J.U. Scribe's Blog, page 4

Time to Publish (Almost)

There’s less than 2 weeks to publication date and I’m still not done.

Yes. I’m a perfectionist. But I want everything to be just right for when my book How to Self-Publish Without Going Broke goes live. Even if that means sending my formatted book over again to my copyeditor/proofreader for a final spot-check.

These weeks before you publish can be stressful and nerve-wrecking because there’s so many ducks you have to get in a row including securing your customer and editorial reviewers. This is important because having reviews early on will 1) boost your credibility and visibility as a writer and 2) help you become eligible to promote your book to the big promotion sites out there (e.g. Bookbub)

So what’s involved in this final step? Here is an overview of the publishing process.

Proofing

This is a very important step. I can’t stress how important this is. Even if your book is professionally edited, it is still your responsibility to check the quality of your book. To help in this area, many distributors or retailers allow you to order proofs of your book (if it’s in print form) or preview your manuscript as it would appear on a device. KDP Select, in particular, allows you to pull up your manuscript in multiple formats, so you can see if your book’s formatting appears consistent, readable, and professional regardless of the device. If something looks off or you see a typo, you can correct it to avoid errors in the uploading process.

Here’s a simple checklist of what to look for when proofing your book:

Consistency—Is the font type and size consistent throughout the body of your manuscript? What about the section headings and your use of spacing? Is the spelling of certain words consistent? If not, you have some changes you need to make. Consistency is key for a professional presentation of your book.

Error-free—Are there any typos or spelling mistakes that missed the rounds of editing? Editors are imperfect too, but if you did your due diligence in getting your book edited, you should have close to zero spelling or grammatical errors at this stage.

Links—This applies especially to eBooks. Do all your links navigate to the correct pages? You want to check for any broken links that navigate to another part of your book (ex: the chapter title in your table of contents) or an external link (ex: a blog). Links that take you to an error page or are unresponsive make for poor user experience.

Cover art—It’s one thing to view an image on the computer. However, you may be surprised to see what it looks like once it’s printed full size. Is the image quality still high or do the colors look less vibrant? For print books, in particular, you want to make sure the print settings you chose gives you the desired outcome.

The uploading process will vary depending on the retailer/distributor you choose. Here’s what you can expect if you are publishing through KDP Select, which publishes print and eBooks.

One of the first things you’ll be asked to fill out is the language of the book. You will also need to fill out the title and subtitle (if applicable). If your book is part of a series, you want to indicate the series name and number as well as the edition of the book. If this is the first book, you can leave the edition field blank. You only need to worry about the edition if you are reuploading an updated version of a published book. Next, you want to include the author’s name and any contributors.

The next step is to include the description that will appear on the book’s details page. As far as publishing rights are concerned, they will present you with two options: 1) I own the copyright and I hold the necessary publishing rights or 2) This is public domain work. If something is in the public domain, that means no individual holds exclusive rights to your work. If you want your work copyrighted so only you own the rights, choose the first option.

Once you select the desired option, you can select up to two categories. Then select your keywords. Remember, to maximize your book’s visibility, do not duplicate the category names in your keywords. Instead, list well-known topics or themes related to your book and there’s a chance to unlock an additional category when the book goes live!

Now is the time for the step you’ve been waiting for; uploading your manuscript. If there are no errors, you are good to proceed forward. Keep in mind, you will have the option to enable DRM for your eBook. The purpose of DRM is to restrict the unauthorized distribution of your book. As I noted earlier in the copyright section, it’s aimed at discouraging piracy. If you enable it, users can still lend your book as a gift. Make sure to read the fine print on what it covers and what it doesn’t because once you publish, you cannot change this setting.

The next major step is to upload your cover image. JPG and TIFF are the only accepted files for KDP. If you are using another distributor, please check their policy on what makes up acceptable file formats. If you are publishing an eBook, an ISBN is optional. Instead, you will be assigned an ASIN number, which is a unique identifier for your book. Print books, however, will need an ISBN, which the retailer you’re publishing with will provide. This is important if you plan to have your book sold at bookstores.

The next section you need to fill out is pricing and royalty rate. You can also select the countries/territories that your book will be distributed to. Keep in mind, the pricing of your book will vary per country you opted to make your book available to. As far as book lending, this is optional, but honestly, if you want to maximize your exposure, I would recommend enabling this option so users can lend your book to their friends and family.

Print If you are publishing in print in addition to eBook, you will need to repeat the process which includes, but is not limited to, filling out your language, title/subtitle, categories, keywords, pricing, royalty, etc. Since it is print form, you will also be prompted to choose your paper type, trim size, and bleed settings. Make sure you give careful thought to what would make the most sense for your book as these changes will stick after you hit publish. After you have reviewed all your settings and are comfortable with them, you are ready to hit submit.

[image error]Coming to a retailer near you. (6/29/2020)

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The price is right.

Can readers guess the price for your book? Even better question is how to choose the right price for your book.

Choosing the right price point is critical to sales. It can make the difference between whether the reader will buy your book or put it back on the shelf. While you want to make a profit from the money you invested, you don’t want to price your book so high that it deters readers. On the opposite side of the coin, if you price your book too low, you will have to rely on getting a greater number of sales just to break even. While most people like a good bargain, a book that’s free or cheap may give some readers the impression that the quality is cheap. Not all readers think that way and some successful writers have priced their books for free or $.99, whether permanently or for a limited time offer.

The pricing of your book will vary depending on the format it’s available in. If it’s a print book, the ink settings, binding, and page count will determine the minimum price your book can be set to. If it’s an eBook, you don’t have to worry about printing costs that come with distributing and shipping paperbacks and hardcover books, so the costs for the eBook will almost always be cheaper than the paperback version. Let’s look at each format and the pricing guidelines to follow.

EBooks have the most flexibility in pricing. I’ve seen Kindle prices range from free to $34.99! Textbooks typically fall in the higher price range, so those are more the exception rather than the rule. Most eBooks fall within free to $5.99. So, there is a considerable range in which you can price your book.

Your best approach is to select a competitive price for your book. How do you do that? Here are some consumer practices to consider when pricing competitively:

The Length of the Book

It’s widely practiced, even expected, that a writer would charge more for a book based on the sheer volume of content even if it’s in electronic or audio form. Most people expect to pay more for a college textbook versus a short story. Conversely, if you set a higher price, readers will expect more content. This is just one example of basic consumer practices that can help you set reasonable prices.

The Genre

Some genres have a higher price point than others. Per David Kudler in his blog: The Book Designer, readers of some genres such as romance, science fiction, and mysteries, expect shorter books (50,000 words or less) to be priced at $.99. Meanwhile, for full-length works (over 50,000 words) readers expect to pay between $2.99-$4.99. For other genres, like literary fiction and nonfiction short stories and novellas which clock under 40,000 words, a reader would expect to pay $2.99. For a full-length work in those genres, you can expect to price it somewhere between $4.99-$9.99. As mentioned earlier, nonfiction books, especially reference books, tend to run higher in cost. When choosing a price, note the prices of similar books in your chosen genre. One exercise to try is to select ten books for a genre so you can get a good range and calculate the average price. You can then use the average to determine the price point to start from.

Demand

The higher the demand, the higher the price. Therefore, textbooks are priced higher than your average books. There is a greater demand for them from college students and/or professors across the country. If there are fewer competitors, you can afford to raise your price. However, in a saturated book market, readers have more choices even within a given subject matter. So, choosing the higher tier is not a wise strategy for any writer starting in the publishing industry.

Credibility/Following

This leads to my next point; readers gravitate to what they know. If you are a new writer and have a tiny following, people will typically have reservations about taking a chance on your book. When you don’t have the advantage of a marketing team, a huge social media following, or a fan base, that’s already one strike. If readers get the sense, your book is not high quality or you are not qualified to write on a certain genre, that’s even more strikes against you. Buying your book then becomes a risky move for the reader. Choosing the wrong price only exacerbates this problem. For example, if you select a higher price (compared to books with a similar page length and genre as yours), the reader may think the risk of buying the book and not liking it is too high. However, if you set the price on the lower end, readers are more likely to take a chance on your book.

