Put yourself in the shoes of the typical book buyer. What's the first thing you do when you pick up a book? If you're like most shoppers, you give the front cover the briefest of glances, then turn the book over and speed-read down the back cover. Unless you've come into the store looking specifically for this book, the back cover is the author's one-and-only opportunity to grab you by the lapels and make a quick and compelling case for why you should select this book over all others, put down good money for the privilege and take it home with you today.

A good back cover teases, tempts and tantalizes. Establishing the book's theme with a few deft strokes, it proceeds to throw a metaphorical arm over the reader's shoulder and lets him in on just what wonders are in store. Like the best movie trailer, it moves rapidly - and with ascending interest - from one highlight to the next. In a limited amount of space, it makes its pitch, backs it up with a few great examples, details the author's credentials. Through the judicious use of action verbs ("join author Jane Doe, "meet an amazing cast of characters," "master the techniques of the pros"), it propels the shopper to the cash register.

Just like the layout of shelving in the grocery store and so other many things we're meant to take for granted in life, there's subtle marketing science behind the careful development of the back cover of a professionally designed book. Whether your book is fiction or non, aimed at adults or children, it has to sell itself - you aren't there to make your pitch to your prospective buyer. Visually and in words, it has to elbow its way past the competition and insinuate itself in your buyer's psyche.

The basics

• A compelling quote from the book that sets a theme, or a headline that promises a benefit from reading this book.
• Development of the theme - bullets are often used to get a number of points across succinctly, designed to tap into the unconscious wants and desires that motivate us all.
• Testimonials, if available.
• A friendly, engaging photo and/or a few sentences about the author.
• A website address.
• Bar code and ISBN number. Price is optional; however, many designers suspect that potential buyers are put off by the lack of a printed price.
• All this, and plenty of open space, to boot!

Working with your cover designer
Unless you have taken advantage of Back Channel's proofreading services, giving us a chance to really get to know your book, you need to provide the raw material from which your back cover will be designed for you.

For all books, provide the following:

• A few particularly persuasive or gripping quotations from the work itself
• Testimonials, if you have them.
• A full author biography for inclusion at the end of the book. Excerpts will be used for the back cover.
• An author photo.

For fiction, also provide the following:

• A 100-word synopsis of the plot, including a few adjectives for each key character.

For non-fiction, also provide the following:

• Genre, both global and specific (rather than simply "history," use descriptors such as "early history of northern New England").
• A list of key topics covered.
• A few sentences on the importance of the subject matter of the book.