Summary: As Sean said in the first episode, your book already has public opinion stacked against it because it "already has the stink of self-publishing on it." (We'll ignore his reference in episode 1 to the "suck burrito" for the time being.) That means you've got to look as pro as you possibly can if you want anyone to give your book a chance. In this episode, we talk about the key components to a professional "look" for your book: The cover People really do judge a book by its cover. We talk about how to know when you should and shouldn't try to create your cover yourself and what you should look for if you decide to attempt the very dangerous DIY book cover -- such as stock photography, fonts, software, and why Comic Sans is how you announce to the world that you're a 40-year-old virgin. Some resources for the DIY cover artist: iStockphoto.com DaFont.com MyFonts.com The product description Your book's description isn't just there to tell people what your book is about. It's there to compel people to give you a chance. Nobody will care what your book is about until they believe it's worth even considering, and that comes down to image and marketing. We talk about how to make your description attractive and compelling, and why you might want to consider putting more into it than just a plot summary. Reviews, categories, and the rest ... because there's more to the story, of course. After we recorded this one, by the way, Dave lamented the fact that there wasn't enough ball-busting and no mention whatsoever of goths in trees. So we'll be working on that for future episodes.
