Choosing a Book Cover That Sells

August 7, 2014 by Sonia Marsh 8 Comments

Some of you know that I take great pride in my book covers, and don’t like to skimp on quality.

My Gutsy Story® Anthology # 2: Inspirational Short Stories About Taking Chances and Changing Your Life

I love the professional work done by Michele DeFilippo and Ronda Rawlins at 1106 Design. This year, I almost decided to SAVE MONEY and go with a cheaper design for our 2nd Anthology in the series, but I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to skimp on quality.

Why?

Because I believe book design experts know more about book covers,and what sells a book than I do. Here’s a post I wrote on how to choose a book cover that sells based on the first Anthology in the series:

My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World

has won 4 Awards, including the prestigious:

My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World, has been named a 2013 Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Honoree Winner.

Is the cover important?

I just found a blog post on this topic by Cathi Stevenson on “What Sells a Book.”

She mentions an interesting case of where a book cover was redesigned, and it actually became a big hit after that. (see the quote from her post below.)

“In the March 2006 meeting of the Association of American Publishers, Marcella Smith, director of small press relations for Barnes and Noble, discussed the remake of the cover for The Little Book That Beats the Market (Wiley, 2005).

In the March 24, issue of Publisher’s Weekly Daily, Smith is quoted as saying the original book jacket was pale blue and featured a dollar sign. After discussing the cover with buyers, the publisher decided to change the book jacket to a more classic dark blue with white lettering, which they felt better suited a traditional business audience. It became a hit and the jacket was credited with the book’s increased popularity.”

Stevenson explains that most indie authors aren’t in brick and mortar bookstores, but sell online. So she then goes on to ask the question:

“So, do online covers matter? I’d have to say yes. First of all, it’s quite easy to weed out books that are self-published when the cover is obviously amateurish. One can only assume if there was no effort put into professional design, then there probably wasn’t much effort invested in editing, or layout or even research and story development. The cover is a necessary bit of polish, like a well-pressed suit.

Since covers are often only displayed at one or two inches online, a book cover is pretty much at the mercy of good advertising techniques to get the click-through on a page filled with similar books. An easily-read title and strong use of color are going to play a role.”–Cathi Stevenson

Stevenson stresses how a good blog and a professional product is going to help the indie author sell his 2nd book.

Look at our 1st Anthology cover (top cover) and decide which of the 2nd covers (below the butterfly cover) we should go with for our 2nd Anthology to be published this Fall.

MGS FINAL COVER Small — Our already published Anthology # 1

Book Cover #2 — Would you buy this one? # 1

Book cover #3 — Would you buy this one? #2

PLEASE HELP ME BY VOTING FOR THE COVER THAT WOULD MAKE YOU BUY THE BOOK.

(PLEASE WRITE YOUR ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW AND SHARE WITH FRIENDS)

ANSWER # 1 RED COVER

ANSWER # 2 PALM TREE COVER

VOTE for your favorite JULY 2014 “My Gutsy Story®” ON THE RIGHT SIDEBAR.

You have from now until August 13th to vote on the sidebar, (only one vote per person) and the winner will be announced on August 14th, and will select a prize from our generous sponsors.

READ ALL STORIES HERE

My “Gutsy” Journey to the Dalai Lama’s Potala Palace-Lhasa Tibet

August 4, 2014 by Sonia Marsh 3 Comments

The Guts to Travel to the Roof of the World

“My Gutsy Story®” by Gisela Hausmann

At the age of thirteen I met Heinrich Harrer, confidant and tutor to the Dalai Lama, and author of “Seven Years in Tibet.” After a fascinating slide presentation Harrer signed my copy of his book. Deeply impressed with what I had seen I decided that I would visit the then-forbidden city of Lhasa.

Eleven years later I saw an opportunity to do so. In 1986 I was working in the Austrian movie industry. No movie would be made over the Christmas holidays. Granted it was an icy winter but I had a six-week break and $2,500 stashed away. As they say, “You have to work with what you’ve got.” I decided to cross Russia with the Trans-Siberian Railroad and try to make it into Tibet. There was no telling if I would succeed, alone, without a tourist group.

