Covers Sell Books

by Dan Poynter

Packaging is everything. Each year, corporations spend more than $50 billion on product packaging and design. $50 billion, not for the products themselves or for the wrapper but $50 billion just for the design of the wrapper.

Everyone judges a book by its cover. No one reads the book before they make a buying decision. Consumers do not read it in the store. Sales reps only carry book covers and jackets to show bookstore owners/buyers while wholesalers and distributors say “just send us the cover copy.” All buying decisions are made on the illustration/design and the ad-sales copy on the outside of the book. Yes, packaging is everything.

The bookstore browser averages less than eight seconds looking at the front cover and fifteen seconds reading the back cover. You must hook them immediately and keep them reading the back cover or they will put the book back on the shelf.

Most of Lightbourne’s cover-design work is done long distance, so when the new client walked in wearing buckskin and natural cotton attire, Gaelyn and Bram Larrick knew that this project would be unique and fun. Matt Richards had written a book on taking raw deerskin and creating beautiful buckskin garments and useful goods, a process that was more of a lifestyle for him.

He had located the cover-design company as a result of reading Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual, but was still nervous about spending his money on a professionally-designed cover.

Matt lived in the wilderness and his way of life didn't require him to earn much money. The cover would cost one-quarter of his entire annual income.

Six months later, Matt wrote that his book was selling so well in both his niche market and bookstores that his annual income had already increased 4-5 times. His professionally-designed cover not only made him prouder of his book, it gave the contents more credibility and helped the book to sell. http://www.lightbourne.com

“Anyone who says ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’ has never met the category buyer from Barnes & Noble.”
— Terri Lonier, author, Working Solo.

Good packaging sells soap, breakfast food and pantyhose. It can also be used to sell books. Put your imagination into your title and your advertising money into your cover. Since everyone from the distributor, to wholesalers, to bookstore buyers, to the ultimate customer judges a book by its cover, give them what they need—a compelling cover with art and a sales message that will encourage a buying decision.

Book Cover Designers
Robert Howard Graphic Design, Robert Howard, 631 Mansfield Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525. Tel: (970) 225-0083; email: rhoward@frii.com. http://www.BookGraphics.com.

Arrow Graphics, Inc., Alvart Badalian, PO Box 291, Cambridge, MA 02238. Tel: (617) 926-8585; Fax: (617) 926-0982; e-mail: arrow@us1.channel1.com.

Dunn + Associates, Mary Jo Jirik, PO Box 870, Hayward, WI 54843. Tel:(715) 634-4857; Fax: (715) 634-5617.info@Dunn-Design.com, http://www.Dunn-Design.com.

Lightbourne, Gaelyn Larrick & Shannon Bodie, 258 A Street, #5, Ashland, OR 97520. Tel: (800) 697-9833; Tel: 541-488-3060; Fax: (541) 482-1730; Gaelyn@Lightbourne.com; http://www.Lightbourne.com.

Quest Press, Pamela Terry, 1858 So. Crescent Heights Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035. Tel: 323-935-6666; Fax: 323-934-2881; pam@atwtraveler.com

Knockout Design, Peri Poloni, 3784 Archwood Road, Cameron Park, CA 95682. Tel: 530-676-2744; Fax: 530-676-2741; peri@KnockOutBooks.com; http://www.KnockOutBooks.com.

R.J. Communications, Ron Pramschufer, 51 East 42nd Street, #1202, New York, NY 10017. Tel: 800-621-2556; Fax: 212-681-8002; West Coast Office tel: 800-754-7089; Ron@RJC-LLC.com; http://BooksJustBooks.com.

BookMasters, Inc., Sherry Ringler, 2541 Ashland Road, Mansfield, OH 44905. Tel: (800) 537-6727; tel: (419) 589-5100; fax: (419) 589-4040; info@bookmaster.com; http://www.BookMasters.com.

Be It Now/Karen Ross Design, Karen Ross, 12516 Washington Place, Los Angeles, CA 90066. Tel: 310-915-0920; Fax: 310-390-0419; Karoons@yahoo.com; http://www.beitnow.com/publishingdesign.htm

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com. © 2003

Hire a Proofreader

by Dan Poynter

Do not try to proof your own work. You are too close to the manuscript and will miss some typographical errors. You need a professional with fresh eyes to proof your work.

Your computer’s spelling and grammar checkers are good for a first pass, but never rely on them exclusively. In fact, these computer marvels often teach us more about the language but they are not perfect. So use them for a first pass.

