Create Book Cover Brands That Look Great Online

Creating Book Titles and Subtitles That
Still Work in the Smallest Online Formats

By Susan Kendrick

www.WriteToYourMarket.com

The last article here was What Makes a Good Subtitle and How Long Should it Be? There's another reason the length of titles and subtitles is coming up a lot lately, and that is because of the variety of ways your book is now seen.

A Brief History of the Book Cover

Think about it. A book cover used to be written and designed primarily as a physical billboard for your book. The book needed to create interest when seen on the shelf at the bookstore or anywhere else it was displayed for sale. Then came those small thumbnail versions on amazon and other online retailers. Your book cover still has to draw people in, even in its reduced size. But, now that miniaturization goes one step further as book covers make their appearance on Kindle, ipad, and smart phones.
 

Check These Out:

(Take a look at the books on this bestseller page on amazon. Which ones do you think stand out in their smaller format and which ones don't.)

One author of two published books recently questioned whether or not her third book even needed a subtitle, since it would hardly be visible online. We strongly encouraged her to keep her subtitle for the reasons a subtitle has always been, and continues to be, pivotal to the branding and marketing of your book. Again, see previous article.


PLUS!

Your subtitle will show up in search results for your topic, in the product text on amazon, and any other place your book appears online. Don't waste this opportunity.

An Exception to This Rule?

An interesting exception to standard subtitle use is Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier. This book does not have a subtitle, but it does have an endorsement, "Ignore this book at your own peril," by Seth Godin. It also gets a huge credibility boost from bestselling authors like Tom Peters and William C. Taylor, Founding Editor of Fast Company.This book's uber-clean cover and bold, off-the-grid feel--plus the quirky Godin-esque endorsement and amazon review--surely speak to the intended audience for this book and set it apart on a planet of its own.

Is This a Wasted Opportunity?

I wonder, though, what the back cover does for this book--it doesn't show up as a "Look Inside" option on amazon. And, when you look under "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought," the subtitles for each of those other books are included in the text box under the  book cover image. They get the benefit of this additional positioning and sales copy for their books.

Avoid Piercings and Tatoos ...
 

... Especially if you're going it alone. If you do not have a magic-carpet ride of high-end endorsements in place for your book, and especially if your book will be self-published, your cover needs to be of the highest quality and adhere to every industry standard to "look legit" and avoid looking self-published.

It's like going in for a job interview--the higher-end the position, the more tailored and professional you need to look. Your book is a candidate, too. It has to stand out from all the other books on the topic. Everything about the packaging must be impeccable. And, depending on your audience ... no tongue piercings, visible tatoos, or stilettos. There are better ways to get noticed.

Getting the Right Help Will Get You Noticed

From a branding standpoint, it is your title that is the basis of the iconic look for your cover, so do consider how your title will look even the smallest formats. Use as few words as possible and short words when possible. And, make sure your book cover designer knows how to turn those words and your overall cover into a an immediately recognizable visual brand--an iconic look that will get your book noticed at any size.

Happy Publishing!

Susan

© 2010, Susan Kendrick, Write To Your Market. All Rights Reserved.

Book Covers for Business Books

"A look back at the best business books of 2009"

"Business Monday books columnist Richard Pachter offers his highly subjective list of favorites"

See Richard Pachter's complete article in the Miami Herald, http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1399600.html

From Susan Kendrick
http://www.writetoyourmarket.com/

The end of the year is a great time to look back and see what books stand out as having the most impact in their markets. I ran across this best-of list by Richard Pachter this morning on the Miami Herald website. I'm passing along his picks because they offer insight into what makes good book covers for business books.

In other words, while Pachter focuses on the content and usefulness of these books, my interest (and my reason for passing them along to you) is in their packaging.