Since the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the Chinese often banned foreigners. Icy weather conditions also determined whether planes could land in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, located at 12,000 feet in elevation. But I was determined and started my trip on December 21, 1986.

On January 13, 1987 I arrived in Lhasa. I was fortunate, as everything worked out, including the weather. Very few tourists were in town and I really felt like I was visiting a Tibet not much different from Harrer’s Tibet.

Buddhism was omnipresent. Even the rocky cliffs were painted, depicting Buddha on a lotus flower. Prayer flags were flying everywhere. Tibetan pilgrims were visiting the Jokhang Temple, renowned center for Buddhist pilgrimage. Potala Palace, iconic symbol of Tibet and sacred place to Tibetans, towered over the city. During Winter Lhasa was a mesmerizing city in a barren landscape full of breathtaking spiritual energy.

Nothing could take away from that. Flying into Lhasa I overcame about 10,000 feet of elevation in only two hours. Lhasa’s airport was about 50 miles outside of town, and passengers had to take an old bus to get to the city. The roads were bad, and I was shaken around for three hours. Many of the locals traveled with their screeching chickens cooped up in cages. After one hour on the bus, altitude sickness set in. My knees felt like pudding, and my head like a beehive. When I finally arrived in town I could barely take one step. There were no taxis or buses; everybody walked.

I was forced to carry my forty pounds of luggage, and after numerous stops to catch my breath, I finally reached a hotel. The first thing I noticed in my room was a gaping half inch hole under the window sill. There was no heating despite a night time temperature of 16 degrees Fahrenheit. I decided to sleep fully dressed and used the second mattress as an additional cover.

The following morning I awoke to murmurs outside my door. I figured something special had to be going on out there. I jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera and opened the door. There it was; the picture which would be ingrained in my mind forever.

I saw the white Potala Palace on the hill. The magnificent symbol of Buddhist religion and spirituality towered over the needy buildings in the foreground. The early morning sun’s rays transformed Potala’s white walls into a glowing red, making it look as though it were engulfed in red flames. A dark gray cloud loomed behind it, as though painted on a backdrop of beautiful blue morning sky. I lifted my camera just in time and clicked. I had captured the symbol for religion and culture in Tibet, while a dark cloud hovered over its intense burning, yet peaceful beauty.

I was determined to make the most out of my three-day stay. Like most tourists I downed aspirins as a blood thinner to fight altitude sickness. I lived off dough-cakes baked on a street vendor’s red glowing cast iron oven and Yak-butter tea. On my last day I found the strength to climb the thirteen storey walk up to the Potala Palace.The Dalai Lama’s former quarters were the most serene rooms I had ever encountered. Real time no longer seemed real, but measured by the clacker of metallic prayer mills.

When I left Tibet, I traveled through China to Hong-Kong. The difference between Tibet’s bare vulnerability and Hong Kong’s pulsating life was surreal. Still, I did not realize what I had managed to do by chance.

The years passed. In 2006 China opened the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, a previously unthinkable engineering feat. Nobody knew that this was even possible. Over 80% of the 709-mile-long section between Golmud and Lhasa lies at an elevation of over 13,000 feet. This railway eliminated all the difficulties of travel to Tibet. The Chinese turned Tibet into a business opportunity. There are now souvenir shops and a four lane boulevard right in front of the Potala Palace where I had walked by foot, on a dirt road.

There is no perfect time to do what we feel we must. All we can do is line everything up, do our best, then capture the moment. I am forever grateful for that picture etched in my mind that foresaw Tibet’s changing.

