The title should probably be “The Heaven and Hell of Rebranding”.
I didn’t try to spin a new view of traditional archetypes or anything. Swear. Everybody
stay calm.
No, it was I who was rebranded. Roberta Pearce of the black
& white & grey & splashes-of-red covers decided she was bored with the flat
look. Reaching for the zenith of minimalism |
So why did I change my brand?
It all started with the impending publication of my new
novel, Famous Penultimate Words. It’s
a comedy under the guise of romantic suspense, and no matter how hard I tried,
I couldn’t make a “happy” cover with my old branding. Everything I came up with
was dark [one example here.] After long conversations with several people,
especially the talented Camilla Monk, I decided I had to change it all.
I played a bit with colour schemes and fonts, but while I’m
pretty good at layout and simple graphics and being judgy of the work of
others, colour defeats me.. . . no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make a “happy” cover with my old branding.
Then there was Camilla Monk. There is Camilla Monk. She's the author of one of my new favourite books, Spotless. If you’re not familiar with her, get familiar fast on her site here. I met Camilla online early last year, and was immediately entranced with her writing and how she incorporated her wicked and rather twisted sense of humour into it. Easily one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever encountered, she’s also very nice, so her urging to brighten my brand was both gentle and subliminal. Clever girl.
A few days later, I got an email from her that ran
essentially: Changed my mind. Ignore
everything I said about the color palette. This is what we’re doing.
Attached were hotly coloured covers with a textured overlay and bang! I was in love. I tweaked some stuff on the layouts – just tiny changes – revamped my avatar to suit, and was ready to launch RobertaPearce 2.0.
New . . . Old |
Ah, I was in heaven! These pretty new covers for my old
books, a bright and quirky one for my new book, and even one for a WiP I’m
looking to finish in the fall.
Then came the launch . . . I’ll tell you about that in Part Two: Hell . . . tomorrow.
Have you ever done a rebranding? Thought about one? Wonder
if you’re too married to what you’re currently doing?
For more information on where to pre-order Famous Penultimate Words, visit here. It will be released in print and ebook format on July 24, 2015. [The print links are not up yet, so no yelling at me . . .!]
I love the new look! Nice work, Roberta and Camille, and I agree, the original cover for the new book doesn't have anywhere near the appeal as the new cover. I've been through cover hell myself and feel your pain. Glad to see you came out the other side all sparkly and new. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Edward! I love the cover of your new book, 2043 A.D.
DeleteYou know, "sparkly and new" made me want to burst into song: The Love Boat theme? Oh, dear. A misspent youth of watching syndicated re-runs. And now I have an earworm . . .
And I forgot to wish you a happy Father's Day! Hope you have tons of fun!
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