I started looking for these covers on Amazon, eager to see what they looked like. I got excited when I saw that these book covers do the three things every good cover should do. They each incorporate the following:

-- Clear, compelling book titles and subtitles

-- Book cover design that brings that title to life

-- The marriage of text and design that establishes a strong verbal and visual brand

Interestingly, these covers also help answer two questions a good client of ours, a first-time business book author, recently asked us. They are:

1. What colors work for business books?

Notice how four out the five books shown here are predominantly white. They have that clean, powerful, authoritative appeal of books like Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, The Tipping Point, and Outliers, as well as his newest book, What the Dog Saw.

While it may seem easy enough to come up with such simple concepts, it isn't. There are far too many business books still coming out that are cluttered and dated looking--these are the "teal green carpet" of the book cover world. in fact, I ran across an interesting article on this phenomenon called Why Are Business Book Covers so Ugly? This article is worth reading for a look at the book covers and for the comments from readers that offer some interesting input as to why.

2. What sells more business books--a text-only or more illustrative cover?

See how the books shown here are largely text-driven, with the exception of Bailout Nation as well as the iconic Twitter book, where it makes sense to incorporate the ubiquitous visual brand.

The rest of the graphics on these books are relatively simple. No cliche landscapes, horizons, mazes, soaring eagles, or any combination of these (yes, this still happens). Any graphics take a single-shot approach--there is a singular visual message that directly supports the title and the concept of the book.

Of course, this doesn't mean that all business books should be white or predominately text-driven. The particular book title and book cover design for every book should be carefully determined based on a number of factors, including: the target market for the book, what appeals to that audience, if the book needs to stand out in a crowded market or create and dominate a new niche right from the start, how well the brand (if any) is already known, how and where the book will be marketed, etc.

Even while there is no "right" answer for what kind of book cover works best, one look at these covers reveals some definite trends, and from major publishing houses like Wiley and Random House.

Each of these books also demonstrates that the best book covers have billboard appeal. They are bold, professional, and they make a strong, singular statement--in both book cover writing and design. They are good examples for any author of how great business book brands are born.

Questions about the how to create the writing or design concepts for your book and brand? Email us at info@WriteToYourMarket.com or call 1-888-634-4120.

Susan Kendrick, Write To Your Market, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1-888-634-4120.

Book Cover Coaching: "I See Book Titles"

Book Titles Are Everywhere . . .
When you look at the world through "brand-colored" glasses

By Susan Kendrick

The other night I watched part of the movie The Sixth Sense. On Friday there was a great interview on NPR. Magazines of all kinds come through here. I look at and listen to everything for what might become the seed of a great book title, business tagline, sound bite or, in this case, the title for this article. Do you see how giving a twist to that famous line from The Sixth Sense created a fresh, unexpected, but very fitting title for this article topic? This is just one more bit of proof that book titles, taglines, and other branding sound bites are all around you, just waiting to be found.

Giving a twist to a familiar phrase is a great book title strategy. Any familiar phrase, even a famous line from a blockbuster movie, is so much a part of our common language that you can throw a twist into it and get that great “Aha!” reaction when you say it. And isn’t that the reaction you want for your book, your business, your brand? The same thing happens with “brand-colored” glasses, part of the headline of this article. With no explanation, you get the meaning because of your familiarity with the idea of looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. With that simple twist, I’ve given you a powerful way to remember a technique that will help you in all your marketing efforts (and where you heard it!). Imagine all the possibilities out there for you and your book or information product.

You can’t have much more fun than this! And, that fun, that life that springs out of you when you go trekking after a few good words that will become the title for your book or information product, headline, sizzling sound bite, or brand-building tagline, is the very thing that will help you find a truly great one.

Hard work is usually required to make the really big things happen in life. But hard work does not mean drudgery or brow-beating. Have fun. Be open. Look at everything around you through brand-colored glasses!

Questions? Please give us a at 715-634-4120 or email info@WriteToYourMarket.com

NEXT: Top 10 Book Title Strategies.

© Copyright 2007, Susan Kendrick, Write to Your Market, Inc.
www.WriteToYourMarket.com
715-634-4120