Change Can Be Good

I’ve been thinking long and hard about my career. I’ve pondered over whether or not it is something that is feasible. Self publishing is not for the faint of heart. It is a long process. This much we know, and if you have been following my blogs, I’ve mentioned it enough. Stay with me. I am going somewhere with this.

I’m trying to figure out what is causing my book to not pick up traction. I know that stand-alone books are harder to sell and if you have a series and only have one book out and the readers have to wait, sales will be slow. Outside of those obvious reasons, what could it be? I think the blurb on the back of my book is interesting. It says enough to draw someone in but not too much. So is it because my main character is a heroine? I would never change that aspect, however it does have me thinking. My husband has read my book and enjoyed it very much, but when I asked if he would have chose to read it without knowing the Author personally, his reply was “no”. All of the books he reads have a male protagonist. There isn’t anything wrong with that, yet it makes me wonder. Should my marketing be towards women solely? I wrote it for everyone to enjoy, as I’m sure most authors do, but that would mean I should have sales, most of which would be women/girls. That isn’t likely the reason. So I got to thinking again. What is it that people aren’t intrigued by? Something I could fix right away. My cover. Perhaps that’s the problem.

My cover was for the most part bare, uninteresting. It was a picture of a person covered in a cloak facing the left. What about that image says, this could be a good read? I guess if the cover doesn’t look cool, what would make someone think the inside is cool? Well, this was something I figured I’d look further into. I reached out to my younger brother for his opinion (a kid who hates reading and wouldn’t pick up a book unless there was money in it, to which he would take and immediately put the book back down). I showed him the changes I made to the cover, I also tied in an additional feature that ties into the story and boom! The cover was more interesting and my brother said he might look at the book (though he still wouldn’t read it, he said he would think about it before deciding no — annoying but it made me laugh). I changed one cover and decided to change them all so they look cohesive. My second book won’t be available until January 1st 2021, but it will fit with the first. Curious about the new book cover? How about I do one better and show the first and second. To be honest, the third is my favorite but you will have to wait a little longer for that.

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