An eCover is a 3D style graphic that appears to be a real object. It might look like a hardback book, a spiral-bound report cover, a membership card, a software box, or one of many different styles.

eCovers can help your digital product seem more "real" to buyers, and it can help increase the perceived value of the product.

You can create your own eCover by using Photoshop's Free Transform tool but this is pretty complex for a beginner. You're much better off using some sort of eCover action to create your eCover.

An action is a type of script that is made within Photoshop to automate certain tasks. You press record on the action palette, and then you perform a process within Photoshop. Everything you do is recorded into the action.

Then you press the stop button when you've finished recording the action. Whenever you need to perform the exact same steps within Photoshop, you can play the action.

eCover actions are pre-recorded actions. There are many action sets to choose from. One of the most popular eCover action sets is CoverAction Pro.

This is a very high-quality action set, but it is rather expensive. Cheaper action sets are available from many sellers, but they may not be quite as high quality.

Once you run the initial action or open the template, you'll need to design the cover. The first thing you should do is choose a background color or gradient for the background.

The gradient should usually be two shades of the same color, because using two different colors as a gradient background can look tacky if it isn't done very carefully.

If you're a beginner, you should probably stick to a solid color, or a gradient with two similar shades of the same color.

You'll probably want to use at least one photo in your design. You should choose a photo that's related to your niche. If you have a dog training book, you might use a photo of a dog, or a woman pointing at a dog as if telling the dog to sit.

You can insert your photo somewhere near the bottom of the eCover design, and then put your title, subtitle, and author name at the top. As a beginner, avoid putting any harsh styles on the text.

One major mistake beginning graphic artists make is to use thick, dark drop shadows, harshly beveled text, or extremely loud gradients on their text. Stick to simple colors or soft gradients with no stroke and a delicate drop shadow until you really know what you're doing.

Once you've finished your design, you'll want to save this original in PSD format in case you need to make any changes later.

When you've completed your design, you'll need to run the action that compiles the design into the final 3D style eCover graphic. After the action is run, you'll see your eCover graphic prepared for you.

You'll want to remember this as a separate PSD file from the original, because if you save over the original you'll no longer be able to edit it! Save the completed eCover as a new PSD.

Next, choose Image: Duplicate to make a copy of the file so you don't accidentally mess it up. Then choose Image: Image Size. This will pop up a box that asks for the size you want.

At the bottom, be sure Constrain Proportions has a check mark beside it. Then enter the width for the eCover in pixels. You might want to make three or four different sizes for different uses.

Let's just use a 300 pixel wide image for now.

Enter 300 in the Width box at the top. You should see the Height change as well. This is done automatically if you have Constrain Proportions selected. Then click the OK button. This will resize your image.

Now choose File: Save for Web. Save this as a JPG with 70% or 80% compression. You might want to include the size in the filename if you're making different sizes. You could name it something like ecover300.jpg. Then you're done!

This same basic process can be used to make all types of eCovers. This would work for eBook covers, software boxes, report covers, eZine covers, and membership cards.

You may have to take a few extra steps with other types of eCovers. For example, if you make a software box, you'll have to copy your title onto the top and side of the box.

But the general steps will be the same for almost all eCovers.

In the comments below, Elisabeth asks how you can create an eCover on a Mac. Seems a lot of people have had the problem with .EXE files. I asked my network marketing buddies for a solution, since I'm not familiar with Macs and here are a few answers that might help:

• Jo of Grab Your Quitters says, "I don't use a MAC for ecover production, however (and you probably know this already) there are several PC emulators available for the MAC which will allow "normal" exe programs to run." Jo also adds, "Take a look here http://www.macwindows.com/emulator.html - not the complete and finite list but it may help."
• Jill of Avenue Girl says, "This is the BIGGEST problem I've had for years. My mac gives me no problems, but the EXE files do. I use photoshop. I have not done a lot of covers, but I did fiddle around a bit with it and you can make them. You can copy other ebook covers and alter them with your own pictures or words. This is probably the quickest way.The photoshop for dummies book is really easy to use as well to show you how to build one fast."
• Steve of Ram Video shares, "A program called the Web Graphics Creator from Laughingbird Software comes in a Mac version and does a good job. Kind of a strange interface compared to most Mac software, but it will create 3D eCovers and even spinning animations."