Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hey group.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma over "The Asphalt Carpet". It's possibly my favorite out of all the stuff I've published but it isn't selling well. On most of my stuff I don't really worry about the sales, but I would like to see this one sell better.

I tried dropping the price for a while, but that didn't help.

Now I'm thinking it needs a new cover. That's not a problem. But, I'm also thinking it needs a new title. So, that's what I've been struggling with - is it acceptable to change the title of a story that's already published?

Definitely a new cover imo. The name isn't so bad, but the picture of blacktop would stop me from picking the book. It just seems out of place. Maybe show a nuclear family of the 50's with asphalt for carpet in the house?

Dwayne,

I agree with Riley. A cover can really make or break your book. It's the first thing people see and are unlikely to pick it up if they can't relate to it.

Riley wrote: "Maybe show a nuclear family of the 50's with asphalt for carpet in the house?"

Thanks Riley and JD. I love the image idea, Riley, but it unfortunately doesn't fit this story. The story is about a young man riding a bus cross country in the eighties. About midway through he's having a conversation with an obnoxious professor he's seated next to who refers to the Interstate as "The Asphalt Carpet". I'm thinking I need to do a painting of a bus or the main character, something along those lines.

Hi Dwayne. What's the tone of the story? Oddly, a friend of mine wrote a story about traveling by bus in the nineties and her trip began in Colorado as well. Hers was humorous and originally she chose a pop art style stencil of a bus. If yours is more introspective, which is kind of what I got from the blurb, you might try something like headlights illuminating the highway at night. I know, it's been done a lot, but it could work.

Dwayne wrote: "Riley wrote: "Maybe show a nuclear family of the 50's with asphalt for carpet in the house?"

Thanks Riley and JD. I love the image idea, Riley, but it unfortunately doesn't fit this story. The sto..."

How about having your lead character standing next to the bus dressed in 80's garb and have the professor in the bus looking down upon him.

Christina wrote: "If yours is more introspective, which is kind of what I got from the blurb, you might try something like headlights illuminating the highway at night. I know, it's been done a lot, but it could work."

Thanks Christina. Nothing is purely original anymore, so I'm not worried about that. I do my own designs, so I won't be completely copying another idea. I have thought about an image similar to what you suggested and may try something with it - maybe with the addition a sunset over the Rockies in the background.

The overall tone is introspective as you guessed. Daniel goes through a lot of different emotions and various scenarios from humorous to irritating to downright scary, but it always returns to the introspective tone.

JD wrote: "How about having your lead character standing next to the bus dressed in 80's garb and have the professor in the bus looking down upon him.
"

I've thought of a similar idea to that, too, but not with the professor. He's a minor character and only in it for a few pages.

Thanks to both of you!

Dwayne wrote: "Hey group.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma over "The Asphalt Carpet". It's possibly my favorite out of all the stuff I've published but it isn't selling well. On most of my stuff I don't really worr..."

I think it's okay to change the title as well as the cover, and if the book hasn't sold many copies, you should be reasonably safe in doing so. But make sure you put in BIG BOLD LETTERS in the description that it's an updated version, no matter what you do. I've seen a number of authors get slammed by readers who bought what they thought was a new book from an author they liked and then felt ripped off. Sucky way to lose fans.

Dwayne wrote: "Hey group.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma over "The Asphalt Carpet". It's possibly my favorite out of all the stuff I've published but it isn't selling well. On most of my stuff I don't really worr..."

Wanted to add that I actually like the title - it's intriguing :)

Lori wrote: "Wanted to add that I actually like the title - it's intriguing :)"

Hi Lori. I think after the posts I read earlier, it's clear that the title isn't the problem, it's the cover. You have a good point and it's one reason I was hesitant to change the title - I don't want to confuse anyone that bought it under the current title and they end up buying it again. Thank you!

Dwayne wrote: "Hey group.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma over "The Asphalt Carpet". It's possibly my favorite out of all the stuff I've published but it isn't selling well. On most of my stuff I don't really worr..."

I'd go with a stretch of highway, fading into a vanishing point in the distance, with stark yellow lanes, maybe a desert background.

Tom wrote: "Dwayne wrote: "I'd go with a stretch of highway, fading into a vanishing point in the distance, with stark yellow lanes, maybe a desert background."

A similar idea came to me, too, Tom. I'm going with the idea Christina suggested as it's very much like another idea I had and I like the idea of the headlights shining. I will be showing a bit of highway under the bus, too. No desert, though. The story starts in Denver and moves eastward to Vermont. I'll be showing a bit of the Rockies in the background. Thanks Tom!

I like the title- love the premise, reminds me of road tripping when I was younger... but I think the book cover is probably the sales deterrent.

The funny thing is I can think back to books I read when I was a younger- and a lot of great books had boring book covers. Now I think people are almost obsessed with the covers and sometimes not as concerned with the content as they should be.

Michelle wrote: "The funny thing is I can think back to books I read when I was a younger- and a lot of great books had boring book covers."

Same here, Michelle. A lot of the books I read had solid color covers with just a little picture of something on it. I used to read a lot of John Irving novels and some of them had no picture at all. Kurt Vonnegut (another favorite) often just had a huge "V" with a small picture of something at the very top.

I am working on a new cover that should be a little more interesting to look at and will capture the spirit of the story.

Oh, and the story very much reminds me of travels when I was younger. Some bits are based on things that actually happened to me while traveling by bus.

I did a coast to coast tour of USA with a company called 'Green Tortoise Tours'. Their website sold me on the idea of travelling C to C on a coach. Perhaps you ought to check out a few similar websites for some inspiration.