Why Your Cover, Blurb, and Hook Are All Just Guesses episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 22, 2026 · 1H 5M

Why Your Cover, Blurb, and Hook Are All Just Guesses

from Novel Marketing · host Thomas Umstattd Jr.

Every month, traditional publishers lose more ground to indie authors.One reason it’s happening is that in trad publishing, a committee or the highest-paid person in the room makes the call on book covers, marketing copy, and even what they suppose readers might like. Both get it wrong far more often than they want to admit.Most indie authors aren't much better off. They just swap the highest-paid person’s opinion for their own, and trust their own gut on covers, titles, and blurbs.But savvy authors skip this guessing game entirely. They test everything, and they're outselling everyone else.In this week’s episode, USA Today best-selling author Steve Piper sits down with Thomas to break down exactly how split testing works.You’ll discover:How many ideas you should test to find a viable oneWhat kinds of book-related assets work for split testingThe sneaky metric that fools most authors into thinking their split-tested ads are workingIf you need help choosing a title, cover, or copy, or if you’re wondering why your ads aren’t working, listen in or read the blog version to find out how you can know for sure what will work.Blog link: https://www.authormedia.com/why-your-cover-blurb-and-hook-are-all-just-guesses/AuthorMedia.social link: https://authormedia.social/c/novel-marketing/why-your-cover-blurb-and-hook-are-all-just-guessesSupport the show

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jul 22, 2026

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Every month, traditional publishers lose more ground to indie authors. One reason it’s happening is that in trad publishing, a committee or the highest-paid person in the room makes the call on book covers, marketing copy, and even what they suppose readers might like. Both get it wrong far more often than they want to admit. Most indie authors aren't much better off. They just swap the highest-paid person’s opinion for their own, and trust their own gut on covers, titles, and blurbs. But sav...

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Why Your Cover, Blurb, and Hook Are All Just Guesses

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