6 Must-Have Elements of Market-Ready Books
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It’s estimated that millions of new books are published in North America every year. With such a staggering volume of titles for readers to choose from, you need to ensure that yours stands out from all the others on the market.
We like to call this process “getting market-ready.”
Market-ready books have the logistical, creative, and promotional elements in place — from metadata to cover design — to effectively attract and engage their target audience. When a book is missing even one key element of market-readiness, it hinders the author’s ability to appeal to readers or establish themselves, and it ultimately results in diminished sales potential. The stakes are high — without adequate and thoughtful preparation, you risk squandering your hard-earned potential.
Self-publishing authors in particular need to optimize the promotional power in every facet of their books. There’s nothing that undermines credibility and goodwill faster than a poorly crafted book that fails to even pass the eye test for your target readers’ expectations.
Having supported over 9,000 authors in successfully publishing their books since 2009, we at FriesenPress know what is required to pave the way for publishing success. To help you find it, here are the 6 must-have elements of market-ready books:
1. A well-crafted title (and subtitle)
A title isn’t merely a label for your written work — it’s the soul of your creation distilled into a few carefully chosen words. It should make an impression, give your readers a taste of what’s to come, and invite them to explore the pages of your book.
The right title can generate buzz for your book, elevate your online presence, and create a strong connection by speaking directly to your target readers. While optional, the subtitle serves to complement the title with context, clarification, or an additional hook to reel in curious minds.
Crafting the perfect title is a delicate balance of creativity and research. If you look at any bestseller list, the book titles often pop right off the cover — they’re short and memorable to allow for easy branding and sharing via word-of-mouth. And (more so in nonfiction) the subtitle is left to do the heavy lifting for the concept of the book. A good example of this is Stephen Dubner & Steven Levitt’s book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.
Our recommendation: Test various title and subtitle combinations with your target reading audience. Get direct input on what they find most interesting and appealing — and why. Say your title aloud as you might in an interview. Test your title as a hashtag or acronym that fans might gravitate towards.
2. A relevant and well-designed book cover
While the old adage “don't judge a book by its cover” holds wisdom in principle, when it comes to book buyers, they do indeed judge books by their covers. On the bookshelf (or digital thumbnail), your cover is the first thing that will catch a reader’s eye (or be relegated to their blurred periphery) because it acts as your book’s packaging and branding.
You need it to be something unique enough to stand out, but also remain conventional enough to fit within your readers expectation of the genre. To ensure you infuse artistic imagery with marketing strategy, you’ll need to seek out the expertise of a professional book designer.
A well-designed cover not only communicates professionalism, but signals to readers that the contents within are worthy of their time and investment. A professional cover will demonstrate a designer’s knowledge of the industry, publishing trends, reading habits, and book design principles to craft the perfect-fit cover for your book. That can't be done by buying pre-made covers or relying on generative AI.
Some great books have overcome their poor covers, but you don’t want to have to overcome your book cover — you want it to propel you forward toward even greater success.
Our recommendation: Although DIY graphic design tools like Canva are easily accessible to most writers, don’t underestimate the expertise of a professional book designer. They are worth the investment.
3. Reader-focused back cover content
If an attention-grabbing front cover serves to draw your readers in, it’s the back cover description that truly sells them about the promise of your book. The blurb is an elevator pitch that turns a reader’s mere curiosity into action.
When crafting your back cover content, always keep your unique selling proposition (USP) top of mind. Ask yourself: what’s in it for my readers? With a reader-focused “About the Book”' section of no more than 250 words (with a professional edit), a tantalizing tagline, and glowing book reviews from respected sources, you have a hugely powerful promotional asset at your disposal.
These components will also often be incorporated into retail platforms like Amazon, social media profiles, your author website, your marketing materials (such as posters, flyers, and promotional emails), and more. The back cover content serves as a concise and compelling summary of the book’s key selling points to attract readers’ interest and drive more sales across your author platform.
Our recommendation: Craft your back cover content from the perspective of your target audience: What would make them curious? What question can your book answer? What does your book offer that others in your genre don’t? If you’re having trouble seeing your work from an outside perspective, a book promotions expert or editor can help you shape ideal back cover content.
4. A professionally edited book
Behind every great book is a great editor. Professional editing is not merely advisable — it’s imperative when preparing your book to be sold in the marketplace. One small error caught by a curious potential reader during a brief glance at your book can lower perception of its quality or deter a buyer altogether.
Editors are not just gatekeepers of grammar and syntax; they bring a fresh perspective to your work, identify areas for improvement, and offer suggestions to strengthen your narrative and storytelling techniques. They are a trusted partner bent on realizing your creative vision with clarity, coherence, and polish.
An unedited book with plot holes and excessive spelling mistakes severely diminishes your credibility, the reader experience, and could even hamper your brand with a slew of negative reviews. Editors examine every last detail of your manuscript — for good reason.
Our recommendation: All authors should plan for their manuscript to pass through multiple rounds of editing. The type of editing will depend on your manuscript’s unique needs, but the suggestions are a dialogue between you and the editor so it’s important to remain engaged with the editing process.
5. A professional print
A poorly printed book not only reflects on the author but also lessens the value of the content within. Try selling an unedited book that looks like it was hastily glued together outside your local print shop and you’ll quickly find out the value of a professional print.
For many of us, we may only publish one book in our life. Don’t you want to make sure that your print edition has the power to impress and potentially last for generations?
At FriesenPress, authors have access to Canada’s largest independent book printer (Friesens) and the world’s largest print-on-demand option (Ingram) to make sure high-quality prints of your book can make their way across the world to be cherished by countless people for many years to come.
Our recommendation: Don’t settle for low- or mid-quality printing options. Why? Put an amateur print beside a professional print and see the difference for yourself. You’ll know why that quick first impression makes such a big difference in a reader’s buying decision.
6. Worldwide availability and complete metadata
It might seem obvious that you need to make your book easy for readers to find and order, but availability is a frequently underestimated component of market-readiness.
One way of listing your book on retail channels is through a print-on-demand service like Ingram, which includes a network of over 50,000 platforms. The more places available for your book to be listed equals more opportunities for readers to buy. You should also ensure you have the right BISAC codes and search keywords to align with the preferences and interests of potential buyers. It’s one thing to be listed; it’s quite another to be found.
“Metadata” is a piece of informational content that provides details about a good’s (in this case, a book’s) attributes, characteristics, and context. It plays a crucial role in the publishing industry by facilitating readers’ discovery of books. Accurate metadata allows you to increase the visibility of your book in online searches, bookstore catalogues, recommendation algorithms, and — ultimately — reach your target audience.
Our recommendation: Leave no stone unturned when it comes to exhaustively filling out all the fine details of your book’s search keywords, BISAC codes, and other identifying information. No matter how good a book is, it can’t will itself to be found.
In the competitive publishing landscape, investing time and effort into preparing a market-ready book is a necessity. By prioritizing quality and attention to detail, you can best represent your work and establish credibility, build a loyal readership, and achieve your sales potential. The six essential elements outlined here will not only ensure that your book stands out in a crowded marketplace, but will also lay the foundation for its enduring impact.
