Introduction

If you have any hope that your book will achieve financial and critical success, you need to understand how your readers (your customers) view your book (your product) when they first see it (online or on a shelf). Once you fully understand how your readers will perceive your book when they first see it, you can adjust your book accordingly.

To accomplish this, you must detach yourself from your personal feelings about your book and think how the target buyer would think. What would attract you to a book like yours? What would attract the people of your audience to a book like yours? As a buyer, would you be more attracted to an attractive cover or cover banner advertisements? Would you buy a book for its cover art or for the well-known names that are cited on the cover? Does the book’s page count seem too long or too short to cover the topic adequately? Does the subtitle seem to promise too much for a topic like this? How do the attributes of your book compare to other books within its subject category?

Here’s a quick look at the first things readers notice when they see your book for the first time:

1. Cover art

Have the graphics, images, photos, illustrations, colors, fonts, etc. Adequate is essential if you expect book buyers to notice. Books with a great cover almost always sell better on Amazon than books with an unconvincing, confusing, or unprofessional cover. What should be on the cover of your book that attracts or attracts a reader and a buyer? Are the graphics, colors, and fonts appropriate for the theme of the book? Make sure to design multiple covers. And don’t be afraid to hire professional help.

2. Title and subtitle

Your title should catch your buyer as quickly as possible. Generally, you should let the reader know what your book is about in as few words as possible. You can give more specific details in the caption. This is where the author lets the buyer really know what the book is about. When deciding which book to buy, the buyer tends to give more importance to the subtitle than to the main title.

3. Author’s name

Big known names will always get more attention. But there are a number of ways that lesser-known authors can get the buyer’s attention. The new or lesser known author can impress the consumer by putting the title of a previous book they have written directly below their name on the cover. They could also draw attention to your personal or business website, which the consumer can quickly search for on the Internet. One of the best ways to draw attention to a lesser-known author is to get a much bigger or better-known name to write the book’s foreword. This person’s name will also appear on the cover, directly below the author’s name.

4. Cover Blurbs

Advertising comments, or short testimonials, are essential for making book sales. And they are not hard to come by. The best ones, and those of renowned authors and celebrities, should be on your cover, front and back. You should include all the other advertisements that you accumulate within your book, as well as on your book’s website. You need to get them from a wide variety of sources, not just big names.

5. The prologue

The foreword is a discussion of why the reader should read your book. It is the place where a guest author shows the reader why they should read this book. If written correctly and by the right person for the job, the author of the book will gain a lot of credibility in the eyes of the reader.

6. The preface

The preface is a discussion of how the book came about. It is a place for the author of the book to tell the reader how this book was born and why. It will build credibility for the author and the book. More credibility will translate into more book sales. Here the author must explain why he wrote the book and how he came to write it. The author must show the reader why they are worth reading and buying.

7. The Introduction

The introduction is a discussion of the content of the book. Here the author sets the stage for the reader and sets him up for what to expect from reading the book. The introduction grabs the reader and intensifies the reader’s desire to find out more and hopefully devour the entire book.

conclusion

The key to doing this successfully is forcing yourself to look at the book as a buyer rather than the author. Be as objective as possible. Ask your family and friends for their unvarnished advice. Compare your book to others, especially those by successful authors and those published by major publishers. How does yours compare? What is your first impression of the other books? What is calling your attention? Spend an hour or two in a large bookstore walking and browsing the books throughout the store. It is not a difficult process, but you should spend some quality time exploring.