As a romance author, you know that your book cover is one the most important assets you have in selling your book. What you may not know, however, is that your book cover can also be your most valuable piece of content when it comes to your the marketing of that book.
Let’s dive deep into why your book cover is so important, and how you can use it to its fullest potential in your content marketing.
Your Book Will Be Judged by Its Cover!
Your book is the first thing your readers sees, their first point of contact, in their search for a new romance book to read. It’s what entices them to even pick up your book, read the blurb, and ultimately decide if they want to buy it.
As such, it’s important that your book cover should be eye-catching, memorable, professional, noteworthy, and representative of the content inside. Think of it as a gateway to your book – without a good cover, your readers won’t even give your book a chance.
Your Book Cover Sets Expectations for Your Readers
In addition to enticing readers to read your book, your book cover must also meet the reader expectations for the genre for which its been written.
If your book cover features a shirtless cowboy, your readers expect to find a western cowboy romance that’s most likely set on a ranch.
If your book cover features a dark cover with a bad-ass looking vampire, your readers expect a paranormal romance filled with suspense and danger.
Your book cover is a promise given to your reader – and it’s up to you to deliver on that promise.
Your Book Cover Can Be Repurposed for Use in Your Content Marketing
Your book cover isn’t just a one-and-done asset. It can be repurposed for use in your marketing efforts, providing a consistent visual element to tie all of your other content together.
For example, you can use your book cover as the header image for your blog posts, or as the background for your social media posts. You can also use your book cover in promotional graphics, ads, and other visual content.
By doing so, you’re creating a cohesive visual brand that your readers will recognize and associate with your book, and with you.
Your Book Cover Should Be Used to Generate Interest In Your Book
As your content is the foundation of all your content marketing, your book cover should be used to generate interest in your book everywhere – social media, website extras, blog articles, content opt-ins, and even in your emails.
For example, you can create a quiz asking readers which book cover they prefer, or which cover best suits their individual preferences. Create this poll on social media, asking them to respond. After they’ve responded, pull readers into your website where you go in-depth talking about how to make book covers, and then offer your readers a fun screensaver in exchange for their email address! See how easy that is!
By doing this, you’re not only engaging with your readers, but you’re also using your book cover to spark interest in your book. It’s a win-win!!!
Your Book Cover Creates Buzz and Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Your book cover is a piece of art that conveys the mood and setting of your book in just one look. It’s a good marketing strategy to have an eye-catching and attractive cover, as it attracts more readers depending on its design. A good illustration also means your message is reaching your readers.
A well-designed book cover can pique the interest of your readers, which can lead to more buyers for the book. There are a lot of great covers out there that have created a buzz in the market thru word-of-mouth promotions. Take a look at any of the books by Danielle Steel, Nicolas Sparks, Robyn Carr or Nora Roberts. Each of their book covers have been specially designed for their book.
A well-designed book cover contains elements that not only draws the reader’s attention but also makes them curious enough to know more about the story. It can be done thru illustrations that have significant meanings, or just the right visual elements, including colors and design that captures the mood, setting, and theme of the book.
Your Book Cover Helps Your SEO
What does your book cover say about your book?? An interesting question!
From a marketing stand-point, your book cover should scream “this is what this book is about.” Did you know that these same words can help your SEO.
When optimizing your book cover, remember Google, Bing, and Yahoo (and other search engines) read the title of the book that you’ve attached to your cover. Google reads the book title, book descriptions, subtitles, and meta data attached to every book cover you upload to the internet. These keywords they contain are the ones that determine what your books are about and where they’ll be found.
It’s important to include the keywords in both the title of your book, book description, and meta data. As a side note: you’ll add related keywords and long-tail keywords into blog posts or on your website, so don’t worry about those for now.
Your combination of keywords are uniquely yours, so they are the ones that will help YOUR book to be found.
Your Book Cover is an Investment in Your Book’s Success
Finally, it’s important to remember that your book cover is an investment in your book’s success. It’s not just a superficial element – it’s an important factor that can make or break the success of your book.
As such, it’s worth investing in a high-quality cover design that’s tailored to your chosen genre and your target readers.
By doing this, you’re setting your book up for success and positioning yourself for successful content marketing campaign.
What’s Next…
Want a deeper look into how to create content that’s entertaining, educational, engaging, inspiring, and persuasive.
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Check out the Ultimate Guide to Building your Content to get tips on how to do-it-yourself!