Revamping The Cover Of Soft Target

It's a fact of life that, in the world of publishing at least, you CAN judge a book by its cover.

I've been asking my publisher Hodder and Stoughton to revamp some of my early covers. In my experience, revamping a cover can substantiality improve sales. It has worked for my self-published books and I hope it will be just as effective with my Hodder and Stoughton books.

They have agreed to test the water by revamping the cover of Soft Target, the second book in the bestselling Spider Shepherd series.



The existing cover is good, but it has been around for almost ten years.

Hodder came up with this cover as a replacement.


I liked it but worried that it's a bit futuristic, giving it the look of a sci-fi novel.  And I also worried that the figure - who is presumably meant to be Spider Shepherd - is left handed.  The gun is also definitely not Metropolitan Police issue. In my humble opinion the details of a cover aren't that important, what matters is the overall feel. And this feels good. I love the London skyline.

I explained my feelings to Hodder and they came back with a slightly different version.


I think this is brilliant, and it'll soon be up as the new cover. Hopefully it will lift sales. I shall keep you posted!

You can buy Soft Target on Amazon by clicking HERE
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Published on June 25, 2014 03:32
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message 1: by Ian (new)

Ian I must say I quite liked the old cover. I think its what drew me to pick up the book initially and because of it I discovered my favourite author. When looking at the covers side by side I'm not sure whether the new cover is quite as striking and powerful as the old one. Maybe I'm just a little resistant to change or a bit nostalgic about the old cover...

The gun on the new cover is what bothers me most about it... It was probably chosen as such to look a bit more intimidating or "bad ass", but a MP5 would have been a bit more believable... He looks more like US SWAT than a Met. officer.

I do hope though that the new cover has the desired effect and increases sales. The Spider Shepherd series is excellent and more people should read it.


message 2: by Johnadavis (last edited Aug 27, 2014 03:45AM) (new)

Johnadavis Wonderful inspiration, a great number of possibilities to pick from regarding different occasions.
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