Laura Melchor

Which One Won? Does steak sell steak knives?

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There’s nothing more natural-looking than a steak knife cutting into a slab of meat. The sight can make a meat lover’s mouth water, and it would follow that featuring a nice cut of meat next to a steak knife set could appeal to potential customers.

One seller recently ran a PickFu poll to test that very thing. They wanted to know which primary Amazon photo to use for their steak knife listing.

Option A showcases a steak knife set, two accessories, and an image of…well…steak.

In Option B, the steak is gone and instead, all three accessories are visible.

Can you guess which one won?

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Which One Won? Book titles and subtitles

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Every weight-loss book out in the world today sells a slightly different method to get the same result: shedding unwanted weight. If you’ve written a weight-loss manual, you’d better hope its book titles and subtitles are distinct enough to stand out.

When author Grace Smith wrote a book about the unusual weight-loss tactic of hypnosis, she used PickFu to decide what title to run with. She created a poll targeted at people between the ages of 25 and 54. Then, she asked this audience to tell her which title caught their interest.

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Which One Won? Graphic design secrets in middle-grade​ books

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When it comes to selling books, the littlest details can make the biggest difference. One author of a middle-grade book (read: for kids ages 8-12) recently ran a PickFu poll that asked the simple yet critical question, “Which book would you buy?”

At first glance, the covers look exactly the same, but one cover won by a significant number of votes. Obviously, there’s a big difference between the two. Let’s see if we can find the graphic design secrets behind the winner.

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Should You Use a Book Description Generator?

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Should you use a book description generator?

One of the hardest things for authors to do is summarize an entire story idea in just a few sentences. But if you’re an author who wants to market a book, you can’t escape writing a book description. And writing one while you’re drafting helps distill your story idea to its most powerful parts.

Once you’re selling your work, you’ll need to write a compelling book description for your online listings. There are two tools that can help you with this: a book description generator and a book description template.

We’ll take a look at both.

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Which One Won? Choosing a book cover

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Book cover designers have one of the trickiest jobs in the industry. They have to create covers that attract the largest possible number of potential customers. This is especially important when the book has no thrilling title to help make it pop. So what’s important when choosing a book cover?

One creator of a woodland creature-themed baby guest book recently took five cover designs to PickFu and created a poll to find out which one stood out above the rest. The creator asked 50 women to rank their favorite options:

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Which One Won? Tips on writing book descriptions

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A book description often decides whether someone buys a book or puts it back on the shelf. This means that it’s crucial for authors to test their book descriptions, which is easy to do using PickFu.

Recently, one author split-tested two book descriptions by asking respondents, “Which book description sounds more appealing?”

Option A switches uneasily between tenses and sounds somewhat distant, but it’s short and easy for the eye to digest.

Tips on writing book descriptions

Option B begins with a more urgent first line, but it’s longer.

Tips on writing book descriptions - Option B

Can you guess which one won?

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How to Format a Book for Kindle, Step-by-Step

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How to format a book for kindle, in three easy steps.

Why you should know how to format a book for Kindle

Once upon a time, writers relied on traditional publishing to get their books in front of an audience. And it’s true that publishing through an established company means your book won’t get sent out into the world full of typos.

But every writer also knows this: sometimes, publishing houses release bland books that should’ve stayed in draft form forever. Conversely, sometimes even the best books never find a home through a traditional publisher. Actually, this happens all the time.

This situation has driven many writers to take matters into their own hands and self-publish books through platforms like Amazon. One neat thing about Amazon is that you can easily format an e-book using Kindle Create, a free formatting software that makes your book look professional before you upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

If you’re wondering how to format a book for Kindle, keep reading. We’ll show you everything you need to know in three simple steps.

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Which One Won? In a book about Jesus, aliens sell

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Say you’re a writer of religious self-help books, but you want your book to appeal to everyone. Do you design your title and cover with religion in mind or the general audience who’ll be reading it (hopefully)?

Author Michael Peters created a PickFu poll to answer that question for his own religious self-help book.

Option A’s title is a bit of a mouthful: Lost in Detroit: Bent Nails, Alien Life, and Jesus of Nazareth: The Journey to the Non-Religious Jesus. The cover features a clean black, white, and turquoise color scheme with the Detroit skyline below the title.

Option B’s title is much shorter: Tired of Religion? Come & See Jesus of Nazareth. The cover art is a blurred painting of Jesus.

Can you guess which one won?

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