|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Five Book Back Cover Mistakes and How to Solve Them
Did you know that your back cover information is, after the cover, the best way to sell more books? And, that most authors, emerging and experienced, miss this opportunity to engage more potential buyers? Your book's front cover and sizzling title must impress your buyers in four-eight seconds. If they like it, they will spend ten-thirty seconds or so on your back cover-a great opportunity to convince them that your book is necessary for their pleasure or success. Does your back cover pass the test? 1. Mistake: Too many non-powerful words and too busy to have a focus. Solutions: A back cover of 6 by 9 inches should have fewer than 60 words. Use sound bites; picture and emotional words; benefits, not features; and testimonials to capture your readers' attention to keep your message focused. Make every word count and be willing to get five-fifteen edits. 2. Mistake: Too much superfluous material on it such a long author's bio or large photo. Potential buyers want to know how the book will help them, teach them a skill, or entertain them. Solutions: Print only a one or two-line bio on the back cover. Put your photo and more bio on the inside of the back cover. Omit features such as format information, which belong in the introduction. Connect with your buyer emotionally with specific, powerful ad copy. For self-help books use bullets with specific benefits, and enough of the right kind of testimonials (specific benefit driven) to sell your book in 30 seconds. For fiction, modify to include a bit of plot, with a powerful quote or dialogue. Use bookstore models to assist you. 3. Mistake: Repeating the book's title at the top of the back cover. Solutions: Since your potential buyers already know the title and are stimulated enough to look at the back cover, hook them with an emotional question or statement to read on. Create a "Hot Headline" that compels your reader to buy. Notice the headlines in your newspaper. Visit your bookstore and notice other best selling authors' headlines. "What's So Tough About Writing?" by word smith Richard Lederer, author of The Write Way; "Imagine Being an Author," in Dan Poynter's Writing Nonfiction; "To Age is Natural?To Grow Old is Not! In Rico Caveglia's Ageless Living, or "Imagine 1000's of People Reading your Book Next Month! for your coach's "How to Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast!". 4. Mistake: Omitting testimonials. In her book, "A Kick in Your Inspiration," Ruth Cleveland got one testimonial from an ex convict! Jacqueline Marcell, author of Elder Rage, took eight months to get forty testimonials from celebrities. Her book is endorsed by: Steve Allen, Ed Asner, Dr. Dean Edell, Dr. John Gray, Dr. Nancy Snyderman/ABC, Regis Philbin. Jacqueline Bisset, and Phyllis Diller. It was worth the effort, because in April 2001, she made the cover of the AARP Bulletin distributed to over 35 million readers. It included a feature story, some how-tos and contacts and pictures of the author and her book. She had to dance fast, and order 10,000 books to get distributed by the time the piece came out. After it came out, she was inundated with speaking engagements. There's a problem you might love to have! After you write several books and become rich and famous, you, like other professionals, will fill your back cover with testimonials. You won't even need to add benefits, because people have already bought your other books and liked them. Potential buyers will purchase when they see people they trust and know recommend the book. Besides filling the back cover with testimonials, you may want to even add extra testimonials in the front pages of the book. The more testimonials, the better! 5. Mistake. Independent publishers submitting galleys to reviewers, distributors, and wholesales without ANY back cover information. Solutions: "Make the back cover your first area of concern," says Susan Howard, Director of Consulting Services at top publishing firm, The Jenkins Group Inc., who write "The Publishing Connection" She adds, "Waiting for testimonials is generally the reason the back cover of a galley is left blank. Failure to realize the value of the back cover seems to equate with the failure to realize that the text for the finished back cover can always be changed before the printing of the book." It's important for writers to "market while they write"-- To make each part of their book sell copies. The back cover is all-important. Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How to Create an Amazing Author Website Without a website, an author is unknown.Without a website, an author sells fewer books.Without a website, an author has limited web presence.Without a website, an author has limited media presence.Without a website, an author can't maximize his or her creativity, expertise and talent. Is There a Book Hiding Inside You? Have you always wanted to write? Is Traditional Book Marketing Getting you Down? "Are you disappointed and tired of time and money down the drain using traditional book marketing? How would you like to sell more books than you ever dreamed of in less time and never have to leave your office?" Would you like to do it all for free? Distribute Your Self-Published Book - Part 1 Where is your book now? With a distributor? In a book