People Do Judge A Book By Its Cover - How To Create A Cover That Sells with Nick Zelinger

Welcome to this episode of the Real Fast Results podcast!  Nick Zelinger is today’s special guest.  He is a publishing and graphic design extraordinaire who has put together many covers for bestselling books and covers that have won awards.  He’s won awards for his designs as well.  It’s important, as an author, to know what to watch out for when it comes to having a cover designed, and that’s what Nick is here to help you understand.  Welcome to the show Nick…

Promise: How to Create a Book Cover that Sells

Thanks for having me.  First of all, if you are thinking of publishing a book, or if you have already published a book and you aren’t getting good sales or have gotten some bad reviews, you may want to consider hiring a professional book designer.  The tendency today in independent publishing, self-publishing, is to do it yourself, and that’s, for lack of a better term, a crap-shoot.  You are going to be in the wild wild west of not knowing what you want to do, not meeting the printer’s specifications, and just not having a very professional design.

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I think that if you’re serious about publishing your book… This is a business.  Independent publishing, or self-publishing, is a business.  You’ve got to treat it that way.  To do that, you’ve got to hire professionals.  I would say, first and foremost, for authors who design their own books, or want to, take a hard look at your skills, and be honest, and step back a little bit because you really do need to be very objective about your goals.  It’s a profession, and you get what you pay for in this industry, so you really do need to hire a professional. Do people really judge a book by its cover? Absolutely, and in fact, it’s the gateway to your book. [bctt tweet="Research shows that we have less than 10 seconds before a potential buyer makes a decision on a book cover" via="no"]It’s a subjective thing, but it’s something that makes them want to go to a bookshelf, pick it up, and look at the back, or click on the thumbnail at Amazon to see what the “Look Inside” feature is.  So you’ve got a very, very short timespan to really capture someone’s attention, no matter what the genre.

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Learn

• You only have a few minutes to get someone's attention
• Curb appeal
• Hiring a book designer
• Joining author author/publishing organizations
• Consulting with a designer
• What it a professional looking cover entails
• Having a branded look

Download the Complete PDF Show Notes Free for this Episode

Connecting with Nick

If anyone needs to contact me, you can do so at NZGraphics.com.  I’m always happy to consult with anyone about their books.  I live and breathe “book design,” so I’m happy to talk to anyone about book design.  My website contains a virtual portfolio of my work.  My authors and clients have gotten over 100 international and national book awards over the last 20 years, so I’m kind of backed into this business as a graphic designer.  I’ve learned my way through a lot of errors and mistakes, but it’s an exciting industry to be in.  I wish a lot of authors the best of luck with their endeavors in this.

Resources

How to Sell Your Books in Stores…Even if You’re Self-Published with Amy Collins

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers  Author U organization Fiverr CreateSpace Ingram

Real Fast Results Community

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