Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover

Don’t judge a book by its cover.  We’ve all heard that expression.  It’s certainly well-intentioned, but not very practical.  Don’t we ALL judge books by their covers?  Isn’t the cover what prompts us to take a closer look at a given book?  The eye catching artwork draws us to read the blurb, then maybe thumb through the first few pages.  Some might say it's the title which attracts their attention.  But where does one find the title?  On the cover of course.  The same can be said for the author.

What the author of this saying meant was that we shouldn’t prejudge based on appearance.  That is, in theory, a good idea.  But consider this scenario.  You pull a bowl of leftovers out of the refrigerator.  It looks like a science fair project.  Do you really need to smell it, let alone taste it, to know it has turned?

They also tell us: “You only have one chance to make a first impression.”  If we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, then why do we worry about making a good first impression?  So if a cover gives a negative impression, whose fault is it?

Which leads me to my current dilemma.  My third novel is ready to upload with the exception of ONE thing: cover art.  The cover IS very important.  Every article I ever read about publishing a book stresses the importance of cover art.  Kindle has another factor to consider.  Not only do you need an eye catching cover, it has to catch people’s eye as a tiny thumbnail image.  I have a vision, but bringing it to fruition has been difficult.  Perhaps I need a new vision?

At any rate, here are my first two covers.  The art for Soul Searching was my own photography. The cover for Apocalypse Road came from a web site which offers free artwork.

Click here for Soul Searching, a novel by Rick Armstrong, available for Kindle from Amazon.com	Click here for Apocalypse Road, a novel by Rick Armstrong, available for Kindle from Amazon.com

I will have to come up with something for my third novel's cover, because people will most certainly base their judgement on that one factor to decide if they even want to see what its about.

My Fantasy Turret

Are any fellow writers reading my blog?  I have a question.  Do you ever wish you had a turret to which you could retreat and create?  I can picture myself in a haven for my creativity.  Like most of my fantasies, it quickly grew out of hand.  Yes, a turret would be perfect, with its only access being a winding staircase.  It would, however, need certain accoutrements.  A coffee pot would be a must, as would a small fridge.  Since coffee requires water and clean-up, a sink would be necessary.  A microwave would be nice, too.  Sounds like I should just turn the kitchen into my writing room. 

Unfortunately, the kitchen tends to be the busiest room in our home.  We have something of a commune at our house.  It is never quiet, and I am never alone.  At its peak, we had 10 people, a dog, and a cat, all in a two bedroom house.  In all honesty though, they weren’t ALL in the house; we had two tents in the back yard.  We have leveled off at eight, after two left, taking the cat with them, but that still makes for quite a crowd.  And loud considering two of them are small children aged one and four. 

So my “turret” is now wherever I take my laptop.  I prefer my desktop, but it resides in our living room.  Its fine in times of minimal activity, but when life gets too revved up, I have to go somewhere quiet.  To keep my writing synched between the two computers, I’m using Google Drive and Google Docs.  As a word processor it is basic.  But I have not as yet found any of its limitations to be a problem.   

On the writing front, I’m making progress on my next novel, and even have an idea for a future work.  And more on the commune situation, coming soon. 

Can a dog hear peanut butter hitting bread at 50 yards?

Can a dog hear peanut butter hitting bread at 50 yards?
OK, here I am.  It’s 1:30 in the morning and I’m working on a project.  Everyone in the house is asleep, except for me.  The dog is snoring away in the bedroom with my wife.  I get a little hungry.  Good time for a peanut better sandwich, I think.  So I quietly get up, not allowing my chair to squeak and make my way to the kitchen.  Without rustling the plastic bag, I take out two slices of bread and lay them on the counter.  From the cupboard I take the peanut butter, from the refrigerator, the butter.  OK, it’s some kind of perpetually soft butter substitute.  I get a knife from the drawer.  All this is in Ninja mode, not making a sound.  I spread the imitation butter on one piece of bread, and peanut butter on the other.  In silence I return the spread to the fridge and the peanut butter to the cupboard.  I start back to the computer and there I see it.  The dog, lying on the floor in front of my chair.

