[Sam Rivers]

Sally Ann and Her Cowboy has been my best seller. I published it the middle of June. It sold 10 copies during June and has already sold 2 copies this month, one last night.

I am not even especially fond of the novel, but obviously others are since it keeps selling.

But I keep looking at it and can't figure it out. The book cover is not overly great, the description is short, and I see nothing there that would make me want to read it. Even the title is sort of cheesy. But it keeps selling and selling.

When my wife asks if I sold anything, I just say "only Sally Ann and Her Cowboy."

Can you see any reason it would be selling so well since it is a mystery to me. I wished I could figure out what I did right with this novel so I could do it with the rest of them.

 

[MonkeyScribe]

I'm guessing it appeals to people who like a traditional-sounding romance. From that standpoint, the description and the pricing sound enticing. Having said that, you could probably double those sales with very little effort. I'm not graphic artist, but why not download a better cover and use a better font. For example, something like this could be converted very easily.

One other little thing. This is your description.

Sally Ann noticed Clint coming around the farm a lot and soon she found out why. He wanted to marry her since he needed a wife to help him on his ranch. Since her folks had too many kids to support, she agreed to the marriage. She didn't know anything about sex so had to learn everything from scratch. She soon found that she would have to rope her wild cowboy in and make him tow the line. This is an erotic romance.

That should be "toe the line."

 

[Guest]

It is a 99 cent erotic romance.  Romance/erotica makes up a huge portion of the ebook buying public.  There is a demographic that will buy just about anything at 99 cents.  This isn't a great mystery if you accidentally stumbled over a dozen sales in a month.

 

[daveconifer]

Man, talk about taking the wind from his "sales." 

Keep up the good work, Franklin!  And yeah, I think Michael's right about the cover.  Small investment, big payoff...

 

[Paul Clayton]

Don't ask, just enjoy!  Kidding, actually.  You must have tapped into a good market.  The 99 cents price also may account for it.  Me, I'm going the other way, albeit, slowly.

 

[MonkeyScribe]

Man, talk about taking the wind from his "sales."

You're right, I look at a dozen sales and see a great sign. First, and most importantly, Franklin has written something that makes people want to fork over money and valuable time to read. Chances are, even at a buck, some of those people downloaded the sample first and liked what they saw. Second, with a cover that is nothing more than a cow and a simple font, I see an easy way to make that book sell far more copies. Finally, it was just the first month. There is a huge upside to growth with this book.

The title of Sally Ann and Her Cowboy, coupled with erotic romance is a simple, but effective lure. It is a straightforward promise to the reader. It's the equivalent of calling your burger stand "Big and Hearty Burgers." Not everyone wants big and hearty, they want gourmet burgers or tacos or sushi. But if you do, in fact, serve a "big and hearty" burger, there will be plenty of people who will line up to buy. Similarly, if you can write a story that is woman + cowboy + romance + sex, and you can do it well, you'll have people lining up to get your book.

 

[swolf]

That should be "toe the line."

Maybe the success can be attributed to the blurb attracting that untapped demographic of tow-truck drivers who yearn to be cowboys, and fixing that typo could spell disaster.

 

[Carolyn J. Rose Mystery Writer]

LOL - tow-truck drivers.
Maybe there's a line he's going to tow. Maybe it's the clothesline where they hang up the garments they shed when they . . . well, you know.

 

[Guest]

Man, talk about taking the wind from his "sales."

What? I assume this was a genuine question and he was looking for a straight answer. It sounded like he was looking for some hidden meaning, and I see no point in letting him fixate on what is a rather simple situation. Sometimes we make things far too complicated. Sort of like asking "Gee, why is my lemonade stand selling so much lemonade?" When it is a 100 degrees outside. Come on, now.

 

[daveconifer]

What? I assume this was a genuine question and he was looking for a straight answer. It sounded like he was looking for some hidden meaning, and I see no point in letting him fixate on what is a rather simple situation. Sometimes we make things far too complicated. Sort of like asking "Gee, why is my lemonade stand selling so much lemonade?" When it is a 100 degrees outside. Come on, now.

Once I thought of the wind/sales line I couldn't not post it...

