Books: The Cover is Everything
A book can be the ultimate marketing tool for information oriented businesses, professional speakers and of course self publishers. A book can be used to gain the trusted adviser role of some of your current and potential clients. It gives you street cred and marks a huge accomplishment for you and everyone involved. Even better, it gives you an opportunity to have a book launch event and get your brand and your intellectual property out there in the public light.
The Cover
We need to get a clue from one of the most respected publishers in the world. Your book is judged by the cover by almost every professional and consumer who comes in contact with it. Here is a story that Dan Poynter, author of “The Self Publishing Manual” tells:
“Alan Gadney, a non-fiction author, commissioned covers for three computer books he planned to write. He had the covers printed in full color and made into dummy books for display at the ABA Book Fair in Dallas. His books were the talk of the show, and he took a number of large orders. Yet he had not yet written one word on the subject.”
To many authors, the book cover is an afterthought. After working with self publishers for a long time I have seen all types of insanity like: “My cousin is an artist and she’ll do my cover for free.” “The printer says he’ll take care of the cover as part of the printing”. “I want the text in four color because that is what the reader actually experiences.” It is often essential for self publishers to cut corners but getting the best cover and marketing pieces you possibly can trumps the need to economize.
(Note: Design packages and gang printing is a better way to save on your design bill.)
Here is why and where your book cover must perform:
- On the Shelf – Your cover and sometimes only the spine must compete for attention among thousands of books. When a browser picks up your book, according to a Wall Street Journal study, your cover is reviewed for 8 seconds and if you are lucky the back cover gets 15 seconds of viewing. The book it took you two years to write is reviewed by the buyer for an average of 23 seconds. The back cover alone closes most purchases; less than 20% briefly skim the table of contents and text before purchasing.
- Internet – Your cover will appear on your website, on Amazon.com, and any number of websites related to the book’s topic. From there it may be forwarded through e-mail. The web offers a tough graphic environment: 72 dots per inch, often your book is 2 inches high, appearing on an infinite variety of non-color-corrected computer screens.
- Distributor – Distributors receive boxes of books everyday. Most they reject. A few they accept. Some they feel have potential but request that the book be redesigned and reprinted by a professional – an expensive lesson for the author.
- Major Bookstore Chains – Your book may be accepted by a distributor but rejected by major bookstore chains. A major bookstore buyer dismisses a poorly designed book cover in three seconds.
- Reviews – “Don’t judge a book by its cover” may be true, but most books won’t even get the chance to be judged by a reviewer if the cover looks amateurish.
- Media Kit – Your cover should grace the front of your media kit (pocket folder) as well as show up inside on a CD, in case a reviewer wishes to place a picture of your book next to the review.
- Point of Purchase – Back of the room sales. Attendees at your speech or workshop will make judgments about your expertise and even the quality of your speech by the appearance of your book cover.
- Marketing Materials – Your cover must work overtime: it will appear in all your marketing materials: brochures, post cards, book marks, posters etc.
- Display Ads – Your cover will be featured in all paid advertisement for your book.
So if your business leads you to create a book — as a promotion and/or a product — please remember that the old saying could not be more wrong – everyone judges, handles and purchases a book by its cover.
Brand well and prosper!
Andy Cleary