Does changing a book cover grow sales?

About a week or so ago, my publisher, Mike O’Mary of Dream of Things, suggested we change the cover of the ebook edition of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. I suspect the main reason was that sales were falling off, and the book needed a little boost. However, in his explanation to me he said:

“I decided to recommend a cover using a photo of Paul. I picked the photo of him as a college freshman. It's a great photo of Paul, and I think a lot of potential readers will be hooked by the image of a handsome young man who looks happy and healthy. He looks like someone you'd want as your own son or brother or partner. They will identify with him before they even know what the book is about. 

I think all of that will be enough to get more people to read the description of the book -- and once they read the description, I believe they will want to read the book because they will be stunned that such a thing could happen to a person who could have been their own son or brother or partner.”

At first it was hard for me to let go of the original cover – especially since I’m so connected to the young woman who took the photograph. However, I liked Mike’s argument and gave him the go-ahead to make the change. He said it’s very easy to change an ebook cover, and true to his word, he put a new cover with Paul’s photo up on Amazon for the ebook within a few days. Here it is.

 As soon as it went up I shared it around my Facebook network and got some wonderful feedback:

“I like it. I think it adds a new dimension to the book putting Paul on the cover. The book is a tribute to him and the cover reinforces that.”

“IMO, this picture of Paul as a vibrant young man brings home the depth of your loss even more. it also pays tribute to him in a more direct way.”

“I love this. It is such a poignant photo of your son and really sets a mood for the book.”

“The other cover is generic. This one is very personal. It gets my vote!”

"Additionally, the B&W image poetically states the fine line that we walk when something like your story happens."

“This is a beautiful photo of Paul. I agree that this adds to the emotional impact. Bravo!”

“I like this cover. The text makes it very clear as to what the
 reader will find in content and may relate to. The beautiful photo 
touches the heart and makes this memoir very real at first glance 
at the cover. May the book continue to find its home with many.”

“I love your new cover, Madeline - love it. xoxoxo” (This says it all.)

Since it looks like book sales have climbed a bit in the few days the new cover has been out, the question now is, should we change the cover on the paperback edition as well? Please let Mike and me know what you think.

Guest author Donald R. Dempsey: review of Betty's Child, Q&A, and giveaway

I am honored to host author Donald R. Dempsey during his WOW-Women On Writing blog tour. His memoir, Betty’s Child (Dream of Things, March 2013) is the story of one young man’s ordeals with poverty, religion, physical and mental abuse, maternal insanity, and the dire need for confidence and direction as he attempts to come of age. Here’s what three noted reviewers had to say. 

“Heartrending and humorous. In scene after vivid scene, Dempsey presents his inspiring true story with accomplished style. Dempsey’s discipline as a writer lends the real-life tale the feel of a fictional page-turner.” Kirkus Reviews

”Honest and raw, yet full of humor, pathos, and no-holds-barred dialogue. Fasten your seat belt and get ready for a roller coaster ride. Highly recommended.” Dr. Alan Gettis, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and author of The Happiness Solution

”This memoir is for everyone who has ever known someone abandoned, someone unloved, someone with barriers that seem impenetrable. With wit and delicacy, Dempsey exposes wounds that we would prefer to ignore, without ever pushing the reader away with any sense of melodrama. A truly unforgettable memoir.” San Francisco Book Review

My Review

Here's my review of Betty’s Child. My rating is five out of five stars.

Donny is a runner, a record-breaking runner, and for a reason. He needs to run fast to get away from his abusive and criminal mother and the battery of her various sexual partners, his impoverished and crime-ridden home and neighborhood, and his gangster neighbors who want to lure him into their lawless lives.

From the outset it looks like Donny’s story is so bleak, so horrific that there is no way he’ll ever survive and come out whole. Yet along the way, he is lucky. Church members urge him join them in finding God, a young friend shows him what a normal home life looks like, wise old men he works for treat him like a grandson, and he doesn’t succumb to any stray bullets. Also that he is athletic, smart, and an innately good person helps.

