Rick McBee's Writings
Explore the magic of new ideas and books to read as well as see what books I have written, my favorite photos, my opinions on may subjects, including Science, Africa, the Caribbean, the Civil War, my Book Reviews, and Much More!
Writing the Cover letter to send out with Galley Proof Copies
I am finding that writing the cover letter to send with my Galley Proofs and early release books is a delicate yet very important task in pushing the marketing of my new Civil and Indian War book, “Rough Enough.” Putting down the facts: title, author, ISBN#, release date, size, pages, etc. about the book is not a problem. Neither is slipping a short couple of blurbs from early endorsements, or a short synopsis.
The real problem and is to transmit an image on that one sheet of paper so that at first glance the reader will be drawn into taking a second look at the cover letter and will actually pick up on key points such as: sales distributors, bulk offers and the depth of the book. My hope is, that the recipient of the letter and complimentary book will then actually write some kind of endorsement on their blog, or for their newspaper, or for Amazon.com. etc… I want to make sure they know that I am seeking assistance in marketing my product while also making a sales pitch that will convince them to recommend the book to others.
If the letter succeeds with this objective, then I can hope that the endorsements will flow in and that sections of these reviews will be publishable both on my blog and on the cover and inner pages of my book. It is the cumulative effect of these small endorsements, associated with well known names that will help to build interest and market for my book and keep the momentum running long after the first IPO frenzy of opening bell buyers.
So what am I planning to do? Well, in addition to putting all of the items I’ve mentioned above onto the cover letter, I’ll also add at least one photo on the cover letter, use a font that perhaps gives the impression of 19th century writing and some colored items to attract the eye to key phrases. In addition, I’ll try to distribute key points on the page in a three point artistic manner so that the reader’s eye is pulled to key items. Hopefully this will act much in the same way that an artistic painting draws the eye to key sites.
Of course I’m keeping my fingers crossed as I do all of this in hope that I don’t just end up with one big muddled jumble. Fortunately my wife has a keep eye for this kind of thing and I will probably run two or three drafts by her before we get it “right”!>)
If you haven’t already checked out my book, make sure you stop by the Publisher Direct Bookstore at: http://www.pdbookstore.com/comfiles/pages/RichardMcBee.shtml .
2 Comments on “Writing the Cover letter to send out with Galley Proof Copies”
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Rick McBee's Writings 
This is a great post. The cover letter is difficult to perfect. Speaking of your book, the local high school drama club is doing a civil war reenactment next month and I recommended your book to the production team. Thought it would be perfect since most of the actors are 17:)
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Ionia, Thank you so much for your recommendation. I hope they use it, as there is a lot that high school students could gain in discussing their lives in reference to what it was like in 1865. Young men are no different in this era of being generally driven creatures who tend to make impulsive and often bad decisions just as they did in ages past.
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