A popular price point, especially with new writers, is between $.99 and $3.99. The average price of eBooks typically falls closer between $2.99-$3.99. Keep in mind that certain sites, such as Amazon KDP, will reward you with higher royalties if you price the book at least $2.99. Using KDP as an example, if you price your book at $2.99, you’re looking at 70% royalty vs. 35% royalty for books priced $.99 and lower. Some sites, such as Kobo and Barnes & Noble, will reward you with a higher royalty rate at $.99, so that is something to keep in mind when you are setting your prices. Understandably, upcoming writers may price their books within this range. Some, though, may take it a step further and set their price as free. They may reason that if you download a book for free, readers have nothing to lose—except time—but that’s a different story.

This leads to my next point: making your books free. This may seem counterintuitive if you want to make sales. Obviously, if your book is permanently free, don’t expect to make a profit. So why set the price to zero? Setting your book free can be a strategic marketing strategy. Most people, including myself, like free things. Even people who normally wouldn’t read your book might give it a chance. If you set your book for free, people are far more likely to download your book, driving up your sales rank on online retailers. This helps you drive not only more downloads but also more visibility, which funnels more downloads.

Keep in mind that setting your books free will attract many readers. Not every reader that downloads your book will read it. They may just download it only to forget about it. I think many of us are guilty, including myself, of downloading a book that was on sale or free, only to never read it.

Another reason people may set their books free is that they want to gain readers. Making your first book free and then charging for the next book has been done by many authors hoping to gain a solid readership first before promoting their next book. This can be effective, especially if you plan to write a series. The assumption is if the readers liked the first book, chances are they will pay for the second book. For many writers, this has proven to be the case.

Even if you price your book for sale, you can always set it to free for promotional purposes. Most times writers will make their book free for a limited time to create buzz and drive sales ranks and ultimately sales if done right. Retailers, such as Amazon and Smashwords, will let you set your book for free for a limited time. Keep in mind that if you set your book free, other retailers will need to price-match so that readers will see a consistent value no matter where they go. Thankfully, if you go through an aggregator, such as Smashwords, they will ensure it updates your pricing across all its channels although don’t expect the price change to be instantaneous. If you want more control over the exact timing of your free run, choosing Kindle Unlimited is a better option although you have to make your book exclusive with Amazon for 90 days.

Want more information on pricing your books including audiobooks? Get an advanced reader copy of my latest guide: How to Self-Publish Without Going Broke before it goes live on June 29th, 2020.

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Free Marketing Anyone?

For those that have followed my blog in more recent months I detailed self-publishing steps from creating a plan, writing your best manuscript, editing, cover design, formatting, and choosing the right categories just to name a few. But today we are going to talk about a step in the process that many writers dread.

Marketing.

Some dread that word. Others associate it with something negative. So why bother learning to market?

One important reason for indie writers is that you are responsible for marketing your book. It’s one thing to write a book. It’s another thing to market it. Without proper marketing, your book will not sell well if at all. If your book is not positioned to your target readers (these are readers your book is geared towards) it will simply get lost in the shuffle. I been there and (still there). I spent money on efforts that yielded little to no results. My problem was that I approached marketing the wrong way. You may be familiar with an earlier post I did on marketing for success for your book. I was guilty of those things like paying for click ads (nothing wrong with click ads when done right). I spoke a lot about what not’s working for you then. But today I wanted to focus on specific marketing tactics you should be trying if you want to create pre-buzz for your next book.

What to Try (for free)

Landing pages are the first page a user will see when they click on a site and are used by many types of businesses. They are simpler in design from a standard site, having few to no top navigation links. The landing page’s primary purpose is a call for action by the visitor. There will generally be a form or a button that will call for the users to engage with the site by clicking or filling out a form that will then navigate them to the intended page. For an author, that could be an email mailing list. Landing pages can also be linked to your buy page.

If you don’t have coding skills, sites like Wix, Unbounce, Instapage, and even Mailchimp provide user-friendly tools to build a landing page with few to no HTML and CSS skills. Keep in mind that for Unbounce and Instapage, they will give you free trials for at least 14 days before they will bill you for their monthly plans although Unbounce may offer you 20% promos for your first three months.

An email mailing list is another great marketing strategy, especially if you’re planning on releasing more books. If you build a nice-size mailing list, you already have a group of potential new buyers at your disposal instead of starting from scratch. What’s nice is sites such as Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor allow you to choose free starting plans. Those platforms allow you to choose from existing templates to send out professional newsletters and announcements to your mailing list seamlessly. As your list grows into the hundreds or thousands, you may want to upgrade your plan, but the free plans should suffice when you are starting. Mailchimp, in my experience, is easier to integrate into your WordPress blog without having to upgrade to a business plan, so I would encourage you to create an account with them if you are planning to use your blog to funnel emails into your newsletter.

I would recommend integrating links and forms to your mailing list on your author blog/site and an email signature. Sites such as WordPress offer free plugins that allow visitors to join your mailing list in the form of a pop-up prompting them to subscribe or an embedded form where they enter their email and hit join.

If you decide on pop-ups, you can configure when the pop-up will show up on your site. Pop-ups can appear when the visitor first lands on the page, when the visitor scrolls, or when the visitor is leaving the page. In Mailchimp, you can even determine the timing of when the pop-up will appear. You can change these settings in Mailchimp by going under “Audience” at the top navigation, then choose Manage Audience to the right of your screen below the top navigation. In the drop-down choose “Signup Form.” Next, you will select the “Subscriber Pop-up Form.” This will take you to the design tab where you can preview how the form will look. On the right-hand side select the drop-down under “Display.” There you will see a list of options to choose from. You can experiment with the different settings to see which ones yield the best results. It is best practice to give your visitor some breathing time when they first enter your site before surprising them with a pop-up.

If you are struggling to grow your mailing list, I recommend trying out sites such as StoryOrigin. You can do newsletter swaps with other writers, preferably with similar styles or genres. It’s a two-way exchange between your existing newsletter and another writer who’s also trying to grow their newsletter. An example of how this works is that a writer you pair up with will feature your book or deals on their newsletter to their fanbase. Likewise, they will expect you to feature one of their books or deals on your newsletter. Both sides benefit from the exchange, so it’s worth looking into.

Word of Mouth

What’s a free, organic way to market your book? Simple. Word of mouth. This form of marketing is easily overlooked but can yield some good results, especially if your listeners have a good rapport with you. Some people may shy from self-promotion. Some view it as bragging. Other writers, like myself, are more introverted and don’t enjoy drawing undue attention to themselves. If you feel that way, how can you harness the power of word of mouth that is effective and doesn’t come across as boastful or conceited?

Learning to talk about my book with confidence and poise in front of others was a challenge, but it taught me a valuable lesson in being prepared. Preparing my thoughts ahead of time was critical and helped me choose the right words to convince others why they should check out my book. This is useful advice for any writer whether you’re pitching your work to an agent, getting ready to meet the press, or discussing your work with a group of colleagues. Some things I want to hone is the pitch or hook of the story. A brief but attention-getting intro is the aim to attract potential buyers.

Another strategy that helps with self-promotion for introverts is if you can get others to promote you. Fans of your work or reviewers are like extra mouth-pieces to spread the word about your book. While you don’t want to pressure them (it would produce the opposite effect), if possible, encourage a willing fan or contact to spread the word to their circle of friends.

Giveaways

Book giveaways are another great way to gain much-needed exposure for your book. You can schedule free giveaways, whether through a social media page, personal site/blog, or Goodreads. Goodreads is a good place to host a giveaway because the site connects writers to avid readers. If you are not already signed up on Goodreads, you can do so before or after you officially publish. Keep in mind things have changed since I last hosted a giveaway. You can give away both print and eBooks connected to your Amazon’s KDP account. Currently, to host a giveaway, the package starts at $119, which is a bit pricey given that many new writers have a tight budget.

How you conduct your giveaway will determine if the costs will come out of your pocket. For example, if you are giving away print books, you will probably have to buy the proofs and then ship them to recipients. If your recipients are from other countries, this could further complicate shipping costs and times. Giving away free eBooks is a much easier option and is free!

