1. Magic Lessons by Elizabeth Gilbert​

​The charming host of this podcast is Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of one of the must-read books “Eat, Pray, Love.” What you maybe don’t know is that she also revealed the secrets to her creative methods in the book “Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.” Her podcast further reveals the ins and outs of the challenges that writers face.
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Elizabeth is opening the doors to her creative methods, writing struggles, ways of pursuing a writer’s goals, and much more. In addition to great tips, this podcast can make you laugh and overall fill you with positive energy. Sometimes that’s everything you need to get your mojo back.

4. Between the Covers by David Naimon

“Between the Covers” is a long-form podcast featuring hour-long conversations with writers. David Naimon brings in writers from different genres to provide a choice to their listeners.
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These thrilling and informative conversations are digging deep into writers’ backgrounds, methods, and creative processes. Hearing about how these writers find inspiration and spark their creativity can give you some fresh ideas.
 
5. Write Now by Sarah Werner

In this motivational and honest podcast, Sarah Werner covers various topics from writing inspiration over best books to how to live a better life. When a dull day comes along, when nothing seems to matter, this is a podcast that can lift you up.

There is something for every writer in this podcast. You might want to fill the rainy days with positivity or find the strength to start writing a dissertation discussion chapter. That's when you need to turn on the "Write Now" podcast. Just 30 minutes of well-spoken advice can give you the energy to head to Freedom or Write! App and start typing.
 
6. Beautiful Writers Podcast by Linda Sivertsen

“Beautiful Writers” is your opportunity to listen to interviews with some of the best-selling authors such as Deepak Chopra, Brené Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Cheryl Strayed just to name a few.

Get to know more about the writing processes of accomplished writers, their ups and downs, and how they spark creativity. The podcast gets up close and personal as writers share their anecdotes and how they battle with creative challenges.
 
7. Dead Robots’ Society by Justin Macumber, Paul Cooley, and Terry Mixon

Aspiring writers can find their community in this podcast created by aspiring writers. You can get insight on writing novel openings, designing book covers with the right services such as Jdandj, celebrating your milestones, and more.

Give your writing confidence a boost by joining the society of fellow writers who understand your writing woes. The awesome trio that brought this podcast to life, share their tips and experiences. They also bring some interesting guests from whom we can all learn a lot.​

8. The Drunken Odyssey with John King

John King is a writer and literary reviewer who is also the host of this great podcast. The treasures that hide behind this fun podcast title are discussions on creative writing, living the life of a writer, and finding the inspiration for creating a masterpiece.

The goal of the podcast is to provide writers with a community where they can find information on anything that their writer's mind is curious about. Therefore, you can listen to authors' advice on how to build your characters, structure a novel, but also how to find inspiration and confidence to start writing.

9. So You Want to Be a Writer by Valerie Khoo and Allison Tait

Successful journalists and authors Valerie Khoo and Allison Tait aim to demystify the path towards a writer's success. If you want to succeed as a writer you need to know how to navigate your career.

With Valerie and Allison on your side, you can learn all about publishing trends, writing techniques, and how to get your big break. Moreover, the podcast will uncover proven ways of dealing with writer’s block and getting your inspiration back on track.

10. Happier by Gretchen Rubin

This podcast isn’t designed solely for writers. However, considering that the hosts are the bestselling author Gretchen Rubin and her sister, TV writer, Elizabeth Craft, it is worthy of a writer's attention. Feeling confident and satisfied are the key ingredients for building your writing stamina.

With the practical habit-related tips that this podcast offers, you’ll be headed in the right direction towards a successful and fulfilling life. Both Gretchen and Elizabeth reveal the obstacles they had to face as writers and what kept them going. Learn from their experiences and look at their inspiring stories as lessons.

Don’t hesitate to give these podcasts a try and get a glimpse into the lives and ways of praised writers. Instead of learning from your own mistakes, you can absorb the pearls of wisdom of successful authors. Get lost in the voice of well-spoken and inspiring people who will lift your spirits and give you the strength to fight for your big break.

BIO: Angela Baker is a writer, editor, and proofreader. She is always seeking to discover new ways for personal and professional growth and is convinced that it's always important to broaden the horizons. That's why Angela develops and improves her skills throughout various writing projects. Her biggest aspiration is to inspire people to pursue their dream of being a writer.

