Easter blessings to you all!

This season is filled with such joy and hope, as we move through the weeks of Lent toward the suffering Jesus endured and his glorious resurrection.

It has even more meaning to me this year. I was adopted at three and have been a lifetime church member. My parents were told by the social worker that I had been baptized and they believed it. But was I? There were no documents, and I always wondered.

So this winter, when our Lutheran church had a weekend of open baptism when anyone could walk forward on the spur of the moment, I did. And now I know. I felt such joy at that moment, and now feel so blessed and reassured!

On a completely different note, after I find and buy books by my favorite authors on Amazon, my gaze always drifts to the rows of book covers below the book’s description, called “Products related to this item” and “Based on your recent views.” Then farther down to “Books you may like.”
Do you do this, too? Just by looking at a cover, book title, and subtitle, I often find books I want to explore.

I know those details have been carefully planned by the authors (at least those who are experienced) to show a great deal about the book–and avoid misleading buyers into a purchase they might regret. Even the font used on a cover can convey useful information. Is it fun and swirly? Intense?

I was so naive when I first started publishing with Amazon.

I found photos of lovely flowers or landscape scenes, and asked my cover artist to use them.

I also came up with what I thought were pretty titles, without a thought about actually conveying what the book was about. And I didn’t know how to write book descriptions for Amazon, either.

When I look back at my abysmal sales during those early years, I actually feel gratitude. No one would have guessed those books were romantic suspense! And if readers bought them expecting to read a nice contemporary romance novel, they would have been deeply disappointed.

It’s all about branding, really. A way to convey information about a specific book, a book series, and also about the author.

For example, I write both Christian Romantic Suspense and Clean Romantic suspense, so I use those labels as my book subtitles. The book titles themselves are meant to convey that the book is a suspense.

If you do a search on Amazon for any category, such as “Top 100 Christian Romantic Suspense,” you can see how authors do this. Clarity is important, for the best reader experience!

My brand (my promise to readers) is that in addition to suspense and romance, they will find a warm thread involving family relationships, and a thread of faith–but with a lighter touch in the books labeled “Clean romance.” And I always include an animal of some kind that makes a difference to a character in the story.

I hope including that animal on my book covers visually alludes to deeper emotion and warmth, as opposed to covers promising a gritty or far more intense read. Usually, it’s a dog. My new release is just a bit different–with a nosy llama!

Here is a quick link to FINAL TRUTH in case you would like to buy or just take a look.

What are your thoughts about book titles and cover art? Do they help spur your interest in looking at a book’s Amazon page, or do you mostly go by author names?

Wishing you all a happy Easter!

Roxanne Rustand