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?

Wednesday, January 1st, 2014
Professional Lessons of 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I wish you all a Happy and Successful 2014!

I started to write this blog late yesterday afternoon but Wizard came home from work early and I got side tracked by the glass of wine he held in front of my face :-) I hope you all had a fun and safe New Year’s Eve! We  stayed home and made our traditional steak and lobster, along with a spinach salad, fresh-baked bread and some  wine.   After all the non-stop holiday craziness from Thanksgiving on, we were ready for a quiet night.

I’m not doing New Years Resolutions, they always look the same: Get in better shape, learn to write faster, try to be more patient especially while driving…it’s always the same things. Instead I’m going to list a few things that I learned career-wise  in 2013.

CHOOSING TO SELF PUBLISH: I didn’t shop the Plus One Chronicles anywhere, I didn’t even show it to my agent.  This story was important to me and while publishers can be awesome to work with, in this case, I had a vision that I feared they might want to water down.  I had no idea, not a clue, that the books would do as well as they did.  What also surprised me is how much I love self publishing.  It’s probably a good thing I didn’t quite grasp exactly how much long hours and sheer perseverance it would require of me. But  now I have a pretty good idea and I plan to continue self publishing with a new series I’m beyond excited about in 2014. However, that said, I’m always going to keep an open mind. If a publisher offered me a good deal, I’d probably take it and be thrilled.

EDITING: I still, and will always, need a good editor. I found one of the best editors I’ve worked with in my entire career for The Plus One Chronicles.  She’s not cheap but worth every penny.  Editing is a rare combination of skill and talent that is critical to developing a book to its fullest potential.  Sasha (my editor) always stayed true to my vision while pushing me hard to not only choose every word carefully, but to develop my characters to the point where she’d say things like, “This doesn’t sound like Sloane” on a piece of dialogue.  On POSSESSION her revision letter started with, “This book needs some extra loving,” which meant, I’m going to work your butt off to make this book shine because right now it’s not good enough.  I went into full-blown, stomach churning, bile spewing, panic. But I took that book apart and fixed it to the best of my ability. And I am grateful to Sasha that she didn’t pull her punches. We have a very professional relationship–she respects my vision, and I respect her edits. I don’t get angry at her edits, even in the rare case that if I didn’t agree with them.

GOALS: I learned that setting clear concise goals is important to keep me focused. My goals were to write Kat and Sloane’s story in three books, write the Once A Marine Series, and my overall goal this year was to reach new readers. That’s it. I didn’t aim for lists. There is a way to aim for lists, and I chose not to do that because I’d put too much pressure and expectations on myself.  I know myself well enough to understand the disappointment would get in the way of my writing. When I ended up hitting a few lists (not the USA Today and NYT), I was stunned and over-the-moon excited, but it was more of a happy accident than a goal.  And this leads me to my next one:

PROFESSIONAL JEALOUSY:  It’s real, it happens, we’re all human. We can’t always control what we feel, but we can control how we react.  An example is my good friend, Laura, she’s hit both the USA Today and New York Times this year.   Here’s how I felt: THRILLED! Laura and I’ve known each other for years and years, we’re critique partners, and I know exactly how talented she is, and how hard she works–and here’s the best part–Laura’s one of the most genuine people you’ll  ever meet.  Shes’ also incredibly supportive of me, and many other authors.  I knew she was going to hit the NYT before she did. But was I jealous? Sure. However I refused to let that dim my happiness for her, I celebrated with her and had a blast. We were texting constantly and soon the jealously faded. (By the way, Laura knows all this, we talk about this stuff straight up.) Feeling jealous or envious is normal. The mark of our character though is how we react. I want to be happy for other people’s successes and so I will be.

SOCIAL MEDIA and BRANDING: This is something I’m still learning. It’s a guilt that dogs me, I should be interacting more on social media, creating a stronger online persona and branding myself. Except I would rather write :-) And the thought of branding myself sounds…painful :-) So…I’ll keep trying. Although I love my Lyon FB page–that one is fun, plus I love doing giveaways there when I have the time and resources.

DEADLINES AND PRESSURE:  Stomach burning, insomnia producing, sweat popping pressure can force a book out of me. I don’t like it, in fact, I hate it. But I can do it.  I’m hoping that knowing I can do it will calm that insane level of anxiety I dealt with this year. But it won’t–the root of that anxiety is that I care DEEPLY about my readers and worry about disappointing them.

