I’m going to let you in on a secret. I haven’t released a new book since January 2018. Strange considering just a couple of years ago, I was feverishly or as some said, stupidly releasing a title a month.

This year, I had a plan and it went to, I won’t say hell, because that would mean I’d given up on those titles and I hadn’t. Those wonderful stories are either on my computer or in my head waiting to be born.

I have been talking about my forthcoming release A Southern Gentleman Vol 2 [ASGV2] for quite a while. The endless changes and pushed back release dates had me wondering if there was a subconscious reason why I was delaying sharing the next part of Jeremiah and Avery’s story.

I have been living with this couple for quite a while. I’m still in awe how a couple that were very minor guest stars in What My Friends Need To Know, have become my most popular couple to date. I have had more people tell me how much they love Jeremiah and how this story should be a movie. I’m flattered, but that’s not my goal. If such an offer were ever to be made, I think I might have to say no. I’ve seen some of my favorite books turned into movies and was very disappointed. I don’t think I’d be able to handle seeing my characters not as I conceived them. Everyone’s interpretation of art or your story is different. That’s one of the main reasons why I rarely use a face as the cover on my books. I give you just enough information for you to craft your version of that character.

Which leads to this month’s post. Last month I shared my release plan, which has taken a detour. I’ll share what I did next month.

Back to the subject at hand, the cover. So, I had a wonderful cover, I thought, then I went to the RAM Conference and had a come to Jesus moment. After a few hours at the conference my creative juices kicked in like twelve cans of Red Bull. My mind and fingers danced on the keyboard visiting stock photo sites. I found an image I loved. Unfortunately, it didn’t love my wallet. I could have bought a pair of shoes for the price of that image. There’s a reason why exclusive images cost so much, because they can and they’re beautiful. I did a very small test with the watermarked image and the response was amazing.

This would have been great to have because of the license freedoms. I could use the image on anything. Side note: Did you know some stock image sites only allow limited usage. And that one of the things not included are marketing materials [pens, buttons, bookmarks, postcards, etc.}

On to the second cover. I liked the image, but I needed to test it. I was going with abs or man chest. One image had a red sweater and abs. The other a black tuxedo jacket, and of course, abs. I was trying something new with my branding, a slightly sexier or sensual vibe. Ironically, I had originally considered the tuxedo image for book one, but went with the classic tight white shirt. I did a new test and the red sweater did well.

Fast forward a few months and the end of a major re-write to the end of the story and I started to feel the red sweater, didn’t feel right. It almost seemed too sweet. This story was more sensual making this image not right. However, I wasn’t going to make a change without doing a test. Did I forget to mention all of this happened just a few weeks ago. That’s right. About a month before my release date,I still hadn’t settled on a cover. Keep in mind, I have been sitting on this book over a year and here I was rethinking the cover.

I remembered a free image I used for marketing posts and thought it might be nice. His face wasn’t visible which was another plus. However, the man had tattoos and my character didn’t. A small one, I could skirt around like I did on book one [I have since removed it]. But these were big. One of his pecks and forearms were covered with tattoos. Other than those areas, the image was good.

I searched You Tube for Photoshop videos on how to get rid of tattoos. The tattoo on the forearm wasn’t an issue because of the shadow I put on the bottom of the image. Some more minor color adjusting, and I had an image I really liked.

I was ready to test again This time between the red sweater and the abs only chest. I hurriedly assembled a test group of readers and authors and was shocked at the results. Without knowing anything about the new ending, the red sweater lost…by a landslide. There were a couple of people who had read the revised book and agreed the abs was the best cover. What do you think? [Look below]

During this process, I was posting about the book and used a black placeholder cover. I placed the book on Pre-Order everywhere accept Amazon. I have mixed feelings about Pre-Orders on Amazon. I like that I can get early sales, but I don’t like the deadline. The pressure to make sure the file is up and complete is horrible. This time, I wanted to do a Pre-Order. Grateful for the early sales, but I made a mistake or misread the timeline details. I have a placeholder file up. More accurately, I have an ARC copy up. Now I am praying I can get it changed before the pre-orders are delivered. I believe everything will work out.

As I count down to release day, let me clarify, it’s not just a day, but a month. I’ve got a few things planned for the entire month for this release. Some of which, I have yet to put into play. I am currently finishing up Facebook and BookBub ad testing. Come Sunday, I’ll adjust the Facebook ads and book newsletter ads for the rest of the month. Instead of directing all of my ads for release day, I’m going to space them out over the course of the month to keep the momentum going. If this works, this may become my new ad strategy.

Here’s the selfless promo. I welcome any help in getting the word out about my new release. I’m available to post and come with gifts. If you allow me to post in your group or share with your newsletter, I’ll give a download to one of your readers. And when you release or have a book you want to promote, let me know. I’ll share it with my group and feature it in my newsletter.

Have a great weekend. Next month, I’ll update you on the release results.