Rebranding a book or a series is more common now than ever before. From Indie Authors to small presses to large publishing houses, changing the cover of a book is a marketing strategy which can breathe new life into sagging sales. It can also cause the book to appeal to a different audience, bringing in new readers. Some authors or publishers do this periodically, just to keep their product packaging fresh and on trend.

The Strategy

But there’s another reason you may want to change your book’s covers. While I loved the original covers of my Higher Elevation Series, once three books were published I got some feedback which indicated there was some confusion as to what genre they were. When you’re an indie author, you have to do the best research you can, and get as much feedback from readers and other authors as possible, to “test market” your covers and back cover copy before you publish. Which I did. But…

Sometimes this writing gig is all about trial and error. Which is true of many businesses. Having been an entrepreneur all my life, I can’t tell you how many flops I’ve had! But I’ve also had outrageous success, lucky breaks and then times when nothing special happened. So though it was disappointing to learn my covers weren’t “perfect” as they were, it was simply a business decision to change them. What I had chosen originally was doing fine, but it wasn’t exactly the best representation of my stories.

The Quest

So the quest for new covers began. I spent countless hours on stock photo sites and book cover sites, until I was about to go cross-eyed. If you have spent any time doing this, you know how frustrating it can be. I wanted to strike a balance between what I “saw” in my mind’s eye for the book covers, and what the cover designer, with her expertise, could do. I finally found Spellbound Cover Design, and together we came up with the brand new covers you see here, and on my website http://reneeregent.com
I also rewrote my cover copy, with the help of some author friends. There are a few professionals who write cover copy, or blurbs, and I hear they do a fabulous job. So it’s worth looking into, because blurbs are hard, right?

You can search and tweak these things forever, so at some point you just have to go with the best book packaging you can produce, and put it back out there. I think the look and feel of these new covers better represents the supernatural/mystery/suspense aspects of my books, without detracting from the romance. Plus the color really pops!

The Bottom Line

Your book’s covers may never be perfect, and what looks great today may not be so hot a few years from now. (“Bodice Rippers”, anyone?) So be open to the idea of changing your covers periodically. The bottom line is, no matter how much research you do, sometimes you don’t know how a book (your product) will be received until it’s out there in the world.

Authors- have you changed your book’s covers? Did it help?
Readers- do you notice when a book’s cover has been changed? Does it affect your decision to buy?