New Facebook Post
Installments 1-17 are available on my Facebook author's page
The Story of how THE OFFICER was created:
Installment #18 – Few Sales so let’s try a new cover and a paid online promotion.
Feature: Lines from the book:
“Edward, I think I… No, I have fallen for you. I care about and want to be with you!” His answer was curt, “I’m not sure this is best for us.”
I want to mention something I forgot last time. One other thing I did was submit a copy of my book to the local library as a local author. I personally took a copy to the local branch and completed the paperwork for it to be included in the library collection. They informed me that it could take up to six months for approval.
So, with few sales even after running some Amazon ads I thought a new cover that better reflects the story line might help. I did some research and found that a website named Reedsy might be able to help me. This site is an outlet for freelance editors, cover designers, marketers, and other creative people that can help with writing and similar projects.
I drafted a proposal for a new cover provided them with the necessary and required information. I then received three offers to assist me with a new cover. I reviewed each one then decided. I provided the designer with my requirements, and she was quite good at trying to understand the book’s storyline and me as an author. It took about two months from start to finish to obtain the new cover (photo attached) and then I forwarded it to the publisher to update the online information. I had previously informed them I was updating the cover, so it was not a surprise.
One thing that happened with the publisher is that they updated the book on Amazon but failed to provide an eBook version. I only found this out after seeing a greater number of views from my Amazon ads but no sales which I thought was unusual. When I reviewed my Amazon setup, I noticed no eBook version was available. I paused my ads and informed the publisher who corrected the error, but it took one or two weeks for that to happen.
Since I had updated the cover, I also decided to conduct an online promotion to let readers know about the book and the new cover. This company would promote the book through Instagram, their company website, and have actual readers review the book. The reviews would be posted on Instagram, Amazon (if possible) and on Goodreads. I was already on Goodreads and had to create an Instagram account to track the promotion and interact with the reviewers.
The promotion when well except for the difficulty of obtaining eBook copies for the reviewers, which led to less reviews than I hoped. I was pleasantly surprised that the reviews provided were generally positive with several 5-star reviews. On the downsize only four reviews made it to Amazon with the others posted on Goodreads. Though the ones at Amazon gave my book 4.5 out 5 stars and the 19 ratings at Goodreads resulted in a rating above 4.25 out of 5 stars. To me it seemed the book was okay if I could just get into the right readers’ hands
NEXT: Some of the reviews and what to do next.
The Story of how THE OFFICER was created:
Installment #18 – Few Sales so let’s try a new cover and a paid online promotion.
Feature: Lines from the book:
“Edward, I think I… No, I have fallen for you. I care about and want to be with you!” His answer was curt, “I’m not sure this is best for us.”
I want to mention something I forgot last time. One other thing I did was submit a copy of my book to the local library as a local author. I personally took a copy to the local branch and completed the paperwork for it to be included in the library collection. They informed me that it could take up to six months for approval.
So, with few sales even after running some Amazon ads I thought a new cover that better reflects the story line might help. I did some research and found that a website named Reedsy might be able to help me. This site is an outlet for freelance editors, cover designers, marketers, and other creative people that can help with writing and similar projects.
I drafted a proposal for a new cover provided them with the necessary and required information. I then received three offers to assist me with a new cover. I reviewed each one then decided. I provided the designer with my requirements, and she was quite good at trying to understand the book’s storyline and me as an author. It took about two months from start to finish to obtain the new cover (photo attached) and then I forwarded it to the publisher to update the online information. I had previously informed them I was updating the cover, so it was not a surprise.
One thing that happened with the publisher is that they updated the book on Amazon but failed to provide an eBook version. I only found this out after seeing a greater number of views from my Amazon ads but no sales which I thought was unusual. When I reviewed my Amazon setup, I noticed no eBook version was available. I paused my ads and informed the publisher who corrected the error, but it took one or two weeks for that to happen.
Since I had updated the cover, I also decided to conduct an online promotion to let readers know about the book and the new cover. This company would promote the book through Instagram, their company website, and have actual readers review the book. The reviews would be posted on Instagram, Amazon (if possible) and on Goodreads. I was already on Goodreads and had to create an Instagram account to track the promotion and interact with the reviewers.
The promotion when well except for the difficulty of obtaining eBook copies for the reviewers, which led to less reviews than I hoped. I was pleasantly surprised that the reviews provided were generally positive with several 5-star reviews. On the downsize only four reviews made it to Amazon with the others posted on Goodreads. Though the ones at Amazon gave my book 4.5 out 5 stars and the 19 ratings at Goodreads resulted in a rating above 4.25 out of 5 stars. To me it seemed the book was okay if I could just get into the right readers’ hands
NEXT: Some of the reviews and what to do next.
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