Hosting giveaways have their advantages. One is that it increases visibility and buzz. For example, on Goodreads when people see your book hosted in a giveaway, they can add their book to their virtual shelves or “To Read Lists.” Their friends will see that they added your book, bringing more eyeballs to your book even if they never entered the giveaway themselves.

Advanced Reader Copies (ARC)

Another recommended option is for writers to send an advanced copy of their book to readers before the official release date if your book has already been extensively edited up to this point. While this operates similarly to a giveaway since some readers may leave a review, readers who get an advanced copy are expected to leave a review. It doesn’t mean the ARC reader will remember to leave a review though. Sites like Booksprout and BookFunnel connect writers to readers who are seeking advanced copies. BookSprout is a good starting place to send your advanced copies to readers because the service allows you to decide on which sites readers should post their reviews, and when to do so. The service will even take care of sending friendly reminders to readers to leave a review as the due date approaches.

Contacting Book Reviewers/Bloggers in Your Genre/Niche
You want to get as many book reviewers as possible lined up (if you haven’t already) who are interested in your genre. Having more reviews (especially positive ones) adds credibility and helps undecided readers make an informed decision about whether your book is worth taking a chance on. Plus, if your reviewer likes your book, he/she will promote it for you via word of mouth. As was mentioned earlier, word of mouth is free and can be very effective, especially if that book blogger has a large and engaged following. You want their fans to talk your book up. Having a well-known blogger/influencer back your book up can amplify your book’s exposure, which can have a very positive effect on sales. For any obscure writer, this can be a game-changing arsenal in boosting sales! Just be wary of paying someone to write a review. Not only is it another expense, but if sites like Amazon detect these aren’t legit reviews, it will remove them!

To help you find reviewers, you can check out BookSirens, which will give you a directory of book reviewers per genre. I also list a handful of other reputable book review sites on my blog. Another option to find reviewers is by searching for Amazon’s top reviewers here. Their reviews can give your book the credibility it needs to sway undecided readers. When scanning through the list, you want to find reviewers that at least review the genre(s) you write in. They are more likely to accept your request if it’s something that interests them.

Preorders

Depending on the retailer/distributor you choose, you can make your book available for preorder. This is another free way to encourage people to buy your book before the release date. It creates anticipation for your book because now readers have to wait to get their hands on your book. With the book already preordered, you won’t have to worry about a potential reader forgetting to buy your book on its release day because it will already be taken care of for them. Preorders help to drive early sales right out of the gate, giving your book the boost it needs to make it to important lists such as “Hot New Releases” and “Best Seller” lists.

If you’re looking for extra help to position your book in front of readers, some sites will market your book for you. While some may feature your book for free, most will not guarantee your book will be featured to viewers unless you pay for a featured slot. If you are choosing a site to feature your book, you need to consider which ones will position your book to the most readers. It’s the sites with the largest number of engaged or active visitors that will give your book an actual chance to compete with more established names in the industry.

BookBub leads the list with well over a 1.4 million mailing list and a monthly visit of 7.5 million site visits each month. BookBub is quite pricey compared to other book promotion sites with a paid promotion starting at $113. But if you will go big, partnering with BookBub would be worth the investment in positioning your book in front of millions of readers. Once you create an account with BookBub, you can use some of its tools to drive preorders, create ads, and promote price discounts. With its wide-reaching platform, this could be the game-changing sales boost you need to get your book’s name out there. Keep in mind that BookBub is very selective in the books they feature, so make sure you have a backup plan which I’ll get to soon.

Free/Discounted Promotions

For those not familiar with Amazon promotions, authors enrolled in KDP Select have several options to promote their book. One way is through a Kindle Countdown deal. The primary difference between a free run and a Kindle countdown deal is that the latter is discounting your book from its normal sale price by a significant margin. Your promotional period can range from 1 to 5 days. You can split your promotional period into separate days (i.e., Monday & Wednesday) or have it run consecutive days (i.e., Monday-Wednesday). You can set the price points at a certain time and date between the start and end of your promotion.

Another way is the free run. This works similarly to a Kindle countdown deal except that your book is free for a limited time. Speaking from personal experience, you will probably have more downloads with a free run versus a Kindle countdown deal, but both are something to look into. To maximize your free run or any sales promotion, you want to first mention it to your followers on social media and encourage them to share it.

To take it a step further you want to have your book featured on sites specifically tailored to promote books that are free or on sale for a limited time. If you’re looking for something cheaper than BookBub, you can still maximize your sales potential by leveraging these other sites when you plan to offer your book at a discounted price or for free. Reedsy currently lists 63 free and paid promotion sites. The site ranks each one by giving them a rating on how trustworthy they are, the size of their mailing list, average monthly visits, and whether or not it’s free to list.

Here are some top sites listed under $100:

ManyBooksRobin ReadseReaderIQFreebooksy

Keep in mind you still have to pay to be featured on their site and mailing lists. However, there are some book promotions sites that will cost zero dollars to get your book featured the next time you run a sale. As a disclaimer, if you choose their free option, keep in mind, they may give higher priority to paying customers. Check out the full list here[1].

Coupons

Other sites such as Smashwords allow you to create custom coupons for your book. You can maximize this by promoting the coupon codes to your followers, whether through social media pages (e.g., Facebook page) or a mailing list.

Remember some of these marketing strategies will work better for other authors depending on the genre and the audience that your book attracts. What helped me build more exposure was asking reviewers from my genre to write reviews. After a few email requests I got an influx of bloggers asking to review my work for a fee. While I’m not fond of paid reviews, I did get more reviews for my book not to mention connections that I can use for my next book. Another thing that worked was StoryOrigin to build a mailing list. Going from 3-68 subscribers in less than a month just is big accomplishment for me. I would strongly recommend new writers focus on getting reviews and building a mailing list if you want to increase your readership.

It’s ok to experiment with different tactics until you find one that yields results and that you are comfortable doing. Once you find one you like, focus on perfecting that particular strategy before jumping to something else. In that way you 1) build your skillset in that form of marketing and that 2) you can better test the effectiveness of that marketing strategy when you have few variables at play.

Just like writing, marketing is a skill you need to hone to be effective. Marketing doesn’t have to intimidating or costly if you know the right methods.

Want to learn more about other marketing strategies that you can try without going broke?

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[1] https://thisiswriting.com/the-essential-list-of-book-promotions-sites/

Choose your Categories Wisely

In an earlier post I talked about how keywords are important in increasing your visibility as a writer and blogger. The good news is that there are keyword research tools out there. Some of those resources will cost you money, but you can find free keyword research tools by doing a Google search. Some free ones include Keyword Tool, Rank Tracker, Keyword Tool Dominator, and more. Some of them like SellerApp will give you a free trial for a week before you are expected to pay to continue to use their services. Tools like SellerApp track the search volume of the keywords you enter which is a great indicator for how popular that keyword is. They will even suggest similar keywords to the ones you enter, allowing you to see which ones are trending among similar products.

Keywords are just one way to boosting your book’s visibility. Another important way to position your book to your target readers is by choosing the right categories. So let’s talk categories.

No matter how unique your book is, each book falls into at least one box. In literature, those boxes are your categories. You have two major categories that all manuscripts will fall under fiction and nonfiction. Seems pretty straightforward so far. Under fiction, you have many categories to choose from whether it’s romance, science fiction, fantasy, historical, young adult (YA), adventure, mystery, horror, adventure, literary, and children. This also includes poetry, satires, and comics and graphics novels. For nonfiction, we can break this into several categories, such as memoirs/biographies, how-to books, self-help, and reference books. We only scratched the surface, but this gives you an idea of the different ways books are categorized. However, you might wonder why is choosing the right category so important when preparing to publish your book? And how does this tie into marketing?

The category your work falls under determines what section your book will be found on the shelves of a bookstore. If it’s an eBook, your book’s category will determine what section your book is grouped under in the online schema. This is done to make it easier for the reader to access certain types of information. If readers had no idea the exact book they wanted to read, they might know they want to read a mystery novel. So, from there a reader can start broad and narrow down their search until they find what they are looking for. 

