August 18, 2011
What to do if an e-book isn’t selling well? Change the title, cover, and other details to try to appeal to a wider audience. That’s what I’ve done with one of my books this week. It’s a cozy mystery about a female musicologist who returns to her small hometown to solve the murder of her father, the Polka Prince. I’ve retitled it Dancing With Murder, and given it the following all-new cover:
As you can see, I also added a pen name, “Samantha Shepherd.” Hopefully, this version will be more likely to reach the audience who would enjoy this book (which I’m told is very entertaining). I’m not sure if I’ve hit the mark with this one, but I do think it’s a giant step in the right direction. It was tough choosing the cover, though. Here’s the other version that I really liked:
I settled for using it as the back cover, but I might still use it on the front. Let me know if you like it better than the first one. I might also use a photo cover featuring a model, depending on how things work out. For now, though, at least the improved book is up on Barnes and Noble and Smashwords (and pending on Amazon for the Kindle). And I really like both versions better than this one, which I threw together weeks ago:
And they all fit the material and readership much better than the very first version, which made the novel look like more of a hard-boiled crime novel than the light-hearted mystery that it is. I called it Polkacide. Here’s the original cover:
See what I mean? So now you’ve had a behind-the-scenes look at how a book can change as part of the never-ending quest to improve sales. Oh, and there’s one more element that can change, too. Did I mention I’ve lowered the price from $4.99 to $2.99 for a limited time? Dancing With Murder: get it while it’s cheap! Here’s what it’s all about: Say goodbye to the Polka Prince and hello to the sexy crimesolver with a polka twist, Lottie Kachowski. This thirtysomething fireball left for L.A. years ago, but she roars home to New Krakow, Pennsylvania for her dad the Polka Prince’s funeral…and ends up investigating his murder. If only she didn’t have to team up with his screwball girlfriend, Polish Peg, to navigate the wild world of small town polka. Can she crack the case without Peg driving her nuts? Can she dig up her family’s darkest secrets without dying at the hands of a psychopathic monster? When you’ve got polka in your blood like Lottie, you just know the bad guy’s going to face the music.
