Authors

Authors improve their book marketing efforts by using PickFu to test book titles and covers with potential readers targeted by literary preference, number of books read per month, and more.

Which One Won? Guns and Double-Barreled Questions

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Guess which one won in this book cover test

A crime novelist used PickFu to test two cover designs for his book Whiskey Devils. The respondent pool consisted of 50 people drawn from the general population. Option A featured an orange backdrop with bullet holes and gunsmoke and an evocative illustration of a hand transforming into a gun. Option B featured a subdued and elegant photograph of two shot glasses filled with whiskey on a dimly lit bar top. The publisher asked two questions of respondents: “Which cover is more enticing and eye-catching for a crime novel? Which makes you want to read further?”

Which book cover do you think our general population audience selected? Give it your best guess, then read the poll results here.

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Which One Won? What Book Covers Communicate to Readers

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The design of a book cover has a huge influence on whether a reader chooses to purchase that book. Therefore, it’s important for authors and publishers to be conscious of a reader’s perception of your cover design.

Take, for example, this PickFu poll of two different book cover designs.

Option A features one person dragging a body through a grove of palm trees, silhouetted against a blue, twilight sky. Option B features a simple silhouette of a cat against a red background. Can you guess which one won?

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A Software Consultant Gets Her Own Lesson in Useful Software

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K.N. (Kay) Kukoyi leads Purposeful Products, a London-based consultancy to help small business entrepreneurs translate their ideas into commercial web and mobile products.

Recently, Kay interviewed PickFu’s co-founder Justin Chen to get his advice for fellow entrepreneurs. She and Justin discussed how PickFu emerged from a personal need for unbiased feedback, how the business grew, and how it continues to change. … Continue reading

How PickFu Helped Win Battlefield Earth

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A few months ago, Dave Chesson, creator of Kindlepreneur.com, received an email from Galaxy Press. Galaxy Press is the publishing company of famed sci-fi author L. Ron Hubbard, and the email asked for Dave’s help in writing a new book description for one of Hubbard’s most famous books, Battlefield Earth.

A step-by-step approach to writing a strong book description

Feeling honored, Dave approached the task methodically. First, he returned to basics and reviewed some trusted books and articles about what makes a good book description. Next, he scoured the web for book reviews, including professional blogs, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iTunes. “The best strategy for writing a description that makes people buy is not only knowing the book, but also finding out what people say was their favorite part of the book, and expanding on that,” he writes. … Continue reading

6 Tips for Getting More from Your Amazon Author Central Page

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Amazon Author Central Page

Amazon is the world’s largest bookstore, and if you’re an author, you need to make the most of your presence there. I spoke with several indie authors to get their advice on how to maximize your Amazon Author Central page.

Personalize your Amazon Author Central URL

Amazon Author Central gives you the option to customize your URL. Author Karen Dimmick calls this a “pretty link” which she uses to “easily send people directly to it.” Her personalized link https://amazon.com/author/karendimmick looks nicer than the auto-assigned https://www.amazon.com/Karen-Dimmick/e/B01E0BXITY (though both land you in the same place). Include your Amazon Author Central link in your email signature or on your business cards. Author Amber Fallon adds, “The best way to put your Amazon Author Central page to work for you is to make sure people know about it. Tweet it once in a while. Be sure to include [the link] on your website and your social media profiles.” Tyrone Givens notes that the “author dashboard has a very convenient button for sharing the link to the page.” … Continue reading

The Biggest Marketing Mistakes New Authors Make

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What are the biggest and most common mistakes that new self-publishers should avoid? We reached out to three successful authorpreneurs to get advice.

Writing might be the “easy” part

“The biggest mistake self-published authors make is not approaching book publishing as a business, says “Inspiration to Creation” coach Nina Amir. “Many writers don’t realize that when they decide to self-publish, they become publishers. They open a publishing house. They enter into this endeavor eagerly because they are told it will be easy to self-publish, and they are surprised that they can’t just write, and that there is more to it than expected. They must carve out time to manage a team of designers and editors, pay taxes, promote, manage their publishing business’s finances, manage book sales, and more.” … Continue reading

5 Writing Resolutions for the New Year

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If this is the year you plan to publish a book, resolve to take solid steps to get you there. Here are five suggestions to set yourself up for success. Ready? Go!

1. Measure yourself

Set up a concrete goal in order to hold yourself accountable to writing. Perhaps it’s a word count, perhaps it’s a defined block of time. But whatever you choose, quantify it. That way, a month from now you’ll be able to say, “wow, I wrote x thousands of words” in January, or “hey, I spent y number of hours doing nothing but writing”! … Continue reading

8 Crucial Tips for Book Titles

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A book’s title is its calling card. It’s how a potential reader finds your book. It’s how a satisfied reader talks about it to a friend.

So when it’s time to dream up a book title, what must you consider? We turned to five experts on the topic, who shared these tips:

Word of Mouth

Word of mouth is still the number one reason readers buy books. If you want to maximize your sales and earnings as an author, you need to understand the word of mouth sales process. It all starts with your book title.

Every word of mouth sales process has three simple steps: … Continue reading