—The Blog Series: Blog 6
Part 1: Develop Your Concept
Back-Cover Copy
To help you pinpoint which information to include in your book, write your book’s back-cover copy next. When finished, it’ll sum up your book’s content and its benefits to the reader.
It’ll also inspire your unit, chapter, and section titles as well as the specific information that will appear in each.
The average reader spends less than fifteen seconds scanning a book’s back cover. So, include only the most compelling information in order to hook your prospect into looking inside to read more. To do that, the copy must be brief, punchy, and provide only the main benefits or solutions your readers want.
Here’s how to structure and write it.
Headline
Begin with a short, one-sentence headline (a question or a statement) that captures your target reader. It should spotlight the potential reader’s biggest problem or frustration—the primary solution that your potential reader needs and that your book will provide.
With that first line, you want your potential reader to think, “This is the book I’ve been searching for!”
Your headline should compel them to need the book.
If you excite your potential reader with that first question or statement, he will read more, or most, of the back cover. When done well, the headline alone goes a long way toward securing the sale.
Read the back-cover headlines of your favorite business books. Analyze which headlines are the most compelling and why. Use that knowledge to inspire your headline.
Take all the time you need to create a strong, descriptive, compelling question or statement.
Here is more to consider before you begin to write your back-cover copy.
Summary Paragraph
“This is the book I’ve been searching for!”
Continue to convince your potential reader of that with each subsequent line.
Beneath the headline, in a summary paragraph of four concise sentences or fewer (you can add one or two more sentences if writing for discerning entrepreneurs and other business professionals), describe the main benefits or solutions your book will provide.
Provide great information fast. If you can summarize the book in one short paragraph, or even one sentence, do it.
Show the potential reader that the book provides valuable information worth far more than the amount they will invest in the book. Pinpoint the advantage of time, money, or other benefit(s) the reader will either save or gain as a result of this purchase.
Bulleted List
Beneath the summary paragraph, use a bulleted list to briefly detail the other top benefits or solutions readers will gain.
Summary Line
Add a final summary line that delivers a compelling burst of excitement for the potential reader.
To Sum Up
Keep the potential reader engaged by using short paragraphs, short sentences, and bulleted points.
Try to complete all of the above back-cover copy in 150 words or fewer.
Since this is one of your primary selling points, invest the time to make it the best you can. Later in this blog series, we’ll revise it if needed.
Write the Back-Cover Copy
Write your back-cover copy now. It’ll help you focus your efforts as you develop your book.
Prefer to complete your manuscript draft in just one to two days? Work with award-winning author, book coach, and editor Tammy Barley for $795, and speak—not write—your entire manuscript draft in about 8 to 12 hours. Tammy provides personal, one-on-one book-creation assistance, from development of an initial idea to a top-of-the-line published book in your hands. Visit https://www.pogofishmedia.com/book-creation to learn more about Tammy’s Platinum Draft™ 2-Day Book-Creation Program, or simply Contact us.
The content for this blog series is taken from my book Business Gold: How to Write a Book to Spotlight Your Expertise, Attract a Ton of New Customers, and Explode Your Profits!, available at Amazon.com. (The publisher, Business Book Productions, is now PogoFish Media, owned by the author of this article).