Writing a book for most of us is a very solitary task, in those pre-pandemic days you may have wandered off to your local coffee shop and spent a couple of hours diligently increasing the word count of your manuscript, admittedly you are now surrounded by people, but you are still working alone.  And the thing about working alone is that motivation (after a while) can stagnate.

And this is the thing, many people start off a new project, goal, or task with the best of intentions only to get three months in and slowly lose the motivation to stick with it, how many gym memberships are used like crazy in Jan/Feb and then by June have been canceled? The same goes with diets, everyone has the best of intentions and then when any roadblock is faced, they quit, regaining any weight lost and going back to unhealthy habits.

How many unfinished manuscripts are stored in long forgotten folders on laptops and PCs? Every single one of them started with the best of intentions and now they lay waiting for their authors to return and complete them?

One – Set a realistic daily writing goal

Writing daily may not be the first thing you would expect to read (after all, you are not motivated to write, so why should the first tip simply be to start writing again!!!???), most people lose motivation because they associate the task with something arduous, by breaking the act of writing into smaller chunks of just 100 – 300 words per day, your chances of getting back into the habit of writing increase dramatically.

So, yes, the first tip is to simply start writing again, but this time with more manageable daily goals, you should look forward to writing, if you only spend 30 mins per day doing it, that’s fine.

Two – Peace and Quiet

Being distracted has never been easier than before, we all have cell phones that constantly beg for our attention, our laptops will be eager to show notifications the second they arrive, your kids will need you for something every five minutes and don’t even try to work if the TV is on.

If you are breaking your routine to write into small manageable periods, you need to ensure that you make the most of this time, and a distraction free environment is vital to do this.
Wherever you choose to write, it should be free of distractions, turn off your notifications, switch off your cell phone and lock the door (as long as it’s safe to do so of course), getting into the flow of writing for just 30 mins will be so much more productive when done in an environment of peace and quite.
 
Three – Get Social

Connecting with other writers on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads (along with the many other forums/platforms) is a great way to increase your motivation, speaking with others who may be in the same place as you or who have published and are promoting their work can really help.

It can increase your motivation and enthusiasm for writing once more, getting involved with conversations within your genre and even just within writing in general sparks the inspiration to continue.

Get social, get motivated!
 
Four – Track your progress

Having a clear understanding of how much you’ve completed can really help in motivating you to finish the book, this really helps when you’re three or four months into the project. If you have set a daily goal of 300 words for example, you can work out that if you stick to writing five days a week, after four months you will have written 24,000 words (and this is by only writing 300 words per day and only five days per week).

The goal here is to finish your book, it is NOT a race and if it takes a couple of years, it takes a couple of years…….where’s the issue with that? 
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Five – Look after yourself

A healthy body and mind do wonders for motivation both in writing and life in general, exercising and eating right will help you to maintain the energy you will need to write your book to the best of your ability.

Always seek professional advice on where you are and what you should do to get/keep in shape.

Six – Be a professional

If you want your book to be taken seriously, and for you to be taken seriously as a writer who finishes what they say they will finish, now is the time to step up and act like the professional author you want to be.

Tell others that you have set a goal of writing a book and get them to hold you accountable, set the commitment of daily writing and keep to it, tell people that you will donate an amount of money to an organization that you disagree with if you do not achieve your goal.
 
Seven – Read

Read more of the greats within the genre that you are either writing in or that inspires you, read every day for at least 10-15 mins and reflect on the craft of the author. Learning from the best within the literary world helps you to both fine tune your skills and at the same time become inspired.
 
There is a great book within you, and the world will be a better place with it published for us all to read.

Don’t give up!

Most authors understand that to reach as many readers as possible (and especially now with social distancing) you must embrace the various channels available to you online.  Social media is of course key and will be the first line of attack for lots of authors, but this will be followed by a website, blog, YouTube/steaming channel and you can even look at starting your own Podcast (it’s easier than you may think).

With these multiple avenues to reach readers you must show continuity, it looks unprofessional if your Twitter page has a different profile image and banner to that of your Facebook page and/website, both should match, the same goes for your other social media channels and complete digital footprint.

