Our client’s author wished to use an existing artwork. so we worked in two panels of text with the art just showing through, keeping it clean and letting the rather odd couple speak/rattle for themselves… Typefaces used include basic sans and Taberna Serif.
Fatal Path Cover — More Iterations
An update on an earlier post — two more iterations on this cover. Sometimes it is a long and winding road to a final cover…
Authors, Don't Forget Libraries
Independent authors sometimes forget the library market. Libraries have made a largely successful transition to the era of the Internet, becoming multi-use spaces, offering ebooks and audio books and maintaining their print collections. Many libraries are quite supportive of independent authors. Joanne Penn has posted about getting books into American libraries, but similar principles also apply in Australia. Apart from contacting individual library corporations, try reading this kindle book on the Australian market. URLs for Australian library distributors below. And don’t forget to register for Public Lending Rights!
James Bennet
https://www.bennett.com.au/
Peter Pal
www.peterpal.com.au
Bookbub Speaks, Advises
An author client recently got in touch with ebook promotional giant Bookbub to discuss the disappointing performance of a paid ad posted on that platform. He received the following interesting response, worth reading in full for anyone considering using the service or applying for the oly grail of a featured deal (as with so many areas of the Internet, Bookbub is overwhelmingly dominant in its space):
Thanks for reaching out! I'm sorry to hear your recent ad campaign didn't produce the results you were hoping for. I'll note that it does require quite a bit of testing and tweaking to develop ad campaigns that get the results you're looking for. When getting started with ads, we recommend that partners spend some time committed to testing ads with small budgets of $5-$10. Generally, you're unlikely to see a positive return immediately out of the gate with no testing.
I'd encourage you to read through some of our blog posts to get more familiar with BookBub Ads. I've gone ahead and listed a few that I think you'll find helpful below:
- First, you can find a blog post on increasing your click-through rate here: https://insights.bookbub.com/increase-click-through-rate-bookbub-ads-campaign/
- Next, you can read about how marketing goals affect BookBub ad campaigns here: https://insights.bookbub.com/how-marketing-goals-affect-bookbub-ad-campaigns-infographic/
- Finally, you can view our ultimate guide to BookBub Ads here: https://insights.bookbub.com/ultimate-guide-bookbub-ads/#getting-started
If you want to learn more about BookBub Ads, I'd suggest that you read through some other posts in the BookBub Ads section of our blog here for more tutorials, campaign ideas, and best practices.
I'm happy to answer any questions your have around Featured Deals:
1.) Currently, we rarely feature new releases in our daily emails. We’ve found that books that have had a chance to build up their platform perform best and, therefore, make for the most successful promotions for our partners.
2.) Your promotion's length is completely up to you and your marketing goals. You're welcome to discount your book for just a day, or a whole week or more if you'd like. We happen to have a blog post that discusses what promotion lengths work best for different marketing goals here. I hope you find that post helpful!
3.) Critical reviews play a role in our editor's selection process, so it would certainly be helpful for your title to have some reviews associated with it. You're absolutely welcome to submit this book for consideration, but please note that, as mentioned above, we tend to feature books that have built up their platform. If you're interested, you can learn more about the editorial team's selection process here.
Amazon Reviews and the $50 Purchase Requirement
Reviews are important in the Amazon ecosystem — a clear signal to their search algorithms. Unfortunately, this also means that they are constantly being gamed, and without strict controls on the part of Amazon, quickly become meaningless. Equally unfortunately, Amazon has decreed that one of those controls is a $50 purchasing threshold — ie. if you have not purchased at least $50 worth of products or books from Amazon in the last 12 months from the e-commerce giant, you are not allowed to post. Here is the Amazon page describing the policy.
And the text:
Eligibility
To contribute to Customer features (for example, Customer Reviews, Customer Answers, Idea Lists) or to follow other contributors, you must have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com using a valid credit or debit card in the past 12 months. Promotional discounts don't qualify towards the $50 minimum. You do not need to meet this requirement to read content posted by other contributors or post Customer Questions, or create or modify Profile pages, Shopping Lists, Wish Lists or Registries.
Some interesting posts on Amazon reviews, with different takes.
Amazing Science Graphics from Eleanor Lutz
For beautiful, jaw-dropping science graphics, the quirkily named TableTop Whale is an essential destination. Maintained by Phd student Eleanor Lutz, the work is astonishingly good. Hopefully she will produce something in print so I can read it to my children…
Writing Blog with Solid Tips
Inkitt, the “The World’s #1 Reader-Powered Book Publisher” has quite decent blog on the writer’s life and craft. Well worth a visit. And perhaps you could upload one of your pieces and generate some constructive reader feedback…
Go Go Logos
Logos continue to evolve apace in the mainly digital design world. Some attractive trends, some pretty ugly, as showcased here.
“Modern culture continues to shift the ways we interpret symbols and how we visually prioritize in context, setting topsy-turvy the relationship between identity and application. Greater credence has been given the attending visual vocabulary as texture, pattern, typography, photography and illustrative elements have shifted seats in the visual brand hierarchy. It’s becoming more common to see a brand driven by the supporting visual aesthetics, occasionally leaving the logo to call shotgun if it’s invited along for the ride at all.”
