Structure the back of your book to appeal to the needs of your readers. The story you display can engage and invite your audience to look inside or buy your book.
- Blurbs are third-party endorsements of your book
- What will this book do for me?
- Bullet lists provide a snapshot of your content without giving away all the details.
Judy Baker, Book Marketing Mentor, welcome. It is day three of the 30-day book marketing challenge. And I said, I would talk about book covers, especially the back cover of your book.
But before we do, let’s look at some of the most outstanding book covers of the year, compiled by Print Magazine. I was a subscriber to their print magazine for many years. The quality of the book covers selected is stellar. You can scroll through the designs. Some of the book covers are disruptive, original, enticing. I promise to spend more time on front covers another time. Consider a viewing of the best covers as a prelude to the discussion of back covers.
https://www.printmag.com/post/30-of-the-best-book-covers-of-the-year-so-far
The NY Book Editors have a comprehensive article about what to put on the back of your book cover. The most critical elements.
Your book cover is a way for you to connect with your audience and tell them what will surprise them when they get inside the book.
Jane Friedman, one of the most respected authorities in the publishing world, offers great insights about writing the content for your back cover.
250 Words
You just have a small amount of real estate. About 250 words will fit on your back cover. And so this is a perfect example of what you might put on your bullet points and how you can structure the language so that people want to know more.
Reedsy offers a book cover template showing some very particular things. And if you look here, the tagline for your book for testimonials, man, that would be the best way to have created a book cover because those testimonials mean other people are endorsing your book and are saying it’s worth the time and the money to read it.
If you only have one good testimonial, put it at the top, then tell some more information about what’s inside.
It’s about your readers
You can include a short bio and a small picture. Your book cover is not about you.
Scribe Media has some outstanding examples of covers.
Notice the placement of the ISBN is going to be consistent with most book covers. The Reedsy blog post about what goes on the back covers includes your tagline, a blurb. And a brief description of your book, your author, bio, and maybe your photo.
And remember, you only have a short amount of time to get people’s attention.
Masterclass offers an entire course on writing your back cover.
Your back cover is an advertisement for what’s inside and Kindlepreneur talks about the content of your back cover. Craft a synopsis, add a blurb, excerpt from book reviews, a book description, and why someone should take the time to read your book.
BookBaby says if you get just one fabulous endorsement, feature it. You can update your cover when you have new or more impressive endorsements after your initial launch.
Contrast, Color, Concept for the Back of Your Book
Contrast in color between the background and foreground makes covers easy to read. Watch out for fonts that are too small, decorative, or otherwise low on the readability scale.
I pulled a few books from my bookshelf.
Own Your Own Niche by Stephanie Chandler her back cover is easy to read, easy to see what’s here. And she used bullet list of what is inside the book.
Now my good friend, The Grammar Diva, Arlene Miller, is prolific. One of her books is 50 Shades of Grammar. It is fun and educational.
Canva Book Cover Ideas
Canva offers a fast way to prototype a cover. Their blog post about cover ideas provides a checklist and visual guide to creating a stellar back cover.
As you craft your back cover, remember these tips:
- Your back cover tells a story, describes what is important to your readers
- You have a small amount of space to get the attention of your audience
- Think of your cover as an appetizer enticing you to keep reading
- Make type readable, use contrasting colors and fonts
- Include testimonials and blurbs if you have them
- Bullet lists are easy to read
- Keep your bio brief
- Include white space
Tomorrow I will share how to make videos from still images. The 30-Day Challenge will help you develop a workflow for posting.
Judy Baker, Book Marketing Mentor
Get your 30 prompts for book marketing posts at https://bit.ly/30Prompts
Resources
https://www.printmag.com/post/30-of-the-best-book-covers-of-the-year-so-far
https://hbr.org/2019/05/how-to-make-sure-your-book-gets-read
https://www.canva.com/learn/book-cover-ideas/
https://writingcooperative.com/5-key-aspects-of-marketing-that-drive-book-sales-1d31ca93f2c
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-back-cover-blurb-that-sells
https://blog.reedsy.com/back-of-book-cover/
https://nybookeditors.com/2017/11/designing-your-books-back-cover/
YouTube episode https://youtu.be/3g-e6mEtkh8
What’s on your back cover?
Use the space on your back cover to help you reach more readers and sell more books. I would love to see examples of your book covers. Share a link to your book in the comments.
