The inDesign Cover Page Template

My big inch of progress on my children’s picture book today was to create an inDesign cover page template using Ingramspark’s Cover Page Template Generator. The cover page template generator also creates the book’s ISBN barcode for free. Very cool.

While I was dealing with Bowker to buy the ISBN numbers, all of the adverts on the Bowker site led me to believe that getting a barcode was an incredibly difficult challenge for a regular, know-nothing human being — but they would kindly relieve my first-time publisher anxiety by creating barcodes for all of my ISBNs… for a trifling fee of $25 each. I can’t blame them for trying. After all, having a monopoly on selling ISBNs doesn’t mean they have to be good Samaritans.

Before dealing with Bowker’s fear-driven marketing monopoly, do your homework and check out the free resources at Ingramspark and CreateSpace. You will still have to deal with Bowker to buy your ISBN numbers, but you’ll be prepared for the scare tactics.

Here’s what my Ingramspark inDesign cover page template looks like. The required ISBN barcode is printed in the center of the back cover.

View fullsize