GISELA HAUSMANN BIO: Born to be an adventurer, Gisela Hausmann, is a globe trotter, former movie producer, aerial photo specialist, vintage house renovation, and award-winning author. A unique mixture out of wild risk-taker and careful planner, she has globe-trotted almost 100,000 kilometers on three continents, including to the locations of her favorite books: Doctor Zhivago’s Russia, Heinrich Harrer’s Tibet, and Genghis Khan’s Mongolia. Gisela Hausmann graduated with a master’s degree from the University of Vienna. She now lives with her cats Artemis and Yin-Yang in Greenville, SC. Please find more information and pictures about her work on her website: www.giselahausmann.com

SONIA MARSH SAYS: Thank you for taking us on a spiritual and historical journey through your Gutsy adventure to Tibet.

Follow Gisela on:

Twitter: at @Naked_Determina

Facebook:

Blog: http://nakeddetermination.blogspot.com/

Google+: http://plus.google.com/103171286110985123907/posts

Gisela Hausmann’s book on Amazon:

Gisela Book Cover — Click on cover to go to Amazon

VOTE for your favorite JULY 2014 “My Gutsy Story®” ON THE RIGHT SIDEBAR.

You have from now until August 13th to vote on the sidebar, (only one vote per person) and the winner will be announced on August 14th, and will select a prize from our generous sponsors.

READ ALL STORIES HERE

NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

Get Published in our 3rd

“My Gutsy Story®”Anthology in 2015

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES HERE

2013 Benjamin Franklin Honoree Winner

2014 International Book Awards FINALIST

2014 WINNER of the PARIS BOOK FESTIVAL

We just won our 4th Award for the Anthology.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR AWARDS.

Vote Now For Your Favorite July 2014 “My Gutsy Story®”

July 31, 2014 by Sonia Marsh Leave a Comment

VOTE for your favorite JULY 2014 “My Gutsy Story®” ON THE RIGHT SIDEBAR.

You have from now until August 13th to vote on the sidebar, (only one vote per person) and the winner will be announced on August 14th, and will select a prize from our generous sponsors.

Our 1st “My Gutsy Story®” is by Patrice Garrett “Finding Heaven.”

SONIA MARSH SAYS:

I have always had a fear of horses, mainly because I am not used to being around them. Your “My Gutsy Story®,” showed me that:

“Horses mirror the fears, thoughts and resolve of their riders; they decipher nuance and interpret body language. Mine have taught me patience, honesty, leadership, and conscious riding. My acquired saddle skills also inform how I walk life’s road. I’ve learned there’s no faking it. I live with intention.”

Our 2nd “My Gutsy Story®” is by Ingrid Bird, “I Became the Man I Always Wanted to Marry.”

SONIA MARSH SAYS:

You are one “gutsy” woman Inge, and I love your style, and proactive approach to life. The statement you made says it all:

“ I became the man I always wanted to marry.”

You are amazing, and I admire what you have done with your life.

Our 3rd “My Gutsy Story®” is by Java Davis “A Life Changing Moment.”

SONIA MARSH SAYS: “What a terrible tragedy and this must have been a life-changing moment for you.”

Our 4th “My Gutsy Story®” is by Rita Gardner, ” Time to Bring Family Secrets and Stories to Light.”

SONIA MARSH SAYS: I had the pleasure of reading Rita’s memoir and was intrigued by her island life and how she captured the vivid details of her childhood in a remote part of the Dominican Republic.

NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

Get Published in our 3rd

“My Gutsy Story®”Anthology in 2015

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES HERE

2013 Benjamin Franklin Honoree Winner

2014 International Book Awards FINALIST

2014 WINNER of the PARIS BOOK FESTIVAL

We just won our 4th Award for the Anthology.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR AWARDS.

Time to Bring Family Secrets and Stories to Light

July 28, 2014 by Sonia Marsh 8 Comments

Perilous Footing on the Path Home

“My Gutsy Story®” by Rita Gardner

The old ferry boat was ready to board. It lurched on frayed ropes each time a wave shoved the dilapidated vessel close enough for another passenger to be hauled aboard. I asked myself for the hundredth time if I was just plain crazy. An old woman covered in a black shawl crossed herself as she was handed across, and the boatman caught her just before she could slip. From the dock, men threw battered luggage, one live pig, and household belongings onto the deck. Piercing sunlight bounced on wave tops and sweat dripped from my armpits.