I love our dog.  She is our baby girl. And whenever I make a sandwich, she gets the last bite.  It was a family tradition my dad started when I was a kid and I have continued it today through all the dogs we’ve had.  I don’t so much MIND her waiting for her due.  I just want to know how she does it.  She was ASLEEP… in the OTHER ROOM… I made NO noise.  But there she is.  Are her ears really good enough to hear peanut butter hit bread at 50 feet?  Or maybe she’s psychic.  Now there is a scary thought.

There is Nothing Wrong with: “It was a dark stormy night”

There is nothing wrong with this much maligned opening line.  The FULL opening line tells a different story.

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

--Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

The criticism of “It was a dark story night,” was not earned all on its own.  It had help. A LOT of it from the long run on sentence reminiscent of the hook in an agent query letter.  So “It was a dark stormy night” in and of itself is NOT a bad thing. 

What if your story starts out on a dark stormy night?  What if it’s actually an integral part of the opening scene?  I can’t very well have my heroine, running from her abusive husband; put her car into a ditch on a beautiful sunny day can I?  “It was a beautiful sunny day.  The sky was clear to the horizon, and the sun beating down heated the surface of the roadway giving her tires extra grip.  That would make her look incompetent behind the wheel.  You can excuse her if it was dark, it was stormy, and the dirt road had turned into very slippery mud.

This all came to mind because I have been thinking about my third, but as yet unpublished completed novel.  Still working on cover art.  I had an concept, but it just didn’t fit in the vertical format of a book cover.  Back to the old drawing board.  That was all it took for me to wonder if I should give it one more read through.  I hate it when I do that.

Inspiration Strikes

I have had a flash of inspiration lately.  I have found that happens when it comes time to work on promotion.  After creating two rough outlines for my next novel, a pre-post apocalypse story, I didn’t like my sequencing.  My order of peak moments just didn’t work.  The hero's motivations wouldn't work.  I was stumped for a few days.  Then I remembered something I learned at a writing seminar.

The instructor, author Jaimie Engle, spoke about writing techniques. One of them was writing in scenes.  Jaimie said that it doesn’t work for her, but a friend uses it all the time.  She writes her scenes on note cards, and then rearranges them until it suits her.  I've never been a note card kind of guy.  I've been spoiled by the computer.  I need my cut and paste when I write.
 
To that end, I have started a list of scenes, added notes, and in some cases begun filling in the details.  So far so good, but I’m still in the early stages.  At the very least, I will end up with the high points of my story, which I will piece together.  It seems to suit me as I tend to bounce around a lot anyway as the creative juices ebb and flow from one direction to another.  Sometimes working on a particular scene, I am inspired to add a character trait.  Then off I go to my character bios to add them there.  It’s a little ADDish, but it seems to be working.  Hmm, I wonder if that means something.

Beginning my Book Promotions

Advertising isn’t what it used to be.  In days gone by advertisers hit you with a pitch that encouraged you to buy.  It was a sheer numbers game.  Get your ad in front of as many people as possible, and SOME will buy.  The internet alone didn’t change that.  In the early days of the World Wide Web, advertising was still delivered in a similar manner.  But social media changed all of that.  Advertising has become interactive, and to be successful it requires more than just blasting out your sales pitch.  You have to develop an online presence and interact with your audience. 

Developing an online presence isn’t something that happens overnight.  You can’t just set up profiles on all of the social media sites and post “You’ll love my book.  Buy it Now!”  That’s why it’s called “developing.”  Developing takes time.  Building a following takes time.  And the only way to build a following is to give people a reason to follow you, and interact.

