Get inspiring self-publishing lessons, tips, and secrets every Wednesday.
So, you’ve written a book, and now you want to sell it. The question is, how? You need a book landing page.
You might already have some marketing and sales channels setup like a Facebook page, website, or even an online bookstore. While all those channels can help you raise awareness, you need a home for your book—one single place you can send anyone who’s interested in reading, buying, or sharing. That home is called is a landing page.
But here’s the thing, your book landing page isn’t just a website. It’s a sales machine. Your book landing page should educate a reader quickly on your product and be crystal clear about the problem you are solving.
In this article, we’ll analyze six different book landing pages from a macro view (color schemes and design) down to a micro view (what you need on your page).
Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy teamed up to write Living Forward. Hyatt’s blog is ranked by Google in the top one-half percent of blogs. Harkavy is a business coach that has worked in Portland for 25 years.
The call to action is impossible to miss. Why? Because it takes up just as much real estate as the book cover. First, the problem is presented, “don’t just drift through your days.” Second, the way to fix it, “design a life you love.” Third, and last, how to start: “living forward shows you how.”
The color scheme is simple and draws attention to the book rather than away from it. The cover features a compass, adding to the idea that this book is a guide for your life.
Recommended reading: 7 Design Templates Guaranteed to Make Any Book Beautiful
Jefferson Bethke, a Christian author, and speaker wrote It’s Not What You Think. Bethke became well-known after a few of his spoken word videos like this one went viral. It’s Not What You Think attempts to present Christianity in a new way.
This landing page is unique because Jeff uses video content in the background of his title page. The videos change as you scroll down which provides an interesting backdrop and breaks up the content.
The headline, “Why Christianity is so much more than going to heaven when you die,” is found a little way down the page. In this headline that Bethke tells the reader that he has something to offer that they don’t know.
The rest of the content is not about what Bethke has to say, but rather focuses on the reviews and testimonials from leaders in Christianity speaking to the importance and value of his book. And testimonials can be a huge sales tool for any product, particularly for a book. The power of other’s recommendations may move your potential readers to buy.
If you have been in blogging for a minute, chances are you’ve heard of Dale Partridge. He recently launched his second business book, Launch Your Dream, a 30-day plan in which anyone can turn their dreams into a business.
The Launch Your Dream landing page is simple, but that doesn’t detract from his primary message: “You’re 30-days away from the life you want.”
Similar to the It’s Not What You Think, landing page, this one highlights testimonials from business leaders that his audience respects, trusts, and admires.
He also offers an incentive. Those who “Buy Now” not only get the book but also get a free video and a PDF outlining the criteria of a good business design, just make sure it is creative and relevant to the book.
Partridge doesn’t feel the need to show the cover of his book right away. Instead, he states his goal for this book, which is launching 10,000 dreams (aka businesses) in one year. From here you can watch the book trailer in which he explains his passion for entrepreneurs, the book, and his plan and dream for it.
Jobs-To-Be-Done is a (free) e-book written by four primary authors as well as two other contributors. The book is one that aims to help businesses build products that appeal to their customers.
Right away, the landing page features the “why” behind the book: Great products start with real problems. What follows is a strong testimonial to provide credibility right away.
This landing page also does an excellent job of outlining the reasons to buy. Under “what’s Inside,” a list of benefits is spelled out and there is no need to guess why Jobs to be Done is a valuable read.
This landing page probably wins the award for the simplest navigation. They broke it down into three different section: Get the Book, What’s Inside, and About the Authors. While it is incredibly simple, you won’t feel like it’s lacking anything.
Gary Keller is the founder and chairman of the board of the world’s largest real estate franchise, Keller Williams Realty. In his book, The ONE Thing, he helps readers find the one thing that will if implemented, make everything else they do much easier.
An important component of this site is their book trailer. It’s a simple 1:26-minute video that describes the purpose of the book. The trailer explains how The ONE Thing, shows you how to get more by doing less.
The book design is high-contrast, drawing attention to the title. It doesn’t distract the reader but instead, focuses on the goal of the book. And what we love most is that every element on the landing page points back to the one thing the landing page was created for: selling the book.
Recommended Reading: 10 Creative Examples of Best-Selling Book Designs
Two as One is a 30-day challenge for couples that is beautifully designed and ties Christian lessons to practical life application.
What this landing page does really well is selling a life-change, not just a devotional; they do this through the testimonies. And notice that their testimonies don’t feature influencers or have fake, cleverly crafted testimonials from big-time marriage bloggers or authors—they’re from real, everyday people just like you and me.
In the navigation, they include a primary and a secondary call-to-action. The first one you notice is “Buy Now” and the second is “Get 5 Days Free.” What they’re doing here is giving an option to those who aren’t ready to buy now but are still very interested. It’s a way to generate leads they can sell the devotional to later down the road.
In the end, they do a great job making you feel like you’ll see results from their devotional. That you’ll find a closer marriage and a deeper relationship with God.
***
We hope you now have a good idea of how to get started creating a book landing page. Are there any other book landing pages that have inspired you in your research? Let us know in the comments below.