As a design team we create both book covers and promotional designs for many authors and publishers, and what we are seeing is a huge increase in authors taking a professional stand with regards to the way that they are represented online. More and more authors want to be seen in the same light as the big names within the industry, ensuring that they are taken just as seriously in a very crowded marketplace.

More self-published authors understand that to become successful when publishing a book, it takes more than just luck, it takes planning, hard work and dedication. Having a consistent image for your book and for you as an author is a big part of selling both to your audience.

The first thing that you may want to consider are the banners for your social media channels, the most popular pages will be Facebook and Twitter, the dimensions do change from time to time and it’s always worth checking with the respective channels to ensure that your banner is sized correctly. But you should take the artwork from your cover and theme the banners accordingly.

If you look at the example below, you can see that the banners for both Twitter and Facebook tie in very nicely to the book cover design, in this case you also see a 3D image of the book (which again shows consistency). 

​In the next example for Twitter and Facebook, the artwork from the front page of the book cover has been worked into the banner designs, it doesn’t have the image of the book, but it gives the reader everything they need to make the connection and see that the author has a professional page.

These next designs show a banner that you would use in either a website or when advertising the book through social media etc. it clearly represents the book and ties into the social media pages, again, this gives a clear and professional image to your reader.

​The next three images show Instagram posts for the same three books, as before, they all clearly tie into the other platforms as well as the book covers.

​For the website there are GIFS and banners (again, these many vary in size depending upon your website) they key is that they represent the book and clearly show continuity between your social media channels and book.

​Paying attention to these elements when building your brand as an author is really important, to be successful in what is essentially a small business takes time, but also a professional and suitable image that you present to your readers.

Completing any task which requires creativity is a dream for most of us and something daunting for others, but even the most creative people in the world have days where they have to dig a little deeper in order to find that creative genius.

So, how to do you keep it flowing every single day?

Well there are plenty of things that you can do right now to ensure that you keep your creativity flowing each day, here are our top ten ways to stay creative.

Get some sleep!
It may not be the first tip that you were expecting, but research has shown that we are far more productive, capable, and creative when we get a good night’s sleep. For most adults this should be between 7 – 9 hours (more for teenagers and less for seniors), now I’m not saying that you have to be in bed every night at 9pm, but if you want to be performing at your peak, you will need to ensure that your body and mind are both well rested.

Exercise regularly
This of course should be done at a level which is correct for yourself, but regular exercise will improve your thinking and creativity, recent studies shown a link between the two, it also leads to so many other benefits other than creativity.

Go to a gallery
Taking inspiration from others is a great way to build creativity, in some cases going to a gallery or looking at the work of others within your chosen field can give you the boost that you need. These days of course, it may be a little harder to visit a specific location, but there are always online galleries and sites to give that same inspiration. If you’re a writer, then read some of the classics, it’s so easy to download a great eBook directly to your cell phone or tablet and there is an abundance of great literature available for free.

Involve others
Collaborating on a project with someone else can help you learn new techniques, give you further inspiration and regain that creativity (they’re also going to benefit from working with you too).

Listen to music
Music has a great impact on creativity, select the right songs and you’ll be surprised at how much more creative you become. If you have a subscription to services like Spotify, you’ll find dedicated playlists specifically for keeping you in a creative state.

If you’re self-publishing a book, you will find a great selection of print on demand services to choose from, they’ll offer varying options and services, but all of them will give you a path to getting your book in front of a reader.

From a design perspective (and by this, I mean your book cover design), each print on demand service will vary with regards to how the book cover is created, the size, margins, spine width, format and even color profile. As each service will print your book slightly differently, you will find that each option will need to be created differently too.

eBook Cover Designs

If we first look at eBook covers, they are normally always created using RGB color (as this is designed for the screen) and have resolutions from 72 ppi to 300 ppi (pixels per inch). Their difference can come in the dimensions of the image, if you look at the following covers, you’ll see that the eBook design for Kindle (KDP) is narrower than the cover for LuLu.

