So having said in my last post that I had nothing really to flag up, I discovered almost immediately afterwards that Bitesize got a mention in Joel Friedlander’s eBook Cover Design Awards post for July! I’d submitted the cover mainly in the hope that people might see it and consider exploring the book, so Joel’s feedback is a great bonus:
When I was putting the cover together I thought about adding another ribbon with the book’s subtitle: ‘a collection of flash fiction’. In the end I decided not to in case it looked fussy. However, given Joel’s advice I’ll try it out and see how it looks.
So here’s my question to you: which do you think will work best on the cover?
- An extra ribbon just beneath the title with a little space between?
- An extra ribbon more or less in the middle?
Go on, leave me a comment below with your thoughts.
And now, a reflection. Recently Bitesize has received its first reviews on Amazon, and I’m very proud to say that both are 5 stars. Here they are:
I’ll be honest and say that these reviews were a massive relief! I didn’t expect Bitesize to be as popular as the Secret Notebook of Sherlock Holmes, because I don’t think flash fiction is particularly easy to sell. Setting the book launch just before the EU referendum was also not one of my best moves – talk about truth being stranger than fiction!
However, as time went on and Bitesize just sat there, I began to wonder if I was making excuses for the book. Maybe Bitesize wasn’t selling because (whisper) people didn’t think it was worth buying. The voice on my other shoulder was telling me that it’s got several stories in it which have placed in competitions and had lots of positive feedback. But that isn’t much consolation when you check the book’s stats on Amazon and see it sliding down the rankings. Is it the cover? Is it the genre? Is it the book description? Did I put the wrong stories in the sample? Is it just one of those things?
That’s one of the reasons why reviews are so important. Without them I wouldn’t know that people out there, people who don’t know me and have no obligation to be nice, actually enjoyed the book. Maybe the next reviews won’t be as glowing, but the reader has taken the time and trouble to let people know their opinion of the book. And that counts for a lot, including the book’s visibility on Amazon.
Anyway, enough introspection – up and at ’em! And for my next book, I shall try sending out ARCs – advance review copies – to try and get some early reviews on the board. So if you’d be interested in getting your hands on one, stay tuned for an announcement next month – which, scarily, isn’t too far away!
Oh yes, and if all the Bitesize talk has whetted your appetite, you can download a free sample or buy the book here.
Liz Hedgecock 