A category can start broad but can get more specific as you add more subcategories. You want to be very specific in choosing your categories. This helps narrow down a vast selection of books to a smaller targeted niche within the main parent genre. The smaller the category, the easier it is to rise to the top seller rank within your given category. For example, let’s say you wrote a book that falls under the young adult category. This category represents a particular audience or demographic catered towards adolescents through young adulthood. However, the category is still very broad. Within that category, you have subcategories, such as mysteries and thrillers, science fiction, romance, historical fiction to name a few. Your book may be science fiction, but it may also include dystopian tropes such as a dark, controlling, futuristic society. Now you can choose young adult > science fiction/dystopian. Even then you can break it down further, especially if your book also contains other genres/elements.

Just as in the example above, a book can fall into multiple categories. You may not choose every single category box that your book checks. Just choose the ones that are the most marketable. Some categories/genres attract a certain audience or market. Depending on the genre, some will have a larger market share than others. For example, romance novels are still one of the most popular genres around. Not surprisingly, it outsells other genres. But even within certain genres, there are smaller subcategories or niche markets that still have strong, loyal reading communities.

It’s important that whatever category you choose is an appropriate fit for your book. When your book cover and content identify with a certain genre, readers will come to your work with a set of expectations depending on the genre. This ties in with my earlier chapter about book covers and how they can help attract your target audience, information which you can read on my blog post “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Likewise, a genre like children’s books will appeal more to young children or their parents. Their set of expectations will differ vastly from an avid fan of a steamy romance novel.

However, genres are not the only thing that can organize your book. Let’s take, for example, the category “children’s books.” That is very broad because it encompasses early child development books, illustrated books, or even chapter books. One main way bookstores and online retailers will filter such a category is by the target age range of the reader. Early child development books are geared toward toddlers and small children. Whereas a book geared towards older kids between 9-12 would fall under middle grade, which is sandwiched between children and YA. Sites such as Amazon even let consumers filter books by age bracket, so they can choose a book that’s appropriate to the child’s age, maturity level, and reading level.

Want to learn more on the subject of categories and keywords? Get a preview at my new guide, How to Self-Publish Without Going Broke when you join my newsletter.

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How to Format your Book the Right Way

In my last post we talked about the different retailers and distributors to make your book available to readers. As a writer you want to position your book to as many potential readers as possible. But first we need to make sure the packaging is right. Not only will people judge the outside of your book (i.e. cover) but also the inside of your book.

After completing the body of your manuscript, you want to start thinking about the different sections that make up a book and how it’s organized. I would advise studying the inside contents of a traditionally published book to see how it’s arranged. To take it one step further I would even examine books written in a similar style or genre to your book, so you have a frame of reference of what your readers would expect. Granted, each book is different and the formatting will vary based on the exact format (eBook and print). However, most if not all books will contain the following pages outside the actual content: a title page and the copyright page. Another important page to include is a table of contents, which is very helpful for readers to navigate through your book and find the specific chapters or sections they want to jump to. Other pages to include are the acknowledgments, dedication, a note to readers, a foreword, preface, and prologue. These pages I have listed are considered the “front matter” of the book. They come before the body of your manuscript.

After the body of your manuscript, you may decide to include additional pages at the back of the book. These pages are considered the back matter. This can include an “about the author” page where you tell readers about yourself and how to connect with you or an afterword where you explain how you came up with the idea of your book. For fiction books, you can include an epilogue to bring closure to your story. If you have a sequel in the works, a good marketing tactic could be to include a chapter at the end of your book to whet readers’ appetites for the next book in the series.

For nonfiction books particularly reference books, where you are using a lot of technical jargon, medical terms, or foreign words, a glossary for readers would be very helpful to look up unfamiliar terms. For books where there are a lot of sources cited, you may want to include a comprehensive reference or bibliography page. The reference or bibliography page will contain all your footnotes. The exact formatting of your footnotes depends on the style guide you are using. If you are using the Chicago style guide your sources will need to be sorted by the last names of the authors.

To make your life easier I would suggest using a citation builder from Owl Purdue for your respective style to generate footnotes. Choose your source from the dropdown. If it’s a website you would simply enter the web URL and click “Cite” to follow the prompts to build your footnote. If your source is a book, journal article, or video you will be prompted to fill out the respective fields for your given source material. This is a good tool especially for online sources where the publication date or author may not always be obvious. It will generate most of the required fields for you. Granted it will not find every field for you so you still want to check to make sure everything that did get pulled is correct. Then hit “Continue” to complete your fully cited footnote. You can repeat this process for each source you reference in your manuscript. When you are done adding your footnotes you can export them to a Word doc and manually copy and paste the citations into your book’s reference page.

Again, these pages are not required. One thing I want to caution writers about is not to add too much front matter because, again, that will take away from the meat of the content your readers will see—your manuscript—in the online preview. So, just include pages that make sense for your book and are aligned with industry standards for your genre. To get you started, I’ll discuss the main pages you will want to include starting with the front matter.

Title

Traditionally, the inside pages are formatted in the following sequence whether it’s an eBook or print. The first page is the title. This page needs to only contain the title and any subtitles of your manuscript. Using the same or similar font as your front cover not only adds consistency between the outside and inside design, but it is also a standard practice used in most books.

Copyright

The copyright page contains the standard copyright verbiage that protects the book from being reproduced and copied without your permission. This verbiage can vary but will typically contain the following:

“No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying form without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations used in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the author.”

The copyright page will also contain the year of copyright which would be the year you registered the copyright or when you are going to officially publish the book. If you are planning on publishing a year or more out, it’s better to hold off on putting an exact year until you are ready to publish.

Right below the copyright verbiage is where you add the ISBN number for print books. This is optional. If you do add it just make sure it matches the one assigned to your book. There is a ten-digit and thirteen-digit ISBN your book can receive. For the ten-digit number (ISBN-10) you would write the number in the following format: XXXXXXXXXX. If you are using the thirteen-digit ISBN (ISBN-13:) it should be written in this format: 978-X-XXXX-XXXX-X.

Acknowledgments

The acknowledgment page is where you give credit to all the key players involved in making your book such as an editor or book cover designer. You can also use this page to give a shoutout to family or friends that have been supportive to you in the self-publishing journey. Please note there are no hard-fast rules as I have seen this placed in the back of the book for nonfiction how-to guide. Again, check with other books in your genre to confirm the placement of this page.

Foreword

The foreword is typically a brief introduction by someone other than the author. This is usually placed in the beginning before the actual story begins but after the title and copyright pages. If you are writing the foreword, which is often the case if you are self-published, you can use this page to explain how your story came to be. Like the acknowledgment, you can use this section to thank those that inspired or contributed to your story. Although optional, this is a great opportunity for readers to get introduced to you. If you already have an acknowledgment, you may not need to include this section.

Body

The body of the manuscript is the next section following your introductory pages. This is the bulk of your manuscript, so you want to make a great first impression. While most of your content will likely consist of plain text, other books will include links and/or images, adding to the complexity of the formatting. As mentioned earlier, how you format the manuscript will vary based on the format you are publishing in and even the distributor you choose.

To create consistency in the look and flow of your book you need to standardize the font, spacing, and paragraph styles and alignment. If you are citing sources in your manuscript, you also need to stick to one style guide. Thankfully, all this can be done by starting with Microsoft Word or a similar program. Granted, the formatting guidelines I will highlight are mostly geared towards Kindle (KDP), but a lot of the principles should carry over for most distributors.

If you are working in Word, it’s important to understand the different style options available that allow you to customize how your text’s size, font, spacing, and indentation look. The most common style is “Normal,” which pretty much covers the body of your text. By default, your text will already be set to “Normal” when you first create a document. If you change this, it will impact your entire document including any document style you may apply such as headings or paragraph styles which I’ll get to later. For example, if you add any special indentations in this first style, even your headings will all have the same indentation. If you are using converter tools, particularly on Smashwords, it is advisable not to change this style or have too many styles applied; otherwise, you can get Autovetter errors during conversion.

