When Does Changing Book Covers Make Sense?

[Imposter]

I have a recently released (Nov 17th) novel (published by Wild Lark Books) that due to a restricted budget has a less than desirable book cover. There is more money available now to improve the cover, but my question is does it make sense to do it now given that the book has only been out less than 2 months? Opinions are most welcome!

 

[Paul Lamb]

I have no education or experience with this aspect of publishing, but I can tell you that a poor cover can be an immediate turn off for me. If I don't know the author or the subject matter or such, and I see a cover that looks amateurish, some primal part of me imagines that the rest of the material is going to be sub-standard. I realize this is exactly what the old adage warns about (don't judge a book . . . ) but I think that's a real reaction among many potential readers.

If it bugs you, and you have the opportunity to fix it, and then you don't, you'll probably regret missing the chance. At least, I know I would.

Congrats on having the book published and out there!

 

[Paul Lamb]

Okay, I just looked at your book Knight Rise. If you're talking about the cover with the silhouettes then I don't think it looks amateurish. Not to my eye. But maybe you're referencing some other book.

 

[Imposter]

Okay, I just looked at your book Knight Rise. If you're talking about the cover with the silhouettes then I don't think it looks amateurish. Not to my eye. But maybe you're referencing some other book.

That is the one. I am torn - a part of me feels like it looks amateurish because I did it myself and didn't use a professional. But additionally, there's a difference between not looking amateurish - and being appealing enough to pull readers in.

 

[CWNitz]

Disclaimer: I'm a web designer, which is only tangentially related to cover design.

Mostly, I think the issue with your cover is it doesn't fit your story. From your blurb, I got the impression you wrote a thriller with a lot of tension, and that's not reflected at all in the cover.

The colors are neutral and toned down, the typography is simple, the illustration is simply characters standing. There's no sense of threat. I don't get a "could cost them their lives" vibe from it.

The white background gives an amateurish impression to me. White covers are very uncommon, and you need a top-notch design to make them work. With the stock image silhouettes, it doesn't really work here.

If you have the money, I would definitely redo the cover, but maybe not right now. Most self-published writers see an uptick in sales when they publish a new book, so you could wait for your next book to republish this one with a new cover.

Edit: just noticed you made the cover yourself, so I wanted to add it's very good for amateur work. It looks very clean.

 

[Imposter]

Disclaimer: I'm a web designer, which is only tangentially related to cover design.

Mostly, I think the issue with your cover is it doesn't fit your story. From your blurb, I got the impression you wrote a thriller with a lot of tension, and that's not reflected at all in the cover.

The colors are neutral and toned down, the typography is simple, the illustration is simply characters standing. There's no sense of threat. I don't get a "could cost them their lives" vibe from it.

The white background gives an amateurish impression to me. White covers are very uncommon, and you need a top-notch design to make them work. With the stock image silhouettes, it doesn't really work here.

If you have the money, I would definitely redo the cover, but maybe not right now. Most self-published writers see an uptick in sales when they publish a new book, so you could wait for your next book to republish this one with a new cover.

Edit: just noticed you made the cover yourself, so I wanted to add it's very good for amateur work. It looks very clean.

Thank you very much for the input! Very helpful.

 

[Paul Lamb]

That's good insight from CWNitz, and I'd go with it. I see the points made there (though to my uneducated eye, they still would not have deterred me from picking up the book).

 

[Woollybear]

Yep, I agree with the analysis above.

I might suggest retooling the blurb from time to time too. Those bullet points don't work as well for me as they used to, five or six years back.

As far as when to re-cover a book, my opinion is each cover will potentially grab a different set of readers. So I'd say when you feel the oomph of your release is losing steam, that's the time to think about what to try next. You have a lot of options though, which include promotions and ads and signings and so on.

 

[Woollybear]

Oh also--check out Indie Cover Project on facebook. There's a guy posting today about improving homemade covers in a course he teaches, and he's soliciting examples.

At the end of the course the improved covers are offered back to the creators.

 

[Holly Green]

If it bugs you, and you have the opportunity to fix it, and then you don't, you'll probably regret missing the chance. At least, I know I would.

This.

I had planned to redo some of my covers, but I can't now. And it bugs me. Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but still...

@Imposter, I guess you have to ask yourself how much would it bug you if you could never change it?

Congratulations on your publication!

 

[bunny hugger]

I think if the current cover is flawed, any time is a good time to replace it

 

[Elenitsa]

When you publish a second edition of the book - be it a revised and completed one, or with another printing house.