At first I looked with dread and the marketing and promotional aspects of my books.  But now I’m excited.  In a moment of self discovery, I realized it was getting started that caused me trepidation.  It seemed like such a huge job, one that had to be repeated for each and every web site on which I wanted to have a presence.  My first instinct was to put it off “until I had more time.”  THAT will never happen.  It’s like in writing, the often heard lament of: “I have this great idea but I don’t have time to write.”

Soooooo, I am starting with Goodreads.com.  It took a little over a week to take possession of my author page.  Sure I would have liked it to be instantaneous, but I know these things can take time.  I’ve filled in most of the profile, wondered if my bio needs work, and realized I can have fun rating and/or reviewing all of the books I have ever read.

Yes, I am looking forward to developing my presence on Goodreads, and adding other sites as well.  And maybe, somewhere, I’ll make the time to work on my next novel.

People ARE Reading my Work!

I’m pleased with the activity on my latest novel Apocalypse Road.  I’m getting page reads at a rate of about 5,000 per month (from Kindle Unlimited subscribers,)  and have even sold a few copies outright.  Not bad but considering all I have done is post it to my Facebook page once. 

Early in my research on Kindle promotions I thought I had read “don’t bother with the big sites until you have 4 or 5 reviews.”  Inwardly, I dreamed of becoming an overnight sensation; don't we all?  Realistically I expected it to sell a few copies to friends who would say "It was very nice," after which it would disappear into a black hole never to be mentioned again.  Even after a free giveaway of my first novel Soul Searching, I only had 1 review.  5 seemed impossible.  I thought “why bother.”  Why bother promoting it. If I had to wait until I had reviews, then it was hopeless to expect I’d ever get listed on “the big sites.” 

Apparently, I was misinformed.  Goodreads.com found ME.  They list both of my novels.  I even have 2 ratings, but no reviews, for Apocalypse Road.  After a quick bit of research, I learned about Goodreads Author Program.  So  I created a reader account, and claimed my author page.  Apparently there ARE sites worth joining that don't exclude beginning authors.  They say it will take awhile to process my claim, but once it goes through, I will have to start more serious promotion.

Time to find more such sites.  More to come....

Apocalypse Road now live on Kindle

ORDER NOW!

Apocalypse Road Update

Still working on the description.  Being that it is what will make people decide whether or not to read my book, I always agonize over what to write.

On the bright side, I have a cover, courtesy of www.pixabay.com.  The image was free for commercial use and requires no attribution.

Graphics and Design Links

Have a couple links to share.  www.pixabay.com is loaded with FREE graphics.  Yes, truly FREE!  Many are even free for commercial use and don't even require an attribution. Then there is www.canva.com/, another great FREE resource.  It's perfect for creating book covers and more.

Give them both a try.  I did and was very pleased.  I already found cover art my next novel.  Watch for a preview of it coming soon.

Why I Write

I haven't done anything with this blog in over a year, mostly because I didn't feel I had anything worth blogging about.  My skill at promotion is sorely lacking,   I've sold a few copies of Soul Searching, but its nothing to, as they say, "write home about."  That begs the question, "Why do I write?

Yeah, there is the fantasy.  There is the dream of becoming popular, famous, and yes, rich.  In reality, I know that none of that is likely.  Yet I still want to continue writing.  I want to write to tell my stories.  If anyone WANTS to read them, great, if not, I'll continue writing for ME.

I've also noticed that my blogging ability is also lacking.  Perhaps not my skill, but rather my determination.  So many things preempt my blog.  I heard a country song awhile back, about people not chasing their dreams because "life happened."  Every day life, family, earning a living, and assorted obligations, tend to take priority. 
I attended a writing workshop at our community college last week.  It was hosted by a local author.  I was "the old guy in the room," surrounded by young college students.  When it was over, I chatted with one of these young people.  Jon was working on his first novel.  He felt "driven" to tell his story.  It was as if it was fighting its way out of his brain.  But he was struggling.
I began to think about this blog to not only tell the story of my Kindle adventures, but the resources I have found.  Perhaps they might be of some help to people like Jon.  Even my failures could be of value, helping other avoid the mistakes I have made.
I decided I need to write something on this blog at least once per week.  When it comes to writing about writing, there is no shortage of subject matter.  So lets see what happens.