Troubled Times in East Timor — Cover Design
Michael Pert has written a taut, intelligent thriller based on Australia’s role in the troubled birth of East Timor. In the above draft cover, we blended images of Timor and a stark colour palette, and used the striking Franchise for the title typeface.
Social Proof Sells Books
Author advice guru David Gaughran has posted a very interesting column on the most powerful selling tool for books — personal recommendations and reviews, or “social proof”. If a potential reader receives a strong social signal via reviews or a personal recommendation from a friend, they are much more likely to purchase. It therefore follows that independent authors need to do all they can to foster and amplify such signalling for their own work.
“The phenomenon is only different today in the surface details: that trusted source can be an algorithm at Amazon or Goodreads, a book blogger who taste maps your own, bestseller charts at various online retailers, daily emails from BookBub, or a million other things in today’s fragmented recommendation ecosystem.”
Independent Publishing Tips and Very Useful Resources
An interesting view from 30,000 feet of the challlenges confronting and opportunities available to independent authors, as posted at The Verge. They have spoken to a few successful authors and author advocates and provide several useful links. One of the best is here with a real trove of resources and advice, especially regarding predatory vanity publisher outfits.
“You are accountable for the success of the publishing process. By taking on the kind of freedom and flexibility of self-publishing, you’re also taking on the accountability.”
The Tip of the Tip of the Tip of the Iceberg
An excellent explanation from the consistently great Veritasium channel examining the way algorithms shape content and vice versa. The sheer volume of posted YouTube videos requires algorithm settings that encourage sensational/clickbait content, and make it difficult for serious content providers to maintain their audience. Some of the principles at play here also show up in surfacing material on other algorithm driven services such as Amazon, Audible, Google and Facebook. A balanced and fascinating examination of a key online issue, presented by Canadian Australian Derek Muller.
Local Audio Book Producing
Audio books are a fast growing part of the publishing landscape, driven by the ubiquity of smart phones. Recording an audio edition of a book can be extremely expensive and not a little technically challenging. So we were very interested to hear of a local audio book recording service charging reasonable rates. Check out their site here. An explanation of the service to authors here. Check out this book produced by author2audible on Audible, and the author page.
Uncle Sam is Your Type (supplier)
It seems like everyone is getting in on typefaces: Alibaba one day, the US Government the next. Public Sans is a multi-weight open source sans with a strong presence. Students of type design will notice Public Sans’ debt to Franklin, a seminal American type design.
Cooking the Books
A small selection of colourful cookbook covers completed over the past few years. Anything involving food is always fun!
Three Cover Iterations: Twins, a rifle and a world of pain
Thrillers are an enjoyable design challenge — very bold use of highly condensed type, high contrast, extreme emotions and a certain cinematic touch. The Fatal Path is no exception to this general pattern. Here are three alternate versions of the same cover.
Selling Your Book Online — An Expert Speaks
Irish writer David Gaughran has plenty to say about maintaining an online “author platform” and driving online sales. Some of his pithier quotes:
“As well as promoting my own books, I’ve run giant campaigns for huge authors over the last couple of years, launching multiple books into the Top 100, running major backlist promotions that generated tens of thousands of sales during their foray into the charts, and million and millions of page reads, as well as multiple Kindle Unlimited awards. Some of these campaigns can generate extraordinary profits.”
“BookBub is the most famous, obviously, and is significantly larger than all the other sites combined with millions of genuine book buyers on its lists. There are no sure things in marketing, but a BookBub Featured Deal is the closest you’ll get. Authors typically report making the cost back in twenty-four hours or less, and then enjoying a significant increase in visibility and sellthrough and email sign-ups and reviews. ”
“Before the “do you not VALUE books?” crowd get warmed up, let me say this: those cheap deals are used to pole-vault us into position to shift even more books at full price. A springboard, if you like. I don’t focus so much on prices anyway, these things are all tools to me. I prefer to look at monthly income. Running price promotions increases it greatly. ”
Custom Calligraphic Lettering and Illustrations
Wanissa Somsuphangsri is an extremely talented calligrapher and illustrator based in Melbourne. If you need some highly individualised and polished work, she might be the person for you. We’re currently putting together a cover for an author client who engaged Wanissa and the results are amazing — will post the full cover in due course. Wanissa is also a member of the Letterettes.
The Hodgkiss Mysteries — eleven books of mystery and wry humour
Over the past decade Peter Sinclair has produced a series of droll murder-mysteries featuring the spry and perceptive retiree Edgar Hodgkiss, bane of corrupt politicians and greedy developers. We have kept the same basic design, varying the main image and colour scheme. One can only hope this well-written series will soon receive the kind of attention it deserves. New postings of the print and ebook files will be uploaded shortly, and we will post links when they go ‘live’.
Concepts for a Cover — Parenting in the Digital Era
A few versions on the theme of ‘digital parenting’ — a thoughtful attempt to promote a rational balance between time on and off screen in a family context, and summarise the latest research on the topic. Published by Hybrid Publishers.