Cursed Blood Series, Self-Publishing

Vote for Your Favorite Magic and Witches Cover

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Vote for your favorite here.

After seeing the positive results of changing the Supernatural Slayer cover, I took a look at my bookshelf to see if I had any other covers I wanted to change.

I realized I could potentially have another situation with Magic and Witches. I love the original cover (on the left) but, like Supernatural Slayer, the cover can look drab at a smaller size. That means it won’t stand out to readers or convert well when advertised.

This is the new reality when it comes to selling books. There are more factors at play when deciding on a cover. You want a cover that looks appealing, conveys genre at a glance, is attractive as a thumbnail, and stands out among other books. It’s tough to get all those on point.

The Cursed Blood series will go live on 25 December and I want the series to have the best chance at success as possible. Having a strong cover for the first book in the series is essential to the series’ health.

Instead of choosing the cover myself I decided to ask others what they thought. I created a google form, added the three covers and one question. Then I asked my readers in my newsletter. I also asked friends on Twitter. I’m updating the Twitter thread with results as they come in. I’m hoping that by doing this I end up with a cover that is attractive to readers.

At the moment, the bright purple cover on the right is proving to be the most popular with 259 votes (54.9%). Vote for your favorite here.

Vote for your favorite here.

 

Self-Publishing, Supernatural Slayer series

Why Changing the Cover of Supernatural Slayer Was a Good Idea

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I’ll just put this here:

It’s only been 2 days since I changed the cover of Supernatural Slayer but it’s had an almost immediate effect on ranking. As you can see, more people are picking up the book with the new cover. It also got a few more reviews.

Of course, this is just the beginning…I hope!

 

 

 

 

 

I believe this is a great start and hope the book’s ranking will continue to improve. It just goes to show that sometimes you need to make a simple tweak but the sooner you make it, the better it is for your book and health of the series. I want the Supernatural Slayer series to have the best possible chance out in the urban fantasy arena as possible. I’m so happy the new cover is converting better than the original cover.

Dare Valari series, Magic Runes series, Self-Publishing

Magic Runes is Leaving Kindle Unlimited

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Magic Runes is leaving Kindle Unlimited and it was a sudden, snap decision.

The backstory: I was contacted yesterday by an author to join an urban fantasy boxset. I didn’t know the author but I enjoy networking and wanted to learn more about the project. I was invited to the group and, to my delight, I found an author friend already there. Of course, the first thing she did was remind me of the last boxset the two of us had joined where the organizer ran off with our money. To date that has been the first and last time I’ve ever used PayPal customer protection. I managed to get my money back but not everyone was so lucky.

Anyway, I’ve gotten off track…Since the original author that invited me to the group was asleep due to being in Australia, my friend told me the theme of the boxset was first-in-series urban fantasy. I checked the KDP Select end term for Magic Runes and it turned out it ends on the 24th. I unticked the auto-renewal for the next 3-month-term of KDP select.

On a whim, I checked the end dates for the KDP Select term for the Dare Valari series and found that they end in September and October and removed those from renewal as well.

I have never scheduled a free book giveaway and on another whim, decided to use up all five free days for the first time in Magic Runes’ history. The book will be free from 20 August until 24 August. And on 25 August, I’ll be taking the book wide and sharing it on other retailers.

As for the Dare Valari series, I’m leaning toward unpublishing the books but I would like to give readers a chance to read the third book before I do that.

And that’s the story of how randomly Magic Runes will go wide starting the end of August!

 

 

 

 

 

Cursed Blood Series, Self-Publishing, Supernatural Slayer series

Tuesday Tidbits

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Here are a few Tuesday tidbits…

I’m still working on getting to Inbox Zero, the mythical goal.

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Tuesday’s Fantasy and Magic Books newsletter has lots of great books this week: https://preview.mailerlite.com/b4m9g0

I’m so proud of Tori Centanni & Rachel Medhurst. They’re doing amazing! I got both their books and hope to read them this weekend. If you’re interested in getting the weekly newsletter, you can sign up here: www.fantasyandmagicbooks.com A pop-up will appear and you can enter your email there.

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The major task of the day has been to find out everywhere I posted the old Supernatural Slayer cover. It’s been difficult tracking it down. I’ve found the cover lurking on a signup page and various webpages. I asked my graphic designer for new banners and images with the new cover so that I can replace them. For example, I’ve got to change the current blog header to include the new cover. I still feel like I won’t be able to track each last one. I need to wait on the print version to update the Goodreads edition and for some reason, the image on the series page on Amazon hasn’t switched over. It’s changed for the individual book itself but not on the series page. It’s so random.

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Annoyances aside, I’m really loving how the new Supernatural Slayer looks next to my existing covers.

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I’ve changed my publishing schedule for what must be the millionth time. Thankfully, my editor’s a saint and puts up with my shifting things around. I’m hopeful that this will be the schedule I stick to moving forward. I have a backlog of beautiful covers and I need to write the stories for them.

