Promo Images

Promo images

Promo images are images you can use to promote your book online and in print. We like to distinguish these as separate from memes.

• A meme, in the words of The Master Communicators Handbook (Changemakers Books), is a “unit of culture transmitted from mind to mind”. It could be, for example, a joke, a performance, or an idea, that enters people’s minds like a virus and spreads fast.
• A promo image is more straightforward – a good looking professional image that makes your book look great and helps sell it. Over at Hubspot they ascertained that in 2016 "Researchers found that coloured visuals increase people's willingness to read a piece of content by 80%. Promo images draw positive attention to your book and make people more likely to read and respond to your messaging.

Promo images work especially well on sites like Facebook, whose algorithm doesn’t like to promote images with text on them, or text-only posts, but does reward striking images which people like and share.

Ways you can use your promotional images

• Facebook posts
• Twitter posts
• Blogs
• Posters
• Flyers
• Instagram posts
• Link sharing on Facebook and Twitter – if someone links to your site, your promo image will show up in the link preview.

We create 1-2 promo images for every book we publish

Your publicist will create one or two promotional images prior to the release of your book, and upload them under Articles on your Marketing page.

I like your promo images but I want to create my own. Can I?

Yes, of course!

We recommend that you use your cover as the focus/inspiration for your image.

Resources for creating promo images

You download your cover from Final Files in your Production page. The high-res file is suitable for print work and the 72ppi file for internet work.

Your designer writes the typeface they use on your cover and the Adobe stock image no they use to create your cover, in Notes for this workflow stage in the Cover Workflow section – for your reference.

Don’t just lift any old picture from the internet! Many will be copyrighted, and it will be illegal.

• You can pay for photos and images at Adobe Stock and Shutterstock.
• Pixabay and Unsplash are sites which have many images you can use for free.
• Book Brush is a web app that we recommend, designed specifically for authors to make promo images.
• Adobe make complex but powerful software that can create excellent promo images – e.g. Photoshop and Illustrator.
• Other web apps which are simpler (and cheaper) than Adobe ones are Picmonkey, Canva and Fotor.

You will need different image sizes for the different social platforms

For example, an image that is too big will end up being cropped – images that are too small will be stretched and pixelated. Twitter and Facebook display images in different dimensions and in different sizes. Twitter only part-displays images that are big, and you have to click to see the full image. So think about how your image will be used and adjust accordingly.

Here is Sprout Social’s always up-to-date social media image size guide.

Upload any promo images you use to Articles on your Marketing page

Then your publicist can also use them too.

JPEG vs PNG

JPEG and PNG are two different image formats. You will usually have a choice as to which to use.

The simple rule of thumb, without getting too technical, is: if it is a simple image with no text, then JPEG is the one. If it is an image with text within it or with a transparent background, save your image as a PNG. This will stop your text being pixelated online.

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