The Indie-Philosophy

Being self-published. 

The Indie-author. 

It should mean something. 

Something beyond the obvious. But what?
Sometimes we must search outside the box; think beyond the
conventional.

For starters, your book's cover is
yours.
I don't mean that in the legal or creative or copyrighted sense.
Whether your potential buyer purchases your book or not, or just
browses and passes their eyes over it. Your
book cover is a billboard and you own
that, especially the back cover.

Is your back cover a blank billboard? Are you missing a golden opportunity to advertise?

As
a published
author, your publisher has certain constraints and limitations;
certain conflicts of interests. There is no way your printed book's
publisher wants to sell your ebook
at the expense of a missed sale of a printed edition. This is
potentially a conflict of interest. But not for the indie-author; not
for the self-published. As a self-published author do you really care
whether they buy one of your ebooks
or a print edition? You
benefit either way.

So
why not advertise? Again, your book's back cover is a billboard. Why
not place (with permission of course) the Goodreads logo? (Assuming
you and your books are on Goodreads).

Another
simple piece of technology which is sorely underused are QR Codes. A
QR Code could be the size of a postage stamp. The potential browser
at the bookstore could scan it with their phone. Get book reviews,
link to your website (and potentially other titles), download its
ebook
version. Hell, a QR Code could even play theme music! Their potential
are near limitless! (I'm sure this example QR Code will scan from your screen, not to mention you can colour match it to whatever your back cover's artwork is!)

I
use five items: ISBN code, a QR Code (linking my website), the
Goodreads logo (also about the size of a postage stamp), and an
“available at Amazon” and “Kobo” logos. No more. You don't
want your back cover cluttered. As it stands, these five items take
up approximately 1/5th
of the back cover, leaving ample room for art, reviews, write-ups,
synopsis, or whatever else you choose to adorn your back covers with.

So
long as your printed edition books are on a store's bookshelves you
would be a fool not to take advantage of the potential advertising
opportunity. Even if and when they're not selling, make them work for you!