Cover Evolution

Q: Em, why are your redoing some of your covers? Now I have to buy the paperback ones and read them again. 

They tell me that people judge books by the cover. Yeah. I can see that.

They tell me that your cover needs to represent the story in the pages without giving it away. It needs to make people curious, make them pick the book up in the store or click on it on their phone. The cover is what sells. They say that if your book isn't reaching the masses, look at your cover. They also tell me that it is a rule that the author should NEVER EVER under any circumstances, do their own cover.

OK. I get it. But I cannot afford at the moment to have my 13 books professionally redone. I did a few online courses on cover design. I've read the marketing books. I know that what I am drawn to really won't be what everyone else likes because I'm so heavily invested, and the covers need to stand out from the crowd and....and.... and.....

I've always been one who likes to learn so, over the last few months, I've put what I've learned to the test. I also believe that you do what you can until you know better and then you do better. So that's what I've been doing. 

Here's some evolution of my various book covers. Rest assured, the plot hasn't changed but if you need to go ahead and order the new edition paperback of the book with the updated cover, I'm good with that. If you have it on Kindle, remember, you go to the book, delete the book from the device, sync your device up then re-download the book and it should automatically update the cover for you. (That and reading in the dark are the perks of an ebook.)  

So, here we go.

My debut books. I really loved the original cover for Along the Way so much, however, I could see the stats recently on their stint on Kindle Unlimited and people just aren't reading it...Or seeing it. So, update! I have had to add a note to it to warn potential romance readers that it's a clean romance, cuz I hear people get offended over reading a book without the spicy romance. Since Along the Way got a new cover, I couldn't forget Wherever it goes. Now the two go together perfectly. 

Next, I had released Portrait of an Unlikely Affair. I got the most purchases and reads on the original cover then it seems like I was shadow banned because I was getting absolutely no movement. The obvious thing to do is change up the covers, right? After playing around with a few incarnations, I circled back to one that is similar to the original but yet offers a more captivating look. 

So, of course, the whole series got an upgrade too.....

And now the Allegheny Chronicles series. Eden & the Alchemist never really felt right but I think I finally got it right. Veil Falls I feel needed to represent the story better so I updated it. By the time I got around to The Warrior Returns, I had a good handle on what I'm doing with covers. 

As you may have seen, the only two other books I've not included on the cover evolution are The Mysterious Circumstances at Greenwood's Castle and Could've Been Something. Those covers both feel very right. 

I hope this was educational to you. Which covers do you like the best? Let me know.

Remember you can always find my books on Amazon at www.amazon.com/author/embrooks. 

And right now they are all on Kindle Unlimited!!

Thanks for reading! There is always an adventure in an Em Brooks book!