Author Jennifer FitzGerald planned to use her writing as a marketing tool for her business. Her formatter suggested she do something she had never done before – write a book. So I she turned the marketing tool into a how-to guide. When she started writing she immediately loved the experience. Jennifer’s humorous side came out and she felt the book was both educational and maybe fun.
I welcome Jennifer FitzGerald into the Author Spotlight! Hi Jennifer! Your book is an author’s dream. Please provide the name of the book.
Originally titled Judge a Book by its Cover, Designing a Great eBook Cover, the name is now Killer Covers that Convert, 7 Simple Steps to Design a Book Cover that Sells.
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Please tell us a little bit about Killer Covers that Convert, 7 Simple Steps to Design a Book Cover that Sells.
Well, I thought the original cover said it best; it is a how-to book on making a great e-book cover. Quite a few authors are unaware of just how important a cover is and so many are trying to publish on a dime, so I put my 2 cents in to help them out. Of course, I kind of feel it shows them just how difficult it is and that they may just want to have me do it for them. The new title, as well as the contents, is a bit more specific to the needs of selling books, and why a cover really does play into that plan.
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Where can we find your book?
Amazon, Smashwords, Barns & Noble, Nook, I Store and more.
What would you say is the most challenging part of writing a book?
Getting alone time to do it. My son is in Kindergarten so he is away for 6 hours now. I have to regiment myself to get work done and then if I get it all done I can have maybe an hour. That is difficult to keep in the zone when it’s so short.
Did you conduct any kind of research in order to write this book (visit certain locales, etc.)?
Over the previous five years my job was to collect all the correct data to be able to serve my clients properly, so yes. As I say in my book, some of the things I write about are the mistakes I made so the reader doesn’t have to go down that lane.
How long did it take you to write this book?
If you add up all the hours, it was extremely short. The amount of time it took me to learn and polish the content was about three years.
Tell me about the publishing process. Was it easier or more difficult than you thought it would be?
That is what I do after all, so I would hope it was easy for me. The print version is going a little tougher due to having to edit content to work for a print book. Plus, as a perfectionist and it having been over a year since I wrote the book, now I want to make sure it is complete according to my knowledge. I have other authors that don’t want to quit tweaking and now I guess I’m doing it too.
What tools/methods have you employed to promote your book? What advice would you give to writers regarding promotion?
I started with KDP and directly promoting on forums and with articles and such. They have a new one just out in October now as well where you can list promotional prices not just free, which I think is great.
Forums are something every author should be a part of. At least a month or more like 6 prior to publishing you need to get involved with 10+ forums. Get in, get acquainted, read/review other author works, listen to tips, learn… Then, when they publish they can ask for a read/review and actually get some honestly. Plus, there is a lot to learn from fellow authors.
Are you working on new projects?
I get the luxury of working on new projects daily. Not my own of course, although I still get the satisfaction of it being partially mine when it goes live and I had a big part to play in making it happen. My own book will hopefully be done by the end of next year, can’t say much more on that since it is “as time allows”.
In addition to learning about your book, readers enjoy getting to know the author. So, I have a few fun questions to ask you.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a ballet dancer. It was all I knew, all I did. I even went to a performing arts high-school. I went to Pennsylvania Ballet right out of high-school, then to Illinois Ballet and finished at Sarasota Ballet. Numerous guest appearances all over this country and one in the Caribbean. My favorite was in Japan. I was lucky; I really did what I wanted. Dance careers end pretty early though and I didn’t know what I wanted to do after that. I am settled into this career now and love it.
What are your favorite TV shows?
Any of the vampire shows. I’m a big sci-fi nut. I have absolutely ever book Stephen King ever published as well as Ann Rice and Robert Jordan to name a bit of my library.
If someone came up to you and wanted to tell you about an idea or a book they were writing, what would you do? Or what advice would you give?
Get it in writing quick! Or, better yet, voice record it. Then you can get it transcribed and give it to an editor who will look at character building. Ideas can be great, details are the difficult part.
Which do you find more embarrassing to write, violence or sex?
Neither. I am one of the few book designers who will do ALL genres. Even though I have erotica and horror covers on my portfolio page, authors still ask me if I’m ok with it. Stephen King and Ann Rice They are actually two of my favourite, so…
Where can we find you on the internet?
I’m all over the web. Aka MotherSpider…get it. I have an author read/review page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MotherSpiderEBookReview
Then there is my business website and blog at http://www.MotherSpider.com
· I’m not real into twitter, but you can find me on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jennifer-fitzgerald/9/b01/487/
You also can +1 me at http://www.google.com/+JenniferFitzGerald-MotherSpider
Thank you for joining me for my final interview of 2013. I wish you much success in 2014. Happy New Year!
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Katie McKnight is the author of a suspenseful-romance novel entitled Secrets Revealed. To learn more about Katie, her book or to request an author interview please visit www.katie-mcknight-author.com or www.facebook.com/katiemcknightauthorpage
