Jennifer Lyon

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Friday, February 6th, 2015
New Covers for The Plus One Chronicles Series

As promised, I’m going to talk about why I’m doing new covers for The Plus One Chronicles Series. If you want to skip all this, you can scroll down to the bottom and see the covers. Or you can read on to see my reasoning/explanation. Okay, for those of you still reading, I debated doing this for a long time. This is a risk, I’m investing a good chunk of money in the covers—I need five of them.
–A new cover for each book: The Proposition, Possession and Obsession.
–I need a new 3D cover for The Plus One Chronicles boxed set
–And because not all vendors take 3D I also need a flat cover.

And then I need to reformat the files with the new covers and do some promo. All told, once I’m done, I’m going to spend a thousand or more on this.

So why am I doing it? There are several reasons, so let me start with some background. Last year alone, at iBooks, I sold 103,000 copies of The Plus One Chronicles Series. That’s my biggest vendor, but I’m giving you an idea of what kind of sales I had at one vendor.

By the end of last year and into this year, it’s dropped dramatically (down to hundreds and tapering off) as is the natural course of things. It’s the law of diminishing returns. Let’s not get into a bunch of economics here, the basic premise is simple: Buying excitement and motivation is high in the beginning and sales track up, and if all things remain the same, sales then plateau and fall. (A simplified explanation for MY purposes).

So basically, with all things being the same, I’ve reached the audience I’m going to reach for the most part. Sure I’ll get a few more, but not a lot. But if I change things up, I’m hoping to reach a NEW audience for this series. This means rebranding the series to go outside the reach I currently have. And part of that reach is the covers.

Covers mean a LOT in sales. They are one of our strongest tools to catch reader’s eyes. Story blubs, tag lines, and other promotional tools are useful too. But covers, particularly in this social media world where readers are scrolling through life and we only have one to three seconds to catch their attention, covers are key. As the old adage goes: A picture is worth a thousand words. A cover will, I believe, stop a scrolling reader to take a second look.

And a second look can add up to more sales.

So I decided it was time for new covers to see if I can breathe new life into the series. So here are the things I was looking for with a new cover.

1) Branding. The old covers, I think, were beautiful but they were very different. The first one showed a dessert, the second one showed a sensual woman, and the third a couple. They lacked cohesion and didn’t quite tell the story of the series. One could easily believe it was three DIFFERENT stories, not one over-arching story told in three segments. The new covers show the same couple on each book. And shows the progression of their relationship: First they are looking at each other in The Proposition which shows the beginning. In Possession they’re turned toward each other, clearly growling closer, and in Obsession they are intimately together, clearly in love. This gives a stronger concept an emotionally erotic love story.

2) My name and bestseller status. I am an international bestseller, and my name has become my brand. I had to get over my resistance and put that on the very top of my covers like a smart businesswoman.

3) All the titles and cupcake emblems are in the same, creating a more uniform brand.

4) The older cover for Possession was in the “dungeon” at Amazon. What that means is that it was suppressed in the search engines with an adult only tag due to the cover. Amazon has tightened their cover restrictions. I’m hoping the newer covers will be okay, however I want to say that I’m not complaining. Amazon has the right to make their rules, and I can choose to use them as a vendor or not. I choose to use them, and if these covers get tagged, that’s life. A side note: I’ve been in long discussion with another vendor, and so far we have not agreed on terms. I’d never bad mouth that vendor either—they have the prefect right to set their terms. This is business, not personal.

5) Late this year (or possibly early next year if things don’t go as I hope) I want to launch a new series that will be very loosely tied to the Sloane’s world in The Plus One Chronicles. Freshening up the covers could possibly bring new interest. It keeps my name alive while I get new books ready to release. And having The Plus One Chronicles more clearly branded will separate it from the Shattered Illusions series, but my name and bestseller statues will connect the two. So if someone reads the new series the Jennifer Lyon, International Bestselling Author, and search for more books by me, they’ll find The Plus One Chronicles.

6) THE ONE THING I DON’T WANT TO DO—trick readers who’ve already bought the books into buying the new ones. The titles, release dates and blurbs will all be the same. I’m openly discussing this to get the word out and will probably put both covers labeled “original” and “new” on my website.

So to wrap it up, I basically felt that the covers I was using had gotten a little stale, and freshening up the series with new updated ones might breathe new life into the series and reach an untapped readership.

It’s a risk. I have no way of knowing if it will pay off, but that’s the beauty of self-publishing—I’m in control, and I can try new things as long as I determine that I can afford the risk if it doesn’t pay off.

I expect the new covers will go up in most places in a week or two. After a month or so I’ll report back with the best numbers I can to let you know how it’s working.
And now…here are the covers!

The Proposition, Possession and Obsession designed by Patricia Schmitt

3SamplePlusOne_allthree_C

The Plus One Chronicles Boxed Set; 3-D version

Sample revised boxed set PlusOneBox_c (1)

The Plus One Chronicles Boxed Set, flat version

PlusOne_BOX_FLAT

Friday, March 7th, 2014
Happy Friday!

It’s already Friday again! So hard to believe. I’m expecting a good weekend because Bailey is coming tonight (I’m writing this blog on Thursday night) to stay the weekend, and I’m going to my local RWA chapter meeting on Saturday. Wizard says he and Bailey will hang out and do serious male bonding :-)

Also, I approved the audio for THE PROPOSITION so hopefully that will be up in a couple weeks. I’m so impressed with Ryan as a narrator/producer that I’ve contracted with him for the next two books, POSSESSION and OBSESSION.

