Your Bonus Career

 

I bet you didn’t realize when you started your bookstagram/authorgram account that you were signing up for a career in graphic design. (Surprise!!) 

 

The reality (that I’m sure you’ve realized by now), is that on such a visually based platform, having graphics that represent your brand identity is a vital part of hooking your audience.

 

Thankfully, for those of us who didn’t get a college degree in graphic design, Canva exists. And if you’re anything like me, you are a Canva addict (pump all those beautiful templates and fonts right into my veins already). And because I love it so much, I wanted to share a few fun ideas for getting the most out of Canva.

 

Stay Organized With a New Brand Kit 

Gather all the colors, fonts, and design elements you use in your branding in one place so you can always find them. Having a brand kit is all about keeping you (and anyone else working for you) on-brand while creating your content, emails, lead magnets, menus, and all the other things.

 

Design Stand Out Graphics in Canva 

Create graphics for giveaways, cover reveals, ARC team sign-ups, newsletter headers, blog posts, and whatever else you can use… and reuse (because reusing is our bestie in the content game).

If you’ve been using Canva for a while, you know how many beautiful templates are available in every style, making it easy for you to customize professional grade graphics without paying professional designer prices. 

 

Time Saving Story Templates

This is a huge time saving hack that I personally use and highly recommend. Yes, creating graphics takes time and creative energy up front, but once you have your branding locked in and a few solid story templates, you’ll save yourself so much time moving forward (because who doesn’t desperately need more time?)

 

Whip Up Easy Lead Magnets 

If you haven’t already created a lead magnet (something of value you offer as an incentive to sign up for your email list), Canva is the place to do it. Whatever your idea, Canva most likely has a template that will help you whip up something your audience will love. 

Not sure what type of lead magnet to make? Here are a few ideas:

• A list of romantasy books featuring vampire MMCs
• An indie publishing cheat sheet
• A book hangover cure kit
• A spreadsheet to track book sales
• A reading journal

 

Use Canva to Create Your PR / Media Kit

If you are an author, book business owner, or a bookstagrammer looking to land some bookish brand collaborations, having a solid PR or media kit is a great place to start. This kit is where all the info on your brand lives and get’s shared with others (colaborators, media outlets, influencers…).

 

Reel Covers That Keep You On Brand

If you don’t use reel covers, that is perfectly fine (I only use them for my IG lives). But if you do, Canva can help you ensure those covers fit your branding so you create a cohesive look across all of your content.

 

Highlight Template Glow Up

Don’t overlook your highlights. I know they can be easy to forget about when there are so many other things grabbing at your attention. But if you use them right, they’re like a mini (free) website right on your IG profile. And just like an actual website, be sure to use consistent branding and share all your important info (don’t forget links to your books, website, shop, email list…).

 

Want a free highlights template you can customize for your brand? Tap here for Bookstagrammers or here for Authors. I know there are so many more ways to use Canva, but I hope these ideas have sparked your creativity.

TLDR

So much of building a social media platform is finding ways to help your brand stand out from the crowd. From cover reveals to lead magnets to story templates to highlight covers, Canva has the tools and templates to help you save time creating an aesthetic brand.