Celebrating Independent Authors
Here at IU, we often hear from indie writers who have finally, happily published their first book. They’re extremely proud of their effort, as well they should be, but now want to know how to promote that book. How do they let the world know the book is there? How do they get sales?
Ah, therein lies the rub. Continue reading “Want to Sell More Books? WRITE More Books!”
As you are aware, the most common issue we see with books during the vetting process is an unclear or confusing book description. The second most common issue: unreadable titles on book covers in thumbnail size.
Who cares? Right? It’s just a tiny book cover. No one expects to read it in that size.
Um, wrong.
Just last week, our Lynne Cantwell wrote about the Marketing Rule of 7 – that it takes at least seven instances of someone seeing your book before they actually purchase it. Well – what if those seven instances are in thumbnail size? Do you think they will remember to purchase a book when they can’t read the title? Moreover, will they even notice it to begin with? Probably not. Don’t waste a chance to get in front of someone and make an impression.
Here at Indies Unlimited, thumbnails are generally 120×177 pixels, which on my laptop ends up being around 1.75 inches high by just under 1.25 wide. There is no specific industry standard for thumbnails, (on WordPress it’s 150×150) and the size varies from site to site. Then, add to it people viewing sites on their tablets and cell phones – and you can end up with some mighty small thumbnails. Can you read your title under those circumstances? You may want to check. Continue reading “The Case for Legible Titles: Book Covers in Thumbnail”
One of the great things about writing multiple books is that readers have several points of entry from which to discover your work. One of the pain in the rear things about having multiple books is that each time you publish a new book, you have to update all the back matter for every other book you have published.
What is back matter? It’s exactly what it sounds like: Continue reading “Author Hack: Keeping Your Back Matter Up to Date for both Amazon and Wide Titles”
As you are probably aware, back when IU was vetting books, the most common issue we saw with books during the process was an unclear or confusing book description. The second most common issue: unreadable titles on book covers in thumbnail size.
Who cares? Right? It’s just a tiny book cover. No one expects to read it in that size.
Um, wrong.
One of our most referenced articles is one that our Lynne Cantwell wrote about the Marketing Rule of 7 – that it takes at least seven instances of someone seeing your book before they actually purchase it. Well – what if those seven instances are in thumbnail size? Do you think they will remember to purchase a book when they can’t read the title? Moreover, will they even notice it to begin with? Probably not. Don’t waste a chance to get in front of someone and make an impression.
Here at Indies Unlimited, thumbnails are generally 120×177 pixels, which on my laptop ends up being around 1.75 inches high by just under 1.25 wide. There is no specific industry standard for thumbnails, (on WordPress it’s 150×150) and the size varies from site to site. Then, add to it people viewing sites on their tablets and cell phones – and you can end up with some mighty small thumbnails. Can you read your title under those circumstances? You may want to check. Continue reading “Book Titles in Thumbnail: Size Does Matter”