The Biggest Mistake Kindle and eBook Authors Make

Like many authors, excited at the potential to gain readership and sales in the world-engulfing marketplace called Amazon, I paid a graphics artist on Fiverr the cursory five bucks, used Amazon’s tool to render the text and launched a book dear to my heart, The Road Home: An Appalachian Native American Journey, as quickly as I could.

Then, I waited.

Where are the readers? Where are the sales?

Successful eBook publishers have one big thing in common

I know, the reader must find the content valuable and interesting. That’s a given. No matter how hard you work at getting the word out about your book, and no matter how low you set the price–if the reader is disappointed and disillusioned, your book publishing days are numbered.

Do you know how to create a book cover to attract your readers?

When a prospective reader lands on your Amazon page (or any other page or site you are using to present your work for human consumption), the first thing he or she sees is what? You got it… the very first impression made by your hard, hard work is … THE COVER. And if you, like me, spend 99.9% of your time writing the book and then toss a cursory five bucks to a Fiverr designer for the cover (or, worse yet, throw something up yourself when you can’t design your way out of an open door) … if you (like me) do that, then you can pretty well count on failure.

I know, “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” But, do you know where that saying comes from? It warns us to look at more than the cover when making our decision–but we definitely look at the cover, and if it’s not pleasing or provocative… we pass. Instantly. If you want your book to be read, it must first give the would-be reader a reason to stop and take a look–AND THAT IS THE JOB OF  THE COVER!

What can the average writer do to get an exceptional cover on a small budget?

I’m pretty sure the way isn’t to keep trying one Fiverr design person after another, hoping to strike it rich. And I’m pretty sure the cost of a slam-dunk design is more than I want to shell out. But I found something that may make the difference for me and a whole bunch of other aspiring writers.  It’s from Tony Laidig, a big-time professional book cover designer and a guy who knows exactly what you and I need to know–and he has put it all out there in a series of videos I just bought (for under ten bucks**) and am going to put to start digging into just as soon as I finish this post.

**Addendum: Ten bucks is the price today. There is no doubt the price will go up, not down. In my opinion, it’s worth 10 times 10. Get it now and save … that’s my take on the situation. My guess is the author who follows Laidig’s instructions will gain much more than he or she spends on this program.

Why am I writing this before using Tony’s advice myself?

Two reasons:

First, I could tell by cranking up the videos for a quick look that it is exactly what I need to turn the cover of  The Road Home: An Appalachian Native American Journey into something folks will be much more inclined to explore (the cover you see above, by the way, is the current rendition–I will post the remixed version, created from the info in Laidig’s Book Cover Genius program, as soon as I’ve gained and applied the knowledge form the videos and written materials that come with the offer).

Secondly, Tony material is pretty well exhaustive. It covers everything from learning to know what works and what doesn’t to selecting the right graphic (it comes with a graphics pack, by the way, and a preset template), to choosing font, researching the market, using Photoshop and other programs … it’s the total package. And it comes with a money-back guarantee.

IF I WAIT until I’ve finished learning all Tony teaches in this program until I tell you about it … then you are going to be waiting a long, long time. And I don’t want to do that to you. This is important to you, if you are someone who wants to see your work, not just published, but successful. Yes, there is a commission structure for telling others. My policy is to never recommend something I don’t absolutely believe in.

And this one, my friend, is an exceptionally fairly priced package that will definitely benefit anyone who aspires to getting his or her books read and sold.

Here’s the link:

Tony Laidig’s Book Cover Genius

Let’s get going. We’ve wasted enough time with Fiverr designers and unimaginative covers already. There are readers waiting.

Please write and tell me how the course is working for you … and send me a link to the sales page for your book; I would love to see your work.

Wishing you and yours the very best,

Don