You writing a book and publishing it for the world to read happens to be one of them. Yes, the self-publishing industry thriving and working its magic has given everyone a platform to speak their truth and impress the world with their skills. Hence the growing competition! 

It is in these circumstances that you must consider leveling up and thinking outside the box. Yes, anyone can write a book today, but how many of them can hold the reader’s attention? What makes it possible for a writer or a book publisher to be the most sought-after? 

Well, if we get right down to it, good marketing and promoting skills can make all the difference in the world. 

Let’s begin. 

Promoting a book – the self-publishing industry stats

When something new comes along, it is hard to question if it is just a shiny-object syndrome where you pursue something because everyone is, or if is it really worth your time. Everyone is talking about how book publishing is the best thing to happen to the gig economy, side hustle culture, and even marketing, a little doubt is normal. 

So before we convince you to spend your time and money on delivering the best book you possibly can, let’s see why you should. 

Why choose books? 

That is the question everyone will ask you. This is a world governed by videos, memes, GIFs, and podcasts. Does anyone even read books? Well, turns out, yes the book industry is still a sizable one. In fact, the US book industry made $25.93 billion in revenue in 2020. So you know that audience exists. 

Next, why self-publishing? 

If you have an idea that you want to take to the world really soon without getting tangled up in contracts and processes, self-publishing is the way to go. And it is quite a lucrative side hustle as well. These platforms pay up to 70% of the revenue to authors and can help you find a space to build an audience. 

Of course, that does not mean that this space is without challenges. 

When you go down the self-publishing route, it often becomes so that the traditional help you may have had from a publishing house such as designing, editing, and promoting the book is missing. You have to be smart and quick on your feet so that you can beat out the competition. 

And that is where we feel that having a good design team can make all the difference. 

Why do you need good design in your books?

We say do not judge a book by its cover, but let’s all face it – in this content-intensive world, everyone does it. That is how a consumer is able to decide which product deserves their money, what content deserves their attention, and what suits them the best. 

So yes your book definitely needs a cover design that can make people stop in their tracks and get curious about what you have to offer. Design plays a major role in promoting a book. And with an unlimited graphic design service like Kimp, you will never miss the publishing house. 

But contrary to popular belief, the relationship between books and graphic design does not end here. 

While there is still a sizable audience for books, you have to adapt to the times. You have to compete with the all-pervasive social media and the infinite scrolling algorithm that brings them something moving all the time. 

A good way to do this is by including visual aids in your book to hold your reader’s attention and also improve the readability of your text. One may argue that the reason Audiobooks flourish as they do since reading fatigue does not exist there. But the truth is that more than Audiobooks, ebooks have been the crowd favorite. Ebook sales outperformed Audiobooks by 16.5% in 2021 and chalked up a revenue of $956 million.

With a well-designed book, you can bring a similar if not better experience to an ebook reader that social media platforms have gotten them accustomed to. 

So now that we have established that a good graphic design team can come in handy to make your book readable and have it reach many people, let’s see how exactly you can do that. 

4 design ideas to use in your book

There are many ways to implement design ideas in your book. What you choose would depend on the context, the audience you are targeting, and the genre of your book. Here are a few examples to inspire you to approach book writing in a different way : 

1. Character Illustrations design 

This works for most fiction and non-fiction books. We all love to put a face to the name, it helps us remember the characters more vividly and retain them for much longer. So while you paint a picture with your words, you must also consider adding a few visual aids such as caricatures, character illustrations, portraits, and so on. 

Using character illustrations helps build a vivid world and definitely improves the reader’s experience. Especially for the younger audience such as children and teenagers. Any books that are meant for them can level up the experience with illustration designs. 

A few popular styles that you can adopt for character illustrations in books include : 

• Pop Art style for Gen Z and Millennials-focused books 
• Black and white style pencil sketches for crime fiction
• 3D Art and Retro style for fantasy novels
• Realistics portraits for non-fiction books 

Kimp Tip: To ensure that the design is impactful and connects with your audience, choose design styles that work well with your core story. Irrespective of the target audience, it is important that the book’s context and dance style works well. 

2. Scene Illustrations

Are you working on a fantasy novel with elaborate world-building? Do you fear that the world may be too complicated for the audience? Are you looking for ways to lure the audience into reading your fantasy genre? Are you describing a true incident and want to improve the impact of your story? 

We understand the struggle and highly recommend using scene illustrations to combat these issues. 

