Judy Cullins ®2003 All Rights Reserved
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 seconds. If they like it, they will spend eight
seconds on your back cover-a great opportunity to convince
them that your book is necessary for their success.
Does your back cover pass the test?
Best Book Back Cover Solutions to the Biggest Mistakes
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 under 70
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. They don't
care about the author.
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 to sell
your book in 8 seconds. For fiction, modify to include a bit of
plot, with a powerful quote or dialogue. Use bookstore models to inspire 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 wordsmith Richard
Lederer,
author of The Write Way; "Imagine Being an Author" in Dan Poynter's Writing
Nonfiction; or "To Age is Natural...To Grow Old is Not!" In Rico Caveglia's
Ageless Living.
4. Mistake: Omitting testimonials.
Solutions: Testimonials sell more books than any other
information on the back cover. Put at least four up. Contact a
variety of people. Use one from a top professional in your field,
one from a satisfied reader, one from a celebrity who cares about your topic,
and one from a famous media person.
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 35million readers. It included a feature story,
some how-tos and contacts and large 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 use
the essential "hot-selling points" to make each part of their book
sell copies. The back cover is all-important.
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Judy Cullins: 20-year author, speaker, book coach
Helps entrepreneurs manifest their book and web dreams
http://www.bookcoaching.com/products.shtml
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