 

[Emeline Danvers]

I agree about the cover. That cowboy couple pic someone posted would make a great romance cover, but if it's erotica, it's not sexy enough. A cow is DEFINITELY not sexy. Well, not to normal people, anyway.

A much bigger font would be good--one that is a little more interesting than just that plain one you have, and more than just plain black. Even adding a drop shadow would help.

Here is a mock-up I did of what you can do. The pic probably isn't ideal for your story, and the font is used too often (but I still love it...it's called Bleeding Cowboys). The title should probably be bigger too, but that pic was a hard one to work around, and it's already covering his chest. But you get the idea. I made this in 7 minutes, including google search, using GIMP, with extra fonts I already had downloaded from the internet for free. The pic is from Dreamstime.

Here's a link to the mock cover:http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5906896871/in/photostream#/

(Sorry, don't know how to upload pics without having it on my blog.)

Just to give you an idea of what you can do. I'm not at ALL tech-savvy, I just taught myself how to use gimp through online tutorials. And it's free.

 

[Emeline Danvers]

Oh, also, you used the line "she soon found out" twice in the blurb.  Cut one of them. 

I think if you re-did the cover, you'd double your sales, or better.  I saw on the Amazon site the cover is different.  Sweet teenage girl all covered up?  Doesn't say erotica. Try a young woman in her twenties, wearing Daisy Duke shorts and a shirt tied in a knot if it's for guys, or a sexy shirtless guy in a cowboy hat and jeans if the story is geared toward women.  But a couple embracing would be better than either of those options.

 

[Gentleman Zombie]

Erotic romance sells well. It just does, I wish i knew the secret. I'm already into the first week of July and I've had 7 11 sales. While I wouldn't say my writings terrible, its also not perfect. Yet people keep buying and I've gotten a nice compliment or two. I sold thirty-five copies last month..and I didn't start posting work until the middle of June!

I'd suggest fixing up the cover some and tweaking the blurb, you'll probably see even better sales. Heck, write a sequel even!

 

[Guest]

Once I thought of the wind/sales line I couldn't not post it...

A valid point.

 

[Dr. Laurence Brown]

I agree with all the thoughts about the cover - sprucing that up will result in more traffic. And an erotica priced at 0.99 is definitely going to draw some attention and downloads. Don't think of it as "why is my novel selling so well", look at it as a positive!

 

[Amanda Brice]

Give it a new cover, and you'll easily double, triple, or more those sales. But great start!

 

[balaspa]

I can relate. My bestselling novel is RIG.  Why?  I claim it is because it is the one book I had a graphic designer friend create the book cover.  It is NOT my favorite work.  I claim, quite openly, that it is my "B-Movie Novel."  I think After the Snowfall and my Sin-Eater series have better characters, better story and are more tightly constructed.  But, for some reason, RIG continues to sell.  It is my red-headed step-child of a novel.

 

[39179]

Hello Franklin,

It looks like you've received some great cover and blurb advice here to make your book sell even better than it is.

In answer to your question of how to make your other books sell as well, I'd take the same advice you've received for this one and apply it to all of them. I think you recently updated all of your book covers (and titles, if memory serves), but they still all seem quite tame and conservative for what is mostly erotic romance. Using images that are more provocative and genre-identifying will most likely work wonders.

Good luck!

 

[Amanda Brice]

Franklin, I just clicked on your cow book and see you've updated the title. The new one is definitely better, but it still doesn't say "erotic romance." There's absolutely nothing about this new title that even says "romance" let alone "erotic." It's just a woman (she looks quite young...possibly even a teenager) in a cowboy hat, smiling directly at the camera.

I'd go back to the drawing board yet again. You need a sexy pose that screams sex.

 

[Emeline Danvers]

Erotic romance sells well. It just does, I wish i knew the secret.

Vicky, I know the secret. Here it is...

SEX!!!

There's absolutely nothing about this new title that even says "romance" let alone "erotic." It's just a woman (she looks quite young...possibly even a teenager) in a cowboy hat, smiling directly at the camera.

Amanda, I'm glad you said that. I was wondering if it was only me, but that girl in the new cover looked under age. Putting a girl like that on the cover of an erotica novel makes me think "child predator novel". NOT an impression Franklin wants to give, I'm sure. That's why I suggested a girl in her twenties instead.