Rebranding heaven and hell.

Part One: Heaven.

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

Don't get me wrong - I loved the minimalism and starkness of the old brand. The covers popped when compared to busier covers out there. And the brand was something I had control over and could create myself.

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.

At last, I caved, and begged for her assistance. She took time out of her crazy schedule and stepped up to the challenge. We agreed that I should keep my original art and I insisted that in any colour palette we went with, I got to keep my red shoes. We tried a couple of things – I loved everything she sent back to me, and was ready to leap. Following her instructions and suggestions to the best of my ability, I sent revised files back for her approval. [Yes. Yes, I was asking permission and seeking approval.]

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 . . .!]