Preparing for the Launch of Book IV of the Locket Saga: Sailing Under the Black Flag
Please Help Me Decide Which of These Three books to Use for the Cover of Sailing Under the Black Flag
One of the ways that an author can prepare her audience for an upcoming book is to encourage them to help choose the book cover. I showed these covers to my friends and family on Facebook. I thought I would have four but it looks as though my friends and family on Facebook narrowed it down to two Which one of these two books do you prefer?
Book cover A
Book Cover B
Book Cover 3
Draft Written Description
Another thing that an author can do to get her fans involved in the prelaunch is to ask what they think of descriptions. Here’s my first attempt at writing this book’s description. Perhaps it can help the audience decide which photo better fits the story.
Young Jonathan Mayford wants to join the Patriot Cause because he wants to prove that he’s a man. Much to his parents’ misgivings, they allow him to join his father’s privateer, the American Elizabeth.
He learns, however, that it’s not fighting in the war that will prove his manhood.
Jonathan befriends an old sea cook, Finis Henderson who teaches him about the sea. He also becomes friends with a young African American boy named James Forten.
James Forten, though born a freedman did not know what being free was really all about until he experienced the freedom upon a privateer. He also did not know realize how treacherous slavery was until he saw individuals of his own color in chains.
The relationship that took him from boyhood to manhood however began when he met the red-headed Lowri Howell, a girl of noble Welsh blood. He dreamed of the day that he would become worthy of her affections. He hoped that by winning this war, he might have a chance at capturing, what he considered, the greatest prize of all
What do you think? How can I improve the description? I know most haven’t read the book, but do you get an idea of what the story is about from this description? Why would you pick this book up? Just as important, is Why wouldn’t you?
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Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church 1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm. As Author Cygnet Brown, she has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener
She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga
.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .
Author Cygnet Brown 
I like the middle cover (stormy seas with green print on the front). My belief is that a book description needs to promise conflicts in the story, which will make the reader want to turn the pages. As Elmore Leonard said, “My greatest compliment came from a man who only reads a novel or two per year. He said that he read the first page and then stayed up all night to finish my book.”
Thanks, Larry! I agree! Thanks for your input! I too like it when people tell me that they couldn’t put my book down even though they don’t usually read my genre.
I’m tossed between the middle & last one.