Dee Blick is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the world’s largest marketing body. She has 26 years’ marketing experience gained working with blue chip organisations and SMEs. Dee is the author of the bestselling book; Powerful Marketing on a Shoestring Budget for Small Businesses. In the last five years Dee has won six awards for her published work and has featured on the BBC as a marketing entrepreneur. Dee writes for a number of business publications and she is an active blogger and twitterer.
Part Two: How to write a fabulous book cover
The jacket of your book, both the front and the back, has a vital part to play in generating book sales. Think of your jacket as your shop window. It is a lure and needs to entice people to pick up the book and to flick through the pages. Even if you plan on only selling your book online, your cover still has its job to do. Online purchasers are just as discerning as the person walking into Waterstones. For example, Amazon offers browsers a ‘look inside’ feature which allows them to view the front and back cover of a book along with selected excerpts of the text.
A book, of course, should never be judged by its cover, but when you find yourself selling face-to-face, such as at a networking event or exhibition, you will see that the cover is certainly important. I have observed people looking at my book before deciding whether to buy or not. They tend to read the front cover, then the back, and then browse the content. Then they decide if they want to buy.
It wasn’t until I had written the last chapter of my book that I started considering the content of my book jacket. I thought it would be straightforward yet it took me over a day to complete.
I hope that the following tips will help you in creating your tempting shop window:
- The front cover needs to include your name and book title as a bare minimum. You will increase the impact by including a brief critic review or a couple of lines explaining the content of your book. On the front cover of my own book, for example, I added
“Over 250 marketing tips, tools and strategies to transform your small business in as little as 28 days”.
It is amazing how many people picked up on this. If writing a cookery book the approach could be the same:
“30 delicious and easy to prepare dishes using fresh and nutritional ingredients”.
The description should give a brief, yet compelling summary of your book:
“12 heart warming short stories that will captivate and delight”
“Everything you need to know about growing old disgracefully in 10 hilarious steps”
If the aim of the front cover is to arouse interest in the book, the content on the back has the task of motivating the reader to buy. It is the back cover that tells the reader about you and more about the content of your book. I divided my own back cover into three key areas:
- I added two brief testimonials, one from a successful business author giving the book a glowing accolade and another from a business owner that had benefited from my marketing approach. If you also decide to use testimonials, make sure that they are genuine. Credibility is important. I am often asked to explain the stories behind the testimonials on my cover.
- About the author. I wanted readers to get to know me primarily as a businesswoman, but also as a human being. I included my relevant professional achievements, awards and qualifications but combined this information with a glimpse of my family life. Try to stand in the shoes of your readers. What would they like to know about you? What would make them interested in what you have to say?
- About the book. This is the big one. You’ve probably got only a few lines in which to tell the story of your book, and to explain how the reader will benefit from reading it. I decided to highlight my understanding of the marketing challenges faced by small businesses and to explain how each chapter tackles these challenges in a straightforward and practical way. I aimed to speak to the reader personally, and to promise them that they would grow to regard my book as “their biggest marketing ally”. Spend time determining how best to tell your story and to summarise your book. This is not something that you can rush.
On a practical level, you must ensure that both your ISBN number and barcode are included on the back cover. Perhaps you want to be flexible with your book price. If so, don’t print it.
In my article next week, I will tackle the thorny topic of how to successfully market your self-published book on the smallest of budgets!
Useful Resources
www.isbn.org.uk
How to Publish Your Own Book – Anna Crosbie (available via Amazon)
Read Dee’s previous marketing blog: click here.
This post has been commented 2 times
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February 28th, 2010 at 11:20 amHeather Bestel says:
Brilliant post! Go into any bookshop and just observe how consumers make their decisions – it’s all about the cover. I’m a serial ‘outfacer’ whenever I see a friend’s book on a shelf with just the spine showing, I will turn the book to face outwards with the cover showing. It takes up more space on the shelf, but gives it an advantage over the competition. With so many options to choose from, every little helps
Heather xxx
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March 5th, 2010 at 6:36 pmDee’s marketing blog: The secrets of successful self-publishing (part three): How to promote your new book « FMWF says:
[...] here for part one and click here for part [...]