Who do you think you are?

When failure is a modern cliché it is easy to step back from even trying. Getting published via traditional paths is beyond difficult if you are not notorious. It leaves you with a hard choice - you give in or you publish yourself. The harsh truth is that over 80% of self published books sell less than 100 copies.

Which screams: Give in now Potter. Although it is encouraging that over half the fiction books sold anywhere, are thriller/crime. That is all I want, to write stories that are enthralling, violent and touching. I want to entertain modern minds, both of women and men. The question is: With one book written and two others in development, how do I get lots of people to read what I write?

You need a good product. I have that, I'm pretty sure. Then you get it out there, which is a story for another day. And then you need to get it noticed. For established authors getting noticed is easy, you type their name into Amazon. The cover art for these authors is usually iconic, images that confirm what you love about the  experience. Admittedly I do have half a very established name, but anyone expecting magic here will be disappointed. At least in the realm of casting spells. Occasionally I manage magical, I like to believe.

So how does no name Potter attract readers? Word of mouth for a start. But even before that I need cover art that isn't just iconic, it must stop the casual browser in their tracks. It seems obvious this imagery for a thriller crime novel about lost innocence, should contain a beguiling woman. That seems as obvious as it was to make the books main character a woman. You have to be careful though. Real stories of lost innocence abound, they are a small niche. My imagery, immediately below the title Chasing Innocence, needs to make it very clear fiction is on offer - fast, violent, enthralling and touching. The image must tell a story and create questions in the casual browsers mind. Questions that need answering. It must make the casual browser click the books thumbnail, so that when they are presented with the cover -  a beguiling woman, haunted, resilient, a warrior. They are consumed by a need to know the woman's story.

For this kind of imagery stock photos are not going to do it, I know, I tried. You need a great photographer and above all, you need a special kind of female model. That model took a long time to find. She has now been booked, along with the photographer and the studio. In two weeks I will be sat in that studio watching the imagery being created. Of course I will doubt myself, who do I think I am, playing at publisher? But I could never not do this. It's about failure not being the default option. What would be the point having poured my creative soul into the book's content, if I did not invest the same into bringing it to everyone's attention?