Donald Dempsey tells the story of his early life in minute detail and with such a naturally precocious voice that he drew me in immediately. Every word of this book matters; every scene lends itself to the whole, every horrific heart-stopping event kept me turning the pages. Let it suffice to say, I had never heard about some of the things Dempsey describes, yet his writing made me believe every aspect. Even as each event went from bad to worse, he convinced me that he would obtain, through his wits, smart-ass mouth, sheer brute force, and fast running, a wholesome and normal life someday. 

By the time I got to the last page, I know Donny has survived and gone on to have a normal life with a wife and family. But, now I want Dempsey to tell me how. I want to know what happened to his stepbrothers whom he cared for much of his young life. I want to know about his school years, marriage, family, and work life. And I want to know how he knew he had to write his story.

I urge you to read this book. It is inspiring for anyone who has had to bear tragic and horrendous events in their lives. Then I urge you to wait with me for a sequel.

Q & A with Donald Dempsey

And while we wait, Don was kind enough to answer some of my questions right away.

Madeline: You were abused and neglected as a child. How did you survive?

Don: I was very fortunate. When you live in an impoverished area you’re basically rolling the dice every day. Violent crime is the norm. Say the wrong thing... Happen to be in the wrong place... A stray bullet... The environment actually breeds the criminal. I like to call it the stepping over the body chalk syndrome.

Madeline: You have two younger brothers. What was it like being the oldest and trying to look out for them?

Don: I can’t really answer this question very well. My behavior was instinctive. I somehow knew my mother lacked the protective traits most mothers possess. She could, and often did, leave us wherever and with whoever was convenient. When we were old enough to rebel and no longer the hungry pliable tools she used to plead for sympathy, she was eager to be rid of us.

Madeline: Several people tried to help you…a youth minister…a coach at your school. Were they of any help?

Don: Most definitely. Certain phrases and actions of many people in my life have become ingrained parts of who I am. I consider this my greatest strength. I had very little guidance or direction. I closely studied those who had what I believed I wanted, and imitated everything about them I could.

Madeline: How did a childhood of abuse and neglect affect you as an adult?

Don: I’m very untrusting by nature, and I internalize way too much. I work way too many hours, worry and fret myself into a lather two or three times a week, prefer to tend to my own business and avoid others, and rarely sleep through the night. Other than that I’m pretty normal.

Madeline: Why did you write Betty’s Child?

Don: I had so much roiling around inside me about those years…I just wanted to let some of it out. Once I started writing, the book actually wrote itself…took on a mind of its own. But I’m glad it did, because the story in those pages is much better than the anger and chaos I released.

Madeline: Who should read Betty’s Child? 

Don: Anyone looking for some perspective when dealing with pain or loss.

Madeline: Have your experiences made you a better husband or a better father?

Don: I hope so. I’ve tried so hard not to pass on any of the life I endured. My wife had to suffer through the bad tempers of my younger years, and I pushed my oldest son too much in a foolish effort to mold him into something that proved to the world what I felt I was worth. I like to think that with the passing of the years I eventually managed to become something akin to what I should’ve been if raised properly. I’m fairly good with who I am now.

Madeline: Thank you, Don, for being here today and giving us such candid answers.

Synopsis of Betty’s Child

Donny Davis is struggling to coexist with his mother, a single woman who moves from place to place, always just a step ahead of the law, scamming churches, and running bad checks. She has already been incarcerated for these self-same illegal activities, but refuses to alter her lifestyle; a lifestyle that includes bringing home men she knows little or nothing about. One of these men eventually assaults Donny. He feels trapped, as his mother makes excuses for her boyfriend's actions, but he fears more for his younger brothers than he does for himself. Scarred and sullen, Donny shamefully attends the church his mother is scamming. He stays silent, but something within him begins to rise up, and his youthful indignation swells to an outright full rebellion. As his life with his mother grows ever more fraught with peril, Donny's world begins to completely unravel. His beloved dog is taken from him. One of his younger brothers is brutally attacked. He loses the few friends he has when the family is moved by the church they attended. And then, the very pastor who has control of them begins to accuse him of his mother's sins. 