I’d just arrived at the harbor near my childhood home in the Dominican Republic. Having spent two weeks visiting the village I’d not seen for years, I was now on a mission to find a writer I’d never met on the far shore of the Samana peninsula. My vague instructions were to get to the village of Samana and find a ride eastward 12 kilometers, and then to ask anyone to lead me to “Don Alejandro.” I’d not crossed this bay for over thirty-five years. The dock was wet with gaps that made any foothold challenging. Heart pounding, I hoisted my backpack and prayed for safety.

Only two months before I was sitting in a dentist’s waiting room in California thumbing through Travel Holiday, escaping into worlds far away. I encountered an article by Alastair Reid that propelled me into this journey. The story was about the very same bay I was now crossing. Titled “My Several Selves,” it was about being at home wherever you are. On staff at The New Yorker, Reid lives in New York but for many years he wintered in a simple dwelling on Samana hillside, writing and translating works by Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges, and other noted authors.

I went home that day and wrote a letter to him about how I hoped to meet him when I next traveled to the island. His handwritten reply arrived the next month saying he’d be delighted to see me. He had no telephone on the island, but reassured me he’d likely be there all winter.

And so I traveled that December to my childhood home, site of my expat family’s coconut farm on an isolated beach, and a country we’d left decades ago.I was welcomed home with typical Dominican exuberance. One day I walked the path to my family’s former house, still owned by the same man who bought it ages ago. Now used infrequently as a backcountry retreat, it was all locked up, shrunken and lonely.

The next day I decided to journey across the bay and try to find Alastair Reid in his winter lair. So here I was, hanging on to a broken rail as the ferry plunged drunkenly along. When the boat landed on the far shore I found transport on the back of a motor scooter. The driver didn’t know Reid (known locally as Don Alejandro), but for 50 centavos he drove me anyway. After a while we stopped a farmer at the side of the road and asked if he knew Don Alejandro. “Ah, si.” he nodded, “it’s very near.” He pointed to a clearing to a simple one-room structure, open on one side. I waved away the scooter uncertainly and hiked through the woods as if I knew what I was doing.

Barefoot and dressed in faded khaki shorts, Alastair Reid greeted me as if he’d known I’d pick that day and time to show up in his clearing. We talked for hours, about writing, about the lure of this island despite its troubled political history. When it was time to leave, he presented me with a book and walked me up to the road until a crowded pickup came by. I crammed myself into the back, avoiding a squirming pig, trussed and unhappily serving as someone’s seat. In Samana, I found a small inn and settled in to read. The tattered volume, written by an American in 1958,was titled Trujillo, Little Caesar of the Caribbean. It was published when I was 12 and living in Miches. An account of Generalisimo Trujillo and his reign of terror, it never would have been allowed in the Dominican Republic during Trujillo’s rule. I felt I was reading forbidden material. For all our years on the island, our lives depended on not ever speaking ill of the dictator. This book was an entry into what I wasn’t allowed to think about for all those years.

I read until my eyes hurt, trying to reconcile the factual portrayal of one country’s nightmare with my parents’ decision to raise a family under such a government. At midnight, needing a break, I walked down to the harbor. A light breeze tickled the coconut palms into slow dancing silhouettes. Across the bay to the southeast a faint light glowed—Miches. I pulled the night around me like a warm shawl and hugged myself at the memory of countless evenings like this when I was a child. The next morning I caught the ferry.

On my last day in Miches, I was drawn back to my old house for a final look. A crowd of emotions welled up and I cried for longer than I can remember. I understood only dimly that this trip was just the first step on a longer journey to reconcile my own disparate selves. And now I was to begin a new journey, much more dangerous than crossing a bay in storm-tossed waters. It was now time to bring family secrets and stories to light, and just maybe, find some peace about the meaning of home.

