This month, my friend and teammate Mary Walewski of Buy The Book Marketing explains how to research your niche so you can tailor your book to your market. You can use free resources found in your library and online. Self-Publishers: Here are 7 Tips to Research Your Niche By Mary Walewski Copyright © 2009 Most authors working on a first book never really give any thought as to who their book is for. “It’s for everyone!” I’ve been told with a radiant smile. As a marketing person, this declaration makes my heart go into my shoes. If a book if for everyone, it’s…
Choose Appropriate Fonts for Your Self-Published Book Interior A quick look on your software reveals myriad choices of fonts and you can always find more! But like shopping in a candy store, you have to make judicious selections. It is important to select appropriate fonts to communicate your message to your readers, particularly when dealing with titles and headlines. Why? Because specific fonts can evoke a certain attitude and feeling that reinforces your intended message. Fonts for Headlines Choose a bold font with the right personality for your book interior. After all, fonts (like people) have personalities, and different designs…
You can design award winning book covers by using appropriate colors, imagery, symbolism, style and typography. Here’s how our team produced 7 award winning book covers at the CIPA EVVY Awards banquet. The Front Cover The front cover of your book should capture the essence of what’s inside. Smart self-publishers include an endorsement or short testimonial from a VIP on the front cover. Quality book cover design attracts potential readers faster than any other element, regardless of who you are or what you’ve written about. Large publishing houses and established authors all know a creative cover beckons to their devoted fans while also attracting new readers. Self-published authors…
My guest writer today is award-winning writer and editor, Barbara McNichol. As writers, we can get caught up in an idea or feel particularly attached to a word or phrase. Our writing can suffer as a result. When editing your own manuscript, dare to be brutally honest with yourself. To help you, here’s a list of tips and techniques for steering clear of common pitfalls and strengthening your manuscript along the way. An editor will ask these questions: Is every word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, section, and chapter necessary? Is the message clearly understood? Can your ideas be expressed more simply? Miracles do…
Last month I revealed layout secrets from typesetters of best selling books. A professional book interior layout is just one ingredient in a recipe for designing a book that grabs attention and sells. Another ingredient is to create an eye-catching book cover. Here are some things to consider before designing your next cover. A book cover is like your bait. You have four ways to get consumers to bite, which are the front cover, back cover, spine, and possibly inside flaps. E-books are changing the face of book sales a bit, which makes it even more important to have a…
Your book’s more than a collection of words on pages. It’s your baby. But will other people find it as beautiful as you do? That depends. How do you dress it? In other words, what do your pages look like? Layout makes all the difference. You can have the most riveting, meaningful, Nobel prize-worthy masterpiece in the bookstore, but it will be very lonely on those shelves if no one wants to buy it. Here’s how John Q. Citizen shops for a book. He saunters into his favorite bookshop with nothing in particular in mind to purchase. He picks up…
Friday, March 23, 2007 was the 13th Colorado Independent Publishers Association CIPA EVVY book awards banquet. After many years of celebrating with my clients with their EVVY award winning books, I had the opportunity as an author and publisher to enter my own book, Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal. I was thrilled to receive first place in the “How To” category. Shown below is the cover of my award-winning book. This year CIPA introduced the Technical Awards to recognize associate members for their contribution in book production. These awards go to editors, graphic designers, printers and illustrators. I…