Covers, KDP and other brain-rotting endeavors...

Book II of Wolfmoon Trilogy, Saille, the Willow, now has a cover. Yay! I spent an extra $400 for it but in the long run I think it's worth the money. If I had hired an illustrator I'm sure the cost would have been considerably more. My original intention had been to have wolves next to her and have her emerging from the tree but now all I want is an engaging cover that grabs a readers attention. And the red dress, uplifted eyes and slightly scathing look are all in keeping with the story. The pale skin of this version will be darkened slightly. Even though the vampire genre is very popular right now, I didn't want this look for Maeve.

 How many of you Indie publishers have used a book cover of either your own design or paid an illustrator? These costs all add up and I know if I lived in  'Practical World' I would be tearing my hair out because of the lack of money coming in. And yet I have to remind myself that Book I has only been live since February. And...I also must admit that making money is not my main objective. WHAT? Not your main objective?...how can that be in this world where money is king? Of course I would love to make some money just like the next person but ultimately I want my books SEEN, READ and ENJOYED--nothing more, nothing less. I like them and I think others will too if they can find them and if they enjoy reading fantasy.

More about the finding part: I'm trying to do another KDP select giveaway for The Moonstone,  but am having a hard time getting my author/amazon/KDP select webpage to work they way it's supposed to. When I finally found my way to 'manage promotions', and a rectangular icon came up, the little button I was supposed to click on was dim...then I noticed that in tiny letters it said that if it was dim it meant I needed to clear the last promotion before I started the next one. How do you do that? I looked all over, went into the FAQ and did not find the answer. And so I sent yet another message off to KDP. Does anyone else have trouble with this stuff or is it just me?

Without meaning to I found out that Amazon will automatically sign you up for another 90 days on KDP unless you tell them not to--well, that was a shock to begin with. Not only had I thought my 90 days was not anywhere close to being over but I also assumed that when it was over, it was over! (how fast three months can go by)  So now I'm faced with another dilemma--to giveaway or not. I thought I might publish on Smashwords after this, but now...is it worth another 90 days stuck on Amazon? This time I've already promoted The Moonstone for the dates in question on two different e-reader websites I was told about--one is ereader news and the other is Pixel of Ink...maybe because of that I'll get more downloads...but in the long run will this help sales? Yes, I know... I said I didn't care, but...