Fast forward to 2014: I’m thrilled to have completed my memoir, titled “The Coconut Latitudes: Secrets, Storms and Survival in the Caribbean.” Publish date: September 2014 by She Writes Press, Berkeley, CA.

Bio:

Rita M. Gardner grew up on her expatriate family’s coconut farm in the Dominican Republic. Home-schooled as a child, she began writing, reading and painting at an early age. She now lives in California where she follows her passions – writing, traveling, hiking, and photography. Her published essays, articles, poems, and photographs have appeared in literary journals and travel magazines. Her memoir “The Coconut Latitudes” debuts September 2014 . Rita continues to dream in Spanish and dance the Dominican merengue; her favorite color is Caribbean blue. www.ritamgardner.com

Amazon link : http://amzn.to/1jJ5qg6

Twitter link: Please follow @ritamgardner

Facebook link: Please (like) Rita M Gardner https://www.facebook.com/ritamgardner

SONIA MARSH SAYS: I had the pleasure of reading Rita’s memoir and was intrigued by her island life and how she captured the vivid details of her childhood in a remote part of the Dominican Republic.

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE JULY “My Gutsy Story®” STARTS ON JULY 31st AND ENDS ON AUGUST 13th.

THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON AUGUST 14th.

NOW Accepting story submissions now for our Award-winning “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology

We just won our 4th Award for the Anthology.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR AWARDS.

How Do You Define Success?

July 24, 2014 by Sonia Marsh 2 Comments

As some of you may know, I wrote a controversial article “Do Authors Make Money? Here’s the Truth.”

In this post I mentioned looking for a job to supplement my indie-publishing endeavors. Some people seemed shocked as they believed I was hitting it big.

Well, since then, I’ve spoken to many entrepreneurs and concluded that most of us are struggling to make ends meet.

Why do we think others are more financially successful than we are?

Is that because we pretend to be more successful than we are? Do we hide the truth?

I’ve had several conversations with doctors, financial planners, lawyers and authors and it doesn’t matter which profession you’re in, entrepreneurs are always looking for the miracle that will help them succeed financially.

If professionals are struggling to keep their businesses thriving, isn’t that just part of life?

There is no miracle to become successful in life

Perhaps the secret lies in:

You need to redefine success in your terms and forget what others think.

Perhaps success should be re-defined as:

Loving what you do even if it doesn’t make you rich

I was asked to answer some questions about being successful as an author entrepreneur by Eric Gati. Here are some of my answers to his questions and you can also read my entire interview on “The Daily Interview.”

What do you consider to be your greatest success (or successes) so far in your career as a writer (and business owner)?

I enjoy building online communities and making people feel they belong. I started “Gutsy Indie Publishers” a FaceBook group, with 600+ authors, most of them indie. This group is for writers, publishers and anyone in the business who wants to help others.

Another accomplishment is the writing contest I started in 2011 called “My Gutsy Story®.” I have received many e-mails from writers thanking me for allowing them to open up and share their own stories.

I never realized I would be speaking at conferences about how to become a successful “Author Entrepreneur.” I love speaking to writers about blogging, how to sell more books, and unique ways to promote, that they may not have considered. Here are some links to the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference where I spoke about this topic on June 11th, 2014.

Introduction Video 1: http://youtu.be/l6gKv1-odS4
Video 2 on Blogging for Writers: http://youtu.be/o6nQHD_juwA

What has been your greatest challenge that you’ve overcome in getting to where you’re at today?

How do you become visible? Whether online or in person, it takes time, perseverance and effort to have people know who you are, and to get loyal followers.
Another challenge is to move away from offering everything for free, and to charge for your expertise. I hired a business coach to help me become a marketing coach for authors. I still find this challenging as I enjoy helping others, but also need to make a living.

