Guest Post by Morgan Lee Clasper
Imagine that you're browsing Amazon for your next book. Chances are, before you've even opened the first page, you've already seen the cover, read the description, and formed an idea of what kind of book you're considering.
Despite the age-old adage "don't judge a book by its cover," readers inevitably use a book's cover, title, and description to form expectations before they start reading.
That may seem unfair. After all, your story is far too complex to reduce to a few pieces of marketing material. But these elements all serve an important purpose: they give prospective readers their first clues about what's inside.
For indie and self-published authors, this is especially important because you're ultimately responsible for your cover, title, and description. Even traditionally published authors can benefit from thinking about these questions when preparing a book for querying or submission.
Here are three questions that readers ask about your book before they open the first page.
1. What kind of book is this?
Everything about your book’s packaging gives subtle (or not-so-subtle) cues about where your story belongs. If you were browsing in a library or bookstore, you’d find books divided by their genre or topic. Likewise, elements like your cover and book description work by further narrowing down what “shelf” your book belongs on.
This could include your genre, subgenre, tropes, and similar authors. Readers are looking for familiar signals to inform their buying decisions. One reader may be looking for a fae romantasy with found family. Another may want a cozy murder mystery in a small beach town.
For non-fiction, this includes your book’s subject and target audience. A reader looking for help with personal finance might want a broad guide to investing, while another may specifically be looking for a practical guide to managing money as a new entrepreneur.
If your book’s cover or description doesn’t give readers any clues as to what’s inside, they’ll probably keep scrolling. Or, worse still, these elements might give them mixed messages or the wrong idea. Readers are typically evaluating each book in a matter of seconds. Therefore, it’s important that your book makes the right first impression.
2. What makes this book worth choosing?
There are millions of books on Amazon, and more titles are added every day. With so much competition out there, it’s important that your book stands out from the crowd by showing readers why it’s different.
For fiction, this comes in the form of a unique premise. Your story may be a romance, but there are thousands of romance novels to choose from. If, however, your book is a time travel romance set in the 16th-century Scottish Highlands, this added detail gives readers a compelling reason to pick your book over others.
For non-fiction, it’s a matter of communicating your unique selling point. What specific problem, promise, perspective, or transformation makes your book worth choosing?
While your genre tells readers where a book belongs on the shelf, your premise is what convinces them to pick up yours.
3. What will this book feel like to read?
A book is more than the information or events contained within its pages. It also creates a particular reading experience. To give an example, a fantasy novel might be warm and cozy, dark and bleak, fast-paced, romantic, or filled with immersive worldbuilding.
Two books can exist in the same genre, have the same fundamental premise, and yet feel completely different to read. Elements like your cover, title, and book description help communicate the tone and mood of your book, giving readers important clues as to the experience they’re in for.
This principle also holds true for non-fiction. Readers might be looking for a conversational guide, a practical workbook, an academic reference, a motivational transformation, or a beginner-friendly introduction.
Conclusion
Readers form judgements about your book before the first page. A successful book has to walk a thin line between fitting in and standing out.
On the one hand, your book should communicate its genre and tropes, fitting into a niche clearly enough that the right readers recognize it. On the other, it needs to show them what makes it worth choosing over the thousands of alternatives.
Keeping this in mind will help you make sure your book gives readers enough information to recognize where it belongs, why it’s for them, and what kind of experience they're likely to have.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Morgan Lee Clasper is a copywriter, book sales strategist, and author of The Blurb Puzzle. With over seven years of experience in the publishing industry, he’s worked with New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling authors, writing 4,000 blurbs and counting. Morgan is also the author of the YA fantasy series The Frostwing Quadrilogy and The Chronicles of Alcabaza. To read The Blurb Puzzle, visit https://morganclasperauthor.com/
