HMD Publishing

A reader spends roughly 15 seconds on your Amazon book description before deciding to buy or skip. Four lines do almost all the work. The description formula that works across genres: The hook. One sentence that stops the scroll a specific question or dangerous promise. Example: "She thought she'd married for love. Then she found the other passport." The stakes. What happens if the hero fails? Personal, specific, emotional. Emotional stakes outperform plot stakes consistently. Social proof in the middle. Reviews, awards, comp titles. "Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins." Readers use this to confirm you're in their lane. One clear ask at the end. "Start reading today." Never vague closes like "learn more." Add positioning where useful "Book 1 of the series" or "Free on KU." The common mistake is treating the description as a summary. It isn't it's a sales page with a 15-second reading window. Free template with worked examples across four genres available book a free consultation: https://hmdpublishing.com #selfpublishing #indieauthor #bookmarketing #publishing #hmdpublishing

Four cover mistakes that signal "self-published" before a reader sees a single word. After designing covers across hundreds of book launches, the same four errors appear again and again and none of them are about budget: A stock photo with text dropped on top. No design intent, no genre cue, no reason to stop scrolling. The wrong genre fonts. Typography carries genre signals. Comic Sans on a thriller or Old English on a self-help title tells readers they're in the wrong place immediately. Too many elements. Three fonts, four images, a quote, a badge. A cluttered cover suggests the author isn't clear on what the book is about. A title larger than the hook image. That's a poster, not a cover. The image sells the genre; the title confirms it. A cover's job is narrow and specific: signal genre, build trust, earn the click. These four mistakes quietly break all three. We design covers that sell. Link in bio. #selfpublishing #indieauthor #bookcoverdesign #publishing #hmdpublishing

 Four cover mistakes that signal "self-published" before a reader sees a single word. After designing covers across hundreds of book launches, the same four errors appear again and again and none of them are about budget: A stock photo with text dropped on top. No design intent, no genre cue, no reason to stop scrolling. The wrong genre fonts. Typography carries genre signals. Comic Sans on a thriller or Old English on a self-help title tells readers they're in the wrong place immediately. Too many elements. Three fonts, four images, a quote, a badge. A cluttered cover suggests the author isn't clear on what the book is about. A title larger than the hook image. That's a poster, not a cover. The image sells the genre; the title confirms it. A cover's job is narrow and specific: signal genre, build trust, earn the click. These four mistakes quietly break all three. We design covers that sell. Link in bio. #selfpublishing #indieauthor #bookcoverdesign #publishing #hmdpublishing

One penny outside the price band, and Amazon cuts your royalty in half. Most authors price their book without knowing this. KDP pays a 70% royalty only when an ebook is priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Outside that range by even a cent the rate drops to 35%. On a $7.99 title, that's $0.35 per sale instead of $5.59. Where to price inside the band: Fiction: $4.99–$7.99 hits peak conversion. Readers expect this range for a novel; above $7.99, click-through falls sharply. Non-fiction: $7.99–$9.99 works for how-to titles. A higher price signals expertise. Priced under $5, readers assume low quality. Exceptions: $0.99 is a launch-week tactic only, then lift it. Paperbacks should clear print costs and retain £3+. Hardbacks can be positioned as premium at $19.99–$29.99. Pricing is a strategic decision, not a default setting and it directly determines how much of each sale you keep. Run the numbers on your own title with our free KDP pricing calculator link in bio. #selfpublishing #indieauthor #bookmarketing #publishing #hmdpublishing

Most authors edit in the wrong order and it costs them time, money and sales. We've worked with 10,000+ published authors and the pattern is consistent: conventional editing sequences don't serve indie authors. This guide breaks down the genre-first approach we've developed across 400+ books, including how to allocate your editing budget, which phases matter most for your genre, and what platform compliance actually requires in 2026. Read more → https://lnkd.in/dKWYMRMK

A first-time author hit #1 with his debut fantasy novel in six weeks. Here's the month-one data: 2,100 copies sold, 94 reviews, £3,800 in royalties, #1 in his subcategory by day 14. Marcus had never published before. His result came down to four decisions: He stopped guessing. He stopped chasing conflicting advice and committed to a proven system no mid-launch pivots, even when the process felt slow. He hired the cover. A Canva cover is fine for friends but won't sell on Amazon. A professional cover tripled his launch-day click-through. He chose his categories deliberately. Not "Fantasy" Sword & Sorcery and Coming-of-Age Fantasy. Three low-competition subcategories instead of one saturated one. He hit #1 in all three. He timed his ads. Not day 45 day 15, while algorithmic momentum was still strong. Five targeted keywords at £5/day, then scaling the winners by day 22. None of this is advanced. It's disciplined sequencing the part most debut authors skip. Want this framework mapped to your book and genre? Book a free 15-minute discovery call link in bio. #selfpublishing #indieauthor #bookmarketing #publishing #hmdpublishing

There's a 3-second test that decides whether a book sells or sits and most authors have never run it on their own cover. Here it is: Cover the title completely. Don't read it. Just look. Within 3 seconds what genre is it? Romance? Thriller? Memoir? Self-help? If you hesitated, the cover isn't working. The buyer scrolling Amazon won't pause to puzzle it out. They'll scroll past. Readers buy genre first, words second. A strong title cannot rescue a cover that misrepresents the genre. The cover's first job is signalling not decoration. We've designed 500+ covers. We run this test on every one. Free cover audit link in bio. #selfpublishing #indieauthor #bookmarketing #publishing #hmdpublishing

Most academic authors never see the real cost of Taylor & Francis until it's too late. $3,200 open access fees. 18-month timelines. 0–10% royalties. Rights you can't get back. After helping publish 10,000+ books across 47 countries, I broke down exactly what T&F costs vs. what KDP + IngramSpark deliver in 72 hours for under $1,200. If you're an academic weighing your next publishing route, this one's for you. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/df62ZWAv #AcademicPublishing #SelfPublishing #TaylorAndFrancis #KDP #IngramSpark #Authors #HigherEducation #Research #HMDPublishing

After 500+ book launches, we can spot a winner in 10 seconds. Three traits, every time: A cover that signals the genre before the title is read A blurb that earns the click in the first line A launch engineered from Day -7 — not improvised on release day Most indie authors execute one or two well. Winners execute all three as a single connected strategy. The cover sets the promise. The blurb confirms it. The launch delivers it to readers ready to buy. Disconnected execution is the most expensive mistake in self-publishing — and the most common. We've built this system across 10,000+ books in 47 countries. Cover, blurb, and launch handled as one engagement. Consultation: https://lnkd.in/ehetHVMj #selfpublishing #indieauthor #bookmarketing #publishing #hmdpublishing

A cover transformation. 48 hours. Sales doubled in the first week. This author came to us three weeks into a stalled launch. The book was good. The cover was the problem — wrong genre cues, no thumbnail performance, no emotional hook for a category that needed one. 48-hour turnaround. New brief, new direction, complete rebuild of the visual identity. Same title, same story, different commercial outcome. "Sales doubled in the first week." A cover isn't decoration. It's the first sales pitch your book makes — and on Amazon, the reader gives it 0.4 seconds. Every other launch lever (ads, blurb, pricing, ARC team) works against gravity when the cover is fighting the genre or failing at thumbnail size. The useful truth: a cover problem is the fastest commercial problem in self-publishing to fix. A wrong cover can be a right cover in 48 hours. 10,000+ books. 47 countries. Since 2015. Book a cover audit → https://lnkd.in/ehetHVMj #hmdpublishing #bookcoverdesign #selfpublishing #publishing #indieauthor