Increase eBook Sales: Meet Genre Expectations (Part 3)
Why not have a greater part of the self-publishing that continues to grow year after year? According to stats posted for 2022, on WordsRated by Nicholas Rizzo, “$1.25 billion worth of self-published books are sold each year,” and “Amazon pays $250 million in royalties to self-published authors each year.”
How can you receive part of the $250 million in royalties? Are you searching for a starting point to increase your ebook sales?
In this part of the 5-part series on increasing ebook sales, we’ll cover how meeting genre expectations and creating covers that fit the genre can help improve ebook sales for aspiring authors. In the rest of the series, covered in our other blogs, we continue to dive into topics suggested by Derek Murphy at Creativindie (our rephrasing): doing marketing research and getting your book before readers by using keywords, categories, advertising, and promotion.
Meet Genre Expectations for eBook Sales
Whether the genre is romance, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, or children’s books, readers have genre expectations. For instance, the different types of romance novels (such as mystery romance or later-in-life romance) have similar expectations. In a romance novel, the couple obviously must meet. They must make a connection, but obstacles get in the way. For a romance novel, the main emotion, of course, is love. Although it may include other emotions. And for US readers, they must have a Happily Ever After (HEA) ending.
With thrillers, consider what type it is (such as a political, psychological, or supernatural thriller). The moods might be action-packed, noir, or even humorous. They all have reader expectations you should meet as an author. The same is true whether it’s Sci-fi, fantasy, or children’s books. Use the basic genre conventions or tropes in your ebook.
As an author, you need to know what readers expect from an ebook in a certain genre. While you can use all kinds of fun tactics to entertain your readers, if the genre basics aren’t there, it can affect reviews, which can cause the ebook’s future sales to suffer.
If you haven’t included the reader’s basic expectations for the genre, it’s time to do some revision. Make sure your ebook meets the basics that readers want.
Cover That Fits the Genre Expectations
Because potential readers see the cover first, it impacts their decision whether to buy. Or whether they will keep scrolling on to other books. While the cover should catch a reader’s eye, and convey the ebook’s content and tone, the cover must look like it belongs in the genre. Otherwise, a reader will keep scrolling.
Put your ebook’s cover alongside other books in the same genre. Does it look like it belongs? Think of it a bit like looking at a family photo, which can show the family resemblance of each person. Does your ebook’s cover look like it’s part of the genre family?
For any genre, the cover basics to consider include the cover’s overall design and layout, as well as the colors, images, and fonts. The combination of these elements communicates an ebook’s genre.
What color schemes are on the covers?
For instance, for contemporary romance, the colors might be soft pastels, such as pale pink, lilac, or light blue. Whereas for thrillers, the colors might be dark and suspenseful, such as dark purple, black, and navy. Find out what’s currently being used on best-selling books in your ebook’s genre.
What images convey genre expectations?
Do the covers include people, symbols, or no images at all? Romance novels often have a couple on the cover, but not always. A thriller might have an image of the hero in an intriguing setting. Consider, also, where the images are placed. Are they centered on the cover? Or are they on the top half? Obviously, not every cover will have the exact same layout, but several will be similar, which indicates a pattern of what’s currently working.
What font type is used in the genre?
When you look at each ebook’s thumbnail, how easy is it to read the titles and author names? Names of well-known authors, such as Tom Clancy or Danielle Steel, are in a large font, as the title isn’t as important as the author. What about lesser-known authors? How does the size of their names appear compared to the size of the titles?
If readers use the “look inside” option, the interior of your ebook should use similar fonts appropriate for the genre. A contemporary romance, for example, might use Allura and Lato fonts to convey a sophisticated modern look. Whereas a thriller might go for a strong, bold look by combining Helvetica and Gotham fonts.
You have a better chance of increasing your ebook sales by making sure it meets genre expectations, including the cover design, colors, images, and fonts that fit the genre.
Don’t wait. Get started today.
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