Tips for Making Your Book Attractive to Readers

When it comes to people buying your book, a lot depends on you. That is, you have the power to make people pick out your book from an entire collection.

There are times when readers don’t have any particular book in mind. They are just interested in adding to the number of books in their library.

As a writer, you need to turn heads in the direction of your books if you intend to make sales or become famous for your work. This responsibility can be shared with your publisher or graphic designer, but a major chunk of it rests on you, and the following are a few tips that can help you in that regard.

A good title

One of the first things that captivate a reader is the title of a book.

When the title is captivating, readers would want to know more about the book, what it entails and what they can gain from it.

In selecting a good title, you are not just looking for one that would attract your reader, you are also looking for one that will depict the true content of the book, either directly or figuratively.

Take Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the titles of most of her books are not often straight forward, but they depict the content of her books. And take R.L. Stine,  most of the titles of his books gives you a hint to what to expect in the book. But either way, their titles are appropriate, and they make any reader want to pick them up especially if it is in the area of their interest.

A good summary

Another thing that attracts a reader to a book is the summary – usually written on the back page.

When readers decide to shop for books in a store, they pick up those that interest them and then turn to the back to get an overview. If they are shopping online, they will read the brief description provided on the website.

Those brief descriptions say a lot about a book and can determine whether or not readers will actually purchase it. As a writer, endeavor to put your thoughts together and capture as much as you can about your book in a few words, and then present it to your readers. That way, as soon as they pick up the summary, they are compelled to read the entire work.

Good first chapter

Sometimes, many readers bypass the process of reading the summary or caring about the title and just want to delve into the book. Other times, they may go through those processes and create time from a tight schedule to read the book. But they must keep going, and that first chapter has to be the fuel that will push them to the end.

Attractive cover or design

Many times, people pick up a book because of the cover design. Design elements that could fascinate readers include colour combination or the featured image. Things as basic as these have the ability to attract readers.

That’s why they are very important, especially in children’s books. If the cover catches the eye, there is a high probability that children would want to pick up the book and read it.

Appropriate genre position

There are times when the appropriateness of your genre plays a huge role in how well your book will call to your readers. This works with some of the other tips listed above. When your book is listed in a certain genre, readers should be able to pick it up, look through it and be satisfied that it is what they are looking for.

Olamide Omolawal is an avid research enthusiast with interest in creative and content writing.