I did it.  After running a FB ad for We Journey No More and getting 117 clicks with NO SALES, I finally had to admit to myself my new cover had issues.  Sigh.  This was hard, cuz I really liked my cover.  It depicted Dal and Nema from the story.  But . . an author marketing group I’m in really stresses having covers that match the gene.  Which got me to thinking. 

When I originally published the story with Creativia, they bought a pre-made cover from the graphic designer that does the Jack Reacher novels. 

Don’t get me wrong.  This was an AWESOME cover and I loved it.  But, I didn’t know much about cover genres back then and all they did was slap my name and title on it.  Can you tell from the picture that it’s a time travel novel based in a dystopian setting?  Nope, me neither.   This cover didn’t sell well either. 

So, when I left Creativia back in October 2017, we got to keep our covers, but after much thought, I said NO.  I wanted a fresh one.  I went with an illustration as I wanted to showcase Dal and Nema.  Trevor Wooten did an amazing job, but, as I sadly came to discover, Illustrated covers don’t work with that genre either.  Bad Toad.  Back to the drawing board, I went.

My next step was to do what the gurus in my marketing group keep telling us to do, research the bestselling covers in our genres.  So, I did.  Know what?  There are some really bad looking covers in the time travel genre.  The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is UGLY, but hey, his publishers can get away with whatever they want.  His name alone will sell books.  My won’t.  At least, not yet.  HAHAHAHA.  Yeah.  Right. 

One feature that I saw quite often was a clock in the background.  Well, that makes sense since we’re talking time travel. Well, that makes sense since we’re talking time travel. Off I went to scour stock photos. I found a really neat 3d image of a clock slowly melting and another of a couple walking into an orangish background. They were exactly what I was looking for.

I forwarded them on to my business partner Julie, who happens to know photoshop and she came up with a new design. Now, since she’s also my editor, she’s already read the story and came up with one more element I never thought of. A man in a gas mask. Ding ding went the bells in my head. That fit perfect. And TADA. Here is my new cover.

This cover SCREAMS time travel. This cover says – Hey, bub, we’re heading for some dystopian shit here. Now, to see if it will sell.

What are your thoughts? Do you think a reader on Amazon will stop to look if they see this cover flash across their screen? I sure hope so.