Well… I did it again.

Today I’m doing something I vowed I would NEVER do again. I swore to myself up and down that I would never go through this, or let my readers go through this again. Apparently, I lied.

Just what did I do? I changed a book cover. I know, I know. Don’t I remember the 5 cover changes I made on Pulled? Oh, I do. I do. That is the very reason I told myself I’d never change a cover again. (See this post for a refresher) Not to worry, the Pulled covers are staying just as they are. Those ladies are not to be touched by my hands again.

You ladies are safe.

On the re-vamping block, this time around is The ABC’s of Dee. My snarky rom-com that is part comedy, part drama, but saying a snarky rom-com-dramedy is a wee bit of a mouthful. So in my brilliant writer mind, I thought the cover should play up the drama part of the book and the humor would be a bonus. So I went with this cover here. Somber, serene and satisfied. A sort of soft smile and warm glow after the roller coaster comes to a stop.

See how peaceful she looks? So calm, contented…and young…crap. She’s not supposed to look young. She’s 40. And hmm, the image really doesn’t match the sarcastic description on the back of the book. Double crap. My gut had been wrong! I should have been aiming for a comedy cover. Curse you gut feeling!!!!

It was about this same time that I went to Penned Con and heard Mark Coker (head of Smashwords-an e-book distributing company) talk to us authors about the importance of cover design. He showed us soooooo many covers that authors had used that just didn’t make sense for their books. Needless to say, it got me thinking. Was I conveying the right image for the book I had written? Was my cover, although pretty, letting readers know this was a comedy? As much as I liked my soft green cover, it didn’t match the book’s feel. Whoops.

For weeks I searched, played with different concepts. Asked friends what they thought of the old cover, debated, at length, about what to do because I really didn’t want to change the cover. It’s a pain in the butt. You have to find a design you like, be able to afford it, get rid of the books and swag you already have on stock, buy new books and swag and then you have to load it to all your distributors, make new promo images, ask people to share it…it’s a lot of work. Not to mention the guilt I carry for those people who have a print copy of the old cover. It was all too much to even consider doing.

Then, out of nowhere, when I wasn’t even searching for an image, a friend, who is also part of the design team who came up with the original cover art for Dee sent me a pre-made she was working on. She sent it to me just because it made her think of Dee when it was done. And wouldn’t you know it… I got that vibe, too. I sent the mock-up to my agent (since she’s trying to sell the movie rights) to get her opinion. She too, thought it was far more marketable and fit the feel of book much better. So I messaged the designer and asked if she’d sold it yet. Wonder of wonders, she hadn’t. I bought it that day and the preparations for a new cover reveal were put into place.

To make a long post short (too late) here is the new look for The ABC’s of Dee.

And, for fun, I put it on sale this week for .99 cents. 🙂

So…tell me. What are your thoughts on the new cover? Does it convey rom-com now? (Please say yes. I don’t want to do this again! haha)

 

Danielle Bannister, Author and cover changing liar

 

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