Just a short note today.
The Space Courier is no more. So in the light that I have made no sales from the Space Courier Book, I have replaced the name of it.
It is now, “An O’Neal Spy Adventure.”
That is the new cover. I also tweaked the marketing copy, so maybe people will be more interested in it. We shall see.
Now I have to get back to the land of Agersolum. I am working on Felix Book 2.
Cheers.
It’s now the eighth of March and this blog post is later than it should have been. I apologize for the lack of blog posts. I have been busy.
Tonight, I should have been in bed hours ago…such, I shall ‘try’ to keep this post short, but knowing me, no promises.
This post is intended to act as an update on my writing process and some of the issues and errors that I have made. Some that I have corrected, some that I have not.
So far I have published two books and a third will be launching next week sometime. My cover artist is busy and it is likely it will be a bit before she gets to it. It’s all good. As of the end of February, I have made a total of fifty bucks from my books and I have realized I have made some mistakes.
My marketing needs work and I have no sense of cover design. The two book covers that have been posted, I love. I think that they are lovely designs, the issue I have with them is that they’re not drawing people’s attention. No one wants to click on my books. No clicks mean they won’t buy my book.
After that, my marketing copy is bad. Bad marketing copy means that they will not be wanting to buy the book.
I have no data on how many people clicked the covers, or getting to the sale page, or putting it in their shopping carts.
The books are included in the KDP Select program. So people can read the books for free. KDP select is the only place that people will read my Phantom Sorcerer’ books. Most of the revenue made is from having ‘Phantom Sorcerer’ in KDP Select. So far no one has read a page of the ‘Missile Attack’ book.
I think the problem with the ‘Missile Attack’ book, is that it’s a hard market to get into. And it makes sense. The kids that would enjoy the books don’t read KDP Select and don’t have credit cards to buy it.
That means that I need a new marketing strategy for my middle-grade book before I launch it on Amazon. But what to do? More research time I guess.
But from what I see in the reports that I get from KDP select, people read it. Not a lot, but when they do, its a cluster of times that they read the books. Meaning that I think that people are finishing the books. But I have no sign-ups for my newsletters or reviews on the books.
And that is that. I am currently 90% done on my June release, while I’m working on my July launch. But I haven’t gotten much down.
I have been hit by a wave of stress and a defeatist feeling. The peanut gallery is back. My inner Statler and Waldorf have made their untimely resurrection. Their presence has halted my production down to a crawl. They are an unwanted tumor in my life, and I must again figure out how to get rid of them. They’re halting my writing process and it’s not very good.
Advice would be greatly appreciated for any of the above statements and concerns. Feel free to email me at NAPedde@peddehouse.com, leave a comment, or a Twitter message.
Until next time.
Cheers.
Ladies and Gentlemen. I mentioned in a previous post that I have a plan for the new year. Well, that plan is moving forward. At best possible speed.
That plan consists of publishing as many titles as I can with the first book to drop in the month of January. Where in the month exactly, I am not sure. Time is short and there is still lots to do.
That first book is going to be the book that I have renamed to the Phantom Sorcerer.
Here is a brief synopsis of the title.
Felix the swift, not his real name, is a thief and a good one. When the last job goes bad, it cost the life of his apprentice and the freedom of himself and his entire family. He gets dragged across the globe into a world of magic, and Gods. Faced with High Princes, assassins, traitorous brothers, Gods and the scorching heat of the desert. Can Felix overcome these the forces laid against him and become truly free and find a way back to his homeland to free his family? Or will he fall to the hostile environment?
The cover posted above is made by my wonderful wife and cover artist, Grace Pedde. She is an excellent artist and designer. She is an art student that wants to work on book covers and to illustrate children’s books.
The cover is actually the third version of it. The first one was very “Airbender”, while the second was very “Horror”.
Both good covers in their own right, but they don’t suit my story. They were both my cover ideas and it wasn’t until I let her do what she wanted that she came up with the latest one. I think that I will be letting her come up with ideas for covers as she has much better ideas than I do. I am told that the other covers are for sale to anyone looking for a good cover.
Her site is here. And I am sure that the images will be posted sometime later today.
The cover posted above is the first draft of it. I am sure that it will change a bit. I still have at least a half a month before I need to make any final decisions on it.
Enjoy the day and let me know what you think about the cover.
Until next time.
Atomic Slingshot Press 