One of the first things you want to standardize is your font. What is the font you want to use? While you may have used a fancier font for your cover, you want to stick to a clear, legible font that will be readable whether your book is read from a book or a smartphone. Times New Roman is a standard font to use although Calibri or Arial are also widely accepted. A 12-pt font is the standard size for the body of your text. Using a font size that is not too small becomes especially important for print books since the font size can’t be customized by the reader. For chapter headings, you will want to use a larger font size. Whatever font and size you choose to distinguish between the body from the headings need to remain consistent.

To help with the consistency, start by identifying each of the paragraphs in your document. To do this go to Home and at the top navigation ribbon select the paragraph icon which looks like a musical note. Once you click on it, it will identify every paragraph in your document. If you are indenting your paragraphs, you will want to avoid using the “Tab” key to indent especially for an eBook. Instead, apply an indentation style across your document. For newer Word document programs, select the Design tab, and then in the navigation ribbon select the carrot by “Paragraph Spacing” to choose an option from the dropdown. At the very bottom, you want to select “Custom Paragraph Spacing.” Once the Manage Styles window pops up, set Special to “The first line.” This is instructing the first line to be indented. Then, in the “By” field enter your desired indent size. Typically, this will be set to 0.5.

As for paragraph alignment, there are a couple of different options to choose from. By default, most documents will be set to left alignment. For devices such as Kindle, choosing the alignment type “Justify” is the preferred choice since it will evenly distribute your text between the margins. You can format the alignment by chapter by highlighting all the text for that chapter and then choose the Justify option.

For chapter headings use a heading style. It’s recommended that you use Heading 1 for chapters instead of manually changing each chapter to a certain size. This will make your life easier when you build your table of contents which I’ll get to later. If you decide you don’t like the style for Heading 1, you can right-click on that specific heading and select Modify where you can set your preferred font face and size. Those changes will apply to each header.

Want to learn more about the exact steps to self-publish? Dive deep into this and other topics from my upcoming guide: How to Self-Publish Without Going Broke by checking out my new page dedicated to this release. When you join my newsletter, you can also get a free sample of the guide where I detail how to format for eBook, print, and audiobook.

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Find the hottest place to sell your book

In my last post I talked about copyright, why it’s important to register your work and how to do it. This week we switch gears to talk about another important topic for any writer getting ready to publish.

Distribution.

What are the top distributors that you can take advantage of as a writer? Here is a list of the main distributors and what they currently offer.

KDP Select (Amazon)

This is a distribution option that integrates directly with Amazon. This distributor is a sure way to make your book available on Amazon which is one of the largest online retailers and where the majority of eBook sales are made. You can publish both eBooks and print books. You can even link the two formats together although you will still need to publish each separately.

You can select the countries and territories you would like to sell your book within Amazon’s marketplace. You can also select the royalty rate for your book. For eBooks, you can set it to 35% or 70%. The higher the royalty rate, the more money you earn per sale. KDP Select also allows you to set your price. For eBooks, you can set your price as low as $0. For print, you have to price your book at or above the minimum threshold which is based on the number of pages and ink color.

KDP Select allows writers to order proofs of their print books which is helpful to make sure your book is clean of errors before it goes live.

So why go exclusive with Amazon’s KDP Select?

It offers authors promotional tools once the book goes live including free runs, kindle countdown deals, and Amazon ads. To take full advantage of these marketing options you will need to enroll in the KDP Select Program where you promise to make your books exclusive with Amazon for at least 90 days.Another reason is that it’s free!Your book will also be available on Kindle Unlimited (KU). This is basically a subscription service available to customers in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Brazil, France, Mexico, Canada, Germany, India, Australia, and Japan. One benefit of being a part of Kindle Unlimited is that customers can read as many books as they want for a monthly fee. As an author, you also become eligible for the KDP Select Global Fund when customers read your book from Kindle Unlimited or Kindle Owners Lending Library. You can still get paid even if readers only to decide to read a couple of pages from your book. Keep in mind though that Amazon will only pay for the number of pages they initially read.It’s simple to sign up. Log in under your account then go to Bookshelf. Then click on the ellipsis (…) button to the right of the work you want to enroll. Then choose in the dropdown “Enroll in KDP Select.”

Of course, there are a few downsides to consider by choosing exclusivity. For example, when going exclusive with KDP you cannot make your book available anywhere else even your personal site or blog for 90 days. Also, since KDP only publishes eBooks in Kindle format (Mobi file)—which I’ll discuss later—you will lose out on readers who don’t use Kindle.

While KDP Select doesn’t offer many options to distribute your eBook outside Amazon you can select an option to make your book available for the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. However, for print books, you do have the option to enroll in KDP’s expanded distribution. This will make your book available for U.S. distributors and libraries to purchase your book including Barnes and Noble. Note even if you choose this option there is no 100% guarantee your book will be ordered by an outside distributor or library. The distributor or library gets to decide if they will order your book.

In the end, you may decide that the pros outweigh the cons. Since Amazon dominates the eBook market and is where many writers including myself got the majority of our sales you may decide KDP Select would work better in your favor. It’s worth giving it a try for at least 90 days. If you like it you can always renew your enrollment. If not, you can let it expire and go wide.

ACX

Audiobook Creation Exchange aka ACX is a distributor exclusively for audiobooks. They not only will help distribute your audiobook but even help connect you to voice narrators, engineers, and recording studios to produce it. This distributor sells audio versions of your book to well-known retailers such as Amazon, Audible and Apple iTunes. Whether you need help selling the audiobook or producing it, they promise to help you every step of the way.

Per their site, this is how ACX works for authors looking for help in the production process up till distribution.

Confirm your rights to the book.Create a profileFind a producerReview auditionsMake an offer to a producer. Note: this is very important! The type of deal or contract you make will determine your royalty rate and your distribution rights. I will explain this later.The producer will upload a sample of the recording for your review before completing the projectApprove the final productDistribute.

ACX gives writers flexibility in production and distribution. Writers can choose an upfront flat rate which is referred to as a PHH contract. This can range from $50-$400 depending on skill level, experience, etc. of the narrator. However, the author doesn’t have to choose any of their services and instead hire an outside voice narrator or opt to do it themselves. In that case, after the writer confirms they have the rights to the book they can skip down to the distribution step.

Whether the author chose a voice narrator provided by ACX, hired a third-party narrator, or did the recording themselves the following royalty plans apply if you choose ACX as your distributor:

For exclusive royalty, you will still only receive 40% of sales made through Audible, Amazon and iTunes. Keep in mind the royalty rate for audiobooks tend to run lower than most eBooks and print with some exceptions.If you decide you don’t want to be limited by those retailers you can choose a non-exclusive royalty plan when paying for a voice narrator. Just keep in mind you will earn 25% of retail sales on the three retailers I mentioned earlier.

For authors that can’t afford to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars (USD) upfront for the production costs nor feel up to recording their own voice they have two options:

Royalty share contact. With this contract, you can pay zero dollars upfront for the production cost. The catch is that Audible/ACX will take their cut of your revenue. That amount is then split 50/50 between you and the voice narrator. After all the cuts you can expect to earn only 20% of the total revenue. For example, if you book made $200 in digital sales you would only see $40 by the time it gets to you.Hybrid Contracts. Also known as the Royalty Share Plus contract combines a royalty share of 50% between the author and the narrator. One of the benefits of this contract is the reduced upfront cost while potentially attracting higher quality narrators. According to Krystal Wascher, these tend to be lower than your typical flat rate.

Keep in mind that if you choose an exclusive royalty contract you can only sell your audiobook through Amazon, Audible and iTunes for the next seven years. Considering those three retailers dominate the audiobook market this may not be a big deal. After that, you are free to either renew your contract or move on to another distributor. So before jumping into a contract really weigh out the pros and cons.

Smashwords

Smashwords is truly an aggregate distributor for your eBook. Smashwords will not only sell your book directly on their site but offer authors the opportunity to distribute your book to a wide array of retailers including Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, Scribd, and Baker & Taylor Axis 360, Tolino and Gardners. Smashwords also partners with OverDrive which is the largest library for eBooks. If you are an indie writer who wants to get their books into libraries that is the platform you want to use.

