The Evans Trilogy has had a make over

After much deliberation over the results of the Rom Com Reader Survey, I've decided to take the huge step of re-doing my book covers to see where they takes me.

The survey revealed that over 81% of respondents prefer photographic covers to illustrated covers. This might surprise some of you, but if you put it in the context of 85.7% of the respondents being US-based it begins to make sense. It's well known in the publishing industry that US audiences prefer photographs on their book jackets.

I love, love, love my illustrated covers. They were done by an old and good friend of mine, who blew me away by his ability to capture the essence of the books before he'd even read them. I loved the way he made them fit together, a beautiful and very personal set.

Despite how much I love them, the survey results were haunting me. So much so, I bit the bullet and decided to have a go at photographic covers. I chose a group called Design for Writers, based on covers they've done that I already adore. They were so fantastic to work with. I may have driven them mad with links explaining what I do and don't like in a photographic cover, but they certainly never let on.

The end result is below. I think they're magnificent. Just like my friend Cam before them, they've captured the essence of the books in these images. I can just image Charlotte, Emily and Annie walking off these covers.

What do you think? Do they do the books justice?

Remember the Rom Com Reader Survey?

Sometimes life gets too busy and the next minute you turn around and it's July.

Hopefully you've already seen my post on the International Chicklit Month page, but if not, here it is again.

First up, wow. Thanks to everyone who tweeted, blogged, shared and whatever else you do on social media to spread the word about the Romantic Comedy Reader Survey. By the end of the survey period we had over 500 responses! Now, I know many authors and bloggers are keen to see the results, but I’m guessing just as many readers are interested too. I know I’ve been wondering how similar or different my tastes are to others.

Let’s start by getting a feel for who we captured in the survey. Well, the vast majority of readers were US-based.

And most of them were in the 26-35 age bracket.

Almost Seventy-nine per cent of respondents prefer ebooks, with another 14 per cent reading both ebooks and traditional print books. Only seven per cent of readers prefer traditional print books.

We’re pretty savvy shoppers too. A whopping 75 per cent of the respondents say they spend only 99c on their ebooks.

We’re happy to try new authors (98% of respondents said they were likely or very likely to try!), and almost 87 per cent of respondents read a balanced mix of both traditional and self-published authors. Almost 86 per cent of respondents noted reviews are one of the things that draws them to new books, and 95 per cent of respondents said they leave reviews, mostly on Goodreads (77%).

A ‘second chance at love’ is by far our favourite type of story – either ‘reunited lovers’ (83.1%) or falling in love again ‘after heartbreak’ (83.5% ). Almost 19 per cent of readers like ‘friends to lovers’ stories and almost 16 per cent like confident, sassy heroines. Fourteen per cent of respondents said they like small town romances.

Pretty interesting stuff, hey? Here’s a link to the full survey report if you’d like to know more.