I’m quite good at
knuckling down and churning out words, but when it comes to
marketing, the other side of writing (which involves 1% of the time
but is as important as the 99% spent writing), I’m a bit less
fluent.
This time, I decided to
try and make a bit of use of the old psychology. A few years ago now
but I do have a degree in it, and have vague memories of colour
psychology (McDonalds has red and yellow in its advertising because
the colours influence you to feel hungry and want to impulse buy).
It’s worth noting that colours can and do mean different things in
different cultures. Red is not always bad. Green is not always good.
In addition to
considering colour, there’s the contrast versus complementary
aspect to consider. Colours close to one another on the spectrum
(yellow and red, for example) often go smoothly together. However, a
stark contrast (black and white’s the most obvious) can create a
stronger visual impression. The most important thing is to avoid
clashing colours. Purple and green are not your friends. And don’t
festoon the screen with every colour of the rainbow. Clarity is
useful because the reader’s eye gets drawn the way you want it to,
and the reader won’t get annoyed with having a face full of rainbow
vomit.
For impulse buying,
which books generally are, it’s better to use warmer colours. There
is a notable exception, which is blue. I have no idea why the coldest
of cold colours might encourage impulse buying, but there we are. If
you’re selling a car, I’m not sure why you’re reading this for
advice, but you want to take a more functional approach (green or
blue, and black might work).
It’s also important
to avoid the bullshit factor. I saw an ad a couple of years ago for
one of those card games that are based on a TV series. “It is a
life-altering experience!” the narrator enthused. Now, for a five
year old, maybe it would be. And that’s the target demographic.
Someone with the power to nag their parents to buy something. But if
it were aimed at me, my response would be concise and Anglo-Saxon,
and would not involve me spending money.
Use language that fits
your book. Try and use a font that either fits well or at least
doesn’t clash (using military style fonts for a romance or sci-fi
lettering for an alternative history of the Roman Empire would just
look wrong).
Anyway, I’ve wibbled
about this for quite some time. But the point of an ad is to be seen,
the information digested easily and (if it’s a low cost impulse
buy) attract someone into buying it in short order. Below I’ve got
the advert for Kingdom Asunder, currently up for pre-order on Amazon,
with annotations explaining why I included each element.
I also did a smaller
banner with some of the same elements (because slapping a whacking
great advert in the middle of every blog would be obnoxious). I went
for red rather than blue because I felt it stands out more (I
considered red for the large banner but blue seemed a better fit for
it. The two ads take a different time to read, and whilst the red is
more arresting the blue feels a little easier on the eyes).
So there you are, a
basic guide to making a banner ad. Remember, focus on colours, have
no bullshit, include a call to buy and, most important of all, click
and pre-order Kingdom Asunder.
Thaddeus
PS If you’re a chap
going on a date, try a red shirt. As well as ruining your life
expectancy in Star Trek, red shirts make men more attractive to women
(to a statistically significant degree). Unfortunately, ladies, the
colours you wear make no difference to how attractive gentlemen find
you.
Kingdom Asunder is the first part of The Bloody Crown Trilogy, which sees the
kingdom torn apart by rival families battling over the throne. It’s
a story of fast-paced plotting, scheming traitors, and medieval
warfare, as ruthless she-wolves, bloodthirsty warriors, and the men
who would be king stop at nothing to bring down their enemies.
Journeys,
naturally, has a variety of fantasy stories with a focus on, er, the
journey involved. Black Sails is the tale of Henryk, Gryzelda and
Sonja, passengers aboard a vessel that finds itself sailing straight
into a fleet of pirates. Can Henryk warn his city before it’s consumed
by fire and steel?
