Tag: copywriting

Choosing a Publisher, Self-Publishing

Importance of Book Cover Copy in Self-Publishing

Readers really do judge books by their covers. That is what your cover is designed to do – communicate the value of all of the great material in between. Keep this in mind when developing your back cover copy and make sure it’s professionally drafted by your self-publishing provider – this is marketing writing; artistic writing.

The BACK COVER COPY is restricted by the size of the book’s back cover.   Ideally, the size of the cover should be taken into account when composing the back cover copy to ensure the ultimate balance between font size and aesthetics. You don’t want too much copy so as to require an illegibly small font. You also don’t want too little copy, leaving big empty spaces on the back cover.   There are three main components to the back cover copy: 1) the headline, 2) the synopsis or marketing copy, and 3) the author biography.  There may also be quotes, cover blurbs, or other testimonials about either the book or the author. In some cases, these cover blurbs may justify more exposure than the summary of the book. Ultimately, the entire back copy should be composed with the goal of getting a browser to become a buyer.  Bullet point and numbered lists are good, effective elements of back cover copy for non-fiction books.  Cover copy for fiction books should demonstrate highly effective prose.

Have fun and keep writing.

– Karl Schroeder

Choosing a Publisher, Self-Publishing

More Copyright Information for the Self-Publishing Author

Copyright infringement is not a pleasant topic. Some self-publishing authors find themselves in trouble without even knowing it, by doing something as innocent as including the lyrics from their favorite songs in their book.

Music is one of the most protected copyrightable works; infringement of copyright can carry heavy fines for which the author is responsible. If you are going to use the lyrics from a song in your book, you will need to have permission from the original copyright holder. This includes cases where you are only using a stanza or two and sometimes even if you are using anything more than a single line.

Only song lyrics created and first published prior to 1923 are in the Public Domain in the United States. If the song was created after that, you will need permission to use it (or parts of it) in your work.

There are two great resources on the Internet for finding the rights holders for most music and song lyrics, from the two leading music entities, ASCAP and BMI, respectively:

http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?mode=search
 http://www.bmi.com/licensing

Choosing a Publisher, Self-Publishing

Copywriting done right in Self-Publishing

Okay, copywrite is not actually a word. Copywriting is, and an equally important element in self-publishing your book as successfully as possible on the market.

Copywriting, as spelling would imply, has less to do with copying anything and more to do with writing. So what is copy? Copy in this case as a noun is, according to Merriam-Webster, “something considered printable or newsworthy.”

Copywriting by that definition is akin to marketing, and helps promote your book once published. It is perhaps most effectively implemented on your book’s back cover.

Studies show that a book has around 8 seconds to convince the reader to buy it. 3 seconds for the cover image to captivate them and 5 seconds for the back cover copy to sell them on the contents. The fact is most authors don’t know how to write sales copy. Sales copy is an entirely different animal, after all. A skill honed by advertisers and marketing folks.

A handful of quality self-publishers offer those services. Look for that option when choosing yours.

Have fun and keep writing (just not copy).

-Karl Schroeder