store? Or, did it already die an early death after a few months? Book Marketing 101 for the Self-Published Author -- Getting Started No matter what any publisher or marketing company tells you (even the traditional publishing houses), you, the author, are almost 100% the reason your book will sell. Does Your Book Cover Pass the ?Ignore? Test? Your book cover is the first impression a potential client has with your book. The book cover design and message will determine if your book will be ignored or bought. Raise Your Hand If Youd Consider Giving Up The Rights To Your Book Forever If Random House pulls up to your house with a U-haul filled with millions and wants to buy your book, maybe you'd consider giving up the rights forever. But, let's come back to the real world. In the real world, many authors find that the best way to launch a writing career is to essentially self-publish by using a print-on-demand (POD) publisher. The Bible Of Self Publishing Any book that is in its 14th edition must be doing something right. Such is the case with author Dan Poynter`s, The Self-Publishing Manual: How To Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book. Plain Speaking ? 4 Secrets For Getting Your Book Purchased What can be more infuriating to a potential purchaser of a non-fiction book than chapter headings which give no clue as to their contents? After all, if someone is looking in the non-fiction section of a book store, it implies they want facts, not a fancy and "clever" table of contents! Here are 4 sure-fire ways to make your text grab the reader's attention: Top Ten Getting Started Tips to Market Your Book and Business Want to sell a lot more books? Want clients calling every day to find out more about your service? Most emerging businesses forget the #1 way to promote anything--the Internet. Specifically, writing and submitting articles. Colour and Book Covers - What You Should Know if Youre Self-Publishing Color is tricky at the best of times. If you want exact color management (such as a particular shade of blue for a university logo) you really should use something called spot color. Spot colors are specially mixed ink colors. Like the paint you purchase for your walls, the spot colors, or PMS colors (PMS stands for Pantone Matching System), are mixed according to pre-determined recipes. Each color in the PMS spectrum has an assigned number. When a client picks a number, the ink is mixed according to that recipe. It's usually more expensive than process color printing. Seven Really Truly Unique Ways to Sell More Books These marketing tips aren't for the weak at heart. Use discretion and know where the ego and self-promotion boundary stands for you. Top 5 Book Selling Tips TIP # 1 Extend Your Books Life With a Sales Letter Authors, publishers and business owners are great at getting their books written and launched. But after the initial one-year honeymoon, sales slow down. To counter this, make sure to let your audience know about your book's benefits and how it can help them in their lives. Keep your book alive and selling well for years when you write a sales letter. Interview with Book and Marketing Coach-Judy Cullins - Part 2 To know what to do at the right time in book writing, publishing, or internet marketing, consult a coaching expert who has lived it all for 20 years--Judy Cullins. Part one of this article is available at http://www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article-127.shtml Writers: The Truth About Advertising, Publicity, and PR Many of us are trying to do business and don't know how to define these words. We read articles and think, this could have just as easily been about me! We wonder why the reporter picked that person instead. We wonder how someone got into magazines and onto radio shows. We attribute big successes with an expensive publicist. We are not sure what a publicist does but since the guy on Entourage has one, they must be a good thing. Some of use have publicist and secretly wonder why they can't get us on the Today Show or Good Morning America. We have written books and wonder why we are not on the Oprah book club/ The Book Signing Tomorrow night is my first Local Writers Fair. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time. Ten authors will gather in a little room behind tables full of books in a historic library in Canandaigua, N.Y. It's been advertised heavily and the excitement has been building for weeks. Sell More Books With an E-mail Newsletter NOTE: Because many words in this article are likely to trigger sp^m filters, we've disguised them with symbols (e.g. sp^m). This will ensure a higher delivery rate if you use this article in your e-zine. 4 Questions to Answer Before Contacting a Book Agent Obtaining agency representation is your first step toward getting profitably published. Most publishers won't even look at unsolicited manuscripts. 8 Easy Online Ways to Market Your Book For Free Marketing your book whether you went the POD, e-book, or traditional route can be a daunting process. Figuring out what works and what doesn't can take time, energy, and if you're not careful a lot of money. When I first self-published my science fiction novel GETTING OUT ALIVE, I had already done quite a bit of research into ways to market my novel that didn't eat into my pocket book.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |