The Map, Please

I am SO over book covers. See, this is why people do traditional publishing; you let the publisher worry about figuring out markets, handling advertising, doing book markup and hiring artists and all that.

Out of all the Fiverr artists I've worked with, I'd say only one has my whole-hearted approval for what he provided and how easy (and fast) he was to work with. My last cover artist -- well, it wasn't his fault, he had a life event and that happens to all of us.

But I got so damned tired of looking at what were supposed to be temporary covers I finally broke down and just took the false starts and unfinished work of my last two artists and finished the damned things myself. They aren't as good as they should be. But they are better than they were.

Athena Fox Series Page at Amazon

And as soon as Amazon finishes approving the new uploads I'm going to put Book #1 on sale (99 cents, or maybe just give-away) and throw some new advertising money at it. I am feeling it is likely this series will never do well but I've been going through a ton of other books and the faults I know about in mine, I'm seeing in other books that are at least making some sales.

Not that I expect to make money. I just want the damned thing read!

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So I had an alternate idea. Not for the first time, and an artist I brainstormed with came up with the same. I've gotten bored on my cover-and-branding research because as far as I could tell it was largely random where Amazon places a book. I mean, I got up to #120 in "Japan Travel Guides" with the Kyoto book. And I certainly didn't place it there.

Artifact covers are sort of the thing, if you include sites in your artifacts (aka, Great Pyramid, etc.) The exception seems to be female leads that aren't historical or cozy's (Amelia Peabody is both) -- those get the only three-quarters-and-up shots. Like I am using currently. (Some of the solo male protag or more commonly team-based ones have a distant figure, usually silhouette as well.)

Anyhow, so I could do map covers. Map and artifact, but this being something small and portable. The devil is in the details, and the worst is that maps have copyright. Anyhow; London book would work with map of the Underground, of the Northern Line Extension, or Bazalgette's sewer plan (at least that one isn't copyright!) And a dupondius of course. That properly suggests the "Roman stuff found under London."

Athens book? Oh, I have so much Athens stuff I'd love a street map, but also could push the Odyssey theme with a nautical map, particularly of the waters South of the Attic Peninsula. A potsherd would look weird, though...so a Medusa medallion.

Kyoto is weirder. I don't think a map would help. But building plans of the cult compound could be cool. Artifact almost certainly a magatama necklace.

And Paris ain't written yet.