Today, we are going to take a look at author Willow Rose’s outstanding marketing strategies, so you can learn how to use them, too.

The Description

“She never returned home.”

Spark curiosity is always a good way to start the description. Then the next sentence expands on that to plant more curiosity. In less than a 10-second read, it lays the hook.

Right to the point.

Once the customer’s curiosity is hooked, it’s only natural for them to click on “Read More.”

The opener’s purpose was to get you to read more; it had to be efficient enough to combat any short attention span. When creating your book’s description, be bold and direct right from the start.

You can always go more in-depth after the “Read More” section, but don’t ever stutter on the opener.

What comes next provides more context and raises the stakes. The victim was well-known and loved. The stakes rise further with another kidnapping, and then the description introduces the protagonist, who is carrying out the investigation. The risks (danger), the cost (a broken promise), and even some potential for romantic drama.

So many threads are laid out at once to play on readers’ curiosity.

The praise at the end is a good addition, but some readers can be a bit skeptical. Some of them may wonder how they can trust that this praise is from real people. A better implementation of this would be to receive praise from well-known people and name them. Even if you do quote everyday readers, adding their name is better for credibility anyway (e.g., “Jason, Reader”).

With that said, the way she did this still works thanks to the Amazon reviews backing up the praise.

Quick Takeaway: Hook your potential customers quickly, and then you can use the rest of the description to elaborate.

The Cover

“DON’T LIE TO ME” The title has an accusatory tone that feels almost like it is directed at you as you first see the cover. It makes good use of typography to emphasize the word “Lie,” which adds to this negative connotation. Why is this a good thing from a marketing perspective? Because it isn’t easy to skip or ignore. Among other books with blander titles, this one jumps to the front of your attention. Our brain is good at spotting negative things. Something else this title does right is appeal to the audience that it targets. You can see above how it says, “The beach read of the summer,” while the cover is half inside the ocean. Quick takeaway: A title that stands out among blander titles is good marketing. Design your book cover with your target audience in mind. Now, let’s click on the cover to look inside…

Look Inside

Right from the start, it invites you to join her newsletter to know ahead of time about any upcoming book, bargain, or giveaway. Right to the chase. You may not click on this now, but now you know that it’s there.

If you enjoy the read, you can come back later.

She could have added links to her social media, but this minimalist approach works too. The lack of clutter and having only one clickable link results in a tidier page with a clear action for readers to take.

Why do this in the beginning? Because even if the potential reader doesn’t buy the book, they might still join your newsletter as they preview your book.

Quick takeaway: Minimalism can work well. A link to your newsletter at the beginning can get previewers to subscribe even if they don’t buy the book.

The Prequel Invite

Right at the end, it makes getting the prequel easy by offering a link to it and inviting you to check it out. It also shows you the prequel’s cover. The title is cleverly similar to the book you just read.

The author is basically giving the reader two options for them to spend their money on.

Are you curious about what happened before? Buy the prequel. You don’t care what happened before but want to know what’s next? Buy the sequel. Are you curious about both? Buy both.

Even if you don’t buy one or the other right away, the more you spend time on the author’s work, the more invested you will be and the higher the chances of you buying the other one. There is a reason why sequels and prequels are considered advanced book marketing.

Quick takeaway: Make joining your newsletter easy; make buying your books easy. Make everything easy for your readers and make it tempting, too.

After all, why would you make it hard for readers to buy more of your books?

After inviting readers to buy the prequel comes an afterword, followed by the same invitation to join the email list in exchange for the same rewards. However, this section also adds an alternative for those who prefer text messages to emails. Once again, making things as convenient and easy as possible for everybody.

Next is an invitation to her Facebook group with a chance to earn a kindle paper-white or an Amazon gift card. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling tempted to join.

Quick takeaway: Again, make following you on social media and joining your email list convenient and tempting.

Now, let’s return to the Amazon store page and scroll down…

The Series

As you scroll down, you find the book series, comprising a total of 10 books not including the prequel, with all of them ranking in the top 5 thousand books in the Kindle Store. Now, let’s click on book 10 to see how it’s doing…

As of March 9, 2022, it was #23 in the Kindle Store!

Also #1 in Police Procedurals and #1 in Mystery Romance in the Kindle Store. We don’t know her marketing budget, but one thing I do know is that marketing efforts compound, and it shows here!!!

Quick takeaway: When done right, sequels are a great way to rake up money and become a bestselling author.

Final Words

With a well-crafted series in which each book builds upon the momentum of the last, it’s no surprise that this author is doing well.

I hope this case study gave you a better idea of how to design a book that sells and how a fine-tuned series can be successful. Stay tuned for more case studies.

See you next time,

Sebastian M.
Team DBP