The book market is full of budding writers of both fiction and non-fiction. With competition so tight, you need your book to be excellent in order to stand a chance of success - and not just the content. If you've ever written a great book, proofed it perfectly and marketed it well only to see it suffer in the charts, here's a quick list of problems that may have caused this.
1. Overloaded titles
Ever visited a website with bad search engine optimisation, with copy so dense with keywords it's difficult to read? This sometimes happens with book titles, too.
It can be tempting to list the title of your book along with its genres, themes and other vaguely related keywords so that you can catch them as search terms. Don't do this! It looks desperate, and may make potential readers question the quality of your book. Let the content and description speak for themselves.
Besides, throwing in common search terms that are only tangentially connected to your book will irritate consumers who go on to buy it. Advertise your fiction e-book as 'sci-fi' because one of the characters is a retired astronaut, for example, and you'll attract bad reviews from readers who bought your book expecting something entirely different. One ill-timed bad review could stop every other consumer from buying, so don't risk it. Be honest and descriptive about your content, and those who want it will come.
2. Full-book preview
Be very careful with the settings you select when submitting your e-book. On Amazon, for example, it's possible for your settings to enable the entire book to show up when the customer clicks 'preview'. Don't let this happen to your book! Not every consumer will click preview, but you'll certainly lose a huge portion of your sales to readers who consume as much as they want to for free. It's worth checking this right away.
3. An unexciting cover
Never underestimate the value of a high-quality cover for your book. Don't settle for average. If you created your cover yourself and you are not a professional, try to look at it with a critical eye. It may well be worth finding a freelance graphic designer to create one for you; chances are that it'll more than pay for itself with the amount of buying eyes it draws to your content.
Also, ensure the cover stands out in the search results. Does it utilise the same stock image as your competition, or anything similar? Experiment with colours and layouts to see what pulls in the best numbers.
Of course, sometimes the book market requires a little luck along with strategy but with these three potential problems covered, you will know you've removed every obstacle to getting your content out there.
The impact of your book title on sales cannot be underestimated. Along with your book cover and blurb, the title is a key factor in any reader purchase. An effective title should captivate your readers, drawing them into the story and giving them a glimpse of the magic that is to come. So, what to do if you need a title, but you are coming up blank? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
Your book content is edited and polished to perfection, your cover art is on point and all that is left is to capture your reader's interest with a concisely crafted book blurb. Your blurb is your big chance to draw your readers in with your compelling storyline, evocative characters and cleverly-written plot twists so that they feel that they must (yes, absolutely must) purchase your book. Here are some top tips (with examples) to help you write a reader-attracting blurb in no time.
80% of readers say the book cover plays a decisive role in their decision to buy. Your book cover is the first thing readers see when browsing a collection, digitally and in print, so it's essential that it stand out. A great cover creates readership connection, builds your author brand and gives you a competitive edge in the market. Here we set out our top four tips to designing a best-selling cover and ensuring your masterpiece isn't overlooked.
If we want to connect with our readers we need to let them into our world. Although the elusive writer figure has been much romanticized in the past, these days a well-written author bio is an essential part of building your brand. It should be succinct and reflect your personality. Writing an author bio can be unnerving, especially for new authors, so here's a few tips to ensure your author bio doesn't put readers to sleep.
It’s impossible to achieve writing success without making a few (or many) mistakes in the process. Mistakes are a necessary part of improving your writing. However, many new writers will often make the same mistakes repeatedly when starting out. With that in mind, here are some common mistakes made by new (and experienced) writers. Read on to see if they apply to you!
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Often the key to success lies in subtracting rather than adding to your endless to-do list. Authors who achieve their goals have many qualities in common, including the things that they have given up and learnt to live without. So regardless of your definition of success, consider what habits and limiting mindsets are holding you back. Here are 7 things to let go of to reach your full potential.
One of the questions writers are asked the most is ‘where do you get your ideas from?’ Generally, this question is met with a shrug of the shoulders, a rolling of the eyes or a flippant reply. Many authors find it difficult to articulate where their ideas come from because they arrive in such a variety of ways. The truth is story ideas are all around us, we just have to be open to the possibility of them.
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So you want to write a memoir? Good. The world needs to hear your story.
As an author, I can say from personal experience, embarking on the pilgrimage of telling a heartfelt account of my own life was one of the best decisions I ever made. Whether you are doing this for yourself or if you intend to publish your story, it’s worth writing. Here are 5 helpful tips on how to make your memoir a story that works, resonates and will be personally fulfilling for you.
We all wish we had more time in the day to write. Perhaps you’ve felt despondent by the days, weeks, or even years being swallowed up by endless obligations that don’t allow you the time you need to work on your manuscript. Given that a thirty-hour day isn’t coming anytime soon, let's look at how you can make the better use of the writing time you do have.
What gives you an edge in the highly competitive world of book marketing?
Often the best advice comes from writers who’ve been in the trenches, who have tried and tested book marketing methods and found what works. To help you get more from your book marketing efforts, we talk to 15 authors, including Taylor Jenkins Reid and Hallie Ephron, about the book marketing strategies they’ve used to build a successful long-lasting writing career.
Many writers, whether complete beginners or seasoned authors, struggle with the question: “Should I use story structure to guide my writing?”
With story structure, you have a clear set of plot points and story beats to work towards—and for some writers, that is unacceptably restrictive. So the question becomes—how can you use story structure, without giving in to a formula?
Nailing your plot can be problematic. It sounds straight-forward. After all, it’s just the telling of your story. The difficulty, however, is telling that story in such a way that the reader is enticed by the characters and compelled to find out what happens. That’s where plot questions come in. These 5 questions will help you plan out your story so you avoid common writing pitfalls and begin writing with a clear outline.