OK, OK, I'm not being good at blogging. It's just not yet on my daily radar, but I plan to be more diligent. Please bear with me. :-)
Something that comes up frequently in phone calls from clients is the saleability of their books. I cannot stress this enough: do people judge a book by its cover? Absolutely.
If you see a beautiful book on a book shelf, you are much more inclined to reach for that book than another one that has an amateurish appearance. It's like anything else - beauty is attractive and perceived value is appealing. If two books each cost $24.95 but one has a beautiful cover and a great title while the other book looks like it was created by an amateur, guess which one will sell first? The beautifully designed book speaks of professionalism, which is where the buyer wants to put his/her money. Wouldn't you?
Before you hire someone to design or edit your book, make sure that you ask for samples of their work. Also, do your research. Go to book stores and spend lots of time there looking at books in your genre. Stand back and look at the books on the shelves: which books catch your eye? Pick them up and:
- look at the frontcover and decide what you like or dislike about it.
- look at the back cover. Does it sell the book? Does it make you want to open the book and begin reading?
- open the book. Look at the pages. Is the white space balanced? Are there hyphens at the ends of lines ? (There shouldn't be any.) Do you like the font? Is it easy to read?
The physical appearance is very, very important if you want corporations or volume buyers to find your book appealing. They are trying to project a professional image, which is just not possible with a book that does not look good.
Don't be satisfied with second best if you want to sell books.
Denise