Stay tuned for new about my second novel Apocalypse Road, coming soon to a Kindle near you.

Excitement Coming Soon?

Deviating from my usual topics here because we may be seeing a bit of excitement next week.  Hurricane Erika is on her way and the latest prediction showers the storm passing just off shore from our location.  Of course, that's still 4 days away and the predictions of storm plots can, and often do, change. 

The Results of My E-book Giveaway Promotion

Since I haven’t blogged in 3 weeks, this is long overdue.  All I can say is my “regular job,” as well as our volunteer work, has kept us busy.

So what happened with the e-book giveaway promotion?  That’s where we left off.  It was a bust for sales; did not sell a single copy from my promotional efforts.  The reason why was simple.  I didn’t promote my promotion, at least not well enough.  I posted to a handful of Facebook groups, as I had not yet even been accepted for membership to the list I found of places to promote.

However, I did improve my ranking by a fair amount.  It was not enough to bring about any sales.  As anal as I can be about details, I didn’t make note of my standings before I started, but I remember the numbers roughly. 

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: ~#360,000 Paid in Kindle Store

    ~#13,000 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal

    ~#38,000 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

At the height of my giveaway, my stats looked like this.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,812 Free in Kindle Store (Note, this number is in the free category.)

    #181 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal

    #361 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

And this is where I currently stand.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,020 Paid in Kindle Store

    #8135 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal

    #10218 in Books > Romance > Paranormal

    #25481 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

I gave away 89 copies of Soul Searching, made no money, but raised my overall ranking by over 160,000 places.  Granted I’m still just shy of being in 200,000^th place, but that’s better than 360,000^th.  During the promotion, it was exciting to see my other numbers dip into the low three digits.  But that didn’t last long.  The morning after the promotion (which ended at midnight) the stats looked like this.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,602 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    #8257 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal

    #10611 in Books > Romance > Paranormal

    #25407 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction.

Now keep in mind I didn’t sell any books from the promotion.  Since then, I have sold exactly 3, and have a couple of Kindle Unlimited users.  Even those 3 sales improved my stats.

What’s next?  I will be doing another giveaway, but only after I have done an organized promotion from a carefully crafted list.  The object is to rank high enough in popularity, that you will be as close as possible to the top of the list.  Then the effort becomes self replicating.  People who didn’t see the promos for the giveaway will see it when they go to “Free on Kindle” without scrolling too far.

The list.  Well, that’s coming.  But it has been a rather daunting task.  I’ll tell you why next time.

A quick addition.
When I wrote this just a few minutes ago, my stats were as I described them.  I just looked again and they had changed.  I lost ground.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,182 Paid in Kindle Store

    #8511 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Paranormal

    #10723 in Books > Romance > Paranormal

    #26828 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

That one single sale last night affected the numbers THAT much, at least temporarily.  It would seem that small changes in sales can have a surprising effect.

What have I learned about promoting my novel on Kindle?

OK, so what am I learning about promotion.  I’ve learned that it’s not just about giving an e-book away for a couple of days.  Without promotion, the effort will likely fall flat.  It may only generate a few downloads and little or nothing in the way of sales.

I’ve also learned that a lot of people have made a lot of lists on where and how to promote your e-book online.  Some are paid advertisements, others are free.  Some will allow you only to promote when your e-book is free, others will allow you to post when it’s reduced, and others allow free posting of a full priced e-book.

Some web sites require varying lead times, as much as 30 days.  Others request a week, and still others are “day of” only.

I also found a list of “Twitter Influencers”.  Looks like I will have to revive my Twitter account.

