Adventures in Indie Publishing—A Good Cover Matters by Patty Smith Hall

My first month in indie publishing was an active one, and I didn’t even publish a book. Last month, I took a five-day Amazon Ad challenge with Bryan Cohen (he has another challenge coming up in April that I highly recommend,) started a website on WordPress, and wrote one-third of a new novella for Barbour which will satisfy my last traditional contract. So, out of all of this, what did I learn?

A good cover matters.

As I said earlier, I took The Five-Day Amazon Ad Challenge with Bryan Cohen, and as part of it, I had to make several different types of ads—automatic and keyword—then watch how these ads performed over several days to see which were more productive. For this project, I selected Courting Doctor Clark, one of the books Harlequin gave me back when the Love Inspired Historical closed down.

I was excited to advertise this book. It was part of the Heartsong Presents division that LIH bought out, but never promoted. But as the days drew out, I was getting clicks but no sales. When I asked Bryan about this, he asked me some pointed questions regarding my cover. Did my cover attract the kind of reader I wanted? Was it in line with my genre? If I saw my cover, would I want to buy the book?

So, I went back and looked at my cover:

               

Though I liked this cover, I’m not sure it appealed to my audience which is a thirty-five to forty-year-old woman who loves to read as an escape and enjoys history. It looked more like a regency than the American historical romance I wrote. If I was completely honest with myself, I probably wouldn’t buy it if I saw the cover alone.

After studying the one hundred best sellers in my genre, I contacted the new cover designer I’m working with, paged through her ready-art covers and found one that answered most of the questions Bryan had asked me. It’s not the perfect cover, but in order to see if my Amazon ads worked, I needed to change it fast.

Here’s the new cover:

Within twenty-four hours, I saw a dramatic difference in my sales and KU page read-throughs. I continued my ads through this month and to date, my sales/read-throughs have gone from the single digits to triple digit sales, a 3000 percent increase as of February 14.

So, what did I learn? Covers matter, particularly when you’re using Amazon to distribute your book. Think about it—when someone types in ‘historical romance’ into Amazon’s search engine, they’re presented with a list of books. No blurbs or reviews, just covers.

Like I said, covers matter!

What do you find appealing in the covers of your favorite books? Do you buy a book because of the cover? Why?

Covers matter, particularly when you’re using Amazon to distribute your book. via @pattywrites #SeriouslyWrite #amwriting

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Patty Smith Hall lives in North Georgia with her husband of 36+ years, Danny. Her passion is

to write tender romances based in little-known historical moments. The winner of the 2008 ACFW Genesis award in historical romance, she is published with Love Inspired Historical, Barbour and Winged Publishing, and is a contributor to the Seriously Writing blog as well as Journey magazine. Patty is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. 

4 Women Bring Southern Charm to a Cowboy Town 

Crinoline Creek, Texas, 1868
A Cowboy of Her Own by Patty Smith Hall

Bookish southern belle Madalyn Turner knows what she wants—to be a cowboy and own a Texas ranch. But books are far different from real life and soon she realizes she needs help.

Cover It Right by Sandra Ardoin

To some of you, this post might seem familiar. In fact, you may have seen it yesterday. Ugh! I apologize for getting my dates mixed up.

I love book covers. I love to look at them. I love to study them. I love how some make me want to read the book in the future and how some make me want to read the book NOW.

But I never knew how hard it would be to decide on a cover until I was responsible for choosing one for my latest novella, A Love Most Worthy.

I’d hoped to find a premade and save a little money. This was my first indie-published book and, honestly, the budget was a little tight. I scoured the internet for cover designers, then scoured their sites for a premade that would be appropriate. No go.

I played around with doing something myself. Clearly, I am no graphic designer.

I considered hiring someone on Fiverr, but changed my mind. A book cover, like the story inside, is too important to take shortcuts.

Then, I found a designer who created book covers reminiscent of some of my favorites from Bethany House and Revell books. She also had premades! Unfortunately, none of them fit my book either. Believing I wouldn’t be happy with anything else, I decided to splurge and hire her for a custom design, then gave her all the pertinent information I thought she needed.

Boy, I was on pins and needles, waiting to see what she would create from the descriptions I gave her. And then it came, the email that brought goosebumps. Was the design perfect? No. Was it what I had envisioned? Actually, I had no vision of what would be good. But she got it. She got Hallie and the setting. She got that I wanted well-blended images that looked like they were one. We went back and forth with the changes: colors, fonts, lighten it, enlarge this, full face or partial.

Those were tough decisions for someone who takes forever to make a decision. Turns out, the easiest choice I made was in the designer and to go with the custom order. Variations came to me, then went straight to my advisers (my crit partner, husband, and daughter).

But I learned some things:

Don’t scimp. Those in the know will always tell you to avoid the DIY approach and hire someone worthy of your book. Listen to them.

Take your time. Find that person whose work best suits what you have in mind for your book.

Don’t be afraid to ask for revisions. The designer wants you to be as happy with the work as you want your readers to be. Reputations are on the line.

