SPBE Blog #4- Grab The Audience!

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Over 70% of our readers told us they either downloaded a free sample of an eBook or perused the print book in a bookstore before making their decision to buy it. As this next slide shows an indie author had better grab a prospective buyer quickly.

 

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Slide 17 indicates that only 23% of potential buyers will read several chapters when they consider a book, whereas 35% will only read a few pages. And 27% make their decision based strictly on a paragraph or two, or the synopsis on the back cover. Clearly an opening hook is vital. It doesn’t matter if an indie author has written a great book, he or she won’t sell many copies they don’t get a reader interested from the very first paragraph or the first few pages at most! Buying a book is a commitment of money and time and to be successful an indie author had better make sure that they have made their book worth that commitment.

Beyond having a powerful opening hook, an indie author also needs to have an eye-catching cover. Slide 15 shows that while genre and author are the most important factors in a person’s decision to buy a book, nearly a third of our readers said the cover was either extremely or very important and another 45% said it was at least somewhat important. We submit that this is equally as important for an eBook as for a print book, perhaps even more so.

 

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To conclude this blog, after working so very hard on his or her book, a self-published author must be careful not to let their efforts go to waste by having a dull or unappealing cover, an uninspired synopsis, or worst of all a weak opening. If an author doesn’t give these areas the same degree of attention that he or she has put into the book itself, all is lost!

2 responses to “SPBE Blog #4- Grab The Audience!”

  1. Bessie G. says:

    This is the about the best advice I have seen illustrating the importance of getting one’s book picked up, and purchased by potential buyers. This goes for authors who contemplate publishing in the mainstream publishing houses as well as for authors who want to be self-published. I’ve never written a book (yet), but I do read a lot. Yes, I am one of those who read the back cover and then, if that grabs me, I read a few pages–sometimes reading a few pages from the first third of the book.

    I saw IndieBRAG on Book TV today, otherwise I would never have seen this blog. I don’t believe I’ve ever read a blog before.

  2. Geri says:

    We are thrilled to have you read ours! I hope you will come back often and share your thoughts with our readers and writers.

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