Going Where Life Takes Me

 Greetings! Happy 2025! I hope this first week of this new year has been kind to you. This year I will do my personal best to eliminate some stress by focusing on what is only within my control. Do what I have control over, after that, the rest of the world is out of my hands. Which comes in handy with things like weather and natural events. So, with all this new free time I have, focusing on my own little world, I decided to first off do something unique. It will be yet to be seen if it will work or not but I have decided to re-do two eBook covers since I have them enrolled on Kindle Unlimited. Ready to see them? 

Yes, I have given the eBook cover of Portrait of an Unlikely Affair and The Allegheny Chronicles: Eden & the Alchemist special eBook covers for the time they are enrolled on Kindle Unlimited because folks do tend to judge books by their covers and after spending most of my December staring at covers, book descriptions, and reading marketing books, I figured hey, let's try this. While I'm not going to go into the marketing genius that is behind traditional book publishers, I've decided to break the most recommended piece of advice marketers give authors (don't design your own covers) and continue to do just that (design my own covers.) It's all I can afford at the moment. 

The story that introduces you to Brian and Avonlea has gotten this cover now. It's a mix of the original cover design that people seemed to enjoy and a more updated version. While Portrait of an Unlikely Affair does become about Brian's journey, Avonlea is a huge part of his growth so I put a woman on the cover with an assortment of polaroid-type photos to the side. They say make the cover represent the story within so, there we have it. I also added to the blurb some "what to expect" bullets from the story because people like to know before they get there. Yes, I have this book classified as a romance, but I have learned to put "Clean" in front of it because most people expect a lot of spice out of their romance novels these days, which is why I'm not entirely certain my book is a romance book. I classify it as action and adventure but this first book isn't a lot in action. It's building to the action. It's an adventure for sure. And I did have to clarify that there is "no cheating" in this book. I'm learning bookish terms as I go and I'll see what I can do as I go along here. Always learning.

This cover above is still the one that you will get when you order the physical copies of the book but I think the "new" cover will grab the attention of ebook readers. 

 TAC: Eden and the Alchemist got a new cover. I'm actually considering putting it as the physical copy covers as well. If you've read the book already, you know why I put this little quaint and whimsical cabin on the cover. I also updated the description on my eBook with words like "clean" and such as to what to expect out of it. I really don't know what more to say about this without giving anything more away. 

UPDATES: I am still working on the fourth installment of The Allegheny Chronicles. I'm excited about it as it takes shape. 

I see that TAC: The Warrior Returns has been getting ratings on Amazon, which means you all have been liking it. I will write a future blog about what I have been learning in regards to ratings and algorithms so you will all know just how much rating and reviews help authors out. 

I also just added a film frame to The Ghost of Oscar, book 3 of the Portrait of an Unlikely Affair series. If covers are supposed to represent the book, well, the finding of that film overlay has just added to the perfection of it. (see below.)

So that's it for today. My children apparently really want my focus and attention because this has taken me over an hour to write, losing my train of thought through a multitude of distractions and interruptions so I must go and give them my undivided attention. I do appreciate you stopping by. Have a great rest of your week!