In 2015, I worked with a professional cover designer for the first time on my historical fiction series, The Troubadours Quartet. I loved the result, but I didn’t know then:
- who would read my books and what kinds of covers would attract them
- how my cover designer worked and how to properly brief her
- which subgenres of historical fiction my novel would appeal to
- what cover designs would be trending in the future
Cover Designer: Can you please be more specific regarding your comment, “It needs a few changes?”
Client: Yeah, I think the sky needs more layers.
Cover Designer: More layers of what? Clouds?
Client: No, sky.
— Can You Make the Title Bigga?: The Chemistry of Book Cover Design by Jessica Bell
Jessica Bell has since designed 32 covers for me and we now know what works for my readers. In this post, I’ll share my experience updating the covers for my Troubadours series this year, how the redesign boosted sales and interest among readers, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I hope this helps you decide whether to invest in your own new book cover.
Why my book covers were due for a makeover
One day, when updating my Troubadours sales pages, I came across this helpful article on common problems with book covers and how to rectify them. I realized my Troubadours books were no longer well served by the covers I’d chosen in 2015. Ads weren’t attracting clicks. One five-star review even included this damning comment: “Ignore the covers — this is a great series.”
I was getting readers despite the books’ covers, not because of them, so clearly there was a mismatch between cover, genre, description, and target readership.
When I looked at the bestselling books in my genre, I was struck by the change in cover trends over the years. Today’s literary historical fiction features fewer women with their backs to the viewer or heads outside the frame, and more bold illustrations with a retro feel. My original covers have historical fantasy vibes and avoid targeting one gender of reader, which suits my novels, but they look dated now.
The one thing that is going to really help sell your book is making sure to identify your audience before getting a cover designed.
— Can You Make the Title Bigga?: The Chemistry of Book Cover Design by Jessica Bell
The Troubadours series was also an essential part of the launch plan for my new historical novel, The Ring Breaker. I planned to discount and submit the Troubadours series for a BookBub Featured Deal to gain new readers, and to let my fans know that I was getting back to the 12th century with the new book after three years writing fantasy novels. The Troubadours needed new party clothes to live up to this new book!
The redesign
The Ring Breaker is the first book in a new series, so there was total design freedom. Jessica came up with three different concepts. After surveying my followers on social media, I presented the top two favorites to a more objective audience via Pickfu.com, an online market research platform.
The winner was a brilliant cover that attracts the right sort of attention:
And here’s what Jessica created to bring the Troubadours up to snuff with The Ring Breaker and my readers’ preferences:
Confident these new covers could raise the profile of both series, I submitted Song at Dawn for a Featured Deal.
The results
I made sure to mention the book cover redesign in my Featured Deal submission comments. The last time Song at Dawn had been featured was 2018, but with the new cover, it was selected for a feature in September!
Along with compliments on the new covers from my newsletter subscribers, I saw a definite uptick in sales. This chart shows a trend I saw across all four books in the series: an increase in Amazon sales after the new covers went live in July, followed by a huge spike in September after the Featured Deal.
The takeaways
A cover makeover is expensive, so is it worth it? For me, the timing was right. By timing my redesign with the release of a related book, I was able to make the most of my investment. And without it, I might not have been selected for a Featured Deal, which undoubtedly helped to relaunch the book and the new series.
When deciding whether to pay for a new book cover, don’t forget to factor in the hidden costs. You will need to replace all the book covers, preferably at the same time, on all distribution platforms. This can be expensive for print formats if there are set-up fees. For example, IngramSpark charges $25 each time you upload new files for a book (though they waive fees on five file replacements per month for members of the Alliance of Independent Authors).
Replacing covers also takes time. You might need to:
- Replace the interiors of all books in the series, including any back matter featuring cover images, in all formats to be republished: ebook, paperback, hardback, and audiobook. My ebook covers made such a difference that I ended up republishing in all four formats.
- Add back matter content featuring the new covers to other books in your backlist.
- Update the books on BookBub. Staff are very helpful and you can easily request a change in the My Books section of your Author Profile.
- Change book covers on Goodreads. If you have an author profile and have claimed your books, you will see an option underneath your book to “Add an Alternate Cover Edition,” then switch to the edition with the new cover. If you need help, you can post a request to add an alternate cover edition in the Goodreads Librarians Group.
- Replace the books on BookFunnel, Story Origin, and any other review platforms you want to use.
- Flaunt the books’ new clothes on social media and in your author newsletter.
- Run ads and submit for a Bookbub Featured Deal, with your fingers crossed that the new covers work their magic!
I hope you find this helpful as you weigh the costs and benefits of investing in new book covers. Best of luck!
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