Cover to Cover--by Linda P. Kozar

New Cover

Like a fresh new coat of paint in a room, sometimes a new cover will change the whole perception of a book.

Below is the previous cover I hired a wonderful graphic design artist to do. He is excellent--the same artist who did my mystery book covers for Spyglass, but for some reason people were not connecting with the cover.

So I put my thinking cap on AND did a little online research. Fiction and nonfiction covers are as different as night and day. A fiction cover should offer an immediate insight into what the book is about. It has to grab the reader's attention, in a good way.

After looking at my Moving Tales cover in a different light, I could see that it came across more as a fiction book than a nonfiction anthology of funny, scout's-honor-true stories about moving. People could not readily identify what the book was about--a sure fire way to relegate a book to cobweb status.

Which is why I decided to change the cover. I shopped Shutterstock, a wonderful source of stock photo images and found one that resonated with me. I tweaked it on PicMonkey, a great site for working with images, banners, etc. and came up with this one (above).

Old Cover

Why do I like this one better? Let me count the ways. (But I'll offer a couple). First, the cover represents a family, my target audience. Did you know the average person packs up and moves an average of twelve times in a lifetime? Start counting. You may need two hands and both feet for this, so take off your shoes:) Include the move to a college dorm, apartments and homes. After adding up all my moves, I came up with thirteen. I've moved thirteen times. Wow! You'll be amazed how many times you've moved as well.

Second, the background--lots of boxes and a rolled up carpet on the dad's shoulder tell the story before you even open the book. A cover should tease part of the story before it is ever opened. And this one does.

To debut my new cover, I offered the book free on Kindle this past weekend. If you missed the free download, don't boohoo about it. The book is $2.99 on Amazon. I started working on this collection in 2005 and might continue this series. There are sooooo many great stories about moving out there. In fact, if you have a story, send it to me. I'd love to read it. Who knows--you might be in the next book!

Buy Moving Tales on Amazon 

Linda Kozar is the co-author of Babes With A Beatitude—Devotions For Smart, Savvy Women of Faith (Hardcover/Ebook, Howard/Simon & Schuster 2009) and author of Misfortune Cookies (Print, Barbour Publishing 2008), Misfortune Cookies, A Tisket, A Casket, and Dead As A Doornail, (“When The Fat Ladies Sing Series,” eBooks, Spyglass Lane Mysteries, 2012). Strands of Fate released October 2012 (Hardcover/Ebook, Creative Woman Mysteries) and her nonfiction title, Moving Tales, Adventures in Relocation, released in 2013 (Indie-Published). She received the ACFW Mentor of the Year Award in 2007, founded and served as president of Writers On The Storm, The Woodlands, Texas ACFW chapter for three years. In 2003, she co-founded, co-directed and later served as Southwest Texas Director of Words For The Journey Christian Writers Guild. She and her husband Michael, married 24 years, have two lovely daughters, Katie and Lauren and a Rat Terrier princess named Patches.

Represented by: Wendy Lawton, Books & Such Literary Agency

Member of: CAN (Christian Authors Network), RWA (Romance Writers of American), WHRWA (West Houston Romance Writers of America), ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers), Writers On The Storm, The Woodlands, Texas Chapter of ACFW, Toastmasters (Area 56) The Woodlands, Texas, The Woodlands Church, The Woodlands, TX.

Linda Kozar is the author of six books. Her latest, titled “Moving Tales, Adventures in Relocation,” is a collection of stories from people who experienced the good, the bad and the ugly when they moved. www.lindakozar.com  http://bookishdesires.blogspot.com