E-BOOKS PART FOUR
The cover is a problem. I don’t know a pixy from a pixel. I have found the best way to handle the cover is to have a friend who knows photo shop. Show up Saturday morning at their place with a six pack of beer or, depending on the person, a bottle of white wine--Barefoot wine works pretty well. With a little fast pouring and faster talking you can get them to help you. Now I know nothing about photo shop, but I do know it never works the first time and so it becomes a point of honor for your friend to show you they can do it. This allows you to smile, take your time, finish the wine, and continue to write. Of course you can hire someone online to do it but, for most of us, I would not recommend it. They will charge more than you will probably make.
An Inconvenient Truth
Most of us hope to make a large amount of money writing. Oh we don’t necessarily want to be the next Stephen King. Most of us would settle for being the next Robert Parker. Yet most of us will end up being the next Ed Dweker. Never heard of Ed? See what I mean?
Publishing an e-book is not like having a book published. It is more like owning your own bookstore.
Unfortunately your bookstore is hidden on a street no one has ever heard of. There is no sign outside and the book is in a drawer in the back room. You can guess how many you are going to sell. You need to let people know you have a book. And you need more than one book so that people who do find you will keep coming back. A series with the same hero works very well. It would be good if you have a famous character hang out at your store. Someone like Stephanie Plum, Harry Dresden, Reacher, or Spencer. Then people will drop in to see what is going on and leave with one of your books.
The Name of the Game is Reviews
For some reason your friends and family will not be rushing to buy the book. Maybe they are still upset about the white wine and the cover. Not even other authors. I am running at fifty percent as to the people who suggested that I buy their book and they would buy mine. Then we would write each other reviews. I have written twice as many reviews as I have gotten
And reviews are important. If you look at the best sellers in the Kindle store you will find that some have several hundred reviews. That seems to be what a best seller needs.
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