Don’t judge your book photographer by their cover shots…
Don’t judge your book photographer simply by their cover shots…
…the inside counts, too :)
When launching a new book, authors and their teams have a lot of work on their hands.
Amongst all of the podcasts, media interviews, in-store signings and proposals to place the book in online and brick and mortar bookstores, there also is another big area of focus:
Online marketing.
Lots and lots and lots of content.
Day after day.
One of the biggest challenges is not the frequency of posting - after all, you wrote a book, there’s PLENTY of words to share on its behalf - it’s the visuals complimenting each post.
Or, more specifically, the visual variety from post-to-post.
As a way to meet this challenge, some authors will instruct their marketing team to ditch the digital mockup of the cover and hire a photographer to shoot the physical book cover and spine in different environments.
Great start - but therein lies another problem:
They ignore the content inside the book!
And that would be a tremendous waste of a golden opportunity to create meaningful, eye-catching content that gives viewers the opportunity to preview the book in their hands through their eyes.
When looking to hire a photographer to create visual assets for your book launch, make sure they understand that the inside pages need some love in front of the camera, too!
Chapter titles. Section headers. Illustrations. Charts and graphs. Pull quotes.
All that jazz!
During the initial conversation, ask them about their experience shooting the inside details:
How do you “style” the book pages? Use a model to hold it open or is there another way?
This question is important as it will let you know if you’re ALSO paying for another person to produce the project, as well.
How do you identify which quotes, titles and other details to shoot?
This answer will let you know if you need to create a shot list to assist the photographer, or if they have it covered with their own approach.
How do you shoot each element of the book differently from the last?
The answer to this question gives you an indication as to the types of visual variety you’ll receive from the book photo session. If they treat your book like a traditional product shot set in front of a seamless background, that defeats the purpose of the investment in book photos.
At the end of the day…
the goal for your launch is to give your book “legs,” and get it in as many hands of those who need to read it as possible.
Give yourself the opportunity to stand out amongst the 9 million other titles that speak to the same audience by creating an arsenal of book photos that truly help it shine brightly.
It all starts with being purposeful with who you hire to give your book some well-deserved, close-up time in front of the camera.
For more insights on how to maximize the value of your photos in order to capture the attention of those you serve, I’ve written a Guide that’s chock full of nuggets for you to nibble on before AND after you create the photos.
It’s called the Visual Storytelling Guide For Experts - grab your copy here.