The dimensions vary slightly with KDP asking for their eBook covers to be 1600 x 2561 pixels, Smashwords and iBooks are both the same with 1600 x 2400 pixels working very well for their books, Nook eBook cover designs can be made to 1333 x 2000 and give a slightly wider feel to the design. However, Lulu’s eBooks are a great deal wider in their layout ratio and are currently sized at 1224 x 1584 (making the layout feel a little more like a square).
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So, which ever eBook publisher you decide to use, you should be aware of the impact that their format will have upon the book cover and it’s layout, you may find certain elements within your design becoming cropped out of the image when publishing across multi formats.

Paperbacks

The layout of your paperback will be a little more similar across the range of publishers, a book with a trim size of 6x9 via KDP will still be 6x9 when printed through Ingram Spark. However, the spine widths will differ (even with the same page count), you’ll also find that the construction of the cover (especially if you are using their templates) will be different too.

​Below are three templates used by KDP, Ingram Spark and Barnes & Noble for the same book, the template for B&N being more of a guideline for constructing the book cover itself. But the main thing you should notice is how all three publishers have different spine widths for the same book, this is due to the paper stock used by each, and it will mean that if publishing through different POD services, you will need different cover PDFs for each one.

Hard Backs

Currently, the most popular choice for indie authors to publish their book as a hard back is through Ingram Spark, they offer a wide range of trim sizes, the option for dust jacket and case laminate, they also offer the option of both, this is where the book has a dust jacket and underneath this the book has a case laminate cover.

​With a case laminate book, the cover extends past the edges of the book and is wrapped back around so that these edges fold onto the inside of the back and front pages and are glued in place (they are normally covered so that you don’t see them once the book is printed).

​With a dust jacket the layout is of course a great deal longer and you should take into consideration the use of the flaps (both front and back), these are normally used to add an author bio and add more detail for the blurb itself. 

The only other thing to point out with using Ingram Spark (for any of their printed books), is that they place more restrictions with regards to ink levels. With off-set printing, the book cover gets printed using four plates (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black), if you were to print a page with all four of these plates at 100% output on each, then the outcome would be a completely black page and you would be printing at 400%. However, if you tried to print with much more than 240% output on all four plates the page would stay damp and end up smearing.

So, Ingram restrict the amount of ink to be used when printing their book covers to 240% max, this means that when designing the book cover, you need to reduce these levels within the PDF. This is something that most book cover designers are aware of and create designs for Ingram to these levels.
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Even with their restriction on ink, Ingram’s book covers always tend to print to a very high quality and we have always been impressed by their products.

​Every author is excited when they complete their first manuscript, after all, there’s been countless hours, days, weeks, months and even years that have gone into its creation, but once the excitement wanes a little, every author then needs to go back and start the process of polishing (and in some cases, being courageous when doing so).

One small step at a time.

The first read through and edit you can certainly do yourself, but don’t try to take on more that one chapter at a time, editing your own book (when done by yourself) should be done in small chunks, if you try to persevere with editing huge sections at a time, you’ll miss elements that should be adjusted and cut corners through fatigue.

Re-read and re-edit

Once you have made edits to the book, go back and re-read what you’ve just edited, and allow time between completing the edit and then reviewing it (publishing a great book is not a sprint to the finishing line, take time, your readers deserve it).

Grammar, more grammar and spelling

This is of course the first thing that every self-editing author looks for, there are software applications like Grammarly and the inbuilt software within Word that will help with fixing those obvious elements that you may have missed the first time around, reading the manuscript again will always help find them.

Does it make sense?

Question what you have read and ask yourself if it makes sense, also, does it actually add something to the book itself (or is it just unnecessary ‘padding’?).  How believable are your characters? Will they connect to your readers? What about sentence structure? Is your book made up of lots of very small paragraphs or huge blocks of text? How does it read? Look for crutch words or phrases, these often repeat themselves throughout your manuscript and become annoying to the reader, it’s wise to replace them (time to break open the Thesaurus).

Get it read

Once you have edited your own book, it is highly recommended that you get someone to read it for you, and use someone whose judgement you trust, you want someone who won’t tell you what you want to hear, but give constructive feedback. Most people have friends or know other writers who would be willing to help, you may have to return the favor (but even this is a great learning curve for you too).

Add if you’re still not sure

Once you’ve edited your manuscript as much as you can, it’s time to go to a professional editor. A good editor will be able to tweak your book from something good to something great, their insight and experience is invaluable to you and your book, a professionally well edited book will give your book a great chance of success.