EXPECTED THE UNEXPECTED: Like the offer from the German publisher to buy the translation rights to The Plus One Chronicles. I was gobsmacked. The books will be released in Germany late 2014. But the unexpected will also bring more work that takes time away from writing. I’m learning to be flexible and accept that there will be many nights where I must work. I have to sacrifice things like reading and TV. That’s okay though :-) Insomnia gives me a chance to catch up on reading!

READERS:  I love my readers! It’s readers that have given me the best job in the world.

Okay that was a long LONG post! If you made it this far, chime in with anything you want. Maybe something you’ve learned this year, or comments on something I’ve learned, or just tell me anything you feel like sharing.

 

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?

 

 

Wednesday, August 21st, 2013
Wednesday Worthy

Soooo close! I got through the black moment of Obsession yesterday. I just need a couple more scenes and then I have a full draft. This book is due at the editor’s scary soon, as in mere days.  But I’ll flesh out, clean up and revise fast.

This is has been one of the hardest books I’ve ever written.  Possession was hard because the sexuality was so raw, intense and powerful, but this one has been emotionally hard. I wanted to protect my characters too much and I loved one character right from the start that was on a path I just couldn’t change and stay true to the story.  So I found myself avoiding writing certain scenes with dismaying regularity.  I have no idea if I’m even close to writing anything good though.

But you know what? Not trying is certain failure and we all deserve to be proud of ourselves for trying, right?

So, for our Wednesday Worthy candidate today I’m tossing out all the regular men and bringing in the guy I’m wildly in love with:

 

Bath Time for Bailey

Bailey Dog! Middle Son sent me this picture of Bailey after his bath this week.  Normally Bailey doesn’t love being wrapped up like that, but he let Middle Son’s girlfriend do it because he adores her.

I miss Bailey, I don’t get to see him as often as I used to, but Middle Son sends me pics like this that make my day. Then when I show Wizard the picture, he  nags me to go get Bailey for a week. I think we’re going to have to have a weekend with him soon!

So who is your pick for Wednesday Worthy? It can be anyone–or doge–you want, we’re breaking all the rules today!

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013
Wednesday Worthy

Last night I did a little 15 minutes spot on the radio show  Canned Laughter and Coffee with Renee Bernard.  It was fun, but she totally carried the show.  All promo should be that fun and easy! I didn’t have to pitch my books or any of the usual stuff that gives me migraines.  Once I have a link to the show I’ll share it.

Now that all the promo on POSSESSION is done for now (yay!), I’m trying to get deep into writing OBSESSION.  No one want to talk about my super annoying process so let’s not.

I need to go hunk shopping soon but since I haven’t done it yet, we’ll do something a little different for Wednesday Worthy. We still have a hunk, but he’s on the cover of ROGUE MOON, Silver Jame’s latest release in her Moonstruck series!

Rogue Moon by Silver James cover

 

I bought my copy yesterday, you can get your copy at Amazon here 

I don’t need to ask you all if this guy is worthy because he totally is!

So let’s change the subject. In addition to hunk shopping (that’s a real thing. Seriously.  It is!) I also need to go dress shopping for oldest son’s wedding this summer. I know this because every time I go have my hair cut (and colored!) my hairdresser reminds me. Last time she threatened to take me shopping herself. Wizard even went out and bought new clothes for the wedding and now everyone is starting to look at me like this might be important.

I’ve seen a picture of the bride’s dress and it’s gorgeous.  I can’t wait to see her in it!  So who cares what I wear?

Oh crap, something just occurred to me. Do I have to wear nylons too?

Wednesday, June 12th, 2013
Wednesday Worthy

I’m fighting a sinus headache that will be significantly better by the time you all read this. It’s humid today and mostly weather related so I’m thinking positive that it will go away.

I wanted to share with you all that POSSESSION hit the Barnes and Noble Self Published bestseller list at #5. (link here  http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/abbi-glines-rockets-to-top-of-self-published-bestsellers-list_b71993 ) This is the second week on the list, the week before it was at #10. I’m thrilled and stunned by it. It’s so great that people are connecting with the characters!

So then emailed exactly one friend–Laura Wright. Normally I text her, but I know she’s frantically trying ot finish a book and din’t want to interrupt her flow. But she she emails right back:

Not surprised! Seriously, it was a great book. The 3rd better live up to it.
 No pressure.
:)
What me feeling pressure? LOLOL!! Seriously I  should get some new friends. You know, the kind that don’t PRESSURE me!  Sigh.
I had some other things I wanted to talk about but my headache isn’t cooperating. So I’ll just put up another picture, this is the one Angela from Under the Covers Blogs used as Sloane for the Bad Boys of Romance Blog Hop
Sloane photo (18)
So what do you all think?

 

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