Many are Facebook groups.  Virtually all memberships require approval.  After 24 hours, about 50% have been joined as members.  The rest are still “Pending.”  I’m focusing on Facebook first since it’s the social network with which I’m most familiar. 

I might add that I found a great group on Facebook.  Promotion is forbidden, but they have a great group of people.

I’ll work on Twitter next.  That should just be a matter of Following a bunch of users, and hoping that they will follow me back.

Part of my process involves worksheets.  I have consolidated the lists that I found online and I’m in the process of putting them into a table, complete with my own notes.  The goal is to separate the free from the paid, and which I can only use for my free giveaway and those that will let me do general promotion.  If I don’t, any efforts will be haphazard.

Another thing I learned is not to talk about free book giveaways in the Amazon Author forums.  It’s a subject that starts flame wars among users. 

My free giveaway has been set to start at midnight (but I think that’s Pacific time) and End Friday.  I should know how well it worked on Saturday.

Marketing and Promotion on Kindle

Having conquered all of the technical aspects of Kindle, I will now begin tackling the marketing and promotion of my novel.  I’ll also be thinking about my next book to be uploaded entitled The Damsel and the Hermit.  Yeah, not very creative but it’s the best I could come up with and my wife likes it, soooo…  But I digress.  Marketing and Promotion.

My first order of business was to set up my Author Page on Amazon.  It was quick, easy, and fairly painless.

The next order of business will be to help move my novel’s listing by giving it away.  That may seem counter intuitive, but it is said to work.  Amazon places ebooks on their list according to the number of downloads.  It doesn’t matter if those downloads are at full price, reduced price, or free.  The more downloads you have, the higher on the list you appear.  But because of my inherent procrastinatory tendencies, I will put that off for a couple of days just to see if anyone stumbles across my novel all on their own.

Once my curiosity is satisfied, I will be offering my novel Soul Searching for free, and posting it to my Facebook page.

BTW, my Author Page can be found at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B012LA0TE8
Its a little long and unwieldy, but I can change it to something that makes more sense.  But first I have to figure out what that could be.  My name in all of its variations is taken.

It's Done

It’s done.  My novel is uploaded.  All 72,450 words, cover art, description, keywords… the whole shebang.    Distribution… set.  Royalty options… set.  Price… set.   I clicked “Save and Publish” at about 9:45 last evening.

The status was given as:  Now in Review and should be available within 72 hours.  

Within a few minutes the status changed to: Now Publishing. Again there was the promise of 72 hour availability.  I was loving that fact that at that time I still didn’t have a product link so there was nothing more I could do.  A procrastinator’s dream.

Some time around 11 pm it went live.  I had a link and I could see it as Kindle Shoppers see it.  I immediately saw that I would have to edit my html in the description.  I added a line break unbeknownst to me that Kindle would add one as well underneath my headline.  It really blows the flow.  But that’s not a problem, I needed to go back in and register for KDP Select as well, but I don’t want to do that until the ad looks just right.

It’s was also available to the Kindle search at that time.  I typed in Soul Searching and it comes in third with several more underneath it.  I’ll have to play with keywords later and see how it ranks.

At around 11:15 I noticed the status was: Live – Updates Publishing.  But I couldn’t get in to edit that pesky html error.

It was a little past midnight, and I still couldn’t edit anything.  That was probably a good thing as it might have inspired me to stay up later.

When I woke up this morning, it was all there and available for editing.  It only took a few moments to make my corrections to the html coding in the description and enroll in KDP Select, then a few minute for the changes to appear on the page.  I’m in business.

So here it is on Kindle; my first novel. Soul Searching.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012JO8E98?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

So I guess my next step will be promotion.  But I kind of want to see how many, if any, people stumble across it in the next day or so.  Maybe that is procrastination, but I'm curious to see if anyone  will see it among the millions of other ebooks on Kindle.

Today I will be studying the ins and outs of KDP Select. 

