Do You Judge A Book By It's Cover? #RPBP

Author - The Black Rose

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to a new week in the world of books. 

The question we have been debating over the last few weeks is 'Do You Judge A Book By It's Cover?'

Working with aspiring, debut and established authors at Rukia Publishing I do a lot of work that involves book covers and over the last few months some of our authors have been revisiting some of their covers. There are a multitude of reasons why authors might do this, such as to announce bonus content or new chapters that have been added, or to announce new books in a series, etc. When they do embark on a cover project the involvement of readers, fans and followers is an integral part of the process. 

For many authors starting out in the world of self-publishing, me included, the limited budget available does not always extend to employing the services of a professional cover designer. However, we all discover as our reader following grows that for many readers it is the cover that first attracts them to your book, to reading the synopsis and ultimately making the decision to buy. This makes your cover increasingly important. The aim then is to reinvest in your books as you become more successful to upgrade the quality of your cover designs. I love this process and in the last 2 years I have changed the covers on Glass Half Full a couple of times, most recently when I launched the second edition with added photographs.

As you can see they have evolved from a home made cover consisting of a photograph with text added to two further covers by two different cover designers.

My first cover in 2013

Second cover

Current cover

Available at all good bookstores via one link

books2read.com/GlassHalfFull

When changes are made it also allows an opportunity to relaunch the book to attract a new audience and lends itself to a host of promotional opportunities such as cover reveals, reader polls, social media launch events, etc.

One of our established authors at Rukia Publishing, The Black Rose, is not only a distinguished crime thriller author, but she is also a photographer and she is well qualified in the process of cover formation. Over the last few months she has been revisiting her own covers for The Killing Games Series and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to see her new covers evolve. When the final new covers came through by email, the wow factor was immense. I still find myself staring at them when we work with them on social media posts, etc. The quality of the photography adds such depth to the essence of the cover.

Take a look and see what you think.

You can vote for the books by The Black Rose on Goodreads

Crime Fiction List Vote 

The Killing Game, Part One, the Blood Negotiators 

Best Suspense Thriller List Vote

The Lost Days: Book Three of The Killing Game Series 

Here is what they look like on the series promotion page on Amazon

Our book reviewers at Rukia Publishing often double as the critique team for authors developing new covers and the majority of them believe that they do judge the potential quality of a book by its cover. What about you? Tell us in the comments below and go into the draw to win an ebook from one of the Rukia Publishing featured authors.

Thanks for reading.

Have a great week.

Sarah Jane