Publishers sometimes mention the enticement package when talking about a book's marketability. What this refers to is the impact from the combination of cover design, title, subtitle, back cover text, reviews and endorsements, and the Table of Contents (if nonfiction) and Introduction.

Here is why this is important. Most books are sold to buyers who are browsing or looking for a specific book on the Internet or in a book store. In the book store or on a web page your book has a very limited time frame in which to interest a potential buyer.

First let's look in the book store, which is where most books are still sold in spite of the Internet. If a customer's eyes glide past large numbers of books in a physical display, you have a second or less to catch a customer's attention with your cover design. If the cover design captures his or her attention, you then have 1-2 seconds to keep the customer's attention with your title. If that works, you have another 3 seconds to further capture the customer's interest with your subtitle.

If everything is working so far, the customer will probably take the time to read any endorsements on the front cover. The right kind of endorsements help sustain interest in the book. If the endorsements on the front cover impress the customer (or if the cover, title and subtitle have already done their job), he or she will most likely flip the book over and look at the back cover.

The back cover should contain additional strong endorsements if available plus (if nonfiction) hard-hitting bullet items that promise benefits from reading the book, or (if fiction) a brief synopsis designed to capture the reader's interest. If the back cover does its job, and the customer is still interested in the book, he or she will open it to the first page.

Publishers have discovered, over the past decades, that they sell more books if the very first page-before the title page-lists further endorsements of the book. In fact, if many endorsements are available, the publisher may print several pages of them before the title page. This technique is a proven book seller!

Assuming that the customer is either hooked or almost hooked at this point, the next part of the enticement package is the Table of Contents. For nonfiction books (and about 92% of all books currently published are nonfiction), a good Table of Contents with lots of detail and compelling chapter and subchapter headings will clinch the deal.

Beyond this, some customers will read a page or two of the book's Introduction and some will flip the pages and read one or two at random. But in a book store the basic enticement package consists of these elements, in the order shown:

1) Cover design

2) Title

3) Subtitle

4) Front cover endorsements

5) Back cover endorsements and text

6) First inside page endorsements

7) Table of contents

Each of these elements is designed to augment sales by sustaining the customer's interest and getting him or her to move to the next step. When all work together correctly, they have a strong positive impact on book sales.

It's somewhat different on the Internet, where potential book buyers search for a specific title, a specific author or a specific subject. Here, the most important element is the title, followed by the picture of the front cover, followed by a listing of positive/negative customer reviews. Of course you don't have control over customer reviews before your book is published, but the enticement elements described above are still valid.

After customer reviews, the most important items are those by established book reviewers. Next is a link to look inside your book. The inside view of your book provides an opportunity to capture the potential buyer that is used too infrequently. Instead of having the first page of your book be the title page, have the first page be an endorsement page, with three or four glowing endorsements; by celebrities or other widely known persons if possible; or by authorities on the book's subject or even by ordinary people. Follow this by an interesting Table of Contents (if nonfiction) and an even more interesting Introduction.

I'll end this article with the traditional tale about the famous novelist, W. (for William) Somerset Maugham, giving advice to a fledgling author.

"What shall I call my new novel?" she asked.

"Does it have anything in it about drums?" asked Maugham.

"No" was the reply.

"Is there anything about thunder?"

"No" came the reply again.

"Fine," said Maugham, "call it No Drums, No Thunder."

Seriously, though, coming up with an effective title and creating the most powerful enticement package for your book is a real art. I hope this has helped.