And the Winner is…
Two weeks ago, I blogged about my new book cover and gave my readers a chance to vote on four different color schemes. I was overwhelmed by the huge number of readers who chose to cast a vote for The Advocate's Ex Parte cover. I presented the option because I thought it only fair that my readers be more involved in the process. I am so thrilled with them. When I start to slow down, it's my readers who keep me motivated to. I receive emails every day, often from someone new, who encourages me to keep going. They often say how happy they are that I communicate with them, but I don’t think they realize how much they mean to me, and how much I need them.
Having my
readers vote on the cover turned out to be a wonderful experience for me, and
from the comments I received, for the readers as well. And to top it off, they
made a great choice.
I thought
about having the vote on Facebook, but I decided instead to just send it out to
my newsletter participants. I’m glad I did because these are my most loyal
supporters. Last year at my online launch for The Advocate’s Dilemma, my
readers helped me pick the title for The Advocate’s Ex Parte, and now they have
picked the cover. Having their input has been really helpful.
By the way, the results from this venture were very interesting and a little
surprising. If you missed the last blog where the cover choices were presented,
you can check it out here.
I'll start by telling you that the last place went
to Choice B, the gold cover. Choice C, the white cover was in third.
That leaves Choice A & D, the teal and the charcoal covers in first and second place with a very small margin between them. The newsletter went out to 2,000 of my favorite readers. A little less than half voted and it came down to a difference of only 7 votes. I was flabbergasted at how close it was. Here's the winner:
That leaves Choice A & D, the teal and the charcoal covers in first and second place with a very small margin between them. The newsletter went out to 2,000 of my favorite readers. A little less than half voted and it came down to a difference of only 7 votes. I was flabbergasted at how close it was. Here's the winner:
How
important do you think it is to involve your readers in this whole writing
process? Of course, there are many parts of it that have be done solo, but
there are some things they can do. Have you ever tried it? If you were asked by
an author to participate, would you?
Teresa Burrell
Author of The Advocate Series
I was torn between the charcoal and teal myself, but my love of bright colors won out.
ReplyDeleteI ask my readers to participate in naming characters and to occasionally help me decide covers, but that's about it. Except for my beta readers, of course, who give me feedback on the story. Very helpful!
I think there are parts of the process readers find fun or intriguing. As a reader, I like magic. As a writer, I know most of it is just hard work. So the magic parts… character names and covers are wonderful. Maybe even helping decide what should happen to one particular character would be fun.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you have your new cover!
I voted for the charcoal, but I like them all. I think it's a great idea to involve readers in the workings of a book. I put a title out for a vote, which got a good response (and I'm still undecided) We can use the participation for good causes, too - I was recently asked by a non-profit to donate a character name for my upcoming book, which I did, and the money raised helped disabled people get more out of life. It's fun to participate.
ReplyDelete