwork in CMYK and in a PDF file. If you can manage that for your final product, you probably can use Gimp.

I would make sure you have all the details from the publsihing company. They usually provide templates with the layout (places for the ISBN and bar codes, spine width, etc.). The author will need to submit the book to the publisher to get the spine width which is based on the number of pages, (if you're publishing in print).

If it's just a cover for something like Amazon Kindle, they have guidelines on artwork here kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2J0TRG6OPX0VM
Hope that helps!

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