Brother, was I wrong!

Okay, call me cheerfully confused, Eunice

(I said confused, Euncie!  Not certifiably bananas!  And if you want to go that route, just look in the mirror, you daffy woman!)

The series of short stories and novellas I'm writing for Trestle Press has had a revamped cover design.  Now one design fits all six of the installments.  The only difference being a different title for each and a different volume number.

I gotta admit, the cover is striking.  It grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go.  Which . . . fittingly enough . . . is a talent the dark eyed assassin featured in each of the stories does quiet efficiently as well.

(Eunice!  I said throat . . . throat!  I didn't say it grabbed a hold of THAT!  Get your mind out of gutter; maybe at least up as high as the curb!)

And I gotta admit the new design has paid off.  Amazon.UK on Monday had the above cover rated at #71 in Kindle books and #100 in books overall.  Holy--fricken--cow!  That's the first time anything I've written has ever been rated.  And yes, Eunice.  Over the decades I've written a lot of 'stuff.'  You know . . . another one of those struggling writers of fiction pounding along in a genre absolutely inundated with gazillions of other writers like me writing the same damn thing.

The odds of success are slim.  The odds of even being 'discovered' abysmal.  So the idea that the British market has found Smitty makes me . . . well . . . . you know.

The curious thing about this is that the publisher and I had a discussion about the cover design--about using only one cover for all the stories.  I agreed to it, but I'll be honest;  I had my doubts.  Yes, I wanted the cover to be eye catching.  But I was concerned about the same design used over and over would not work out in the long run.

Hmmm . . . . I admit I was wrong.  And I'll happily admit it.

Every writer wants to succeed.  I want to succeed.  My definition of 'success' is surprisingly modest in comparison to others.  Not looking for untold riches.  Don't really care about fame.  If I could pay the bills and have a few of my fans admit they were glad another one of my stories came down the pike, I would be standing in tall cotton, brother.

Maybe this new design will get the job done.  Maybe it'll create a snowball effect and suddenly others will 'discover' Smitty.  Who knows?  My gut tells me hope for the best but plain for the worse.  That makes sense.

But whoever said a writer/dreamer had to be sensible?