Fear

At the end of the last post I mentioned that things were getting a little frightening.  I don't know about other first time Kindle publishers, but I would hazard a guess that many experience this angst.  Very few outside my immediate family, my actual household, and a few close friends know this is happening.  To those who know, I'm guarded.  "Maybe I can sell a few copies," I say, tipping my head from side to side with a forced smile. 

Inwardly is a different story.  I wonder if I'll hit pay dirt.  Maybe I'll be an overnight success.  Fame and fortune will be mine.  My family will never again be in want of anything.  I don't even care if its not overnight; if it takes a month that will be fine. 

But going deeper is a more dispiriting thought.  What if NOBODY wants to read it?  As Marty McFly said in Back to the Future: "What if they say 'Get outta here kid, you're no good.'?"  It's a scary feeling.

It's getting scarier because there are few things between me and hitting that "Publish" button.  The time is drawing near.  It might even be tonight.  In the winter, I drink coffee morning noon and night with a few colas in between.  In the summer, I tend to drink coffee only in the morning, and colas until bedtime.  Tonight, I'm thinking coffee.  Its a "project drink."  Something you drink as you work to keep your edge sharp.  Or perhaps beer would be in order.

Inspiration and Procrastination: My Kindle Project

The previous post is why I have 3 completed novels.  Every time I would finish a novel and start to even think about searching for an agent, I would get inspired with another story.  "I can't waste my time looking for an agent today.  I'm really hot on this new novel.  I probably wouldn't find an agent anyway."

As a champion procrastinator, the first rule of procrastination when faced with an unpleasant task is to find something more important to do.  Since inspiration has no schedule, you must strike when the iron is hot.

That is not to say that, I haven't procrastinated a bit since I first began exploring the Kindle option.  At the present time, I have ideas for 5 more novels in various stages of notes.  In the last week or so I have become very inspired to write other things, but I am forcing myself to focus on Soul Searching.

I have the cover art.  That was a huge stumbling block.  I have finally sorted out the royalty option choices.  I know what format it needs to be in prior to uploading.  When the final proofread and corrections are complete, the file will be ready for upload.  But there was more more thing to agonize over.  The description.

The description isn't just something to go and fill in.  You don't just sum up your novel in the text box with no prior thought and move along.  The description is what will make people either click the button to download or keep searching.  I find that daunting, especially after searching the internet for tips.  "Write in the style of your genre," says one.  "It will drive your English teacher crazy but don't use complete sentences," says another. 

Today, inspiration struck for my description.  I'm still fine tuning it, but I'm sure I'll have it ready before the final draft is complete.

All I can say is "soon."  Which is actually a little frightening.  More on that later...

Why Kindle?

So why did I decide to put my novel on Kindle?  I had a little late night rant a little while back after researching "conventional publishing," and had made the decision to go with an ebook.  This should explain it.


So why am I here working on putting my novels on Kindle?  Why not go the conventional route and have my books published for real?  Well, in my opinion, online publishing IS real.

I have doubt that digital media will ever take the place of print completely, at least not in my lifetime.   A physical print volume offers comfort to many.  But the convenience of digital cannot be denied.  It is the ultimate in instant gratification for readers.  While there is the warmth of a visit to the local book store, more and more people’s lives are just too busy for that.  Of course there is Amazon, but if there is a book you really want, you want it NOW, not three or four days from now.  E-books can be yours in seconds.

Then there is another reason.  The agent search process is INSANE.  In the old days, an aspiring author typed up a manuscript and submitted it to a publisher for consideration.  Usually, the manuscript was returned with a note saying “Don’t call us we’ll call you.”  But now it’s different.  Most publishers will ONLY accept submissions from literary agents. 

So how do you get a literary agent?  You don’t just find one in the Yellow Pages and say “I want to hire you to be my agent.”  Any agent that wants money up front should be avoided.  Agents work on a percentage.  It gives them incentive to sell your book and get the best possible deal.  But the question remains, how DO you get an agent.

