Cover Reveal: HOLLYWOOD ENDING by Kellye Garrett

Cover Reveal: PATH INTO DARKNESS

By Lisa Alber

Whew! OK, are we back to regularly scheduled programming yet? I, like so many of us, have been obsessed with politics for the past few months. But now, it's time to return to my writing, get back into routines, and keep abreast of the news without letting emotions run away from me.

That said, look what I have--a cover! PATH INTO DARKNESS comes out in August 2017, and it's available for preorder right here.

I love those brooding clouds on the horizon and the fact that the terrain reminds me of County Clare, where the story takes place. I have many similar photos of rural lanes, rock walls, and limestone hills.

A haunting tale of family secrets, madness, and healing in small-town Ireland

Lisfenora is known across the British Isles for its yearly matchmaking festival. But a local man’s murder and the grim discovery in his home have cast a somber mood over the town. Detective Sergeant Danny Ahern tries to make sense of the chaotic scene while struggling to set aside moral conflicts and grief for his comatose wife. Within days, he’s plunged into even darker terrain when the investigation leads him on a collision course with the Tate family: troubled Nathan, who conceals secrets within ghastly secrets, and beautiful Mari, the daughter he abandoned years ago.

As darkness asserts its grip on Nathan, propelling him toward a tragic downfall, Danny finds himself traveling down his own dark path between life and death.

Lisa Alber is the author of the County Clare mysteries. Her debut novel, Kilmoon, has been called "utterly poetic" and "a stirring debut." Her second in the County Clare mysteries, WHISPERS IN THE MIST came out in August from Midnight Ink Books. Ever distractible, you may find her staring out windows, fooling around online, or drinking red wine with her friends. Ireland, books, animals, photography, and blogging round out her distractions. Facebook | Twitter

It's a Cover Reveal Contest!

I'm practically jumping up and down about the cover of my fourth Downward Dog Mystery, A Fatal Twist.  Last year's cover reveal contest was so fun, I've decided to do it again!  Here’s how it works:

Each day for the next seven days, I’ll post an element of the cover on my Facebook author page https://www.facebook.com/TracyWeberAuthor.  Before midnight that day, leave a comment naming the object pictured and you’ll be entered into that day’s contest.  “Liking" my author page or “Friending” me on Facebook while you’re there is good Karma, but not required.

While you’re there, be sure to make a note of the object for the grand prize round.

Then, any time between when I post the final object on Sunday, July 3 and Wednesday, July 6 at midnight, send me an e-mail at Tracy@WholeLifeYoga.com with all seven objects, and you’ll be entered to win the Malice Prize Pack: a copy of  Malice Domestic Murder Most Conventional, the Malice 28 book bag and program, the coolest author swag I scooped up at the event AND an autographed, advanced copy of A Fatal Twist when it is available in August.

Here are the prizes! 

• Monday: An autographed copy of my Agatha Nominated first book, Murder Strikes a Pose. If you already own it, remember:  books make great gifts!
• Tuesday: A Downward Dog Mysteries coffee mug.
• Wednesday: An autographed copy of the second book in the series, A Killer Retreat. If you already own it, remember:  books make great gifts!
• Thursday:  An oh-so-cute German shepherd coloring book and colored pencil set.
• Friday:  An autographed copy of the third book in the series, Karma’s a Killer. If you already own it, remember:  books make great gifts!
• Saturday: A $15 Amazon gift certificate.
• Sunday: An advanced copy of A Fatal Twist when it’s available sometime in August.
• Grand Prize:  Malice prize pack AND an advanced copy of A Fatal Twist when it’s available.

The first element is pictured below. Visit today's post on my  Facebook Author Page and make your entry!

 

NOTE:  By entering, you acknowledge that Facebook is not liable for any part of the contest.  The contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.  ;-)
Namaste and good luck!

Tracy Weber



Check out Tracy Weber’s author page for information about the Downward Dog Mysteries series.  KARMA'S A KILLER, A KILLER RETREAT and MURDER STRIKES A POSE are available at book sellers everywhere! 

5 Reasons I Love the Cover for WHISPERS IN THE MIST

By Lisa Alber

Woohoo! I almost feel like not writing a post and letting the cover stand on its own. On the other hand, I'm so proud of my book baby in its finery that I can't help but gush.

In July I wrote my first Inkspot blog post as a Midnight Ink author. I didn't get into many details about my novel (coming out August 2016) because everything was new and in process. And now here I am loving the new title (my working title was Grey Man) and the cover. Let me tell you all the reasons why:

1. The title works on so many levels, and I love it when titles reflect the layers within a story. The word "whispers" implies hidden or secretive things, right? There's the past whispering at one of the characters, tormenting her. There's guilt and regret and betrayal, all which can whisper at you, eating away at your well being. There are literal whispers--manipulations and threats spoken aloud. There's the atmospheric shush, like a whisper, within literal mists.

2. And speaking of "mist" in the title. The novel is set in Ireland, where atmospherics abound. In the novel, mist has descended on my fictional village, further obscuring already murky goings on. I mean, it's moody, right? I like a moody mystery myself, which is probably why I write them that way.

3. I adore the way the path and figure draw you into the cover and thus the story. It's the pictorial version of drawing in readers with a verbal, Once upon a time ...

4. There's my name. My name! Aspiring novelists dream of having their names on the covers of their books. I'm heartily grateful to see mine on Whispers in the Mist. Thank you, Midnight Ink!

