Right this second, readers are automatically making assumptions about your book's:

• Genre
• Quality
• Target age group

...before they even pick it up (or click on it).

Because, despite the old saying, we ALL judge books by their covers.

And with the self-published book market being more saturated than ever before, algorithms rewarding prettiness over prose, and AI accusations flying left, right, and centre...there has never been a more important time to get your cover right.

But here's the thing...originality will only get you so far.

Because the secret to excellent visual marketing in the book world is to fit in just enough to be familiar, and stand out just enough to be exciting.

It's a delicate balance that illustrative book cover designer Holly Dunn is very familiar with.

Having worked with some of the biggest trad publishers in business, including HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Pan Macmillan, Wordsworth Classics, and as a devoted service provider for the self-publishing community, Holly has made an art form out of choosing comp titles.

And the right comp titles change everything.

Not just for your pitch, but as a visual reference point for your readers.

Trying to market a rom-com with a crime-fiction-adjacent cover would be a nightmare.

So would trying to sell an urban paranormal mystery with a romantasy cover.

But while those examples are quite dramatic, even a subtle misstep in the visual cues of your cover can lead readers down the wrong path...

...which means they'll never even open your book (or get to the blurb).

Luckily, Holly has a strategy to help authors succeed—whether they're designing their cover themselves, or learning to put together a brief for a professional cover designer...and this October, she's sharing her secrets with the BBM audience!

Class run time: approx. 90mins. 

The replay will be made available to all participants within 48hrs of the conclusion of recording.

• Holly's author-friendly, step-by-step process for choosing comp titles for the perfect market positioning,
• Real-time demonstrations of REAL participant book briefs (this could be you!), which Holly will analyse and provide comp titles for,
• The opportunity to ask Holly all your burning cover questions in a live Q&A,
• PDF resources to help you replicate the process on your own!