Jan Nathan, Executive Director of the Publishers Marketing Association, tells of an author/publisher who had his book professionally designed but decided to cut corners on proofreading. He relied on his computer’s spellchecker.

After printing 5,000 copies, a colleague pointed out some misspelled words, both on the cover and inside. For example, the spellchecker did not catch the misspelling of “Foreword”. All 5,000 covers announced the “Forward” by a very prominent person. By the way, this is a very common spelling mistake in books.

When you publish a book, it's the world's book. The world edits it.
—Philip Roth, New York Times Book Review.

Make sure your proofreader uses standard proofreading marks so the corrections will be clear to all. For a chart of proofreader’s marks, see your dictionary under (where else?) "proofreader's marks".

Mother Nature’s Nursery Rhymes, a children’s poetry book, was done. Bill Sheehan was hand-carrying the art to his printer in Hong Kong. During the long flight, he noticed that bees and their activity were mentioned in a poem on page 15, but there were no bees in the accompanying illustration. Upon landing, he called Itoko Maeno, the illustrator, back at Advocacy Press in Santa Barbara. She suggested copying a bee from a previous page. Bill had the printer make the addition and that change saved the day.

There is more to proofing than just punctuation and spelling. And, it is never too late to proofread—again.

Do not skimp on proofreading. It is far more expensive to take ink off paper than to put it on. Make the book right. The more eyes the better.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com. © 2003

"Contact Us" Form Now Working

I just discovered this weekend our "contact us" form was not working properly. I wondered why we hadn't heard from anyone in such a long time. But thankfully it is now working just fine.

For those who tried contacting us in the past, I am terribly sorry for not responding. The fact was, I didn't know.

For future reference, if for some reason you contact us using the form on our site, and don't get a response within 24-48 hours, please email me directly...carrie at memoirsbyme.com. I don't want to miss out on your correspondence.

Certainly you are welcome to email me directly anytime. I'd love to hear from you!

Newsletter Format Changes

Attention: MBM Members

We are revamping our distribution process of Memoir Lane to you.

Instead of receiving one long email each month, we will be breaking it up into smaller chunks featuring one subject at a time and distributing them throughout the month.

This way when you're short on time, you can read it quickly and move on as opposed to saving it for later and "later" never comes. This will also enable you to just read what you want and delete what you don’t.

AND this will give you the “gentle reminder” or “swift kick” to keep you moving forward on your memoir-writing projects on a more regular basis.

Earlier this weekend you should have received an email with the subject line “Memoir Lane: NEW! More Memoirs” announcing NEW memoirs posted in our Readers’ Circle. It was short, sweet and to the point. This is exactly what I’m talking about.

The subject line told you what it was. If you were interested, you read it. If not, you deleted it and your time was not wasted wading through a long email. Plus, you were gently reminded of your interest in memoirs.

So, from now on you will be receiving emails just like that announcing the latest additions to MBM. I hope you find this method more helpful.

Understand my intent is to encourage, not overwhelm. So, as we make this transition, if you find this change either more suitable or unacceptable, please say so.

I appreciate your interest in reading and writing memoirs, and I look forward to serving you better. Have a great week!

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NEW! More Memoirs

I'm excited to introduce two new featured memoirs and one published memoir from our Readers' Circle...

The Music Man
By: Karyn Stockwell

"He was born in a time when labels were given to children. The labels were words that remained with them for all of their lives. The words caused pain to the people that loved them, but they had no meaning for these children..."

This piece speaks of a loved one born with Down Syndrome and the amazing impact he had on his neice's life. Read how Uncle David surpassed the label given him in The Music Man.

Two Dreams
By: Karen Templin

"...He would put a red check mark next to our name in his big Book of Life. If we got enough check marks, He would send us to Hell. I often found myself counting up my sins and wondering if I had enough check marks to go to Hell yet..."

Having grown up Catholic, this woman had a knowledge of Jesus her whole life. However not until she reads a book on a Near Death Experience, does she see Jesus in a whole new light.

Read about it in Two Dreams.

The Glass Castle
By: Jeannette Walls

"...We were always doing the skedaddle, usually in the middle of the night. I sometimes heard Mom and Dad discussing the people who were after us. Dad called them henchmen, bloodsuckers, and the gestapo..."

This national best-seller sounds a bit like what life was like with my in-laws, according to my husband. I told him to get on the ball and get his story on paper...people eat this stuff up. Truth is better than fiction. That's why I love reading memoirs.

Enjoy The Glass Castle today.