Many people have the skills and drive to write a book, but failure to market and sell the book the right way is probably what keep a lot of people from finding success. I know you can probably write volumes on this topic, but can you give us maybe 2-3 strategies that have been effective for you in promoting your books (online, specifically)?

Forming relationships online before your book comes out is essential. People who are familiar with your blog and like what you do are more likely to spread the word about your book and review it. Don’t expect people to simply buy your book by stating: “Buy my book.”
YouTube videos are effective in promoting your books. I have done several interviews where I talk about my books, or read excerpts from my book, and one of them, “Expat Life in Belize” has received over 58,000 hits.
Submitting your books for Awards, and winning some, is a great way to promote your books online. Both books have received Awards.

E-Lit Awards 2013 Freeways to Flip-Flops: A Family’s Year of Gutsy Living on a Tropical Island, received 1st Place, and a Gold Medal in the “Autobiography/Memoir” category of the 2012 E-lit Awards. It also received a Silver Medal, in the “Travel Essay” category of the E-lit Awards

My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World, has been named a 2013 Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Honoree Winner, is a FINALIST at the 2014 International Book Awards, and WINNER at the 2014 Paris Book Festival.

I know you’ve spoken about getting people “out of their comfort zone,” and while this can have applications to many areas of life, I’m particularly interested in how it relates to entrepreneurship. What do you think it takes for someone to muster the “guts” to actually make the leap and execute their business idea? (In other words, what advice do you have for someone who is afraid to do this because they don’t want to leave their “comfort zone”?)

In general, writers prefer to sit at home and write. They often tend to be shy, and hope that their books will simply sell themselves. WRONG! As Joanna Penn stated, (and I saw your recent interview with her on your site Eric,) in her Google+ Hangout Interview with my friend Jason Matthews, you have to get out there and speak and promote your books. If you’re shy, “Get over it.” I agree with her, as no one knows your book better than you do and how is anyone going to hear about your work if you don’t promote it.

Even if you have the budget to hire a professional PR company, they still expect you to talk about your book on radio and TV interviews.

At the 2014 IBPA conference (Independent Book Publishers Association) presenters stated, Writers have no choice to opt out of social media. If you want to sell books, then you have to use social media. I am interviewing Angela Bole, Executive Director of IBPA on June 26th at 9 a.m. PST (California time.) It will be about indie publishing and learning what to do etc. You can listen LIVE here, or later on my YouTube Channel.

Finally, if you are truly shy, then social media can offer you ways to connect from your home.

Offer contests on your website,
Guest post and do written interviews on other sites
Form those important relationships with other writers online
Help promote others
Share helpful articles with your readers
Practice speaking in front of your camera and gradually become more confident
Offer podcasts on your own site so fans can hear your voice
Practice an interview with a close friend and get used to speaking
Take a class on public speaking
Attend writers’ conferences and network
Attend a writers’ group and gradually get out of your comfort zone

Looking generally at becoming an entrepreneur: If you had to take your best advice or inspirational thought and put it into one sentence or phrase, what would that be?

Authors need to think of themselves as a brand, and their book as a product. [Click here to tweet this]

You can read the entire interview on Eric Gati’s the Daily Interview on June 24th.

So how do you define your own success as an author, or as an entrepreneur?

Watch my LIVE INTERVIEW with author Fee Johnson, on August 1st at 9 a.m. PST. It will be recorded as well. Do you have questions for her? Please send them to me at: Sonia@soniamarsh.com before August 1st. You can read her “My Gutsy Story” here.

2 Nominees Fee Johnson and me (Sonia Marsh)

We shall be discussing: While mental health issues are more freely discussed these days, it’s still difficult to approach someone who might have a problem. But ignoring it is not an option. With courage and great hope, Felicia Johnson deftly portrays the struggles of a girl with borderline personality disorder in Her (8th Street Publishing).
JOIN ME as I interview Felicia Johnson, author of the novel “Her”, about her work in mental health advocacy, journaling, writing and mentoring youth.

July 28th, “My Gutsy Story®” by RITA GARDNER