For today’s #AtoZChallenge, the letter “C” is for Canva.
#AtoZChallenge is a blogging challenge that takes place in April (except on Sundays). Participants blog every day around a theme of their choosing, in alphabetical order. Throughout the month of April, I’ll share tips, links, and insights I’ve learned in my writing career.
Canva allows you to create beautiful images for your blog, Pinterest,Twitter and Facebook headers and other social media outlets.
The letter “C” is for Canva, a useful online image site.
Canva.com is on online site you can use to create images for your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest—just about any social media outlet. In addition, you can create cards, posters, EBOOK COVERS, letterheads, infographics, menus, gift certificates—a slew of handy, dandy layouts you’d normally pay someone to create for you. The best part is, it’s FREE.
Canva does have a premium service you can use with groups (up to 50 team members), and gives you unlimited folders to store your work and other services. For me, the FREE version is good enough.
First, go to canva.com and sign up, either with a specific username/password, through Facebook, Google or your email. Then choose a design. Here is an ebook cover I designed for a short story I published in October:
Use Canva images, your own or others
The nice thing about Canva is that it has over a million images at your disposal. Some are free. Any others will cost you $1. That’s it. A single dollar will buy you an image of just about anything. (Hint: download a version without your captions and store it on your computer. If you have to tweak a completed image with text, Canva doesn’t recognize you’ve downloaded it previously and will charge you again).
You can upload any image or photo of your own or go to any free image website and upload. (Spoiler: I’ll be talking about where to get free images on the letter “I” day, April 11th).
The possibilities are endless
I’ve used Canva created images for blog posts (this one is about plot holes):
And book quotes I’ve posted on Twitter and Pinterest:
In fact, whenever I need a graphic, I turn to Canva. It’s never let me down. The learning curve is short, and the time and money saved is invaluable.
Tomorrow is “D” day. I’ll be discussing a book distribution channel I’ve used in the past.
Until then,
Blessings!
Cheryl
by 
I love using Canva and have made a ton of graphics and even a few books covers with it. Highly recommend it to others.
~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
Isn’t Canva fun? Here’s a secret—I bought Photoshop years ago and tried to crack its code. I’d be a ninja designer by now if I had, but I never found a way to navigate it. With Canva, I don’t have to. I use it for blog images, book covers, even birthday cards! I couldn’t wait for “C” day in the challenge to tell people about it. So glad you love it as well.
I mostly use Pic Monkey for blog images because I find it much quicker but I love Canva for book covers!
Debbie
I haven’t tried Pic Monkey yet, but it’s on my list. (you know that list, we all have one).
Cheryl, I’m loving these blogs. Canva sounds like something I could use. Thanks.
I think Canva is very useful for a lot of people. I wish the site was faster!
Pingback: AtoZChallenge, the letter I is for Images - cherylsterlingbooks.com
Pingback: Writer on a Budget: insider tips to help you write & market your book
Pingback: Create professional images and videos with Adobe Spark