Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Write for your life

It’s amazing.Even though it’s only been seven months since I published my book I have learned a million lessons.I’m exaggerating when I say a million, but trust me, I’ve learned loads of stuff.

For example, each and every aspect of writing is an art that requires much introspection and relies on infinite variables.

And writing a good story is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Foolish me, I initially thought that it started and ended with a masterfully written piece that eschewed convention and flouted its revolutionary concept.

I figured I couldn’t lose with my tale of a hopeless young woman’s fight with a being straight out of legendary Barbadian folklore.

Everyone who read it loved the concept and story. Yet, it wasn’t selling the way I would like. And it’s super frustrating to hear how good my book is and still only me and a few select group of people thought so.

Here are the constructive comments I got:

It’s a novella – stretch it out and we’ll give you a book deal.

The cover is too scary – change it to something with more mass appeal.

The name implies science fiction – find a new one and it won’t run away its intended audience.

I scratched my head. I had assumed, wrongly of course, that I had covered all of these things and done them well. I had paid a graphic artist and spent weeks reading about what I should and shouldn’t do as an indie author.

Turns out it wasn’t enough. There’s much more to learn that I could have ever imagined. And today I realized that while writing is an art, packaging is a science.

Selling your book is like a domino effect – any miscalculation disrupts the entire pattern and leaves the rest of the pack standing.

Reel in a reader with a good image, make sure the name is catchy and rings true and have a blurb that dares the reader to leave without buying your book. Every step of this process is critical and not a single part of it can be overlooked.

First, something intrinsic must draw in the reader about the cover image.

Make it simple. Be cognizant of everything from colours to fonts to theme. It is ALL critical. One friend told me that my book looked like something from the Chucky movies.

Yikes.

Second, the name has to be a very short summary of what the book is about. I’ve read a number of indie books recently that were a complete disconnect from their name and cover. And I’m part of this dubious group of misguided authors.

To do this, look at your target audience and books which are hot in that demographic. What do the names have in common? I’m not sure what your target market is, but I’ll bet that most of them have very short concise names that leave you with a sense of what the book is about.

Plus, with ebooks, a book has to cross cultures, backgrounds and a span of age ranges to be palatable to a sub-section of your target market.

Companies spend millions of dollars when rebranding because they may literally never get a second chance to attract a new customer. And I feel like I’ve squandered away thousands of potential readers in the six months I’ve promoted my book with its scary cover and creepy name when in fact my book is easily contemporary fiction.

I’ve gotten a new cover and a new name and I’m interested to see what results it yields. I’d also love to hear what you guys think about it.

This blog post was also featured on www.eatsleepwrite.net. 

Callie Browning is the author of The Shadow Guardian: Lost Dreams available free on Amazon from Friday, 7th March – Sunday, 9th March, 2014.

Science book?

It’s amazing.Even though it’s only been seven months since I published my book I have learned a million lessons.I’m exaggerating when I say a million, but trust me, I’ve learned loads of stuff.

For example, each and every aspect of writing is an art that requires much introspection and relies on infinite variables that I hadn't anticipated. 

And writing a good story is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Foolish me, I initially thought that it started and ended with a masterfully written piece that eschewed convention and flouted its revolutionary concept.

I figured I couldn’t lose with my tale of a hopeless young woman’s fight with a being straight out of legendary Barbadian folklore.

Everyone who read it loved the concept and story. Yet, it wasn’t selling the way I would like. And it’s super frustrating to hear how good my book is and still only me and a few select people thought so.

Here are the constructive comments I got:

It’s a novella – stretch it out and we’ll give you a book deal.

The cover is too scary – change it to something with more mass appeal.

The name implies science fiction – find a new one and it won’t run away its intended audience.

I scratched my head. I had assumed, wrongly of course, that I had covered all of these things and done them well. I had paid a graphic artist and spent weeks reading about what I should and shouldn’t do as an indie author.

Turns out it wasn’t enough. There’s much more to learn that I could have ever imagined. And today I realized that while writing is an art, packaging is a science.

Selling your book is like a domino effect – any miscalculation disrupts the entire pattern and leaves the rest of the pack standing.

Reel in a reader with a good image, make sure the name is catchy and rings true and have a blurb that dares the reader to leave without buying your book. Every step of this process is critical and not a single part of it can be overlooked.

First, something intrinsic must draw in the reader about the cover image.

Make it simple. Be cognizant of everything from colours to fonts to theme. It is ALL critical. One friend told me that my book looked like something from the Chucky movies.

Yikes.

Second, the name has to be a very short summary of what the book is about. I’ve read a number of indie books recently that were a complete disconnect from their name and cover. And I’m part of this dubious group of misguided authors.

To do this, look at your target audience and books which are hot in that demographic. What do the names have in common? I’m not sure what your target market is, but I’ll bet that most of them have very short concise names that leave you with a sense of what the book is about.

Plus, with ebooks, a book has to cross cultures, backgrounds and a span of age ranges to be palatable to a sub-section of your target market.

Companies spend millions of dollars when rebranding because they may literally never get a second chance to attract a new customer. And I feel like I’ve squandered away thousands of potential readers in the six months I’ve promoted my book with its scary cover and creepy name when in fact my book is easily contemporary fiction.

I’ve gotten a new cover and a new name and I’m interested to see what results it yields. I’d also love to hear what you guys think about it.

This blog post was also featured on www.eatsleepwrite.net. 

Callie Browning is the author of The Shadow Guardian: Lost Dreams available on Amazon.