Get input from others. Don’t be shy about asking someone else what they think. They might point out something you hadn’t noticed or even considered. I’m pretty sure not everyone will like your decisions, but in the end, it’s your book and your need to be satisfied.

Have you been responsible for making the decision about a book cover? What did you learn from it?

When it came time to reveal my new cover, I created a short video, unable to resist teasing the viewer. 

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As an author of heartwarming and award-winning historical romance, Sandra Ardoin engages readers with page-turning stories of love and faith. Rarely out of reach of a book, she's also an armchair sports enthusiast, country music listener, and seldom says no to eating out.

Visit her at www.sandraardoin.com. Connect with her on BookBub, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

As a gift for her newsletter subscribers, Sandra wrote a short story to accompany A Love Most Worthy—a “prelude.” It provides some insight into Hallie’s story, something those who read only the novella won’t receive. So, join the Love and Faith in Fiction community and keep up with what’s new, discover what’s upcoming, and learn of specials and giveaways.

She didn't know which was colder, an Arctic winter or her new husband’s heart.

Hallie Russell believes life should be lived to the fullest. For that reason, she sails to the gold

rush town of Nome, Alaska to take her cousin’s place as the mail-order bride of a respected shopkeeper. But when her aloof husband’s wedding-night announcement rocks her plans for their marriage, Hallie sees her desire for a family to call her own vanish as quickly as the dreams of hopeful miners.

Tragedy led Rance Preston to repent of his rowdy ways and open a general store for the miners in Nome. He’s content in his bachelorhood, but his two orphaned nephews deserve a proper and serious-minded mother. Duped once by a vivacious female, he’s determined to never again let his heart overrule his head…until the high spirits of his new bride threaten his resolve.

When a misunderstanding comes to light, will they allow the gale force winds of insecurity to destroy what they each need most?

Recipe for Successful Marketing by Marji Laine

Let's face it, as writers we're determined to get our stories into the hands (or e-readers) of as many book lovers as possible. Sometimes, that's not an easy task. Today, author Marji Laine gives us her recipe for successful marketing. -- Sandy

Marji: SUCCESSFUL Marketing can be compared to the Loch Ness Monster: avoids description, difficult to visualize, and impossible to capture. Yet authors continue to search for the elusive creature.

Though there are countless possibilities for promotions, the success of any given one depends on too many variables to list. Despite that fact, a successful plan will always have 3 ingredients:  

• A great product
• Creativity
• Timing

The Product

Marketers and promoters will agree that the best strategy in the world won’t work for long without an excellent book. You can’t ignore the quality of your product. The things the author can control – editing, cover art, formatting, details of the book itself – shouldn’t scream “Home-made!” What’s great for bake sales and craft shows doesn’t work so hot for publishing.

The Plan

Marketers herald the need to get in front of our audience. That’s easy enough for non-fiction writers, but tricky for the rest of the literary world. One might attempt to write with a current high-profile topic included in the story, but the better approach is a creative one that doesn’t require a full re-write.

The best marketing idea hasn’t been developed yet. The standard and success fluctuations are always changing.

Try posting to the various book-lover groups on Facebook. After joining, an author can post promos as often as they want (within each group’s “rules”) see the promotions, both good and bad, from others. Readers do visit these groups for ideas about their next reads. 

With so many books in those avenues, however, unless your book has an amazing cover, you should be creative with your display. Do more than post your link. Build a cash of memes that you can use anywhere. I saw the cutest picture the other day – a cup of coffee, a gift with a tag that said 99¢ and a Kindle with the author’s book pulled up on it. Simplicity itself, but so clever and downright brilliant!

The Timing

And that brings up the final ingredient. While it’s important to get a good idea of when your readers are on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media, it’s even more important that your name doesn’t conjure up visions of billboards that say, “Read my book.”

Social media is, foremost, social. Use a 6-1 rule of thumb. Post 6 things that aren’t about your book – repost others, use quotes, details about life or experiences. Then post something about your book. This rings especially true for Twitter, but is applicable for other outlets. Always interact more than you advertise.

Don’t forget we are a global market now. Make sure you post things for the overnight crowd. Schedule a one or two with connected buy links for India, Japan, UK, and Australia along with the other smaller markets. Those times can be lucrative opportunities.

Above all, don’t give up. Interact well with your chosen media. Support others. Share your message.

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Marji Laine is a homeschooling mom with teenage twins left in the nest. A new indie-author with her debut,  GRIME BEAT only out for a couple of weeks, she spends her non-writing time transporting to and from volleyball, teaching writing classes at a local coop, and directing the children’s music program at her church. Raised in suburban Dallas, she got her first taste of writing through the stories of brilliant authors of their day, Mignon Eberhart and Phyllis A. Whitney, and through stage experience. After directing and acting in productions for decades, Marji started writing her own scripts. From that early beginning, she delved into creating scintillating suspense with a side of Texas sassy. She invites readers to unravel their inspiration, seeking a deeper knowledge of the Lord’s Great Mystery that invites us all.