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Blogs by Patrick Sills
Check Out My New Cover 2/15/2006 10:03:46 PM
My first novel, REUNIONS, was published nearly a year ago, in March,2005. I have at long last changed the cover design and it is my hope that this will increase my sales. I'm fast approaching my first anniversary as a published author and consequently would like to believe that I have learned a few things since that time. When I made the decision to try my hand at writing novels, I did what thousands of other aspiring authors do in this day and age. I bypassed even attempting to be accepted by a traditional house and jumped right into the world of subsidy publishing. For a few hundred bucks and no hassles of spending the next two decades collecting rejection letters, my book was published. Little did I know that having my title listed on the websites of Amazon and Barnes & Noble would not be enough to see the royalties start rolling in. What can I say? I was as green as they come. More importantly, I actually believed that a book wouldn't be judged by its cover. After all, hasn't there been an expression dedicated to this very sentiment for eons? This misguided thinking led me to choosing a generic cover provided by the previously-mentioned subsidy publisher. Over a period of about six months following the book's release, I managed to sell just under 40 copies to friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Needless to say, I was clueless in the area of marketing. The fact that my title was a POD book didn't help matters, either. With no marketing plan, all of my prospects were dried up after six months. Then I stumbled onto an independent publishing company and submitted it to them. The worst thing they could have said was "No," right? I paid a nominal fee which entitled me to a professionally-written review, editing, and being moved up the list for consideration. My rewards were a mixed bag. The book had a fairly good review, which I'll describe in more detail in a moment. Editing was practically nonexistant. I know the fundamentals of spelling and correct grammar. My cover was described in one word; a favorite of Amercan Idol's Simon Cowell: Horrendous...........Back to the review: The story was a page-turner; interesting and well-written, but in their opinion, the obstacles and conflicts of the characters were overcome "too easily." The reviewer was "on the fence," and suggested that I should make things tougher for the characters to overcome. I considered these things, and began to re-write parts of the story. In the meantime, some of the people I had sold the book to a few months before had passed it on to others. By this time, 50-60 people had actually read the book, and of those, only one person that I know of didn't like the story. Because of this, and more importantly because further research into the small indy publisher revealed an unproven track record, I suddenly decided to leave the story as it was originally written. For an unknown author, I still believe the chances of being accepted by a traditional publishing house are roughly the same as those of a three-legged horse winning the Kentucky Derby, and will therefore continue to go the POD Subsidy route until something or nothing happens. I know a little more about marketing than I did a year ago, and will try new techniques. My reviewer was absolutely right about one thing. The previous cover was indeed horrendous, and now I have changed it. Check it out at outskirtspress.com//reunions. I will have it uploaded here at Authors Den ASAP, and in a few weeks the online booksites should have the feed. My second novel, SILENT SANCTUARY, will be here by March as well. The first three chapters can be previewd in earlier blogs on this site. I will describe SILENT SANCTUARY further in an upcoming blog; perhaps later this week. Thanks for reading this.
