In today’s Publetariat Dispatch, The Savvy Book Marketer Dana Lynn Smith shares graphics tools indie authors may find helpful.

There are several online services that allow users to create a logo at no charge or for a modest fee. Here is a new logo that I just created using Logo Snap. Their service is by donation, so you can choose how much to pay.

Logo Snap allows you to select from a number of different icons and then add one or two lines of text. Because I wanted three lines of text on my logo, I exported the icon to Microsoft Publisher and added my text there. (You could do the same thing in Word, using text boxes.) Then I took a screenshot of the logo and saved it as a JPG file.

I make a lot of screenshots to create images for my books and articles, and in creating graphics. I use a terrific program called SnagIt that captures an area of my computer screen and then lets me edit the image by adding borders, arrows and other cool things.

The makers of SnagIt also offer a free program called Jing, which can make screenshots or short video clips of what’s on your screen.

This is a reprint from Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer.