To finish our Color Palette eBook, we will add the details to the cover template. You will want to use your own cover graphic. It can be 8.5 x 11 to cover the entire page or a smaller image that only covers part of the cover template. Either choice will work in the Picture Frame that we added to the cover template.

In the example, I will show both options. Once the cover graphic is in place, you can work on the styling and positioning of the text. We have the book title and subtitle, along with the author's name on the cover. The cover already has placeholder text, which you will customize to your needs. Besides changing the placeholder text to the actual book title, subtitle and author name, you can also change the font and font styling. If you prefer to add your website url instead of your author name, you can do that as well.

When adding your cover graphic to the Picture Frame, you can import a full size image, containing the cover graphic and a solid page-size background. Or, you can just import the cover graphic. The second option gives you more flexibility, as you can reposition the graphic inside the Picture Frame.

Open the document into Affinity Publisher and let's get started. As we did in the previous tutorial, we first need to unlock the cover layers in the Layers panel.

1. In the Pages panel, double-click on the Page 1 page thumbnail, to load the cover page into the workspace.

By default, the Inner Page Spread Master Page has been loaded into this page. We need to change this to the Cover Master Page (see screenshot).


2. Right-click on the Page 1 thumbnail in the Pages panel and choose Apply Master from the pop-up menu (see screenshot).


3. In the Apply Master dialog box, choose Cover from the Apply Master pop-up list (see screenshot). Below that select Specified Pages and 1 page. Check Replace Existing and click on Clear. Now click the OK button (see screenshot).

You should now see the cover Master Page contents in the thumbnail, the canvas and in the Layers panel. Let's unlock the contents.


4. In the Layers panel, right-click on the Cover layer and choose Edit Detached (see screenshot).


5. Select the Picture Frame layer in the Layers panel.


6. Click the Properties button in the Context toolbar and set your choice (see screenshot).

Option One - Page-Size Cover Graphic

1. Click the Replace Image button in the Context toolbar and choose your full page sized image.


2. Scale and reposition as needed.

You sould see the image inside the Picture Frame. Now we can style and reposition the text.

Option Two - Partial Page-size Cover Image

First, we need to add a color background layer to the page.


1. With the Rectangle shape tool, draw a rectangle over the entire page. Set the Fill color of your choice. In the Layers panel, name the layer BG and place this layer under the Picture Frame layer (see screenshot).


2. Click the Replace Image button in the Context toolbar and choose your image. Scale and reposition as needed (see screenshot).

Now we can style and reposition the text.

7. Select the Book Title placeholder text and change the text to the name of your book.


8. In the Context toolbar, style the text as needed (see screenshot).


9. Repeat the previous step for the book subtitle and author name.

When you are ready to export your eBook as a PDF, follow the steps below.


10. From the top menu, click File - Export (see screenshot).


11. In the window, set the top pop-up menu to PDF and the Raster DPI to 72. Click Export (see screenshot).

Save your work.

INDEX Color Palette Book Template Affinity Publisher - Series Index

Screenshots used by permission of Serif (Europe) Ltd. This article is not endorsed by Serif Ltd.