I've taken Joe Konrath's advice and have been tinkering quite a bit with my covers…and discovering that it makes a big difference in sales. Here was my original cover for MY GUN HAS BULLETS:
It was the dust jacket on my hardcover and I didn't own the rights to the art, so I asked my sister to create a new cover for me. I loved what she came up with. I thought it looked classy and professional. Here it is:
But I wasn't selling as many copies as I thought I could. I just assumed people weren't responding to the book. But Joe blamed the cover, he said it was too bleak, too busy, it didn't pop. So as much as I liked that cover, I put the old one up for a while. Sales went up slightly, which got me thinking maybe another change couldn't hurt. So I created a new cover myself using stock photos (which I licensed) and Microsoft Paint It…
And sales have shot up. I sold 204 copies of MY GUN last month and I am already up to 170 this month. That means I've gone from selling about six copies-a-day to ten. Encouraged, I've changed the cover and title of BEYOND THE BEYOND. Here's the original cover
Here's the second one I tried:
And here's the one I have now.
I sold 70 copies last month…and I am already up to 60 now. I am still not selling as many as I would like, but at least it's cropping up. The new cover has only been up for a few days, so it's too soon to tell how it will pan out.
Meanwhile, again on Joe's advice, I scrapped the cover of THREE WAYS TO DIE. Here's the original:
And here's the first version of the new one, which was up last month:
And here's what I've got now, which has only been up for a week or two:
In addition to spiffing up the cover, I also jacked up the price from 99 cents to $1.99. As of today, I've sold 109 copies…so I am on track to sell just as many copies as last month (207) but I'll earn more money. I think the new cover has a lot to do with it.
I've also played with the cover of THE MAN WITH THE IRON ON BADGE. Here's the publisher's cover:
Here's the first one I put up last month:
And here's the revised cover I've got up now.
I sold 160 copies in March, so far I've sold 145 this month. Sales are definitely up.
But that's not the whole story. All of this cover-tinkering was sparked by another experiment, also initiated by Joe, but I will tell you more about that later…
That said, this is shaping up to be my biggest Kindle month ever. As of 7 pm tonight, I have earned $810 in royalties. If sales continue at this rate, and that's a big if, I could reach about $1400 this month. But I will certainly top the nearly $1000 I earned in March.
Interesting. I actually like the second “My Gun Has Bullets” best, but I don’t generally read your genre, so I’m not a good test audience. I *really* like the latest and greatest “Three Ways to Die” cover, though. That one looks awesome.
And, hee, with regards to “The Man With the Iron-On Badge,” sexy covers sell. I’ve found that out quite quickly!
Hello Mr. Goldberg,
I am glad to see that your sales has gone up.
I would like to set up an appointment with you or your accountant next week.
I have some important matters to discuss with you regarding your increase in sales.
Yours truly,
IRS
The cover to the copy of THREE WAYS TO DIE on my Nook magically transformed itself from the Jack Webb portrait to the gun-in-hand cover. Now I’ll probably have dreams about the covers changing on all of the books in my house.