New Book Covers and Branding by Jannine Gallant

A few months ago, I received the cover for the first book in my new SIREN COVE series, releasing in 2018. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got the cover for the second book. They're all scenery and have a suspenseful vibe. I've been given permission to share, so...tada!!

What do you think? I love them! Not long after the first cover was finished, my editor emailed me to say they were giving my BORN TO BE WILDE series a new look. Everyone at Kensington loved the cover for BURIED TRUTH so much, they wanted a do-over for the current series.

I know lots of self-published authors who've gone through multiple incarnations of a book cover, making it more professional and going for a different look. But usually with a publisher, we only get one shot at a cover. So, why is my series being repackaged? The original covers are professional and eye-catching. They feature an attractive couple. They're upbeat. Romantic. Cheerful! I always thought they better suited contemporary romance than romantic suspense, even though they accurately reflect the story. They capture the content but not the mood.

I think there's more to this than going for a suspenseful look. I've always wondered about the mystery of author branding. I never could quite grasp the concept, but with these new covers, I'm beginning to see the light. Kensington is feeling their way with me, finding my specific niche in their company. My brand. I write suspenseful stories where rugged, outdoor settings are a focus of the plot. They're repackaging my books to give me an identifiable look. Currently, only the first two covers are finished. Until all four are available, the old covers remain up on retail sites. I'm giving you all a sneak peek to make my point!

I love this new look, this brand they're giving me. So here they are, the old...

And the new...

What do you think? For those of you who read my books, does this look more like me? I hope one day readers will pick up my books and identify me by the covers the way we do authors who have a brand we know well. For now, I feel like I've found my niche in the world of romantic suspense.

The final two books will get their face lift soon. Stay tuned... And if you haven't started this series yet, read WILDE ONE...with the old cover. Get your copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, or KOBO now. Or, pre-order BURIED TRUTH. The buy link is on my website. Happy reading!

I Did it Again by Alison Henderson

As you may remember, a couple of months ago I redesigned the cover for Boiling Point, the second book in my female bodyguard series. I was never completely comfortable with the original cover and didn't feel it was consistent with the series brand. I was so pleased with the new cover for Boiling Point that it got me thinking about the cover I'd designed for the third book in the series and my current WIP, Child's Play.

I'd struggled to find the right images for that cover, too. In this story, the heroine goes to work undercover as a nanny for an Archaeology professor whose young niece is being threatened. I had settled for a background of a child's bedroom, but once again, I'd struggled to find a figure I liked. Encouraged by my success with Boiling Point, I decided to try again. 

Now that the first two books featured outdoor background shots of the settings, I thought I'd take another look for a snowy college campus scene and found several I liked. I also found a new image of a woman with a gun wearing boots (season appropriate!) that is quite similar in pose to the figure on the cover of Unwritten Rules. Then I put a couple of my favorite settings--one with a red brick collegiate building and one with gray stone--together with the figure and showed them to OG.

Imagine my surprise when he pointed to the photo with the stone building and said, "That's Blair Arch at Princeton! I lived in that dorm one year, and that's the window of my room."
Well, that sealed my choice. Now, I not only have a cover that continues the image of the series brand perfectly, but it features OG's dorm room! (It's the second floor window to the left of her left calf.) According to him, this represents every college boy's fantasy--a giant woman in high-heeled boots and a micro skirt, carrying a gun and appearing right outside his window. LOL

Here are the three covers for the series. I finally think I've got a solid, unified look that reflects the tone. Whew! If at first...

And on another positive note, the book is actually progressing rather well.

Onward and upward!
Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com

Old Book, New Look by Alison Henderson

Boiling Point isn't an old book--it's been out less than eight months. In book terms it's still a baby, but I decided it needed a face lift. 

Why? Even though I designed the cover myself, I'd never been fully satisfied with it, and sales haven't been what I'd hoped. Its sales are consistently about 60% of the figures for the first book in the Phoenix, Ltd. female bodyguard series, Unwritten Rules. There could be a number of reasons for this: readers want to start a series at the beginning, readers tried the first book and didn't like it enough to read the second, or whatever. But I had to ask myself, what if part of the problem is the cover?

I've received lots of positive feedback on the cover for Unwritten Rules since its release. Everyone seems to love the legs and the flirty tone. It's a good reflection of the style and tone of the story and has even attracted male readers!

So what was wrong with the original cover for Boiling Point? It wasn't close enough stylistically to Unwritten Rules. I looked at every image of a stone mansion I could find, hoping to find one that would make a good background and reminded me of the setting. Nothing worked. I settled for the condensation image because it suggested steam, which tied in to the title. I also looked at every single image of every variation of "woman with a gun" I could think of. I ended up with the recumbent figure because it was one of the few in which the gun was far enough away from the face to crop the head. In a series, it is important to have design continuity: same fonts, same color scheme, same figure style. I would have preferred a standing figure but couldn't find another that worked.

My cover re-do was actually inspired by our own Jannine Gallant. She found the perfect image for the mansion background. It looks exactly like the one in the story, and I swear it wasn't available a year ago when I started looking. Sadly, the seated figure looked just plain silly with it--like the woman was sitting on the driveway. It did encourage me, however, to take another look at "women with guns." 

Lo and behold, the stock image sites had added tons of new images, and I found the perfect one! The new figure of a woman in a short skirt and high heels with a gun behind her back is an excellent companion to the one on Unwritten Rules, and her cheeky pose mirrors the humorous tone of the book. 

One of the best things about being an indie author is the ability to make changes whenever I want to try something new. I'm thrilled with the new cover, and I hope readers have the same response. If I don't see any improvement in sales, I can always tinker with the blurb next!

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com 

Cover Reveal: Boiling Point by Alison Henderson

I'm thrilled to reveal the cover for the second book in my Phoenix, Ltd. female bodyguard series. For a number of reasons, this book has been several years in the making, but it's almost here. <Queue the trumpets> Boiling Point will release October 6th, (which is also my birthday!)

Here's the blurb: 

Zoe Hargrove’s first solo assignment as a bodyguard is off to a rocky start. On the way to her client’s lakeside estate, a pair of kamikaze bikers nearly runs her off the road. Upon arrival, she learns she’s expected to work undercover as a personal chef—a potential disaster since she can barely burn water—while secretly protecting the client’s pregnant wife from a potential assailant. To top things off, her culinary assistant will be the client’s latest invention—a robotic sous chef named GRAMPA.

And if that isn’t enough, the couple’s dangerously handsome chauffeur, who looks more like a prize fighter than a car jockey, constantly glowers at her as if she’s about to steal the silver. Zoe soon suspects he’s hiding secrets of his own, but can she uncover them in time to stop the escaped criminal who threatens them all?

While this isn't a classic "romance novel" cover, I love it. It's colorful, eye-catching, and captures the cheeky fun of the story. I also wanted to use variations of the same elements as the cover of Unwritten Rules--the font, the color scheme, the legs, and the gun--to help visually connect the two books as part of a series. 

I have a lot of work to do in the next month to get ready for the launch, but I'm excited to bring this story to my readers. Wish me luck!

Alison

www.alisonhenderson.com