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The Supernatural Slayer print edition is in review. As soon as it’s ready, I’ll order a few proof copies so that I can double-check everything’s okay. I’m hoping to get print editions of most of my books up by September. Unfortunately, the Dare Valari series won’t be available in print. The demand is not there as far as I can tell. I’ve had more than a few readers ask for copies of Supernatural Slayer in print which is what made me start the process. Readers, talk to authors for what you want and we’ll try to make it happen. Otherwise, it’s just a needless expense or vanity on my part.

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I have a  new series coming out in December. The Cursed Blood series will be set in a different world than my current work. I will be setting up a 3-month pre-order on Amazon near the end of September. However, you can find the book available for pre-order at 99c on other retailers such as iBooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.

Here’s the blurb:

Two rival magic families. A century-old curse. One unhappy witch.

Rosi Montego never wanted to be like the rest of her family. She wanted to use her magic for good. Unfortunately for her, the curse on her family compels each spell she casts to turn into a hex, no matter what her intentions are.

When Rosi sneaks into a party hosted by the rival magic family, the Capdavall, she spots a man falling to his death and uses her magic to save his life…at a price.

Jaime Capdavall doesn’t believe Rosi’s good intentions when the spell that saves him transforms into his death sentence, but if he doesn’t work with her to lift the Montego family curse, Jaime will succumb to the unfortunate hex.

Magic and Witches is currently available for pre-order at 99c at the following retailers:

 

Self-Publishing, Supernatural Slayer series

Supernatural Slayer’s Got a New Cover

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Supernatural Slayer has a new cover. I just updated the cover on KDP and the changes will appear within the next 72 hours.

I really liked the original cover and so did some readers and bloggers, but it had a distinct flaw. It didn’t stand out.

The lack of contrast of colors was an issue that made itself known when the book was displayed alongside others. It just wasn’t converting well next to other books. By that, I mean that I had AMS advertisements going for my three books (Magic Runes/Supernatural Slayer/Beautiful Magic) and Supernatural Slayer was performing the worst. It barely got any clicks despite a high number of impressions.

I knew it wasn’t the book itself since it has the highest number of reviews and most of the reviewers said they enjoyed the book. And that fact alone made me realize I was doing the book a disservice. I needed a new cover that got clicks. A one-click cover is the ultimate dream. It’s a cover that readers will purchase with one-click, no questions asked. Some barely read the blurb. A one-click cover is magical. You can attempt getting all the elements together but it doesn’t always come together the way you’d like. It was clear the original cover wasn’t it, but I needed a cover that got clicks.

I asked the original cover designer, Andrei Bat, to rework the cover of book 3 in the series, Shade Hunter, because I loved that one the most. He reversed the image and changed some elements, et voila, a new cover!

Before & After
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m happy with the result but the true test will be when I start the AMS ads again and see how well the book converts with a new shiny cover. Will it get the clicks that I covet? Time will tell!

What do you think of the new cover? Let me know in the comments.

Dare Valari series, Magic Runes series, Must Love Dragons serial, Self-Publishing, Supernatural Slayer series

Thanks to Readers, I got a Steak Dinner

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My friend said if I beat my record of 37 reviews (Magic Runes) she’d buy me a steak dinner. I asked my readers for help, and guess what? Readers, we won! Supernatural Slayer has 70 reviews to date. I promised you a photo of the steak and here it is:

That’s 1kg of delicious meat. And no, I couldn’t finish it all myself. I shared it with two other friends. Thank you for helping me win my bet! And thank you for leaving such generous and kind reviews. I’m really happy you enjoyed Supernatural Slayer.

Magic Runes got a few extra reviews since I set up that bet, with the total now at 41 reviews.

It’s interesting to see how the other books compare to the ones above. They have a considerably lower number of reviews. My first book A Sword of Fortune and Fate, published in July 2017 has 19 reviews.

The follow-up book A Sword of Shadows and Light published in August 2017 has 9 reviews.

My latest release Beautiful Magic has 7 reviews.

I don’t usually ask for reviews in my newsletter so it was fun to win this bet. Thank you to the 70 people that helped me do that today. A special thanks to those that left reviews on my other works. If you have the time and want to show the other books some love, consider leaving a review on them too.

A couple of readers had asked me how I felt toward reviews. Overall, I enjoy reading them because I love seeing what readers thought of the story. Whether they’re positive or negative, they’re all great reviews to me. I appreciate the fact that a reader took the time to write something. My favorite reviews are the ones that let me know what worked and/or what didn’t work for the reader. It’s great insight and can help me with my next project.

A negative review that breaks down where I lost the reader is sometimes more helpful than a generic “I loved it” review. That said, I love all the reviews. The more, the merrier. As you can see from the examples above, I didn’t have much of a history in getting reviews. It’s always exciting to see a new one pop up!

To my readers, I wanted to thank you again for reading my work and for your support. It means the world to this fledgling author. And to each reviewer, thank you for making your voice known. This author reads and appreciates each review, positive or negative, they’re all gold in the end.