(New Book Cover for LIAR’s Ball)
Okay so every author knows that the book cover is your FIRST form of connecting with a new reader. Although I have achieved success with my first book BEHIND CLOSED DOORS & my 2nd book LIAR’S BALL has already gotten a lot of great book buzz, sales & reviews, I still felt like it COULD be doing better.
LIAR’S BALL is a fiction novel which follows the lives of 3 siblings in the city of Atlanta and their dysfunctional, sometimes dangerous relationships.
I admit that I was feeling pretty confident when my self made book cover produced good buzz and sales (of course along with the great content). That being said, when I began preparing for the release of my second book, LIAR’S BALL, I thought I could produce the magic again. I thought it would be even BETTER than the last cover.
(THIS cover below was my original Liar’s Ball book cover)
The first couple of weeks, sales were rolling like gangbusters, but the more I looked at other covers in my genre and compared them to mine…I started to see the difference.
Now I’m sure some people can create GREAT book covers on their own, and depending on your genre, it may even be easier to do. Given that my target market is primarily those that would read Urban/African American books, my genre requires something dynamic in such a saturated market.
So here are the flaws I picked out (I wish I’d thought of these things prior to publishing):The figure I used is built more similarly to a Caucasion woman than an African American woman. And, the design looked more like the cover of the next 007 novel than it did about siblings and their dysfunctional and dangerous relationships. So…I have since changed the cover to the one on display.
Luckily my book has only been out for 3 months, so re-releasing it now with the new cover gives me another angle to promote and gather new readers. Still, this was clearly another new/indie author pitfall that I had to surpass. When you know better, you do better!
Anyway, I was able to find some nice pre-made book covers. Now every author may not want to go that route, but given my budget (some as low as $69.00), and the fact that I liked a lot of covers from jump street, (already purchased my next book cover from them too!) I would recommend the site below for book covers if you are in the search:
SelfPubBookCovers.comAt any rate, these are the growing pains of a new author. Have any of you had to change your book cover either before or after release? Do you like the original cover or the new cover? OLD Liar’s Ball cover vs. New Liar’s Ball Cover
