A little while ago, I put out a book of short stories called The Pink Bus. I think it is some of my best work to date, I had it nicely edited by a wonderful editor (Alienora Taylor) and on the back of a big hit in Your Haunted Lives (still riding high), I sat back and crossed my fingers. Despite a good give away, the book sank without trace. I was gutted.
So, I thought I would try an experiment. We took the content, changed the cover and title and even the author name and re-issued it. The giveaway was better and my unknown pen name sold a bunch of books. It’s not a huge hit but its doing alright.
So, what did I learn?
I’m not sure.
Was it the cover? Was it the title? Or my name?
I think it was the title and the cover but I am still puzzled how I can sell good numbers of one book and the next I put out is virtually ignored?
The other version – well …. I think I will keep that a secret as I actually think the pen name will shortly be used again…..