Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Revising a Cover

After much deliberation, I sent the cover for Blood Magick to my cover guru to re-do the title and other text to match the rest of the Bloodlines series. I'd already made the decision, and Sierra had already returned revised cover, but a Facebook question from a reader confirmed what I already suspected.

There needs to be a consistency in look when it comes to a series. I've found that I can switch between first person and third person narratives without much flak (but then, people either love my writing or think it sucks big, ugly, hairy balls).

I'm also in the process of changing the subtitles and text on the product descriptions. Even though every retail site where I've uploaded my books asks if this particular book is part of a series, which series, and the number order it comes in, none of that information shows up on the sale page. NONE.

Um, so what's the point of asking me, the writer, if you're not going to tell the customer?

Gets a little frustrating sometimes, but I'm slowly figuring things out.

So what does this mean for the Seasons of Magick series? It depends on how sales go the rest of January. So far, sales since November 11 (the date the new cover and title went up) haven't justified the change. In fact, sales have tanked dramatically compared to the sales for the Bloodlines series and Seasons of Magick: Spring. Despite the "boring" covers, the Spring and Summer were clearly linked. Also, Spring is still my best-selling fiction title, though the Bloodlines series has been gaining over the last of December/first week of January.

E-books are such a new frontier than experimentation is needed. And frankly, what works for me may not work for you, and vice versa.

In the meantime, all I can do is study the data and continue writing.

3 comments:

  1. You can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself!

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  2. Ah, Tess, it's not necessarily a question of pleasing people. There's someone of mutual acquaintance who HATES the cover of Zombie Love, but it's my most effective one.

    On the other hand, I don't want to confuse the readers about which books are part of the same series.

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  3. I know what you mean...trying to have a similar look with the books for the same series is a good idea essential. But I LOVE the cover for ZOMBIE LOVE. I didn't get it until I read the book (it's supposed to be her nanties, right?)

    Well, I never thought I would put pictures on my books, because honestly I don't like pictures of people on books (I want the image I imagine), but I did my research and found that most readers do like pictures of people on the covers...not that it's necessarily helped my readership, but I have gotten compliments.

    For what it's worth, the people who say your writing sucks big hairy balls have no idea what they're talking about! Your writing is funny and fresh (the ideas and concepts). The strong reactions means you have a strong voice (at least that's what I'm told because I have many with the same reactions). I'll take a strong definable voice any day! And it's the readers who like your stuff that you're trying to keep! Can't dwell on the others!

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