98% of the copies went out into the world with the chicklit cover (#2). I only tried the photo/kissing cover for a few months, and it was following the successful KDP promo of another novel, and I matched the font and look of that one, but it did not fool anyone into buying a book that wasn't a sequel with the exact same characters. ;-)
It has been a real struggle for me to deal with the character jealousy. See, I have my favorite authors and I buy their books, which are often stand-alones. I do not think of the characters as being real, but attribute the joy I feel to the author. What publishing has taught me is that is unusual, and that I am a snowflake reader. The golden rule for indies should be Write a Series.
I have mixed feelings about the chick-lit category, and I guess we all have those feelings about genre categories. Snowflakes and all. People picked it up, but many were surprised to find an 18-yr-old protagonist (some of them pleasantly-so).
As for the book in question, it is the 2nd book I ever wrote. I learned some huge lessons from publishing that one. First of all, I stopped using Beta readers (long story). And I learned how awful Other People (not you guys) could be. (My first novel did not bring out the ugliness in friends and strangers quite like this one seemed to.) I lost two friends. I tell myself it was a great experience, though, and it all had to happen for all the next things to happen. I have not re-read, but sometimes I will quote the book. I will say to someone, "We're going to need a lot more bananas," and it gives me joy.
So, on one hand, it's just a cover change, but on the other hand it's so much more. It's taking ownership of the work. I'm putting it into print, for the first time ever. I can't pretend it didn't happen.
And things are really good right now. I feel excited about "making great art." (Neil Gaiman speech reference)