I have to make time to write this weekend too!

What are your weekend plans?

Monday, October 21st, 2013
Weekend Roundup

Just a reminder that the OBSESSION Blog Tour is still going on. The grand prize is a $50.00 e-gift card and there are two runner-up prizes of $25.00 e-gift cards.  Go to my home page for the schedule of blog stops where you can enter.

I’m a tad less stressed now as my awesome editor for Entangled gave me until Dec. 1st to turn in THE COWBOY MARINE. Of course, in exchange I may have agreed to write another book. I’m not sure how that happened, but frankly, I’d have given her anything short of Bailey Dog for the extra time, LOL! I don’t have many details on the new book I agreed to, but I’ll share more when I do. And frankly, I jumped on the chance as soon as she asked me :-)

Overall, Wizard and I had a good weekend. We went to see the movie GRAVITY. Sigh…I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to, and neither did Wizard. But others obviously do love it since it’s kicking butt at the box office.  Everyone has different tastes.

I finished writing all my blogs and interviews for the blog tour, so now I can full concentrate on the COWBOY MARINE! And I need to keep rehabbing my leg at the gym.  I really REALLY need to get back to my full workout routine.  All that sitting and eating shows.

So how was your weekend?

 

Wednesday, October 16th, 2013
Wednesday Worthy

I can’t keep up! Okay let’s get some of the promo stuff out of the way.  For the OBSESSION Blog Tour schedule, check my home page The grand prize is a $50.00 electronic gift card, and the two runner up prizes are $25.00 e-gift cards.  Sometimes the posts don’t get up when they are scheduled because the blogs are run by real people with real lives :-)  I’m grateful to each and every blog hosting this tour and appreciate their work!

And secondly, all three books in The Plus One Chronicles; THE PROPOSITION, POSSESSION and OBSESSION have been in the top 50 contemporary romance list at iBooks (iTunes/Apple). This list changes daily (I think) so it may shift by the time you all see this.  But I’m thrilled. It was a surprise because my sales there have been modest, and then started trending up over the last month and soared when OBSESSION came out.  It’s an interesting market study–it seems a chunk of people waited for all the books to come out before buying.

Lastly, I’m slacking at answering comments. I see them–I just don’t always answer.  I’m truly sorry. I swear I mean too. But for weeks now, I’ve been working until bedtime (often getting nowhere!) and something has to give. Like all the dust in my house.  Even my vacuum cleaner misses me.  And FYI to Logan and Becky, the H/H in THE COWBOY MARINE–you two are driving me crazy.  Can’t we all just get along and write a nice simple not–too-freaking-sexy story? Is that too much to ask?

But I digress…

Enough of all that! Let’s move right into our Wednesday Worthy. Now it looks to me like some witch tried to “capture ” this guy and he’s highly amused by the puny attempt.

bigstock-Portrait-of-a-handsome-muscula-50502593

 

So what do you think? Is he worthy?

 

 

Friday, October 11th, 2013
Happy Friday!

Another week gone! How does that happen? Insane!

This weekend, I’m escaping to a hotel for a weekend with my laptop.  Saturday I’m going to the Orange County Chapter of RWA Birthday Bash where Victoria Dahl is a speaker and I’m looking forward to that. I’m going to hang out with friends and then work, work, work.  I absolutely have to get a crap-ton of pages written.  I can do it, even on my laptop.  I don’t know how good my internet access will be.

Much to my amusement, Wizard has 110% supported this idea.  It’s like he’s trying to get rid of me or something, LOL!

Oh and I went back to the gym twice this week, yay! I’m going very slow and careful with my Achilles, but it is seriously doing great now.

OBSESSION is continuing to stay up on the charts and rankings.  I know I keep saying it, but thank you all so much! I love Kat and Sloane (and Drake). They came to me when I was in a difficult place, showing me how love, a sense of humor and patience can heal.  Now I get to share them with the world, and it’s an amazing experience.

Enough of that! Tell me what you’re doing this weekend! I always want to know :-)

 

Monday, October 7th, 2013
Weekend Roundup

It was a crazy weekend! OBSESSION is live at all the vendors except iTunes (it takes longer there), and it absolutely stunned me with how well it’s doing.  Thank you all so much! I couldn’t do this without you guys!

Then Saturday I went to the mall and lunch with Biker Witch. We were celebrating her birthday and just having a fun day. Oddly enough we didn’t get into any trouble. We’ve stayed out of trouble for something like a year now, which is a major record for us.  Trouble tends to follow Biker Witch around, that’s all I’m saying :-)  The day was awesome! And FYI to Biker Witch, you still owe me a coffee!

Then Sunday Wizard and I went to CPA Boy and Special K’s house, then we all went to Middle Son and Girlfriend’s place at the beach. Girlfriend made us a delicious dinner and I quickly realized she’s a better cook than me. I mean much better! I love that. Pesto pasta and chicken–it was fabulous.

But you know what the best part was? SEEING BAILEY DOG!! He’s doing great! We were all hanging out with Bailey.

Here are buy links for OBSESSION for anyone who wants them Kindle / Nook / Kobo

How was your weekend?

 

Friday, October 4th, 2013
Happy Friday!

I got most of the formatted files back for  OBSESSION last night and have started the process of setting those up to publish.   I ran into a problem with Kobo and will try to solve that today.  There’s always something. Could just be a glitch too.

I”m not even going to talk about how writing is going. Let’s just say I really need a day off! Which is good timing  because Biker Witch (my sister) and I are going  out tomorrow to find some trouble…or at least some cake!

So what are you all doing this weekend?

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