[Civil Servant x Kindle Side Hustle] Why I was able to complete my Kindle cover in 1 hour using AI x Canva

A challenge to turn 15 years of civil service experience into a book in "1.5 hours x 10 days"
with the help of AI.
A challenge to turn 15 years of civil service experience into a book in "1.5 hours x 10 days"

Today is DAY 7: Cover Design.

……or so I thought, but
carried by yesterday's momentum,
I finished it in an hour. lol

<Overall Schedule>
DAY 1–DAY 4 Planning & Outline✅
DAY 5–DAY 6 Writing the body (Full manuscript complete!)✅
DAY 7 Create the cover 👈 You are here
DAY 8 Upload to KDP
DAY 9 Decide on the description and categories
DAY 10 Finally press the publish button🎉

(Record) While still in the heat of finishing the entire manuscript yesterday...
Actually, I couldn't help myself and ended up making the cover all at once! lol

Why was I able to finish it in an hour?
The secret was an encounter with a single book.

Cover completed ahead of schedule

I was originally planning to work on it today.

I had read several books on Canva cover design in advance on Kindle Unlimited.
And then, I found one that made me think, "Oh, I could probably do this."

That was the one.

(A book released on 2/3/2026. Kindle Unlimited members could read it for free.)

Encouraged by the phrase "No sense required,"
I started playing with Canva with the book in hand, and then...

An intuition of "Oh, this is it!" came to me,
and before I knew it, it had taken shape.

There were many samples of "cover templates,"
and the logic over sense,
and how to guide the eye to the title
were very helpful.

Also, the fact that the release date was recent
was a point that made me want to use this book as a reference.

While researching Kindle cover creation,
I found books that analyzed bestseller covers,
but they were comparing works from about 1-2 years ago.

And looking at them,
I couldn't shake the feeling thatthe covers wereclearly different from current trends.

The "way to organize" that erased my hesitation

Design is something that can go on forever if you start worrying about it, right?

But just by being conscious of the "
templates" and "techniques" in Minori-san's book,I felt the scattered elements clicking into place.

While brainstorming with AI, I "organized" the cover using the book as a reference.

This combination
might be the "ultimate method" for people who are going to write books from now on.

Turning 15 years of feelings into one face

The cold platform of the Seibu Line,
the warm hot pot my husband made for me,
that day I cried in the restroom.

The moment my 15 years like that
took the form of a single "cover,"
my eyes welled up again.

I placed an image on the cover, and
it was exactly the atmosphere of when I was working.

Creating the cover and deciding on a pen name

For my pen name,
I decided on "Naoko Hoshino" to match my other accounts.

I can't wait to show you all my new story!
(Initially it was just Nao, but
I added my name to my main account name as well.)

The cover and the contents are still a secret... but
here is a little sneak peek.

Along with memories of the people from my government office days—some funny, some sad,
and some just a little strange.

I had the image created by brainstorming the scene from back then with Gemini,
while also showing it images I picked up from the internet.
I had it created.

A sneak peek of the cover image before editing ⬇️

The scenery of "that government office day" recreated by AI.

Note that since AI-generated images do not have copyright, commercial use is also allowed.

By the way, I told Gemini that there are no water coolers in government offices lol

My manuscript editing screen this morning ⬇️

I often work at my computer, but
I also do a lot of writing on my smartphone during spare moments.

Doesn't this give you an idea of what it's like
to write a book?

(I will continue to brush up the main text from here.)

Next announcement

I plan to take a break from working on the weekend, but
I intend to read through the entire manuscript once,
and do some polishing and additional corrections to make it easier to read.

Taking some time away allows me to read it again with a clear head ◎

Next week, I will finally upload it to the Amazon stage, "KDP."
It is the moment the book turns from a "manuscript" into a "product."

From here on it's a bit of administrative work, but
I will record all the realities of the publishing process.

📖Today's Question✨

Is there a book or tool that acts like a lucky charm for you, one that makes you feel reassured just by having it?

Working hard on your own is fine, but when you borrow the wisdom of wonderful predecessors, your world expands significantly.

Searching online is fine when you're in trouble, but if you use a book as a reference, you might find the answer without taking such a long detour.

(Postscript) I received a direct comment from the author of the book, Minori-san herself! I'm so happy! Being able to make connections like this is one of the wonderful things about note x Kindle (^ ^)

▶︎ Click here for the full record (table of contents) of this 10-day challenge!