Make a Cover for Your Ebook – How to Save A Photoshop Image in PDF Format

Project Information-- • Skill level-Beginner • Adobe^R Photoshop ^R CS2

Many of our editors here at BellaOnline are compiling their most popular articles into PDF ebooks. You can find them in our BellaOnline Ebooks section. Once the editor has chosen and complied the articles into an ebook, the ebook still needs a cover image. Whether this cover is created from a photograph, digital art or just a colored background with the title of the book, this cover image needs to be added to the ebook. There are several ways to do this but, since ebooks are usually in the Adobe^R PDF format, the easiest method is to use Adobe Photoshop^R and Acrobat^R.

In order to do this, the cover must first be saved from within Photoshop in the Adobe PDF format. Then, it will be added to the rest of the PDF ebook using the Insert command within Adobe Acrobat. In this tutorial, we will save an ebook cover image. In the next tutorial, we will add the cover to the rest of the ebook.

How to Save A Photoshop Image in PDF Format

Open your cover image in Photoshop. We are assuming that this image is completed, flatten into one layer and already in the correct size for your ebook. For our BellaOnline editors, this will probably be 8 1/2 x 11 inches.
Now, you are ready to save the image in PDF format. From the Menu bar, click File > Save As to open the Save As dialog box. Choose Photoshop PDF from the Format drop-down list (lower part of the dialog box). Make a note of the folder in which your image will be saved. Finally, click Save.

You will get a message about overriding current settings. Click OK to continue. The Save Adobe PDF dialog box will open.
The Save Adobe PDF dialog box is very versatile. On the left, you will see a panel that contains five categories (General, Compression, Output, Security and Summary). Click on each of these and you will see several more options. We will use the defaults for most of these but for the General options, we need to choose a PDF preset. Let’s take a look at the options from the Adobe PDF Preset drop-down list. The preset that you choose will be determined by the final use of the ebook. Will it be only viewed online or will it be printed?

High Quality Print
Use this setting if your ebook will be printed on a desktop printer.

PDF/X
Use these settings if your ebook needs to conform to ISO standards.

Press Quality
Use this setting for high quality printing.

Small File Size
Use these settings for ebooks that will only be viewed on a computer screen and not printed.
Once you’ve chosen your preset from the drop-down list, click Save PDF. You will get a message about Photoshop editing capabilities. Click Yes to continue. Your PDF cover image will be in your folder.

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