Readers are a mysterious bunch. Authors, publishers and booksellers have been trying to get inside their heads and crack all the secret codes to producing that next bestseller for centuries.
There’s likely never going to be a formula that ensures a book’s success, but there are always things an author can do to improve their odds of getting the attention of potential readers and converting those shoppers into buyers.
Here, we explore five book elements that are known to attract buyers and boost sales:
- An Attractive Cover. Contrary to the old adage, book buyers can, and will, judge your book by its cover. Readers will draw a number of conclusions about you, your story and the quality of your book within milliseconds, based solely on the impressions created by the cover art. —Make no mistake; designing a strong cover that grabs attention and conveys the mood, genre or themes in a story is an art – a very important one. While there are templates on the market that can help an author put together a cover, custom design from an artist with specialized training in design principals, and experience in the field, will produce far more effective art. A professional custom cover can pay for itself with increased traffic to your book page that translates into increased sales.
- Back Cover Copy. Once the cover captures the eye, the text on the back cover must sell the book quickly, and in this day of online sales, the back cover copy is often the same marketing text used on sales pages for Amazon’s and Barnes & Noble’s websites. —Every writer has different skills. An author who excels at expounding on ideas in a 500-page tome may be at a loss to sum up his work in 200 words or less. Cover scribing is a narrow specialty; some writers will “get it” and some will not. If you’re not “wired” that way, don’t be afraid to ask for help from a writer with experience in book marketing.
- A Beautiful Interior. Believe it or not, book formatting can vary greatly, depending on the genre, the content and other factors that may be specific to the author’s message. There are a number of widely accepted industry standards; however, many factors such as a font style and size, headers/footers, page numbering and graphic elements, can and should be tailored to the specific needs of your book. These elements can be useful in conveying your ideas more clearly and enhancing the reader’s experience.
- Professional Copy Editing. A funny thing happens when you edit your own work. Typos become invisible. You fall in love with your own words. Whether you’re writing your first words ever or you’ve been at it for decades, you need fresh eyes. A professional copy editor is a writer like you, but usually has additional training as an editor, English language professional, grammar czar or other expertise – and even they use copy editors. No writer worth his salt circumvents the copy editing process. Ever.
- Illustrations. Certain book genres – science fiction, medical, children’s books – lend themselves nicely to custom illustrations, but any book can benefit from quality art. From the book cover to key chapters in the body, illustrations can bring alive vital elements of your story or reinforce specific information in your text.
Writing is very often a solo effort, but the more eyes, brains and hearts you get involved in the polishing process, the more your book will benefit – and the more readers you may be able to attract. The good news is, Outskirts Press offers all these options (and about 100 more) so you can truly receive the exact level of service you need for your special project.
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Get $300 of “Mad Money” with the promotion code below when you choose to publish with our industry-leading Diamond publishing service or our full-color Pearl publishing service.
You can apply your $300 of “Mad Money” toward any optional production or marketing option we offer during the pre-production process. And with many of our optional services beginning at just $99, you can get quite a few! Apply it to options such as a Custom Cover, Cover Scribing, Editing, a Kindle format, or many others
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- Top 10 Best Selling Books in Self-Publishing for December 2012
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| AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT & SUCCESS STORY |
“I enjoy working with Jennifer. She is helpful and knowledgeable about layout, design, and marketing aspects, and whatever she may not know she finds the answer immediately to help the author to achieve the results required.”Dr. Juna Jinsei has a Ph.D. in Pastoral Counseling Psychology, and is the founder and president of World Wholeness, Inc. At the commencement of her career, Juna was part owner of an advertising agency in Caracas, Venezuela, promoting some of the largest national companies from Gerber to Lagoven Petroleum.
– Juna Jinsei, author of FUNdaMENTAL Creativity
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