About the Author

Donald Dempsey experienced childhood abuse and neglect first hand, but went on to have a fulfilling family life as an adult and to own his own business. "If you're lucky, you make it to adulthood in one piece," says Don. "But there's no guarantee the rest of your life is going to be any better. Abused kids are often plagued by fear and insecurity. They battle depression and have trouble with relationships. In the worst cases, abused children perpetuate the cycle." But Don is living proof that you can overcome a childhood of abuse and neglect. "You start by letting go of as much of the guilt (yes, abused kids feel guilty) and as many of the bad memories as possible. At the same time, you hold on to the things that helped you survive. For me, it was the belief that you can make life better by working at it and earning it. It helps to have a sense of humor, too." Find out more about the author by visiting him online: 

Betty's Child website: www.BettysChild.com and Donald Dempsey Facebook: www.facebook.com/donald.dempsey.3

Book Giveaway: If you would like to enter for a chance to win a copy of Betty’s Child by Donald Dempsey, simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post. If you are reading this anywhere other than here on this blog , such as on Facebook, in an email, or on Goodreads, please go over to my blog, Choices. Only comments left here will be entered into the giveaway. The deadline for this contest is Wednesday, July 31, 2013, at noon. The winner, chosen using Random Draw, will be contacted privately via email. I will also announce the winner in a blog post here after the contest is over.

Betty's Child is available at Amazon.

Support your local bookstore

I'm so in love with my local bookstore Pages: a bookstore, I support it whenever I can. And it has supported me as well. I've had three readings there.

I hope you will do the same to make sure we keep our bookstores alive. In view of that here is a post I just came across from the Book Marketing Expert, reprinted with his permission. Let's work hard to prevent bookstores from going away.

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

What Happens if Bookstores Go Away?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That sentence alone is enough to send chills down my spine. No bookstores? I can't imagine a world without them. Yet the fact of the matter is, that's likely where we are headed.

I don't often share this, but you know that term "bucket list"? One of my bucket list items is to get locked in a bookstore overnight - with a fully-functioning Starbucks of course because a girl needs her caffeine to stay up all night and dig through the thousands of titles on the shelves. Truth is, that one bucket list dream may never come true (and I suspect, neither will the dinner date with Bradley Cooper, either). Let's face it, the world is changing rapidly. Amazon is making book access so much easier and without having to get in your car and, you know, drive somewhere. Look, I do love Amazon and what they've done for indie authors is tremendous, but the opposite side to all of this good is that bookstores are desperately trying to find a market. Ironically, in the mix of all of this, the independents, once proclaimed to be dead, are not fairing as badly as the chains. Well, the chain: Barnes & Noble.

My prediction, though perhaps wild and seemingly out there, is that we're going to start seeing more niche stores, so children's bookstores, all-fiction, etc. because at the end of the day, we are catering to an audience who doesn't want to have to sift through hundreds of books to find the niche they are looking for. We live in the custom society: custom coffee, custom cars, custom pretty much everything. Would the same go for bookstores? Sure, why not? I also think that we're going to start seeing a lot more book departments expand within stores. Hallmark has been experimenting with this for years, though granted their book section is small compared to everything else they offer, they could expand this, too. I don't think you'll see airport bookstores go away anytime soon. There's a need there, gotta have something to read on the plane, though the surge of eBook purchases may change the need for those too.

Let's face it, the structure is changing. Ironically it's not going in the direction we once thought. A few years ago many bloggers said that libraries were a thing of the past, sweet but ancient dinosaurs. However, libraries have seen a resurgence in a down economy and librarians are eager to keep step with technology, offering eBook lending, etc.

