I recently held a workshop for five other authors so we could all share marketing ideas and critique each other’s websites, cover designs and social media presence. It was a fun day and we all came away with loads of useful ideas as well as some new friendships.

The old cover for my second novel came in for same criticism. I’d always loved it and it was described in a review in The Historical Novel Society as “An unbeatable cover – excellent and memorable.” but the general consensus was that it could do with a makeover. So I asked the readers of my occasional newsletter who agreed. People felt the old cover was “too green”, the cover model in black&white wasn’t appealing and looked a bit greenish too, and several lamented the lack of any actual kurinji flowers.

I think the new cover combines the best elements of the old but lifts the heavy weight of green, incorporates the flowers and picks up their colour in the title – and we now have a Ginny in full colour and I think a bit more approachable than the Hollywood-style lady I had before.

I now have a ton of things to do including updating the website with the new image.

What do you think?