You can leverage scene illustrations to : 

• A specific location 
• A pivotal scene 
• The mood of the story

As with character illustrations, you can choose from a variety of design styles to get your point across. In fantasy books especially, you might wanna choose the most dramatic of styles while if you are narrating a true incident, then choose something true to form. 

Using these design aids can change how a reader typically experiences a book. It can improve their reading speed and make them more curious about what is about to happen. 

Kimp Tip: When you work with your graphic design team, ensure that they design for the paperback and the ebook audience. Since designs look different on different mediums, it is important to build a cohesive experience for your readers. 

3. Data Visualization 

Are you writing a subject matter expert book? Wondering how to spice up a book about marketing or the real estate industry so that it actually makes the audience turn pages? How to excite your readers about a potentially complicated or dull topic? 

Well, we have found that in non-fiction books that detail with an overload of information, data visualization comes in handy. You want your readers to feel empowered and intelligent when they read these books instead of being overwhelmed by the information you have for them. 

So, intersperse your data with visual aids such as :

• Maps
• Bar graphs 
• Pie charts 
• Process diagrams 
• Elaborate infographics for summaries 

This way, you are being inclusive to people with learning disabilities, language issues, and memory retention problems. Everyone can now enjoy and benefit from the knowledge you have because of the readability enhancement the visual aids bring to the table. 

4. Doodles 

While illustrations and data visualizations are larger tools that add detail and enhance the quality of experience for your readers, doodles are little guns. Books are not just about the detail, the story, and the many many words on the page. They eventually succeed because it makes your audience feel something because the story has a personality they can carry and relate to. 

So how can you ensure that the story’s personality shines through in the book? 

You infuse it wherever you can with smaller visual aids such as doodles. 

Yes, doodles feel like something that belongs in cartoons or comics only. But that is not true. You can use them in title tags, page breaks, and chapter breaks for adding a little character. For fiction and fantasy books, authors also use them as little easter eggs that the reader can stumble upon later on. 

3 design ideas for promoting a book 

So, you have the book all designed up and ready, but what about the promotion part? With so much content being created by the second, getting someone’s attention is getting harder and harder. This means that unless you have a strong marketing strategy, many may not even know about the brilliant book you just wrote.

The good news is that leveraging social media platforms and the usual marketing channels to promote your book is not hard as it sounds. With the right help, of course! 

We think that the design ideas in this section can help you reach your audience. 

1. Static posts on Social media 

Social media is a powerful tool for organic marketing. If you can find what your audience likes and serve it to them, then the algorithm and your loyal user base take care of the rest. You can actually repurpose a few pieces of content from your book itself to promote it on social media. 

A few examples include : 

• A book cover reveal by gamifying it like a puzzle via Instagram stories or Snapchat 
• Hosting a giveaway on preorder of the book 
• Posting a redacted page that only reveals a few details on Instagram as an exclusive 
• Using Twitter to engage with the audience 

When you invest time and pull out engaging designs, then you can inculcate interest and curiosity for your book within your audience. 

2. Social media video ideas 

Yes, you have written a book. But the same people who would read your books are also consuming video content across all platforms. And the smart thing to do is to reach them where they spend most of their time. 

But how can an author create videos? We know that for some of you it may seem like a completely alien idea, but that does not mean it is not possible. 

You can create faceless short-form videos for Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Snapchat by :

• Creating teasers and animated trailers for your book 
• Posting video summaries of the book via influencers 
• Repurposing your online reviews into a video 

Bookstagram and BookTok are helping many independent authors find their audience, so don’t be left behind. 

3. Newsletter ideas 

With the information you glean off the internet, you can actually take your marketing to a new level by building your own audience. Yes, instead of letting them come to you, choose the email marketing method to reach them. Create an email list so that you can share all you want and have a receptive audience at the other end. 

Everything you put out on social media can go to your email audience as well, especially the videos since emails with videos have a higher conversion rate.

Additionally, you can host community events so that you get to know them well. 

Boost your book sales with Kimp 

When you have an idea in your head, you want everyone to know it. And if there is anything we can do to make it a reality, it is our pleasure to do so.

Writing a book is a challenge in itself without worrying about the other aspects. And you don’t have to be when you have a trusted graphic design team like Kimp Graphics and Kimp Video.

Create unlimited graphic designs and videos for a flat monthly fee with no limits on revisions. Give us your ideas and we will turn them into the best visual aids for your book.

Sign up for our free trial now.