It has been an interesting week and change. You may have noticed a change to the title graphic (above)—more on this and its results to follow.

I got a note from a colleague that the cover for Tunguska Deception created issues for him, as he is color blind, and the red title lettering got lost in the gray background. That created at doh! moment for me, as I had been the champion for accessibility issues many times during my career managing technology operations. That, coupled with a conversation artist that the cover didn't scream action adventure or political thriller, it was just kinda... there, got me thinking about both my covers.

Below are the original and the redesigned covers for both books. 

The classified - eyes-only file and higher contrast on the title text make the cover much more eye-catching. I also kept the original historical image of the forest damage from the event in 1908, using an opacity adjustment to allow it to come through the folder image subtly.

With Genesis Renewed, I really liked the blue electron-microscope imagery of a bacteria; it screamed pathogens to me. But in the post-apocalyptic genre, covers are generally of destroyed scenery and one or two characters within the destruction. And while I might like a cover, the goal is to catch the eye of the reader, get them to read the blurb, and click buy. So I combined the aspects I liked with the destruction motif. 

I would really like to know what you think - hit reply, please, and share.

I like designing my own covers, and this is one of those learning opportunities under fire kind of things.

A little about the 'business' of an indy author.

Coupled with the changes above, I've been experimenting with advertising on Amazon. I've sat in on several Indy Author advertising seminars. Of course, they all want you to buy their online university, or online course, or book... plus I've been suspicious of both the expense and complexity.

Before the cover changes, I ran ads where Amazon picks the keywords for your ad placement. And while I was getting a decent number of impressions - meaning my ad was being seen - displayed with others under the also-bought and you might like sub-headings - I wasn't seeing significant click-throughs or sales.  Note: the only expense here comes with click-through. Clicking the ad to go to the product page typically costs the advertiser between ten cents and a buck and change, which is adjustable by the person building and managing the ad campaign - me.

I uploaded the new covers on January 27th. On the same day, I built an ad campaign where I picked the keywords, not Amazon. On the 28th, I had my first sale via click-through, and I saw my first significant activity under Kindle Unlimited page reads.

Almost all the activity has been on Tunguska Deception, both in click-through, sales, and KU page reads. This isn't surprising, as Genesis Renewed is Book 1 of a series, and the experience I've gleaned from other series writers is that Book 1, on its own, generally doesn't sell until you have a Book 2 or Book 3 to follow. Readers have been burned with series not completed and don't want to get invested in a story or character without knowing they'll get to complete the journey.

Surprisingly, to me, was the result. In three days, I saw six sales of the Kindle version of Tunguska and over a thousand page reads in KU (the equivalent of almost four full reads). Tunguska also bounced up to the middle five digits in overall sales rankings (62,101), and under one genre heading (Alternative History), it spent a couple of days in the top 150, 140 to be specific. Typical rankings prior were around 1.1M and 35k under the AltHistory genre.

Though the income hasn't covered the ad click-through expense, I see this as a highly successful experiment and will continue to experiment with bid/cost per click. Plus, advertising costs are seen as a reasonable expense and are deductible - woo hoo.

Oaths and Odysseys, Book 2, is progressing nicely. It is amazing to me the trouble Dave and his collection of survivors can find themselves in.

I hit a little dry spell last week. The result was me focusing more on the business than storytelling. I'm still working toward a completed draft by the end of the month and something out in the world in March or early April.

As promised last month, I'm reading Follett's Armor of Light, and as expected, it is a truly compelling read. The community of Kingsbridge, in the late 18th Century, finds itself struggling with the industrialization of the cloth industry and the impact of the political upheaval both in France and at home. You can't help but pull for Sal, Kit, Amos, and Spade. If you're a fan of the Kingsbridge Series, you'll enjoy this.

It's a rainy Thursday, and Theo has decided I need a supervisor today. Tess, like most kids, is out splashing about in the puddles.

As always, thank you for tagging along on this journey of mine.