O.C. Writers

By Kristy Tate // 

I once heard a marketing specialist recommend making 6 to 10 graphics for all of your books. I use Canva to make graphics, but there are other options, as well, such as BookBrush, PicMonkey, and, if you’re savvy, Indesign and Photoshop. I use Canva’s free feature.

Finding images:

There are lots of ways to find free images. You can search for images on Google, but you want to be careful to only use free images. (You don’t want to steal an artist’s work nor do you want to be sued for stealing an artist’s work.) Here’s how to get free images off Google. If I wanted pictures of a dog, I would:

1. Type dog into the search bar.
2. Below the search bar, you’ll see the words All, Images, Shopping, Videos, News, More. Click Images.
3. Now you’ll see the same stream of words but also the word Tools just after the word Settings. Click on that.
4. Now you’ll see Color, Type, Time, Usage Rights. Click Usage Rights. Viola, you now have access to hundreds, if not thousands of free dog pictures.

But what will you do with them? That depends on what you want. You have options. As I said, I use Canva.

Right below the Design Anything Banner, you’ll find templates for all sorts of social media posts. Because I used the word dogs as an example, here are the graphics I used for my novel The Billionaire’s Beagle.

You might find this intuitive, but if not, I’ll walk you through the creation process. 

On the left side of the page, there’s the blank box you want to fill. On the far right side, you’ll find the panel of things to fill it with.

First, you want to upload your free image you just Googled. Click Upload and it’ll pop up on your right. Drag the image to the blank box on your left.

Edit this if needed, by clicking on it. The words Effect, Filter, Adjust, Crop, Flip, and More will appear. Do what you need to do.

Add text. Click on the word Text. A number of options will appear. There will also be a number of templates you can choose. Not all are free. Select the one you want and drag it into the box so it overlays your image.

Save your graphic. On the top banner, you’ll find the words, Home, File, and Resize, followed by the boxes Try Canva Pro, Share, and a downward-facing arrow. Go to the Try Canva Pro box, and type in the name of your graphic.

Download your graphic to your own computer by pressing the downward-facing arrow.

On the same top banner, you also have the option of downloading your image directly to a social media platform of your choice.

Have fun! I actually like making graphics. (I’m not so great at sharing them, but look at me, I just did.)

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KRISTY TATE is the Social Media Director for O.C. Writers and a USA Today bestselling author. To date, her newsletter subscriber list is edging toward 15,000. www.KristyTate.com.