Two Minutes to Sell

Whether selling hardback/paperback or ebook we have only a short time to get that sale. This applies to any author no matter how well known.

The most important factor is a good cover, this is the major contact point. We need to hit the readers with a WOW image to get their eyes. From here you need a good title that has to link to the story or at least get the reader to think about the possibility of a linkage.
If you are doing a book, the next thing is a good, intriguing blurb to draw the reader into a story. Do not give too much away though, always leave the reader questions to answer as mentioned in my article "My recipe for a blurb," while I do not claim to be great at writing them. Some friends have been pleased with what I have done for them.

Cree dancers at the Lac La Biche Pow-wow, 2009

Patti (Pat) Canella was no ordinary girl, coming from rural Ohandsworth to Middleton. The move to the city should have been a shock for the country girl but it was her ideal setting. From her teens she knew how to shoot, could hold her own against most boys in a fist fight and was not afraid to either 'kick ass' or 'cuss', if she felt the need. In her words "You rile this gal and she'll go wildcat on your ass."

Middleton PI Pat Canella, was called to a hold out, after a savage gun fight ends. She is left looking at her dead former partner.
The story traces Patti from the start when the men called her 'Nancy Drew', to being fully accepted by the men.
With the help of a ghostly ex-cop Dennis she solves some cold cases. The first being a double shooting which led to the death of Dennis.
After struggling to rescue a bus load of people stranded in the desert, Patti decides the quiet life is too much and heads back to the city. Where she has to contend with her own ghosts now.

That is the blurb for my book "Pat Canella (the dockland murders)," the cover shows a young lady holding a smoking gun. You can see from this that the story has a lot of potentially intriguing aspects to it.

To illustrate the other side of the coin, my tutor had a book out called "Sheep," the cover was intriguing with a girl holding her head as she screams but as you can see the title holds no interest. You are left thinking. What possible connections are there? Is this worth getting at all?

Sheep sold 4 copies in over fifteen years, this week I have sold 3 copies of my latest book Nerja, which is about a young Cree Indian in Canada.