You send out a letter called a query.  It’s one page and HIGHLY structured.  First, you tell them WHY you chose them.  You’re supposed to tell them that you chose them because they represented a similar book for another author.  What?  I have to go out and find books similar to mine?  THEN find out who represented the author?  Are you CRAZY?  I spent 2 years working on an original novel and now I’m supposed to go out and find books that are JUST LIKE IT???  Not just one, but potentially DOZENS.  I have a job.  I don’t have time to read that many books and I sure don’t have time to research dozens of books that ARE “just like mine.

But it gets better.  The rest of the query is a doozy.  The next paragraph should be a run on sentence called “The Hook.” The hook should describe your ENTIRE book enough to garb the agent’s interest.  It’s tough but doable.  I still have a problem with run on sentences though.  I had a lot of them in my rough draft.  And I went through it over and over to get rid of them, breaking them up into two or sometimes three sentences.

The next paragraph is a little easier.  It’s a whole paragraph describing your book: a normal one without run on sentences.

Lastly, you describe it in a little more detail in TWO whole paragraphs.

A lot of emphasis is put on the query letter.  There are web pages devoted to how to write query letters.  One in particular, http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx, is considered to be the standard.  It even includes examples of queries from published novels.   And since the query is so important, there are forums that exist for people to submit their queries for critiques. 

Boy do you get critiques.  No matter what you write, one of the first comments will direct you to the above website, because you obviously don’t know how to write a query letter.  Then people come in and pick it apart.  Then it dawns on you.  99% of the people commenting have never sold a book.  It’s a classic case of the blind leading the blind.  Why am I here?  ARRRG!!!!

On top of all that, your letter, as a first time author is going to end up on what’s called a “slush pile.”  That’s where all of the unsolicited first time authors go.  The main agent (or agents) at the firm likely will not read them.  A lower level assistant may or may not read it immediately, if at all.  It may be tossed aside because frankly, it’s terrible.  Or it may not be exactly what they are looking for at this time.  Hmmm.  Maybe they already have a similar author writing similar materials?  Is THAT a possibility?  Or you might have the next best seller but the assistant was having a bad day and just didn’t see your brilliance.

In common parlance, it’s a crap shoot.  It’s not unheard of for an author to have to make 100 submissions before they are published.  I’m 55 years old!  I don’t have THAT kind of time. LOL

Louis L’Amour received 200 rejections before getting published.

140 rejections for Chicken Soup for the Soul

Margaret Mitchell got 38 rejections for Gone with the Wind.

Zane Grey was told he had no business being a writer, and even Dr Seuss was informed his work would never sell.

The odds of finding an agent are far less than the odds of going crazy trying to find an agent.  Kindle became a viable option, if for no other reason than my mental health.

Cover Art

After a couple of hours of testing my concept in my photo studio, I came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to achieve my vision, and nearly impossible without a greenscreen, which I don't have yet.  I also don't have a model.  I was using myself as a test subject just to see if I could make the lighting look right.  I could have very easily used that as an excuse to prolong the project.  But my wonderful wife again saved the day.  She suggested using an image I already have: a waterfall I photographed in Yellowstone several years ago.  As is so often the case, it was a great idea.  I now have a cover.

But there is more to the cover art saga.  Amazon recommends a huge image, the longest side being 2500 pixels with an aspect ratio of 1.6.  I saw one website report that they were upping that to 4500 pixels, which would be ridiculous.  The minimum recommended size is 1000 pixels on the long dimension.  I decided to go with 1200 pixels.

Why all of the concern?  Because at the 70% royalty rate that I have, or will be choosing, I will be paying for the download.  My 1567x2500 image came in at 1.31 mb.  By reducing the image size to 752x1200 I reduced the file size to 364kb.  I basically shaved 1 megabyte off the download.

Still working on the final final final proofread and corrections.  Getting excited.  Soon my only concern will be if anyone actually wants to read it.