I’ve jumped off the social media merry-go-round for a while. I was getting way too dizzy. Plus, I needed time away with very few distractions to put together a few things leading up to the release of Labyrinth of the Dolls, the second book in the Tom Nolan series (more news to follow this week).
One of the things I’ve been doing lately is listening to a lot of feedback in reviews of Bad People, as well as reading about marketing for self publishers. Incidentally, a great book about this is David Gaughran’s Let’s Get Digital. He goes through the whole process of self publishing and offers advice, best practices and ways to improve sales. I think it’s currently free too (at least at the time of writing this). So what I found in the reviews of Bad People were a few comments on the cover. While many thought it was cool and intriguing, there was also a counterbalance, mainly by those saying it was too disturbing and off putting. While it depicts the theme of the book well, I didn’t take into consideration the emotive angle, especially towards those who love animals. At the time, it served its purpose well, but what I’m attempting to do now is reach to larger demographic/readership and maybe it was time for a change.
The Tom Nolan series is, at its core a British thriller. However, it also has elements of horror running through its core. To bring in the crime/thriller audience, I knew the current cover didn’t have enough honey to lure them in. I also needed to appeal to the horror market too, but not so much it would put off the crime/thriller readership. With these considerations at the fore, I attempted, albeit with limited skills, to offer an image that straddles both the thriller and horror market, but also remains relevant to the story. So many books these days don’t and have become so ambiguous you’re never too sure what you’re getting. Here’s the final image, which from today is the only cover now available (that’s right, if you bought the book with the tree and the pig, it’s now a rare edition!):
Without giving too much away, the image used is apt to the story because a series of murders takes place in an old abandoned waterworks on the Yorkshire moors. The silhouetted woman has an ethereal/ghostly appearance that, while loyal to the story (victims are both male and female), I felt will appeal to the horror cohort. It also has that mass market feel of airport fiction thriller books, but still retains enough darkness not to make it cheesy. Cool quote too from the world’s number 1 horror magazine, SCREAM, again, helping to cross the thriller/horror divide.
I’m really happy with it and it dovetails perfectly with the second book, Labyrinth of Dolls, the cover to which will be exclusively revealed on the Night Worms blog sometime this week.
So, if you haven’t got your copy yet, now is a good time to be one of the first to pageant the new cover at home, or on social media. And let me know what you think too. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
For now, take care, stay safe and best wishes.
Craig
Craig Wallwork 