​Self-promotion for an indie author is an ongoing commitment that requires a great deal of dedication and diversification to reach (and grow) your audience. There are of course the more traditional ways such as social media, your own website, blog, book launch websites and promotional services to target readers, but have you ever thought about starting your own YouTube channel?

​Starting a YouTube channel is a brilliant way of connecting with your readers, and for many, it’s a far more enjoyable way to promote their books along with talking about subjects connected to their style of writing, the subject matter and genre.

This will depend upon what you’ve written, if your book is about travel tips in Europe for example, then hosting a YouTube channel which talks about specific travel advice aimed at those going to Europe would be perfect, you can essentially break elements of the book down into bite-sized chunks, this helps to promote your book and grow an audience.
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Non-fiction books at first seem to be the easiest subject matter to turn into a YouTube channel, this is because you have an area of expertise that will be of an interest to a specific group, you can cover all areas of your chosen subject, and again, break down into smaller snippets which allow you to come up with new ideas for videos over and over again.

Of course not, the subject matter will be different to that of non-fiction, but you will have lots to talk about that an audience will love. For example, explaining the process of character development, over coming writer’s block, the publishing process, editing your book, having a book cover designed, where and when you write, software you use, story progression, the list goes on and on.

The next hurdle you may be thinking about is equipment, surly everyone who hosts their own channel has spent thousands on gear, right? Wrong, well, maybe the top YouTubers have but many don’t and their videos still look fantastic.
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There are lots of authors who are producing great channels and only use the camera on their smart phone along with strategically placed table lamps for lighting (if you could see most YouTubers ‘studios’ you would be surprised at just how many are being highly creative with what they have and still get  great results).

​Having your own YouTube channel will help with your own exposure and it can also help with selling more copies of your book, but you will also need to promote your channel through other avenues until you get higher numbers of subscribers and views. 

Yes, it is possible to make money from your channel, we constantly hear of YouTubers who make millions while hosting a gaming channel from their bedroom studio, but to be fair, these are the extreme and you should always start your channel with the bigger picture in mind, your channel should you’re you to promote your book, but also allow you to connect with your audience and have some fun at the same time, if you are purely trying to make a quick buck, this may not be for you.

But before you start, it is worth checking out some current authors who have their own channels to get some ideas, here are five you should take a look at first and then maybe search for your own favorite author.
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The Creative Penn
Katytastic
Jenna Moreci
Vivian Reis
Robert McKee

Writing a blurb for the back of your book can be a very time consuming task, we’ve known authors take weeks and even months to write, rewrite, tweak, update, edit and finally publish a burb which is no more than 250 – 300 words.
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And although this text is less than a standard page within your book, it’s importance in sales is so key that it is worth every minute of your time, ensuring that you have a highly polished and effective back page.

Keeping this in mind, there are elements within a blurb which you should consider, these will alter depending upon whether the book is a work of fiction or non-fiction, but remembering that either way each is still a sales tool will help.

Here are our tips on perfecting a great blurb for your book.

​Book promotion as a self-publishing author is relentless, if you want to make your book a success (and why wouldn’t you?), you will need to keep chipping away at it regularly. The good news is that there are plenty of things that you can do, some may require an investment of funds and others are free, but either way, self-promotion on a consistent basis is the key to success.

