Top 4 issues with most books

I had probably heard these before but for some reason I think I was really ready to not only hear them this time, but redesign my current book to make sure there was no room for excuses for why someone didn't pick up my book.

The 4 keys to successful design are:

Attention - You have 8 seconds.  This is the front cover.  The title should be huge and can be read from across the room.  It should pull the person in, make them wonder what that means and how they can have that.  This includes a subtitle which explains in a little bit more detail what this book will give them.  Many people do an okay job with the front cover, but the next 2 elements are completely neglected.

Interest - Once you have gained their attention with the front cover, you need to focus on the back.  This should not be a bio about you, or why you wrote the book, or what the book is about.  This is a sales pitch as to what this book will do for them.  The benefits, the 'what's in it for me' issue.  Why should they spend the money? You need to tell them right here.  You need to appeal to their emotions.

Desire - If you have their interest, they will now move to the inside, the table of contents to see if what the book has creates enough of a desire within them to spend the money.  Your table of contents is more than just your poem titles - your poem titles need to dig deep and translate back to create a magnetic pull in your table of contents.  Think marketing when you title your poems and you'll also help your poetry translate better.  Poetry is communication, so lets be more descriptive and less mysterious.
 
Action - If you do the first three you'll get the desired action which is they can't put your book down, they need to buy your book because it speaks to them, and they buy it.

At this point it doesn't even matter yet what the book has in it.  You do these right and at a book fair or book store they will pick it up and not be able to put it down.  Providing you do one more step and that is price it correctly.  Not cheaply, correctly.  Whatever books of this nature sell for, price them the same.  Check out the top 5 books on Amazon that are similar to yours in your genre, and price them similarly.  When the desire is there, they will buy.  You have to build all of that for them. 

When I get a chance I will post my own 'before' and 'after' pictures and content changes, and you too will see when you apply this it makes a huge difference.