I’m going to post a couple of linked blogs over the next weeks about marketing of books, with particular reference to one I read on the subject, by Reedsy, called aptly enough, How to Market a Book (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08TZJQ1FB/ ). Let me say first off, I have no affiliation whatsoever with Reedsy, but found the book immensely useful. In this post I’ll refer to a theme that permeates the book, and the old adage “Don’t judge a book by the cover.” The problem is, people do. All the time. And especially on a platform like Amazon.
One decision I’m very pleased with, is that (after some abortive attempts), I decided to get a professional to design my covers (http://blushcreate.com/ ). Not only does it look, as you might expect, more professional, but a designer knows what works, what fonts to use, what layout to display, what colours work best. I just know my book, so we should both stick to what we know best.
I’ve posted about the collaborative process of working with the cover designer before, and its exciting too, but this is about the end product, and what appeals. On an online platform, first off, it is a thumbnail of the cover that grabs the attention and sells. Size of book title and author name are almost more important than the graphic. Almost. But what the marketing book suggests, which isn’t rocket science but I hadn’t done, is look at the current bestsellers in your genre, and you’ll probably find common styles and themes among the bestsellers. The things that the reader associates with the genre, and gives them confidence that yours fits in with those bestsellers on similar themes or subjects. Why wouldn’t you want to do that, to make it easier for your book to appeal to a potential reader?
What I did early on was have a strong idea of what I thought matched the content best; in short, I thought I knew best what the cover should be because I wrote the book. Which is pretty daft and arrogant in retrospect. What the marketing book suggests is that no-one but me really cares whether the girl on the cover has green or blue eyes, or whether a background image like a beach is the most appropriate for the storyline. What they care about is whether the cover is enticing, appealing, and matches the expectations of someone who like to read similar books. In short, is it going to help get someone to buy and read the words.
As the Reedsy book details (and I’ll go through this in a different post), it particularly applies to genre books, which most of mine aren’t, but the principles still apply. For Hope is a Six Letter Word, I have therefore decided to drop the features I’ve had in my head as perfect for the story, and instead trust my designer, and try to make someone want to read the story instead!
Stay safe,
Kit