Using design to sell your books isn't just for the covers anymore

It was once true that the book cover design sold your books for you. While that may still be the case, there are several new ways in which design can sell your books.

They're called Infographics. Pick a quote of substance from your book, pull it right from your characters mouth, they won't mind, you gave it to them after all. Then hand it over to a designer and ask that they create a design around the quote, and give credit where it is due, name your character as the person from whence the quote originated. This helps create a level of reality, character building, if you will, and so potential readers become interested in this character; especially if they can relate to the quote, or experience some emotion when they read it. Just be sure the quote is suggestive of your character, so the reader can become familiar with your character’s personality even before they read your book. This becomes a potential selling point to those who either take offence at the quote or appreciate the comment and want to understand why your character said what they did or thinks the way they do.

Every chance we have as authors to pull in another reader could mean the difference between success and failure. If you can create these designs yourself then all the better. Post them to Facebook, twitter, Instagram, google+ and everywhere in between.

The below examples are from The Judas Syndrome trilogy featuring quotes from two of the main characters which speaks to their individual personalities.

To enquire about this specialized service and to see more samples visit Quote infographics

Michael Poeltl

Reincarnation and an author's journey

Have you ever considered  that a genius or savant in music or mathematics, or any basis of study is so because they have lived a past life which followed their present life's interest? “Consider an example like Mozart; who wrote his first symphony at the age of eight. How could he have accomplished such genius without having the wherewithal to remember a past where he was involved in music and its pursuits?” (Excerpt from Her Past's Present)

In an interview with Michael Poeltl, author of Her Past's Present, he had this to say:

I’ve always been open minded where the paranormal is concerned.  After plenty of desktop research I decided to write a book on the subject of past-lives but knew I would have to experience the process in order to give it a sense of authenticity. I was admittedly excited to get started and after further research looking for a past-life regression therapist that felt like the real thing; I got started.

I lived three lives in the three hours I was under my therapist’s hypnotic suggestion. She would begin each new life by asking me to look at my feet. In my first example I was a little girl, maybe 12, living in France, in a cabin in the woods with my father. He was a woodsman. One day a military escort came and took him away. I never saw him again and died alone in that cabin. My second life was that of an English soldier in WWI. I was dying on the field. Everyone around me was dead. I recognized one of my best friends as the enemy soldier who stabbed me with his bayonet. I died alone amongst the wet muck and barbed wire, thoughts only for my wife (who, as it turns out, is my mother in this life). My third past life lived through this process was as a black slave, chained by the ankle to a line of my people; being marched to a slave ship en route to America. The slave driver whose eyes met mine revealed my daughter, in this life. This was especially disturbing  as after each life lived my therapist asked me to forgive those who’d wronged me; the army for stealing away my father, my enemy for stabbing me through the stomach, and my slaver for obvious reasons, but also because that slave ship sank in rough seas and my wife and child were aboard as well. I died alone in the bowels of that ship, desperate to hold my family once more.

Each life I lived was an emotional experience, each taught me a lesson, the lesson I needed to learn in this life, at the time of my regression. That lesson was to be comfortable with being alone…

Michael Poeltl

Five Star reviews for Her Past's Present

The new novel by Michael Poeltl is receiving very favourable reviews on Amazon. Poeltl's most recent work of fiction has garnished nothing but five star reviews thus far on the worlds leading book seller site and there seems to be no indication this activity will stop any time soon. With a dystopian edge, Her Past's Present offers insights into past-life regression, a topic that has begun trending with the release of The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson, another Canadian author who won 1.25 million for his book rights in 2008. Cloud Atlas was also made into a movie last year and Her Past's Present is the newest offering into the general fiction genre which deals in past-life regression, and the universal link we all have to our past-lives. To see the reviews coming in check into www.mikepoeltl.com or go directly to the book page on amazon.

Michael Poeltl

Free Book on Goodreads!

Looking for a free book to complete your summer? With an dystopian edge, Her Past's Present see's one woman's life fall apart while her past lives try to make sense of her present.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Her Past's Present

by Michael Poeltl

Giveaway ends August 30, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Michael Poeltl

World War Z. A review of the movie

I have to start by saying Zombies aren't my go to apocalyptic genre. I prefer the human experience over the fantasy in that respect. You only have to read my trilogy, The Judas Syndrome to understand that. But a friend had read the book and was anxious to see how well the film studios would portray it. I agreed to go along as I'd heard many good reviews of the book.
It was definitely fast paced and the zombies were believable in that they had contracted a type of rabies. They were terrifying in how their numbers multiplied and how quickly a city could be 'turned' and overwhelm the populace. Reminded me of the Zombies from I am Legend.
I won't ruin the experience for anyone reading this post, but I can say I was happy enough with the entertainment value for the $13 I spent on the Real D 3D.
But as apocalyptic films go, I think something like The Road is a much more terrifying possibility than battling Zombies. Humans have the potential to be much more aggressive when in survival mode and much more intelligent in how they go about it. It is the intellect that frightens me most in this genre, and the break down of morals and ethics.
If  you want the human experience then check out my trilogy and judge for yourself as society snaps in the face of starvation and a slow death.

Michael Poeltl

Post-Apocalyptic stories far from done being told

Wow, with the epic fail 2012 brought us in an apocalyptic end you'd think the popular conscience would have thrown the idea out the window. But the opposite is proving true. With two more dystopian style book series being made into movies (trilogies no less) like  ‘Divergent‘ and ‘The Maze Runner’ (divergent trilogy isn't even complete) it is obvious that the audience is still very much alive and well despite their chosen genre (apocalyptic).
'This is the End' has also received some amazing reviews lately  - the comedy that spoofs the end of the world. And of course, The Hunger Games has just gotten started with book two coming out as a movie in the next few months.
Some directors are even writing their own books and optioning them as movies just to keep up on demand for more apocalyptic fare. An example of this would be Chris Weitz, director of New Moon in the Twilight series of movies.
It would be nice to see a series like The Judas Syndrome up on the big screen, often compared to The Road meets The Lord of the Flies. A trilogy with an underlying purpose which builds from book one (or film one) to reach its antithesis in movie number three.
The Judas Syndrome has been very well received by its audience and with a bit of marketing by one of the heavy weights in Hollywood and proper casting, there is no doubt it would become a sensation. A coming of age trilogy which spans two generations of survivors (not unlike the Star Wars saga) and encompassing things like reincarnation and the meaning of life using both spirituality and science to prove its theory of everything, along with humanities true purpose. Heavy? A little, but today's youth are becoming heavily invested in the power of self and should be drawn to the characters universal struggles, even in light of an apocalyptic end. Or is it just the beginning?

Michael Poeltl

Where can a writer get the best bang for their FREE buck in marketing themselves?

Looking for a free option for marketing yourself as a writer? The best idea I've heard of with actual results  is joining a fan fiction site or two. You pick your favorite (or most popular) tv show or book series and start writing fiction based on those characters.

There are literally thousands of ready made fans at your fingertips salivating to read something fresh based on the characters and world(s) they've grown to love.

A friend of mine who is an accomplished writer went under a pen name and did exactly this. She ended up being approached by the head writer of the tv show she was basing her fan fiction on and given a job based on the responses she'd received from the fan site.

You could even create a fan fiction thread about one of your own books or series and continue writing in the forums to drum up interest in your books. There is a wide variety of 'worlds' which exist in these fan fiction sites and no limit to where you can take characters.

Something for every writer with the time to market themselves to think about.

http://www.fanfiction.net/ is a great example of this.
Happy Marketing!

Michael Poeltl