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1. Advertise on Amazon, it is very easy to do and it gives a great deal of control with regards to how much you spend, you can get your book in front of so many more people and increase sales. You can read more on this with our earlier post on Advertising with Amazon.
2. Use social media wisely and don’t over promote, the best mix is 80% interesting posts and 20% advertising, engage with others, join in with discussions, use polls, create groups and have fun with it, after all, it should be social.
3. Create promotional banners for the top of your social media pages, creating a look across all of the platforms you use online which shows that you are a serious author.
4. Create videos, having a YouTube channel where you discuss your genre and tips for authors is a great way to increase your exposure.
5. Use Instagram, this site is so popular and so easy to use, but keep the images professional and supportive of what you are trying to achieve as an author.
6. Run free promotions for your eBook on Amazon, prior to this make sure you self-promote through social media and on the many ‘free eBook promotion’ websites that are out there.
7. Get reviews, make sure your friends and family get copies and give a review in return, you can also leave a call to action at the back of the book (again, asking for a review if they liked your book), email book bloggers asking them to review it, look for groups on Goodreads to help.
8. Run Facebook ads, these are highly targeted and give great control along with reporting.
9. Run ads on Twitter, again, they give great control and allow you to reach a specific audience.
10. Create your own website, there are many great ‘build-your-own’ website providers such as Weebly and Wix etc. here you can create a platform for your book and sell directly to your audience.
11. Create a blog and update it regularly, WordPress must be the world’s most popular option for this, although if you have your own website you should be able to add a blog too. This is a great way of building an audience and advertising (just remember to keep ads to a min).
12. Check out online forums such as KBoards, here you can interact with other authors and self-promote your book.
13. Guest post on other writer’s, publisher’s and genre/industry related blogs, ensure you get in touch first, many websites will welcome great articles, but be polite and courteous if they decline.
14. Start your own niche podcast, this can be great if you write within a very specific genre, the world of podcasting is opening up and some authors are making a great income from the advertising that it can bring. But be aware, like publishing a book, it takes time, dedication and work.
15. Go to book fairs and trade shows, here you’ll be able to meet with people from the industry and fellow authors, you can make great contacts as well as sell some copies.
16. Build a mailing list, make sure you check the current legislation for where you are on doing this correctly, but it is a proven way to connect and self-promote your book.
17. Offer something for free in order to get more subscribers to your mailing list, this may be an earlier book or the first chapter of your new one.
18. Include this offer for either a free book or chapter with a link in the front and back of your eBooks, when a viewer clicks on the ‘Look Inside’ option on Amazon, they may well sign up too.
19. Promote your book and any offers on BookBub, make sure you follow their guidelines and submit as often as they allow in order to have a chance of becoming one of their feature deals.
20. Create a video/book trailer, admittedly these can be very costly, but there are options with using stock video footage and there are plenty of tools available to edit and produce a great trailer.

We have all heard the phrase “Never judge a book by its cover”, the point being that we should look a little deeper than just face value, however, at the same time we know that advertising (and this is what your book cover is) works. The leading brands in every avenue of industry spend a great deal of time and effort in creating advertising that speaks, and most importantly, relates to their audience, that connection is what can help to give the consumer the motivation in selecting their product (pricing is also a factor, but in a market where prices are similar, your advertising is what will make the decision for the buyer).
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When you look at the publishing world and especially that of self-publishing, it is clear to see that the online bookshelves are saturated with indie publications. Bowker shows the amount of self-publishing titles have grown from 1.2 million to 1.6 million per year (this equates to over 4300 books being published every day), these numbers are astonishing.

With the massive increase in books being published the competition for any new or existing author is now vast, to think that on the day you publish your book, there will be another 4300+ titles also hitting the online bookstores. If you haven’t considered competition, maybe you should.
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Choice is of course great for all of us as consumers, you can be sat in your pjs on the couch and in a second have downloaded a great book to read (I know I do this all the time), but when you scan through  Amazon’s book store (making sure that you have narrowed the field a little with ratings and genre), you have an endless choice of books, and the very first thing that will grab your attention will be the cover.

When you go into a supermarket there’s a reason why people don’t buy odd shaped or blemished fruit and vegetables, we assume that if it looks odd then it’s going to be odd on the inside too, the growers and supermarkets know this, which is why everything looks highly manicured. We are all biased based upon the presentation of nearly everything, research shows that we make a lasting opinion of someone new within seven seconds of meeting them, further research indicates that this opinion starts to form within a tenth of a second. The point being, we judge what we view very quickly.

How you present your book will have an effect upon an audience, yes, the ratings will also help, but there are many other books available with five star ratings and great looking covers, so to compete effectively you should ensure that your book’s cover also looks professional and fitting for your chosen genre.

Along with a professional book cover design you should ensure that the title, subtitle, and blurb also hook your reader into wanting to know more about the book. A great title combined with an appealing subtitle will intrigue the reader, these two elements are important in selling the book and should be considered thoroughly before deciding upon. The same goes for the blurb, it has the job of further selling the book (now that they have it in their hands), you can learn more in our article on writing a great blurb.

Remember, we judge so much on first impressions, your book will be no different, so in an age of massive choice, give your book the advantage it deserves.