One of the great things about electronic publishing is the ability to iterate changes quickly and at minimal cost (no cost, really) to one's currently selling eBooks. Log into your seller's account, make your changes, hit 'submit', and wait a day or two for the changes to go live. It's really as simple as that.
I decided to apply this principle to my novel, The Five Elements. Sales have been ho-hum at best. But of the feedback I've gotten from Amazon comments and elsewhere, the overall vibe is a good one. There's only so much I can do to convince people to buy the eBook (or print edition). I think the story is good and the writing quality is on par with any other novel out there. A couple of things I continue to consider is (1) hiring a professional artist to do the cover art and (2) looking at KindleNation or a similar site to advertise. Before I try either of those things, though, I want to try something that's all on me and doesn't cost anything: tweaking the blurb.
When I say 'blurb' I'm merely referring to the description of the novel typically found on the back cover or in the 'Description' for online retailers. You can read the original blurb for The Five Elements here. That one was more focused on the friendship between the two main characters, which is integral to the story, but also doesn't convey the larger storyline that will take this novel into books 2, 3, and beyond.
So, here is the new blurb. I'm updating the various online retailers now, so it should be live tomorrow or the next day.
A factious group of learned men calling themselves Elementalists once endeavored to blend scientific machinery and elemental magic. Their ultimate goal, lost to time now, never came to fruition as those they'd separated themselves from judged their actions as blasphemy of the worst kind. The Elementalists were offered no mercy; they were hunted down and killed to the last. Of their inventions, all were thought destroyed...
Until, some five hundred years later, one is used to launch a devastating elemental attack on the city of Norwynne. Aaron, scholar, alchemist, and sorcerer's apprentice, survives, only to bear witness to the resulting fallout and to his dearest friend, Shanna, as she is swept into oblivion. Aaron thinks Shanna killed, while Aaron himself is forced to flee for his life. For Shanna, who survives that fateful night, the greatest adventure of her life is about to begin. Only the worst of nightmares awaits Aaron: pursued by dwarves, hell hounds, and a demon who will not stop until he is dead, the only thing keeping him alive is his own resourcefulness and an eslar mercenary whose reputation as a killer might make him the worst threat of all.
Though Aaron and Shanna travel different paths, their purpose is joined when they individually learn of the mysterious Fifth Element. Shanna sees it as the final piece in the puzzle that is her destiny. To Aaron's logical mind, it is an impossible ambiguity. Whatever the answer, the Fifth Element draws them back together and into a final confrontation not as allies, but as adversaries.
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