5. Last but not least, I love the color teal. The Midnight Ink art department didn't know this, of course, but I feel like they chose that color just. for. me. :-)

A short and sweet post for me this month, because in the case of my cover, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

If you're curious about who the figure could be (and who I think it is) and want to read some short excerpts from Whispers in the Mist, please check out my Facebook author page. It's open to the public, and you don't have to be signed up for Facebook to view it (I don't think). Just scroll down a little to view the posts with the word GIVEAWAY in them.

Let me know what you think!

Question for you, dear readers: What do you look for in a cover? Do you pick up books based on their covers?

Seven Tips for a Successful Cover Reveal Contest

 

A cover reveal is supposedly the perfect opportunity to build excitement about your newest novel, but how do you get anyone other than your mother to care?  My past cover reveals (all two of them) got lots of likes and more than a few comments, but they felt anticlimactic to me.  I love my covers.  I want my readers to be as excited about them as I am.  But how?

On the flight  home from Malice, the answer came to me.  Host a cover reveal contest!

Now all I had to do was figure out how to do it.  In case any of you want to try one too, here are my key learnings:
 

Seven tips for a successful cover reveal contest:

Follow the rules.  My favorite social media marketing tool is Facebook, but Facebook is persnickety about contests.  There are rules, rules and more rules.  Follow them and all is golden.  Don’t?  You might get yourself banned to Facebook purgatory.  A place where your Facebook privileges are suspended or even revoked completely. Facebook rules, including those pertaining to contests, are at this page.

Have a single web page that summarizes the contest.  I write for multiple blogs, but I posted the first day of the contest on my personal blog.  This included the disclaimers and instructions for all days of the week-long contest.  That way even as the contest continued to plug along, I had a single place I could refer people. Even though I thought I was clear in every post, I had multiple entries that I needed to correct each day.

Make it a week-long event

In my case, there were 5 key elements in the cover I wanted to highlight, so I spread the contest out over 5 days, with a unique prize each day. The grand prize round two was days later.  Even my husband, who had seen the cover multiple times, started to wonder what the next “reveal” would be.  And the participants created stories about how the 5 elements might fit together—some of them surprisingly close to the truth!

Have a grand finale

The final reveal, of course is the grand finale, but shouldn’t there be a grand prize to go along with it?  In my case, I honored my fellow Agatha nominees for Best First Novel by giving a set of autographed copies of all 5 of the nominated books. 

Ask for a little help from your friends

In this case, my friends are my street team.  I had a special contest for a signed ARC of my book to street team members who shared the post.  That got me reach to readers I’d never otherwise find.

Be involved

I’ll admit, this contest took a lot more time than I thought it would.  Posting the contest was only the start.  I also had to check in on the posts several times a day, note who had shared each post and how many times, and reply to the relevant comments.  I also had to re-direct people who accidentally posted their answers on the wrong page.  I firmly believe that time spent interacting with my readers (and future readers) is time well spent.  I don’t recommend doing this, however, if you’re up against a deadline.  Make sure you leave plenty of time for contest administration.

Advertise!

What good is a contest if no one enters?  I advertised in several ways, all low cost and low time:

·        Posts on my personal and author Facebook pages.  I started a week before the contest, and posted daily throughout it.

·        Cheap Facebook post promotions.  I was hesitant to do this, in case my contest violated any of the oh-so-grumpily-enforced Facebook rules, but I put on my big girl pants and did it anyway. I paid between $2 and $5 a day to boost the day’s post.  Honestly, except for the final day, my organic  reach far exceeded my paid reach.

·        Posts in relevant Facebook groups.  I belong to 5 cozy mystery groups, and I posted to every one of them.  If you’re going to do that, be sure to follow the group rules.

·        Dedicated blog posts.  I dedicated the contest-week posts on Killer Hobbiesand my Whole Life Yoga blog to the contest.

·         An author newsletter article with a link to the contest.

If I’d had more time and energy I would also have posted on Twitter and advertised in Goodreads groups.  Alas, that will have to wait for next year’s contest.

The results? 

Considering my author page only had less than 600 fans and I’m a newer author, I was pleased with the interaction.

·        Each day of the contest, my author page post was seen by 900 – 1200 people, 90% of that reach was organic.

·       The final reveal post has been seen by over 2300 people.  Four times the number of fans of the page it is posted on.  Considering I didn’t promote that post and Facebook’s organic reach is usually about 5%, that is notable.

·        Each day’s contest had 60 – 90 entries.

·        The final contest (which required following the contest for 5 days and e-mailing me personally) had 54 entries.

·        The “likes” on my Facebook author page grew by 70.  (Not a lot, but since I wasn’t targeting that, I thought over 10% growth in a week was interesting.)

·        Many of the contestants contacted me personally to say how much fun they’d had and to thank me for the contest.

Will I do it again?  You bet!  The fun I had alone was worth the costs of the prizes! Next year I plan to make it  even more exciting.

How about you?  Have you ever run a cover reveal contest?  If so, how did it go?  What ideas would you add to my list above?  And even more importantly, what do you think of my new cover?

Tracy

          

Tracy Weber is the author of the award-winning Downward Dog Mysteries series featuring yoga teacher Kate Davidson and her feisty German shepherd, Bella. Tracy loves sharing her passion for yoga and animals in any form possible. Her first book, Murder Strikes a Pose won the Maxwell Award for Fiction was nominated for the Agatha award for Best First Novel. The second book in her series, A Killer Retreat, was released January, 2015 by Midnight Ink.

Tracy and her husband live in Seattle with their challenging yet amazing German shepherd Tasha. When she’s not writing, Tracy spends her time teaching yoga, walking Tasha, and sipping Blackthorn cider at her favorite ale house. 

Visit her at TracyWeberAuthor.com, friend her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tracywe, or e-mail her at Tracy@WholeLifeYoga.com.