Victoria Real Estate Agency Home Sale Listings

Sell More Books With a Powerful Back Cover

Did you know that your back cover information is, after the cover, the best way to sell more books? And, that most authors, emerging and experienced, miss this opportunity to engage more potential buyers?

Your book's front cover and sizzling title must impress your buyers in four-eight seconds. If they like it, they will spend ten or so seconds on your back cover—a great opportunity to convince them that your book is necessary for their success.

Does your back cover pass the test?

Best Solutions to the Biggest Mistakes

1. Mistake: Too many non-powerful words and too busy to have a focus.

Solutions: A back cover of 6 by 9 inches should have fewer than 70 words. Use sound bites; picture and emotional words; benefits, not features; and testimonials to capture your readers' attention to keep your message focused. Make every word count and be willing to get five-fifteen edits.

2. Mistake: Too much superfluous material on it such a long author's bio or large photo. Potential buyers want to know how the book will help them, teach them a skill, or entertain them.

Solutions: Print only a one or two-line bio on the back cover. Put your photo and more bio on the inside of the back cover. Omit features such as format information, which belong in the mini sales letter short introduction.

Connect with your buyer emotionally with specific, powerful ad copy. For self-help books use bullets with specific benefits, and enough of the right kind of testimonials to sell your book in under 15 seconds. For fiction, modify to include a startling scene with snappy including a bit of plot, and maybe a powerful quote. Use bookstore models to assist you.

3. Mistake: Repeating the book's title at the top of the back cover.

Solutions: Since your potential buyers already know the title and are stimulated enough to look at the back cover, hook them with an emotional question or headline that gives them the #one benefit of your book.

Create a "Hot Headline" that compels your reader to buy. Notice the headlines in your newspaper. Visit your bookstore and notice other best selling authors' headlines. "What's So Tough About Writing?" by wordsmith Richard Lederer, author of The Write Way; "Imagine Being an Author," in Dan Poynter's Writing Nonfiction; or "To Age is Natural... To Grow Old is Not! In Rico Caveglia's Ageless Living.

4. Mistake: Omitting testimonials.

Solutions: Testimonials sell more books than any other information on the back cover. Put at least three up. Contact a variety of people. Use one from a top professional in your field, one from a satisfied reader, one from a celebrity who cares about your topic, and one from a top media person. These can be local contacts.

In her book, A Kick in Your Inspiration, Ruth Cleveland got one testimonial from an ex convict! Jacqueline Marcell, author of Elder Rage, took eight months to get forty testimonials from celebrities. Her book is endorsed by: Steve Allen, Ed Asner, Dr. Dean Edell, Dr. John Gray, Dr. Nancy Snyderman/ABC, Regis Philbin. Jacqueline Bisset, and Phyllis Diller.

Worth the effort? Yes, because in April 2001, she made the cover of the AARP Bulletin distributed to over 35 million readers. It included a feature story, some how-tos and contacts and pictures of the author and her book. She had to dance fast, and order 10,000 books to get distributed by the time the piece came out. After it came out, she was inundated with speaking engagements. There's a problem you might love to have!

After you write several books and become rich and famous, you, like other professionals, will fill your back cover with testimonials. You won't even need to add benefits, because people have already bought your other books and liked them.

Potential buyers will purchase when they see people they trust and know recommend the book. Besides filling the back cover with testimonials, you may want to even add extra testimonials in the front pages of the book. The more testimonials, the better!

If you are unsure how to ask for testimonials the easy way, contact a professional book coach.

5. Mistake. Independent publishers submitting galleys to reviewers, distributors, and wholesales without ANY back cover information.

Solutions: "Make the back cover your first area of concern," says Susan Howard, Director of Consulting Services at top publishing firm, The Jenkins Group Inc., who write "The Publishing Connection" She adds, "Waiting for testimonials is generally the reason the back cover of a galley is left blank. Failure to realize the value of the back cover seems to equate with the failure to realize that the text for the finished back cover can always be changed before the printing of the book."

It's important for writers to "market while they write" with the "Essential Hot-Selling Points"-- To make each part of their book sell copies. The book's back cover is all-important.

