2015 Willamette Writers Conference

What makes readers wild to one-click? This example-driven self-publishing workshop focuses on three key elements of packaging a book for sale: cover, blurb, and branding. First, participants will learn to identify the cues in cover design for genre fiction, including typography, design treatment, and photography. This can help self-publishers select or direct a cover design that not only fits their story, but best appeals to their target readers. Design considerations for ebooks vs. print covers are also explored. Next, participants will dig into the issue of book blurbs to craft sharp, punchy copy that hooks the reader without giving away spoilers. A key mistake many self-publishers make is failing to take advantage of platform-specific blurb formatting, such as Amazon product pages fed both by the KDP and Author Central platforms. Heidi offers an easy recipe accompanied by a web tool to improve the professionalism and readability of blurbs. This workshop also considers author branding including biography, photography, and integration with the author’s website, mailing list and trackable links. Finally, formatting and layout are discussed both for ebooks and print, highlighting frequent self-publishing mistakes, and techniques authors can use to increase their conversion rate from samples to sales, and from one book in a series to the next. This workshop is accompanied by a handout with a diagnostic self-assessment, actionable best practices with “recipes” to improve ebook packaging, and links to supporting online tools and resources.