[J.A. Cipriano]

I've been giving considerable thought to replacing the covers on my first two books to match the second two books. (They are all in my sig, in order.) I'm planning on boxing the first three together with a cover that more closely resembles three and four.

I know it is about branding, but I have pretty reasonable sell through from book one to two to three (which is nice) which is why I'm not sure it would help. (This is why I'm asking for opinions.)

Also, I really like cover one, but I'm not sure its going to sell books, at least to the "I really like high-octane anime style writing" people... who I'm not even quite sure how to market to...

I mean its classified as urban fantasy, does my cover say urban fantasy?

Wow... this seems like a whiney post...

 

[chele]

I'd say yes as well. I wouldn't guess they are in the same series by looking at the covers at the moment. Three and four, I definitely know are the same series, but not the first two.

 

[Reaper]

I think you should go for it, the third and fourth covers are definitely more striking.

 

[SA_Soule]

I love your book covers, but it is hard to tell at a glance that these books are actually in a series because each cover to me looks so different, and there is nothing on the cover to indicate what number book it is within the series.

So I'm going to give you the same advice that someone was generous enough to offer me...

I suggest "branding" each book with a similar theme or "look" which will help make them more easily identifiable, and I would include the book number somewhere on the front cover AND inside the book. (I noticed you did not a copyright page. Was that on purpose?) For instance, if I downloaded the first 2 books onto my Kindle, but did not read them right away, I would be confused about which book to read first. Also, when I clicked to use the "look inside" feature, it does not state anywhere if it was the first book or the last.

Although, you have "The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 1" on the Amazon product page, readers may not remember that after buying the book. I just think, the less confusing you make it for your readership, the better.

I recently re-branded my own series and made it clear what the reading order was on both the covers and inside every book. Within 2 weeks, my sales doubled.

Hope my advice helps!

 

[SA_Soule]

And yes, the first cover looks either UF or almost YA PNR to me, but it is a great cover and very eye-catching. The two designs with the swords are great and have a similar "theme" which is good.

 

[Donna White Glaser]

I just re-did the covers in my series and I'm thrilled that I did. My issue was that my original covers were much to dark for the humorous mystery genre. I do think you could get a stronger branding if you re-did the first two to match books 3 & 4. And the last two look very good together.

 

[ufwriter]

Books 3 & 4 very clearly look as if they're in the same series where the other took look like two separate entities. I've seen them in your signature in other threads, and I didn't realize until now they were a set. If I were you, I would brand them as a series, so that it makes it easier for readers to tell.

 

[J.A. Cipriano]

Sherry, there's supposed to be a copyright page... odd that it doesn't show up.

Hmm, I hadn't thought about actually putting the volume numbers on the covers... I had figured that because they were on the Amazon pages it was fine, but I will definitely do that at the very least.

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone.

 

[Shei Darksbane]

I wouldn't be likely to click the first two. I would click the second two. So yeah. Probably

 

[69959]

I would have never thought the first two were in the same series as the last two, so I would definitely rebrand so they all clearly show they're in the same series.

 

[Deborahsmith author]

The first two covers look amateurish, sorry. The next three look great!

If you've got a book about anime, or that you want to appeal to that audience, you need to use an anime element on the cover. You should be able to find something in stock art -- I've seen anime at Dreamstime.com, for sure.

 

[acapellabookcoverdesign]

While I like them all, I agree that I wouldn't have thought they were a series or would have an anime feel. There is nothing tying them together, like the the fonts or layouts. - Jennifer

 

[komicer]

The current covers would not visually attract the 'anime' loving readers. They seem to imply YA action (or horror) but doesn't have the visually attractive 'anime' look. Those are good covers; just not the kind that will attract the readers you are looking for.

If you want to attract the 'anime' loving crowd, you probably will need to engage an illustrator (like us) to draw a whole new cover for you. That will probably work better than generic stock images though naturally much more expensive.

If that is out of your budget or a total revamp is not what you are looking for, then yes, to reflect more consistency in your personal branding, it will be better to update your earlier books to carry the motifs and design sense of the later ones.

 

[Logan R.]

Throwing my vote in the "yes" ring.

 

[Sever Bronny]

Agreed with the others--yes