One of my our all-time favorite book marketing tools that we use for every new book we publish is a book cover mockup generator.

What’s a book cover mockup generator, you ask?

It’s simply a web program that takes an image of your book cover, and turns it into a professional visual rendering of it.

For example, you can take an image of your book cover, upload it into a mockup generator, and create a (free!) photo like this one right here:

Sample Book Cover Mockup | diybookcovers.com

You can then use these photos on your author website, your author social media pages, or for any targeted advertising campaigns that you run for your book.

Here’s an example of how we use book mockups on our sales page:

Sales Page With Book Mockup

Marketing research has consistently shown that people are more likely to buy a product when they can see a physical representation of it.

This is a super simple, free way to make professional photos of your book to show people what it will look like (even if it’s not published yet) or without having to shell out tons of money to hire someone take professional photos of it.

Create a Professional Book Cover Mockup, Step-by-Step

First things first, before you create your mockup you need to have a high quality image of your book cover. Once you’ve got your cover photo, you can begin making your mockups.

The two places I use to create free book cover mockup photos are:

Let me walk you through each of these because they offer different types of book mockups.

#1: DIY BOOK DESIGN BOOK MOCKUP GENERATOR

The first book mockup generator is for simple book mockups like these:

Here’s how to make simple book mockups like these:

1) Visit DIY Book Designs FREE Book Mockup Generator at this link:

Free Book Mockup Generator [DIY Book Designs]

2) Click on the type of book mockup you want. Single is for one book image, Composite is for a mockup with multiple book formats.

3) Upload your cover image into the mockup generator. Click “Browse” to find your book cover image, then click “Upload”

4) Download the image as a PNG or JPEG. You can use PNG images if you just want the image of the book itself with a transparent background. JPEG will give you a white background like the ones pictured in the photos above.

#2 PLACEIT BOOK MOCKUP GENERATOR

This mockup generator offers “lifestyle” photos like these:

Placeit also has several free book cover mockups and many low-cost book cover mockups that you can download by paying a one-time fee, or a monthly subscription fee for unlimited downloads.

Here’s how to make lifestyle book mockups like these:

1) Visit the Placeit website at this link:

Free and Paid Book Mockup Generator [Placeit by Envato]

2) Enter “book mockup” into the search bar. Placeit has thousands of mockups for products besides books—narrowing your search makes it much easier to find the mockup that works best for your book.

3) Click on the book mockup you want, and upload your cover. Click “Insert Image” and upload your book cover. Some mockups allow you to customize the background cover and book color. Feel free to play around to get the results you want.

4) Download your book mockup. Click on the Download button to get your image. If it’s free, you will be able to download it right away. If it’s paid, you will be prompted to pay the fee.

That’s it!

It’s super easy to make book mockups, and honestly, a little addicting once you start creating them.

But mockups are a great tool for selling your book, and we hope they help bring your book marketing game to the next level!