When scrolling through pages of web content, there is only one thing that really draws our attention…and that’s pictures – pun intended. The words and headlines don’t have the power alone to grab our attention, but pairing it with a great image will get us reading. For writers, images help to create the tone of the book, or article, boost an author’s brand, and enable you to sell more.

Evoke Emotion
To evoke emotion, you need an image that shows human interaction. For example, if you are selling a children’s book, do you think it appeals more with a standalone background, or would a photo of a child reading the book appeal more to readers? The child reading attracts our brains on an emotional level, and will lead the buyer to imagine a child they know reading the book.

Grab Attention
Let’s say you have an event coming up, be it a Zoom session or an in-person book launch. Don’t just write about it! Grab attention with an image. Display an eye-catching image with dates, color text, and photos. It is easier and more pleasing to share. Our brains literally take a fraction of a second to look at something. It is genius at interpreting images without the need for us to read the text. So, if your image appeals to the brain, more than likely someone will re-Tweet, and share it. Images with sparse text are ideal, but do include necessary information, such as dates, time, and the event title.

Memorable
What would really make your book stand out from the thousands that get released every year? How do you compete with books from bestsellers or debuts? The answer is to make a book trailer, which is essentially a small movie about your book. It takes a peek inside, it grabs your readers’ attention, it can show the glorious illustrations (if your book has those inside), and gives an excellent hook to pique interest. Book trailers encourage sharing on social media and on other platforms. The brain likes images, so just imagine if you give the brain moving pictures and words combined into a video. It suddenly becomes FAR more memorable!

Trends
Images are no longer grainy, blurry, or boring. Showing a book is not restricted to the book cover, and perhaps an illustration from inside. In addition to featuring book trailers, nowadays, you can download excerpts to read, listen to audio recordings from the book, and much more. Technology has set the bar high with animated gifs, and high definition moving images seen in 3D. There are also artful ways to showcase a book. Authors can highlight it on a bookshelf, peek out from behind it, and even use the love of pets to attract readers. Yes, using pictures and videos of animals really does sell more products!

Selling Power
Without using visuals as part of your selling tactics, you are at a serious disadvantage. It is said that buyers are 60 times more likely to make contact when images are used. Even search engines love images.

So, now that we know everything about using images, where do we find them? It comes as no surprise that image websites are popping up everywhere. Some require you join. Some encourage you to pay for premium images. And some are…

FREE!!
Unsplash: Offers free usable images powered by creators.
Pexels: Says it offers the best free stock photos and videos shared by talented creators.
Gratisography: Says it is Truly unique. Usually whimsy. Always free.
Pixabay: Offers thousands of free images.

PAID
Shutterstock: Boasts over 360 million images.
Dreamstime: Boasts 166 million stock photos.
iStock has been around forever, and says it can take your readers on a visual journey.

If you need help creating a book trailer for only $125, CLICK HERE.

Choose your image wisely. Don’t use huge images that take too long to load.  And, use good, descriptive words for search engine optimization. You will reap the benefits of getting an awe-inspiring picture to make people click and BUY!

Nadia Ali is a freelance writer and author whose work has been published both online and in print. You can follow her on Twitter at @NadiaAwriter