With the extended distribution option, some of the distributors partner with other retailers and storefronts, further amplifying your book’s outreach. One prime example is Kobo which works with multiple eBook retailers spanning dozens of countries including France, Portugal, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Italy and more.

Unfortunately, Smashwords doesn’t offer Amazon as one of their retail partners at the onset for authors unless you can get your book into the Smashwords Premium Catalog. The only way for your book to qualify is if you earn $2000 or more across Smashwords retailers. Thankfully your books aren’t exclusively owned by Smashwords so you can publish to any retailer outside of the ones Smashwords works with. In regards to royalty, you can expect to make 60% of the list price. For library sales, the royalty rate is at 45%. Keep in mind Smashwords royalty rates will vary based on the country and the exact retailer the sale is made on.

Smashwords does offer tools that can make the publishing process easier. They offer a freestyle guide to help you format your book. While they accept ePub formats you can submit a Word document file through their online converter tool which will alert you to any formatting errors you will want to correct before proceeding forward. The nice thing is your book can be converted into multiple formats such as ePub, Mobi, PDF, and RTF.

Smashwords also offers marketing options such as preorders and a coupon manager where authors can create custom coupon codes to give to readers.

Lulu

This distributor publishes print and eBooks and will make your book available to multiple retailers. For print specifically, this would include Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the Ingram catalog. For eBook, this list includes Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, and Barnes and Noble and again any retailers in the Ingram catalog. Like most distributors they will expect a small commission of your sales which in this case is 20%, leaving you 80% for you to keep for each sale.

Lulu offers more options for print books than other distributors. Lulu offers authors the choice of paperback and hardcover (with a dust jacket). If you are looking to create a photo book or something with a lot of illustrations like a cookbook Lulu may suit your needs. They also offer to make the publishing process easier for authors by allowing them to submit their books in a Word or RTF (Rich Text Format). They will convert your manuscript into an ePub which is a popular eBook format and is compatible with most devices. If you don’t want to worry about the editing, formatting, cover design, and marketing you can opt for one of their paid packages where they will take care of that for you though it will come at a cost.

It’s important to note that you cannot reuse an ISBN from another publisher. You must use one from Lulu. However, if you are also making the book available in eBook you can choose to use a separate distributor for that format.

Draft2Digital

This distributor is another option to distribute both your eBook and paperbacks to multiple retailers. There are no upfront fees to copy or format your book but they will take 10% of the retail price of the book for every sale. However, you do have full control over your pricing and can even choose to make your book permanently free (permafree).

When you are ready to publish, they will accept the following file formats: .doc, .docx, RTF, and ePub. Any word documents you submit will automatically be converted into an eBook. Although I have not personally used Draft2Digital they promise to take your manuscript into a professional file ready for consumption.

Draft2Digital will distribute your books to these retailers and libraries:

AmazonApple BooksBarnes & NobleKobo (including Kobo Plus)TolinoOverDriveBibliothecaScribd24SymbolsBaker & TaylorHoopla

You are not obligated to distribute to all of these retailers if you don’t want to. But frankly, unless you are a household name the extra exposure wouldn’t hurt! The two main benefits to going wide for your initial launch is 1) To get added exposure to those that prefer other electronic formats besides Kindle 2) You can track where your sales are coming from.

Most distributors have tracking tools to help you keep track of how many sales you’re getting and where the sales are coming from such as Amazon’s KDP and Smashwords. The data from these reports helps you decide what long-term distribution options make sense for your book. For example some authors may observe that their sales info is quite diversified meaning that their sales are split between multiple platforms/retailers. In that case it may make more sense to stay “wide” and continue having multiple retailers host your book. If your sales are overwhelmingly coming from one channel it wouldn’t hurt to go exclusive. In the end it’s your decision. Each book is difference so make a decision that is in the best interest for your book.

Question to readers/writers: What is your favorite distributor/retailer for books any why?

What you need to know about copyright

In an earlier post, I touched on using caution when using copyrighted images for your book cover. But copyright encompasses not only the images you use for your cover or the interior of the book but your story as a whole. This is an important step in the publishing process that deserves a whole chapter. What is copyright? And why is it important? I will answer those questions and more in this section.

According to the U.S. government, copyright is a form of legal protection for original works in a tangible form. It covers published and unpublished works. So technically the moment you put a story into writing you are the owner of that content. As the owner, you have the legal right to own, sell and make copies of your work. Granted other countries may have different policies however the U.S copyright should still be honored by most countries. 

When publishing a book, you can also officially register your work to be copyrighted. While it is not required to register your work before you publish it for sale there is a good reason to register your work before you publish your book for sale. One main reason is the threat of someone stealing your work either in its entirety or portions of it, and making a profit from it. Registering your work won’t automatically stop people from trying to steal your work neither will your distributor. But if your work is registered and someone does steal it you can pursue legal action against the offender (if you decide to go down that route). Keep in mind registering your work is required if you plan to take anyone to court so it’s better to be proactive and have it ready ahead of time. While it is very rare someone will steal your book and claim it under their name, having official copyright adds more weight to your defense that you are the sole owner.

In addition to registering for copyright another thing to help secure your content is Digital Rights Management (DRM). The purpose of this is to protect your book from being pirated. Retailers like Amazon’s KDP offer this protection. Keep in mind though this is not 100% fool-proof.

On the other side of the coin, you don’t want to be the one accused of stealing someone’s work! Plagiarizing is a big no-no. Thankfully there are tools (ex: Pro Writing Aid) that can determine the plagiarized text in your writing. Besides not copying and pasting other people’s content in your book you also want to be careful to cite your sources accurately. While this applies more to academic material this can also apply to any book where you are quoting from outside sources. For writers, you want to strive for originality. Granted nobody’s work is 100% original. You may be inspired by different writing styles and plots and that’s OK. You may even incorporate them into your work. Just be very mindful of copying plot devices or descriptions from other books. Take that beloved character, catchphrase, or other plot device and make it your own so that others don’t accuse you of copying their work.

What exactly is protected under Copyright? The official site for copyright for the U.S. government clarifies that it protects any original works whether it be literary, musical, artistic, poetry, and more. It does not cover facts or ideas, systems or methods of operation although it could protect the way they are expressed. So, if you have an idea you want to protect you need to capture it in a tangible format such as paper, or electronic form. What about the information you include in your book? If it’s a widely known fact or something that’s public knowledge, it’s safe to say you don’t have to cite the source in your book. If you are quoting a phrase or passage in your book, then you would want to cite the source in your manuscript.

Once you have your idea captured in something concrete you can start thinking about registering your copyright officially with the government. Ideally, you want to wait until the book is at least completed (written and edited). From their site, they request the “best edition” so if you wait until the manuscript has been through a round of edits you will minimize having to submit a new copy every time you make a significant change. You can register online by going to the official site: https://www.copyright.gov/ for a nonrefundable fee. There is a lot of detailed information on copyrighting so I highly recommend going over the frequently asked questions and especially the eligibility criteria before moving forward with your application.

On the home page click on the Register link. You will need to complete an online application to begin the registration process. You are allowed to register up to 10 unpublished works on the same application but you will need to select the “Register a Group of Unpublished works.” This option is good if you have several short stories or poems that form a collection. For most authors, a standard application will suffice if you just have one work you are submitting. Login under your echo account using this direct eCO link. If you don’t have an eCO account you will need to select the hyperlink: “If you are a new user, click here to register.”

On the left-hand side, you will be presented with a couple of registration options. Again, the only option that will apply to writers starting out is the “Standard Application” or the “Register a Group of Unpublished works.” Choose one to continue. Review the criteria to qualify for the given registration and then choose “Start Registration.” This is important because if the Copyright Office discover your work doesn’t meet the criteria, your application will be rejected or delayed that could require additional fees.