Judy Cullins ©2004 All Rights Reserved.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people's lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," "The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Targeted Web Traffic," and "Create your Web Site With Marketing Pizzazz," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, "The Book Coach Says..." and "Business Tip of the Month" at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 165 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com.

MORE ARTICLES:

Make a Career Out of Real Estate Investing
For most people, a career in real estate flipping is about as good as it gets. If you have been looking for an exciting new opportunity, why not give it a try? You can make a lots of money with real estate flipping, and in the end this may be the career that you have been dreaming about all your life. However, before you decide to go full steam ahead for a career in real estate flipping you need to learn all you can so that you can get everything set up. Blindly jumping into this may only cause problems for you as you begin your carreer in real estate flipping or investing.

Utah Real Estate Pros Launch the Largest Real Estate Directory of Utah Homes
A new Web site http://www.zoomutah.com will help people buy and sell real estate in Utah. The site includes both MLS listings and for sale by owner listings--offering more home listings than any other Utah real estate site. ZoomUtah.com also offers its members access to a number of unique online real estate tools for buying and selling homes.

Bridge Publications, Inc., New Era Publications Purchase Perfect Binders
Wohlenberg 6000 Binders chosen from Colter & Peterson for special features.

How To Sell A Home That Didnt Sell
If your home has just come off the market and hasn't sold, don't be discouraged. The reason it didn't sell may have nothing to do with your home.

How to Buy a Distance Measuring Wheel
Measuring Wheels are great tools for the Appraiser, Estimator, Engineer, Architect, Contractor, Surveyor, Banker, Realtor, and anyone that is interested in measuring large distances in a short period of time. Most Measuring Wheels are for estimating and get fairly accurate, but we do recommend if you want ultimate accuracy you should consider a measuring tape and not a wheel.

Homebuyers in Broward County can now Receive up to $70,000 in Government Funding to Purchase a New Home
Bank Atlantic and Club Caribe Condominiums have partnered to assist homebuyers earning between $30,000 and $72,000 receive up to $70,000 in free government money for the purchase of a new home.

Fort Lauderdale Real Estate: A Homebuyer's Guide To Getting The Perfect Home
Fort Lauderdale in Broward County has always been the preferred location for many tourists to local and foreign alike. The scenic canals and waterways is enough reason why many have dubbed the city as the Venice of America, bringing in thousands of visitors each year for both business and leisure.

Travel Agency Sends Blacks Back to Roots
Howard University students discover Roots Recovered Travel

Real Estate Investor Software Choose Wisely
The right Real Estate Investor Software is helping real estate investors big and small become wealthy. Manually performing tasks such as property and cash flow analysis, contract creation, prospect management etc. is becoming a thing of the past. Advances in technology has led to the development of real estate investing software that performs these tasks in precise detail, resulting in increased productivity and profits. However, choose wisely not all real estate investor software is equal, here are some tips to choose the best software.

Social Marketing Journal Launches by Online Marketing Agency Brick Marketing and Internet Marketing Expert Nick Stamoulis
Today is the official worldwide launch of a new blog and resource called the Social Marketing Journal which will provide business visitors with relevant and extremely useful information about the evolving world of social marketing, social networking, social bookmarking and all aspects of social media optimization.

The Country House Buyer -- What is Happening?
Lack of country houses in the market in south east England; latent demand from buyers searching for access to schools and commuting. Domestic inflation causing concern -- what effect on prices?

artnet Online Auctions Announces Prints Sale
artnet launches Modern & Contemporary Prints Sale featuring works by Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol.

AgencyLogic Chosen as the Official "Single-Property Website" Sponsor in the REAL ESTATE WEBOGRAPHER™ Certification
Cutting edge certification will teach real estate agents how to market more effectively and win more listings by creating unique property Websites for their clients.

Website Brings New Technologies to Albuquerque Real Estate Buyers And Sellers
With most home buyers starting their home search on the Internet, a top Albuquerque Realtor has launched a new website to bring the latest Real Estate Internet technologies to Albuquerque and Rio Rancho, NM buyers and sellers.