The 'Author Underground' has officially opened! Make Sure to Sign Up Today!
FREE Training Module
How to take control of your book's future by becoming the producer, publisher, and promoter of your next best-seller.
All Your Information is Protected When You Sign Up
Book Listing Basics
Vince Lombardi, recognized by many as having been the greatest football coach ever, always insisted his players be brilliant on the basics. If basic things are not done well and intentionally, they will sabotage your success. But, if they are done well, they will become the bedrock of your success. 

Therefore, it is important that we know, learn and be intent in the five basic book listings: high quality content; eye-catching cover; optimized title; captivating blurbs; and SEO. Let’s look at these one-by-one.

High Quality Content
To have high quality content your book needs not only to be well written, but it also needs to be professionally edited. Editing cannot be stressed enough. Editing isn’t something we are always excited about, but we should be as it can beautifully hone your writing craft into an award-winning program. Embrace editing. You won’t be sorry. 

After publishing, it is wise to do a once-over at least once a year where you rewrite your book, correcting any errors that were overlooked and bringing it current. For instance, if you’ve written a romance novel that you want to stand the eras of time, then it needs to keep up with the times. It may be necessary for you to update clothing or social events, or types of transportation. Whatever is relevant to keep your book read worthy for the current audience. If it is a period book, then you may have learned something new about that period and add it to your book or make a change. 

Eye-Catching Cover
An eye-catching cover is a phenomenal necessity. We like to say we don’t buy a book by the cover, but it is the cover that usually attracts us to the book to begin with. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in this case, it may well be in the eye of the book purchaser. You want an attractive book cover that draws the eye to it and makes it stay there. 
Optimized Title
What is an optimized title? The title you initially publish your book with is going to be its title for all eternity. Be sure your title delivers the message you want it to. If you are using sub-titles, it is important that you know and understand you cannot change the sub-title or the title. Give it thought and by all means, do your research to find out if there are other books out there that have the same title which might draw sales away from yours. Think it through. Amazon is a search engine, use it as such. 

If your book is already published, don’t mess with the title. Maximize the effectiveness of your next book, utilizing the lessons you’ve learned from the first publication. If you are writing a series, it is beneficial you establish that from the very beginning so the cover of your book can say, “Book One”, which will not only pique interest but should create, within your readers, a hunger for the next book.

Captivating Blurbs
Captivating blurbs are those little things on the back of the book that hints at the story within and sells the book. The cover is the invitation to look further, but the back is the story. This promotional wording will not only help sell your book, but it will also be data that you can use online to further promote the book in places like Facebook, LinkedIn, and your website. 

SEO
SEO means Search Engine Optimization. Few of us actually know what that is or how to use it. Think of when you want to find something on the internet – a pink blouse for instance. If you just type in ‘pink blouse’ you are liable to get anything. But if you type in ‘lady’s dressy pink blouse’ you will have narrowed down the search and gotten much closer to what you want to achieve. Now imagine your book’s title and think about how you would search for that online. The idea is you want a title that is easily searched for and found and not a duplicate of someone else’s title. Again, scroll the titles on Amazon, using the one you are thinking about using and see if there are duplicates. You may need to change or refine your title but keep the SEO in mind.

Remember, "We are here to help and we make publishing easy."

About the Authors: Daniel J. Mawhinney & Darlene Shortridge

Dan & Darlene have a passion and a heart for helping independent authors to successfully publish and market their stories worth telling and messages worth sharing.
40 Day Media LLC, PO Box 950794, Oklahoma City, OK 73195
Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved
Powered By ClickFunnels.com