Sunday, March 20, 2011

Create Impulse Buying for Your e-book with Cover & Trailer

I read and tweeted about an article on book trailers yesterday and it caused me to pause. There is no way around the fact that e-books are now the norm. New authors are having their books explode (sometimes over night) in growth, and e-people (my new term for people who love e-books) seem to have an unquenchable thirst for more.

e-people of all ages are reading more and loving the ability to find e-books from anywhere in the world, any time of day, and for the most part, with "crazy low" prices. If you've done your research, you know getting you're e-book out for the masses is easy. You've also heard you HAVE to make sure your book is incredibly polished and edited.

Next step is platforming. I hear over and over "platforming is soooo hard!" Yes, it's hard work, but there isn't any magic to it. You need to talk about your book at appropriate times, network with other authors and talk with bloggers who love reading in your genre. (www.writersdigest.com has great books you can buy on platforming and networking.)

The two biggies I want you to think about for getting more people interested in your e-book is the cover art and creating a book trailer. The statistics on "impulse buying" of e-books isn't easy to come by, however it's fairly common sense to believe a great cover and a tantalizing trailer will get you more buyers. Especially if you price your book right.

There are plenty of "so-so" e-book covers out there and plenty of e-books without trailers. I know you don't want to be added to THAT category. Yes, it takes money to make a trailer and hire a cover artist, but if you want to be successful and create a following, you may need to budget for these things. After all, the cover (which needs to look good thumbnail size) and a trailer will be THE ONLY forms for strangers to stop at your book and say, "hmmm, this one looks interesting... and it has a trailer!!" Great combination for impulse buying.

You've worked hard on your book, you want to be successful, you will e-publish. Now make sure you:
POLISH
PROFESSIONALLY EDIT
RE-POLISH
PRICE RIGHT
CREATE A FABULOUS BOOK COVER
CREATE AN AMAZING BOOK TRAILER
PLATFORM
and keep writing... because your followers are going to want to buy your next book.