Top Tools for Designing Ebooks and Printables

 In the world of digital products, ebooks and printables remain timeless, versatile, and profitable. Whether you're a coach, creative entrepreneur, teacher, or side hustler, you can use ebooks and printables to educate, inspire, and monetize your expertise.

But here’s the big question: How do you design beautiful, professional-quality digital products without hiring a designer or learning complicated software?

The answer? The right tools.

In this post, we’ll walk you through the best tools for designing ebooks and printables — including free options, advanced software, templates, and bonus tools to polish and sell your final product.

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Why Design Quality Matters for Ebooks and Printables

Before we dive into the tools, let’s get one thing straight: presentation matters.

Even the most valuable content can get ignored if it doesn’t look good.

Here’s what great design helps you achieve:

• Instantly capture attention

• Build trust and authority

• Increase perceived value (so you can charge more)

• Improve readability and engagement

• Strengthen your brand identity

The good news? You don’t need to be a graphic designer to achieve professional results. With the tools below, anyone can create stunning, high-converting ebooks and printables in 2025.

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1. Canva (Best All-in-One Design Tool)

Website: canva.com

Best for: Beginners to pros creating ebooks, planners, journals, templates, and more.

Why it’s great:

• Drag-and-drop interface

• Thousands of customizable templates

• Built-in fonts, graphics, charts, and stock photos

• One-click export to PDF (for printables and ebooks)

• Brand Kit to keep your designs consistent

• Magic Write AI for text generation

Whether you’re designing a 50-page ebook or a weekly planner, Canva Pro gives you powerful, user-friendly tools without the steep learning curve of traditional software.

Bonus Tip: Use Canva’s “Presentation” mode to turn your ebook into a slide deck or video course companion.

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2. Adobe InDesign (Best for Advanced Design)

Website: adobe.com

Best for: Professional designers or advanced users creating high-end publications.

Why it’s great:

• Precise layout control

• Supports large documents (like 100+ page ebooks)

• Seamless typography and spacing tools

• Supports interactive PDFs with clickable links

• Ideal for print and digital publishing

If you want to create a bestselling ebook or offer your printable to a publisher or printer, InDesign is still the industry standard.

Note: It has a steeper learning curve, but the result is worth it if you want full design flexibility.

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3. Affinity Publisher (Best Adobe InDesign Alternative)

Website: affinity.serif.com

Best for: Budget-conscious creators who want pro-level design features.

Why it’s great:

• One-time payment (no subscription!)

• Professional design tools similar to InDesign

• Seamless integration with Affinity Photo and Designer

• Great for multipage ebooks, magazines, and planners

• Lightweight software with fast performance

Perfect for those who want the power of InDesign without the ongoing cost.

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4. Google Slides / PowerPoint (Surprisingly Great for Printables)

Best for: Simple, structured layouts for lead magnets, workbooks, checklists, and simple journals.

Why it works:

• Easy-to-use slide templates mimic planner or worksheet layouts

• Export as PDF with clickable links

• No design skills required

• Can be shared or embedded easily

Bonus Tip: Add hyperlinks and use as an interactive workbook for online courses or coaching programs.

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5. Visme (Best for Interactive Ebooks & Infographics)

Website: visme.co

Best for: Creators who want to add animations, data visuals, and interactivity.

Why it’s great:

• Stunning design templates

• Built-in animation and transition effects

• Charts, infographics, maps, and data visualizations

• Download in PDF, HTML, or as an embeddable flipbook

• Collaboration features for teams

Pro Tip: Turn your ebook into a visual presentation or data-heavy resource that wows your audience.

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6. Designrr (Best for Turning Blog Posts into Ebooks)

Website: designrr.io

Best for: Bloggers, coaches, and content creators who want to repurpose content.

Why it’s great:

• Import from blogs, PDFs, Google Docs, or Word files

• Automatically formats and designs your ebook

• Includes table of contents, headers, footers

• Customizable themes

• Fast, done-for-you ebook creation

If you already have content and want to transform it into a polished ebook, Designrr saves time and effort.

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7. Lucidpress (Best for Teams and Templates)

Website: lucidpress.com

Best for: Businesses and teams who want to create branded ebooks and flyers.

Why it’s great:

• Easy template locking and brand control

• Cloud-based collaboration

• Template library with professional layouts

• Export to print-ready PDF or digital formats

Ideal for larger operations or agencies offering client printables and ebooks.

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8. Microsoft Word or Google Docs (Best for Writing-First Creators)

Best for: Writers who want to focus on content first and design later.

Why it works:

• Familiar writing environment

• Spell check, grammar tools, and editing

• Can export to PDF

• Works well with Canva (for layout after writing)

Bonus Tip: Draft your ebook in Google Docs, then paste it into Canva or Designrr for formatting.

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9. BookBolt (Best for Low-Content Printables like Journals & Planners)

Website: bookbolt.io

Best for: Low-content creators selling on Amazon KDP (journals, notebooks, planners).

Why it’s great:

• Drag-and-drop planner builder

• Pre-made interiors for calendars, prompts, and more

• Cover design tool with KDP dimensions

• Keyword research and listing tools for Amazon

• Ideal for bulk printable publishing

If you’re entering the KDP market, BookBolt is a must-have.

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10. Creative Market & Etsy (For Done-For-You Templates)

Websites:

• creativemarket.com

• etsy.com

Best for: Plug-and-play templates and digital product inspiration.

Why it’s useful:

• Buy Canva, InDesign, or PowerPoint templates

• Access beautiful designs instantly

• Save time on layout and branding

• Great for trend inspiration and marketplace research

Pro Tip: Customize templates with your colors, fonts, and content to make them uniquely yours.

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Bonus Tools for Polish and Productivity

Here are extra tools to refine and elevate your ebook and printable workflow:

 Grammarly

For: Grammar and spell-check
Why: Ensure your content is polished and professional.
Website: grammarly.com

 PDF Escape

For: Adding clickable fields, checkboxes, and interactive elements to PDFs
Website: pdfescape.com

 TinyPNG

For: Compressing images without losing quality (speeds up downloads)
Website: tinypng.com

 Mockup Shots

For: Creating ebook and planner mockups for sales pages
Website: mockupshots.com

 ConvertKit or Flodesk

For: Email marketing and lead magnet delivery
Why: Use printables as list-builders for your funnel
Websites: convertkit.com, flodesk.com

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Final Thoughts: Which Tool Is Right for You?

Here’s a quick summary:

Goal	Best Tool
Beginner designing journals or planners	Canva
Writing-focused ebook creation	Google Docs or Word + Canva
Advanced publishing	Adobe InDesign or Affinity Publisher
Quick ebook from blogs	Designrr
KDP Low-content publishing	BookBolt
Visual storytelling	Visme
Templates + inspiration	Creative Market / Etsy

You don’t need all these tools — just the right combination for your content style, workflow, and business goals.

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SEO Keywords to Target in Your Blog or Product Listing

• Best tools for designing printables

• Ebook design software 2025

• Create printables for Etsy

• How to make an ebook PDF

• Printable planner design tools

• Design tools for low content books

• Canva printables for beginners

• Journal and workbook creation tools

• Digital product design tools

• Templates for digital downloads

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Ready to Start Designing?

If you’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to create that ebook, planner, journal, or template — this is it.

With these tools, you can go from idea to beautifully designed digital product faster than ever — and start selling, sharing, or publishing with confidence.

If you want help finding templates, branding your product, or writing the content itself — just say the word. I'm here to help!