Once you’re in the application, under the type of work dropdown choose the option that best suits your work. For the overwhelming majority of books, you can choose literary works. An exception would be like a cartoon that would fall under Works of the Visual Arts. For audio files that would fall under Sound recordings. Note for sound recordings you are allowed to submit up to 20 works.  Keep in mind that if you have works that fall under different categories you have to submit a separate application for each type. For example, one fiction work and one audiobook recording would go on two separate applications.

Next, click the checkbox acknowledging that you read the descriptions above for your selected work. And choose to continue. On the title page click new to enter a title. You have to enter each title one at a time. When done hit Continue to enter the year the work was completed. Then fill in the author’s information. On the next screen: “Limitation of Claim” you would enter any information previously registered in the material excluded section. If this doesn’t apply to you then you can move forward. For the Rights and Permission page, you would enter contact info for who the Copyright Office can contact for questions. This is optional but you should fill out the following “Correspondent” page. As the author, you should feel this out so they can contact you directly if they have questions on your application.

The next option is Special Handling. This is optional unless you plan for expedited service. For the “Certification” page choose the person who will be certifying the work. If you’re filling out the application for your own work choose the first checkbox. Don’t forget to include your full name. Before reviewing the application, review it before submitting it. The type of application you submit will determine the fee that will be charged. For example, if you file an application for a group of unpublished works you can expect to pay $85. A standard application is $65. For a single application (one author, same claimant, one work, not for hire) the fee can go as low $45. For authors with a tight budget, this may seem like an added expense. But if your budget allows, give this careful thought so you ensure your work is legally protected.

*****

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Cover Reveal- Make it Pop

In case you’re new to my site or too busy reading updates on COVID-19 (I’ll understand) I’m writing a how-to book filled with the gems I’ve shared past and present on self-publishing. In my previous post, I talked about key elements to understand and master such as color, typography and layout. Personally I had to think about my own choices in color, typography and the overall layout to produce a visually stunning cover. When you combine these ingredients together skillfully you can come up with a compelling cover that will grab readers. After months of waiting I’ve finally unveiled my newest book cover for my upcoming how-to book.

The journey to get here was just as satisfying as the final concept. In my previous book, Before the Legend I created the cover myself. Considering I’m not a cover designer or even a professional graphic designer I felt pretty happy with how it turned out after several attempts. I felt that maybe this time around I would save money and design my own cover. So I went out and decided to play on Canva for some concepts. For those that don’t have Adobe suite tools like Photoshop or Illustrator Canva is a great user-friendly alternative to create graphics and it’s free to use most of the features. (Note: some images are not free)

[image error][image error][image error]Early design concepts

For the font I went for a sans serif font to give it a simple modern vibe. I wanted the main title to be the prominent focus so I used a larger font for the main title followed by a smaller font size for the subtitle. This bleeds into the next core element: layout. For the layout I wanted something simple so I went for minimalist approach with no imagery in the first cover before adding a simple image with a color overlay so that the image wouldn’t compete with the text. One thing that stayed consistent with all three initial renderings is that the choice of color was green to coincide with the color of money. I also kept the text white to create contrast between the background and the text.

But I wanted my cover to get to the next level. But I also needed something that would be marketable so it was imperative to look at other covers of self-publishing books to spot any themes. Most had some imagery that connected to writing whether it be paper, pencil or a book. So I needed a design that would be readily identifiable with what my book was about.

That meant being honest with how comfortable I was executing my initial vision I which was incorporating money into the typography. After all I wanted a cover that identified with the money/budgeting aspect of self-publishing while not forgetting the writing aspect. A cover that would be professional without breaking the bank. With those points in mind I decided to enlist help from a friend of a friend who just so happens to be a graphic designer.

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Granted this was a rough draft but I understood the vision my cover designer was trying to achieve: a writing desk with paper and coins to depict the cost of self-publishing. However I still wasn’t sold on the concept. So we went back to my original concept: a simple white backdrop with $100 bills filling in the text. The question remained: would the text be legible?

Yes. Sort of.

After tweaking I got something that I was pleased with. Granted I may tweak this further depending on user feedback leading up to the launch of my book. But overall I feel confident the concept you see below is what you’ll see on Amazon and other retailers. What do you think about my book cover? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

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The Secret Behind Good Cover Design

Click to reveal the full cover for my new self-publishing guide: How to Self-Publish Without Going Broke.

It’s no secret that cover design is critical to attract readers and drive sales. You need a compelling cover if you want any chance of competing with publishing giants that have professional book covers.

So, what’s involved with book cover design? How can you avoid the common pitfalls to cover design? How can you make your cover compelling and marketable? We will explore each of those questions in this post.

Let’s take a look at the first question. Good book design is more than just the image. It includes the arrangement of the text used on the cover. The title shouldn’t be something you just throw in there as an afterthought. It should be part of the design. Together they should form a visually stunning design. That composite design should communicate what the book is about and should be designed with your intended audience in mind. Those main points are critical for a great book cover. But what exactly accounts for “good design?”

Again, this is subjective but to understand good design we have to remember three elements play a key role in design: layout, typography, and color. 

Behind those elements are core principles of graphic design.

BalanceAlignmentProximityContrastRepetitionSpace

Each of these principles plays a role in the design. For this book, we are not going to go into detail for each principle. Rather we are going to focus on the main elements of design and how those principles factor into how those elements can be executed.

Color – Color is very important in the design world. Depending on the culture, color can have different connotations. For example, in the West (particularly the US) blue and similar hues on the color wheel are associated with being “cool colors”. Blue is often associated with words like cool, water, calm, and peace. Warmer colors such as red are often associated with fire, passion, danger, and heat. It’s important to note that colors can have different meanings depending on the culture so keep that in mind in your research especially if your work would have a broader appeal to a certain culture or nationality. These reminders will apply to anyone who plans to distribute their book outside North America.

Colors that are similar in hue can create harmony in the design. However, colors that fall on the opposite side of the color wheel can be used to create contrast. Even a splash of color against a black and white backdrop can be another effective way to create contrast.

Layout – This refers mainly to the arrangement of elements in a design. Those elements include the image(s) and the text. Principles such as balance, harmony, repetition, alignment, and space come into play. The design principle of space includes both negative and positive space. Positive space is the object in focus. Negative space refers to the background surrounding the object. If the overall space or cover is mostly filled with some pattern, stroke or image, we tend to associate the design as being “busy.” There are also different points of focus in a composition such as a foreground and a background. Where an object is placed can help determine where our eye will travel. Space is important in the design and shouldn’t be overlooked. Depending on how items are aligned it can either create harmony or tension depending on what you are trying to achieve.

Typography – This covers the typeface or styling applied to the text and font which can be defined as the delivery mechanism of a complete collection of letterforms. The main font types are serif, sans serif, and script. Serifs are extending features or a stroke or letter hence the name serif fonts. Some examples of serif fonts are Times New Roman, Courier New, and Georgia. Sans serif fonts lack those extending marks at the end of a letter. Some examples of Sans serif fonts are Arial, Calibri, and Tahoma. Script fonts are designed to mimic handwriting. From these three main types come hundreds of distinct fonts.

Your Word document or photo editing program offers an array of fonts to choose from. Keep in mind you may see a font used online that you like that’s not already included in the list. These are licensed and will need to be downloaded. Carefully read the license agreement for each font because some can only be used for personal use. If it can only be used for personal use avoid using those fonts for your book. You need to be able to use it for commercial purposes especially if you plan on selling the book. Usually, the site will tell you the license agreements so there are no surprises. If you have an Adobe subscription, you can download an unlimited number of Adobe fonts which can be used for personal and commercial use.

The specific font types used, font color, spacing, and even size can communicate a lot about the design. For example, a modern serif font could be used to give a cover a professional, modern look. Some descriptive fonts that mimic cursive may convey elegance. Meanwhile, a font that mimics hand-written text could give off a playful vibe. Your font should complement your cover and overall genre of your book. I would advise doing some research on what fonts are more suited to certain genres.

With so many font choices it can be easy to be carried away. As a good rule of thumb, it is best to limit the number of different fonts used in the cover design.

