What Will Readers Notice About Your Book?

The spine of the book is an important aspect in book design, especially in cover design. When the books are stacked up or stored in a shelf, what’s on the spine is the only visible information about the book. In a book store, the details on the spine are what initially attract attention. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

7 Things Readers Notice When Picking Up A Book

 by Joseph C. Kunz, Jr.

If you have any hope of having your book achieve financial and critical success, you must understand how your readers (your customers), view your book (your product) when they first see it (online or on a shelf). Once you fully understand how your readers will perceive your book when they first see it, then you can adjust your book accordingly.

In order to accomplish this, you must separate yourself from your personal feelings about your book, and think like the objective buyer would think. What would attract you to a book like yours? What would attract people in your audience to a book like yours? Would you as a buyer be more attracted to a handsome cover, or to the cover blurbs? Would you buy a book based on its cover art, or because of the well-known names that are quoted on the cover? Does the book’s page count seem too long, or too short, to cover the topic adequately? Does the subtitle seem to be promising too much for such a topic? How does your book’s attributes compare to other books within your subject category? Read more here.

Author Highlight: Stacie Theis

Kristi’s Book Nook is sharing an exciting interview and book giveaway. Stop by and share in the fun with author and illustrator Stacie Theis.

Kristi’s Book Nook Presents:

 

Author and Illustrator Stacie Theis

Her new book teaches a lesson about being grateful for who you are and what you have.

 

Book Giveaway!

For a chance to win leave a comment with your name and email. 

Offer expires 6/22/13.

http://kristisbooknook.blogspot.com/2013/06/author-highlight-stacie-theis.html

What Should Be Promoted: The Author Or The Book?

Egg Within An Egg (Photo credit: Kairon Gnothi (Opportunity Knocks))

Do you remember asking the question “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” I did when I was in 1st grade. I believe the question stemmed from a book I read that asked that question, and then went on to discuss the chicken crossing the road, or something to that effect. But, either way, in is still an unanswered question in my opinion. The purpose of me bringing this topic is, writers may be asking a similar question in regards to promotion. Should we writers promote ourselves or our book?

In a way book promotion and author promotion goes hand-in-hand. But it also could be that the book project should be the priority publishing point. If the book is good then readers will want to know more about the author. Or, it could be that the author is the focal point and then readers can actively seek out books that the author has written. In my humble opinion, I think we should promote ourselves as writers. What are your thoughts?

Here is an interesting blog post I found at Help I Need A Publisher, where an author asked advice on which part to promote, the author or the book. I am curious to hear your thoughts on this subject.

DEAR CRABBIT: market the author or the book 

Dear Crabbit
We had a brief Twitter exchange this evening. I asked: ” Do you recommend focusing on marketing the writer…or the book? ”

A bit more info: for the past 2-3 years, I’ve been blogging. Firstly as a way of promoting my (very) part-time coaching practice (I have a full time day job as well), and latterly as a way of promoting my writing (I’ve had a small paid writing gig with PaleoDietNews.com for the past few months).

Long story short….I now want to focus on promoting my writing. I’m going to convert my main site (cormackcarr.com) into an “author” site, and am going to set up two other blogs. One will focus on my coaching/careers/personal effectiveness writing….the other on food/health/fitness. Those are the two areas that my writing to date has tended to cluster around.

My logic (such as it is!) is that I can then promote the two blogs to their respective niche areas, backlinking to my author site (which will also have backlinks to any guest posting and article writing I do) and which will focus more on me…so that there’s scope for me to develop my writing in other directions without being tied down. Read more here.

Author Exposed: Jeffery L. Schatzer

I love sharing advice from published authors. It’s always a good idea to gather information to see how other writers are getting things done. Author Jeffery L. Schatzer writes picture books and middle grade novels that are educational and fun. His Professor Tuesday adventures have excellent characters that kids can relate to.  I had the opportunity to review his book “Professor Tuesday’s Awesome Adventures In History: Book Three The Underground Railroad.”  Feel free to stop by Kristi’s Book Nook to learn more about the author and his books.

Mr. Schatzer has some great advice on how to get published.  His website has lots of interesting information and reviews of his works.

As you might suspect, many people have the same question of me. “How do I get a book published?”

My advice is simple. First, you have to love writing. Write for the sake of your own enjoyment. If your book or story is published, it is icing on the cake. Persistence is also important. After all, it only took 34 years to get my first book published. Though the route I took to get noticed by publishers was through self-publishing, that route isn’t for the timid. It is a tremendous amount of work. Plus, it isn’t cheap.

Being an author requires a good deal of discipline and focus, especially if you are going to write ‘The Great American Novel.’ If you write a great book, you also have to spend a lot of time promoting and selling it. That means traveling to bookstores and places that carry your books. If you like meeting people and sharing your love of ideas, it’s wonderful. If you enjoy the solitude of your own company and don’t care to mix with people, you may want to reconsider that whole author thing altogether.  Read more here.

Skype an Author Network

Image via Wikipedia

If you are an author whose target audience is kids, have you considered using Skype? Writers most often are on a budget. An inexpensive way to visit a school to share your latest project is by utilizing Skype. I stumbled across a site that offers lots of help.

Skype an Author Network

We are hosting authors of children and young adult (YA) publications.
Authors, we welcome your input and participation in creating what promises to be an exciting way to bring books to life for our students. A Skype visit is an excellent first meeting with authors who are invited to schools to make in-person presentations. Authors are listed in alphabetical order in the navigation list on the left.

Our goal is to set up a network of authors who are willing to participate in Skype conversations with students in classrooms and libraries. This wiki provides a page for each author who joins the network. Our author template ensures consistency of content and keeps things simple for authors, teachers, and librarians. The author pages provide procedural and contact information. Take a look at other authors’ pages as an example.

Arrangements for Skype visits are initiated via email and/or phone between the author and the teacher and/or librarian.

Authors offer two types of visits:

• No Charge – Meet the Author Visits – 10 to 15 minutes
• In-Depth Visits – Time and fee determined by each author 

To learn more go here.

Related articles

• Using Skype in the Classroom (askatechteacher.wordpress.com)
• Skype software update adds Skype-to-Facebook calls (digitaltrends.com)