Amazon KDP’s Automatic Cover Creator Enters Beta: A New Tool for Self-Publishers
We have reported several times that Amazon is vigorously promoting its in-house self-publishing program through various means. This begins with simple promotional activities where case studies of particularly successful authors are highlighted and ends with the rewards system for the Kindle Lending Library. As a result, Amazon has long been the number one destination for independent authors and enjoys great popularity. The previous obstacle course for authors through traditional publishers is completely eliminated with eBook self-publishing (not just on Amazon, but also on Kobo, Xinxii, and others!).
However, one must then also take care of other tasks that the publisher typically handles, such as creating the book cover. With a new automatic cover creation for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Amazon aims to remove this hurdle.
Beta phase online, official launch soon?
As Nate from The Digital Reader reports, Amazon has launched a corresponding beta program. The book cover is automatically created according to various templates, which, judging by the screenshots (see above), seems to produce quite satisfactory results.
Kindle Cover Creator
The option will serve as an addition to the regular cover upload in the future. Currently, the Kindle Cover Creator is not publicly accessible. However, a help page for it has already been set up – also in German.
The help page is currently the only official “statement” from Amazon on the new feature. It is unclear when the option will be made available to all KDP authors. However, since the help page has already been translated into several languages, one can assume it won’t be too long.
Amazon retains rights to the cover
However, the feature does not come without drawbacks, as the book cover created by Amazon remains the property of Amazon, which means you cannot use it elsewhere. At least not without explicit permission, and there will likely be no opportunity for that due to the immense effort involved (for Amazon).
The passage in the KDP terms and conditions (Section 6) where the rights are explained reads as follows: “Subject to the authorizations you grant to us under this Agreement, as between us and you, you retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interest in and to your Digital Books. We retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interests in and to the Program, the Amazon Properties, and any materials we use or provide to you for use relating to your Digital Book (such as a generic cover image used for your Digital Book if you do not provide one).“
This of course has the downside that, as an author, you are somewhat tied to Amazon, and the potential recognition value of the title on other platforms diminishes. However, the advantage is that you do not incur any costs, meaning both the service and the images are (at least currently) free to use. It is important, however, that Amazon makes it unmistakably clear at the launch of the Cover Creator that the rights to the book cover are non-transferable and remain with Amazon. Otherwise, there could later be problems, which could be unpleasant for both the authors and Amazon.
Kobo and Barnes & Noble will presumably follow with a similar feature. However, Amazon seems to have been working on launching the service for some time, as the terms and conditions have been online since December 2012. Therefore, competitors (unless they have already been working on this) can only be expected to introduce it in the second half of the year.
Image source: Twitter