It’s important to note that your title should be the most prominent text. Using a larger pt. font for the title is encouraged. For example, a font size of 72 pts = 1 inch. You can use that as your starting point to gauge how big you want your text to be. There’s no hard-fast rule but you want something big enough that is still legible even when your cover is viewed on a smaller device. On the same note, you would want to choose a legible font style. Some of the fancier fonts may be pretty but you want to strive for readability. So, give careful thought to the font choices you’ll use for your title/subtitle, author name, tagline or any other text you decide to add.

Design choices shouldn’t be arbitrary. A good designer understands these design elements and how they work together. From the choice in how color, layout, and typography is used, he or she gives deliberate and careful attention to detail and execute these well so that the right message or feeling is conveyed. By understanding the basic design principles this will help you make informed decisions about your cover design. Whether you still decide to make it yourself or hire professional help you will know what works and why.

Choosing the right imagery is critical in capturing the message or feeling for the intended reader.

In the design process, you should have at least a concept or what your cover will look like. Will you have people on your cover? If so, it is advisable to only have the main characters on the cover. Even if you decide not to use people you can still use an animal, inanimate object or symbol for your cover that makes sense for your book. If you are still having trouble thinking of a theme or motif that encapsulates your story. Now think about what you want to communicate to your readers. Will that imagery connect with them? The design is less about you and more about your readers since they are the ones buying the book.

Once you have an idea do a couple of sketches where you play around with the format and typography. Once you have a final sketch you like you will be better prepared for the next steps.

Now that you have a clear concept you now have to decide how those images will be sourced especially if you decide to pick out the images. In the design process, it may start with a snapped photograph. Others may use a stock image or may decide to have someone illustrate the design for them using Adobe Illustrator or some other design tool. If you decide to use a photograph, stock image or vector image here are some guidelines you want to heed.

It needs to be a high-resolution image. The more pixels per inch (PPI) your image contain the higher the quality. You may also hear it called pixel density. In simple terms, it’s how many pixels are packed into one square inch. This is important for anything you’re viewing on a larger screen (i.e. Desktop) because when you need to increase the image size to fit your proposed cover dimensions, you should be able to see fine details of your image without seeing the individual pixels.Another useful measurement is DPI which stands for dots per inch. This becomes important, especially for print. By default, most web images are set to 72 DPI. The higher the DPI, the clearer and crisp the picture will appear when it gets printed. Ideally for print, this should be at least 300. When looking for images on a stock sharing site or on your camera check for the image settings. Note: this value can also be found when you open up an existing image in an image editing software like Photoshop. In Photoshop you can go to Image > Image Size. In the image size window, the value in the resolution field will be the DPI. This field is editable so this can be adjusted to your liking. In Photoshop Elements go to Image > Resize> Image Size.Keep in mind your book cover should be clear and stunning at any size whether it’s a full-size print book in the reader’s hand or a small thumbnail on a search page. If you want a cover that looks professional the quality should not degrade regardless if you blow it up on your desktop screen or shrink it to the size of a thumbnail. Note vector images are scalable which makes them great in resizing to any size without worrying about degrading the image.

Disclaimer for stock images

While many stock images especially high-quality ones are not free (ex: Shutterstock) there are some free sites that offer high-quality stock images including Stocksnap.io, Pexels, Unsplash, and Burst, just to name a few. Keep in mind not only the price but the licenses for any photo before downloading. You should have the legal right to use it for commercial purposes. If not, don’t use it! Photos that fall under a Creative Commons license give you more flexibility in terms of uses. If you are working with a designer doublecheck they either own the image(s) or they have the right to use it. To avoid possible legal issues in the future read the fine print and make sure you have clearance to use the image(s) including model releases.

Interested in learning more on cover design and other topics related to self-publishing? Sign up for free updates on my newest how-to guide: How to Self-Publish Without Going Broke. While you’re at it check out my latest cover reveal here as well as previous topics that I covered from my guide.

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*Credit for featured image belong to Derek Murphy founder of CreativeIndie

What’s in a title?

What will you call your book? Will you include a subtitle? These questions are important to consider when self-publishing. After all, the title is what people will use to identify and find your book. While you may have already picked out a title it’s something you don’t want to take lightly. As I mentioned earlier it is one of the first things a reader will see. And if you are talking about your book with friends or colleagues that’s the first thing people will generally want to know. Your title can either perk their interest or turn them off. So, think of your title as another way to market your book. To help you in this step, here are some best practices to consider when choosing a title.

Unique

If you don’t want it to be confused with another book it needs to be unique. After all, you want your book to stand out. Think of a phrase or expression you’ve heard before and then put your twist on it. A play on words can make something feel new and fresh. Choosing a unique title will also be helpful to avoid legalities over copyright down the line. To check if your title has been claimed simply do a Google search. Be prepared to have more than one option in case you discover your title has already been taken by another book, movie, or TV show.

Short and Catchy

While there is no set length the title shouldn’t be too long or complicated. Subtitles are optional but you may decide to add a subtitle if it makes sense for the book in question. Keep in mind the title and subtitle (if you decide to add it) are what will grace your front cover. A long string of text on your cover may not be aesthetically pleasing to most readers. The less wordy the title the easier it is to remember when it comes time for others to search for your book by title. A good rule of thumb to strive for is to keep it simple.

Ideally, you want your title to be catchy or “snappy.” A title that rolls off the tongue or has a ring to it tend to be more memorable. Keep in mind that the title’s main job is to catch the reader’s attention. Words have power so research what power words you could use. Words that trigger an emotional response can be very powerful to add to your title or subtitle. Certain words or phrases can even evoke a person to take action. Some authors have even used evocative language to get a reaction because it’s hard to ignore. This approach can be effective but also risky depending on your audience so you want to tread with caution. After all, you don’t want your title to needlessly offend or alienate people. Your goal is to open doors not close them.

Descriptive

This one is subjective. Some books only have one-word titles and it can still be effective. While the title should be short and catchy it is generally expected that the title will be reflective of what the book is about. It should also be attention-grabbing. Just like a newspaper or magazine that has a headline that grabs your attention and causes a knee-jerk reaction to pick it up, a good book title will prompt the reader to learn more about the contents. From the title, the reader is already forming an opinion about what the book is about. Certain word choices will carry certain connotations so keep that in mind. Having a clear yet concise title is important especially in nonfiction books (e.g. how-to books). For books that are meant for informational purposes, it’s much more effective to have a title that makes it clear from the start the intent or purpose of the material.

Marketable

This one is a bit trickier to pin down because it can truly vary what’s considered “marketable.” While you want your book to stand out choosing a title that is too obscure may not connect with your readers. Keep in mind your genre and the audience.  Study titles of books in your genre. Keep in mind that your title is just one piece of metadata used that will help people find your book. We will discuss keywords later but keep in mind having a keyword-rich title can be especially helpful in making a book more discoverable when people do online searches for their next read. So now is the time to start thinking about relevant search terms. Doing keyword research on which keywords have greater search volume can be a good determiner if your title will be marketable.

To gauge if your title is something that would be well received it is recommended by many to test out your proposed title before settling on one. You can go about this several ways. One way is by asking feedback from your network of friends to give you honest feedback on what they think of your title. If you have several titles you are undecided on you could even create a poll for people to vote on.

However, to get a bigger picture of how people outside your network will respond to your title you could try doing an AdWords campaign and test and see which ad gets the best click-through rate. This is insightful because you will learn which title gets the best response. If your title can get your reader to the buy now page then you’re one step closer to making a sale. If an ad featuring your title is not performing well this is a good indicator that you may need to pick a different title!

Another way to test titles is to run them through an online headline analyzer tool. After all, titles should be viewed as a headline. CoSchedule Headline Analyzer is an online tool that will analyze your title for free. It will give your headline a score based on how common or uncommon your word choice is. It also measures the use of power or emotional words used in your headline. A further breakdown is given on your headline length. If you are having trouble coming up with a succinct title, think about what your content is at the core. If this is fiction think of the main themes or imagery that are central to the story. Brainstorm a list of words or phrases that stand out in your mind. Then play around with the words till you have something strong enough to stand on its own.

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This is just one of the many steps in the self-publishing process I’m putting together in a guide. Learn more steps in this growing list found here.