The biggest challenge we face as authors and book promoters is that if, in fact, bookstores go away that takes away a huge chunk of those trusted book connoisseurs who would otherwise be out, on the frontlines, recommending books. Also, the shelf space, which for most of us isn't really a factor since our books won't be in bookstores anyway. But for those publishers and titles that depend on bookstores, how will they gain exposure? The answer is, of course, online.

I think as we see the market changing, we're going to see things like niche social media sites, which despite Facebook's online real estate could pull in more readers because, again, we want what we want. We don't want to sift through tons of data to find that great, new read.

Free books and excerpts will become a must. I've spoken with a lot of authors who feel this is just something they don't want to do. The numbers would, however, encourage a second look. Whenever we've run freebie campaigns we see a huge uptick in sales after the freebie is over.

Book bloggers: As time progresses, we'll need more voices out there. As we do now, we'll start seeing a lot of niche blog communities popping up and, I dare say, that if the bookstore demise happens we're going to see a lot more paid reviews.

Paid placement: Yes I think you'll start seeing much more of this. Though not through ads but through paid content online. Some call it advertorial, and perhaps that's a better term for it, but I think as we progress content generation to drive sales will become a huge factor.

What can you do now, this far ahead of the curve? Candidly, I think we'll start seeing the downturn of the bookstore right after Christmas. We're seeing it now already but as 2013 continues, more and more of the sales numbers are going to be facing a decline. What you can do now is stake your claim. Make friends with bloggers, network, put out good content. Don't wait for the bookstore rug to be ripped out from under you before you act. Do it now. And when the eventual demise of bookstores happens, you'll be ready to face that challenge.

Many of us ignore the library market because it's not glamorous, but guess what? Librarians are a fantastic group of book lovers who could really help your book succeed. Been ignoring the library market in lieu of something more glamorous? You may want to rethink that approach.

No one wants to see bookstores go away, least of all me. But the writing has been on the wall for a while and even if I'm wrong, which would be great, I still think that the online world will become more and more significant in all of the ways I've described. Let's face it. With all of the books published each day in the US, the market has been expanding on one side and shrinking on the other for a while.

So, head to your local bookstore and support them, but make sure you keep an eye on the future.

Kindle giveaway - ends tonight

My publisher, Mike O’Mary of Dream of Things put Leaving the Hall Light On back in the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select program. He has also decided to give the Kindle version away for two days – yesterday and today, hopefully to kick start sales again. As of today – the second morning – it looks like the giveaway is going well though I won’t know the actual count of books downloaded for free until tomorrow morning.

Other book sales are going on too. It looks like I sold a few paperbacks in the last couple of days, and surprise, surprise, a hardback sold through my Amazon seller’s account yesterday as well. Go there is you want a signed first edition.

Of course the question still is: does a giveaway promote more sales once the giveaway is over? The last giveaways my publisher held did. According the webinar I heard yesterday by Howard VanEs through SheWrites on the subject of Cashing in with Kindle Books, a book giveaway should show up positively in the ranks for a few days afterward with 50% more sales in the next three weeks. If it gets to the top 100 in Kindle books the sky is the limit in sales in the next week or so.

The key is promotion. I posted about the giveaway on all my networks yesterday: the Independent Author Network, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, and all my FB groups, and I need to go back and do it all again today. However, that’s what I’m doing anyway – my goal is to go by and post something in all those places every day. Not a small task.

And, I’m always happy to give books away – especially to the grief and survival groups that I belong to.  I'd like those folks to read it whether or not I make a dime in sales. Also, I suspect if they like it they will refer the book to others. A person in one of the grief groups left a nice comment yesterday. I’d have never known she even read the book if I hadn’t posted about the giveaway on that page.

That’s the point. Word of mouth. I still think that’s the best way to increase sales – whether in actual or in virtual conversations. So if you like a book, let others know. Even post a comment on the book’s sales site.