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Is It Time to Rebrand Your Books?

Rebranding is a way to breathe new life into your backlist or other books that aren't performing as well as you'd like. The list of things you have to update is exhausting, but if you aren't careful, then you'll exhaust your budget.

At the very least, you'll need a cover designer, a blurb doctor, and a book formatter. Even if you can do all of that yourself, completing all of the items on your rebranding checklist is a huge drain on your time. That's time you could spend writing your next book or marketing your existing ones.

7 Things To Ask Before You Rebrand

So, how do you know when it's time to rebrand? Here are some questions to ask yourself before deciding.

• Do you want to rebrand so that you can attract a different audience?
• Are you putting your books into (or pulling them from) Kindle Unlimited?
• Were your books part of a co-writing project that has since dissolved?
• Have you received the rights back from a trad publisher and now you're self-publishing the titles?
• Did you expand your brand to include boxed sets or combine several standalones into a series?
• Are your backlist covers and blurbs outdated compared to current genre trends?
• Were your books originally mis-marketed to fans of the wrong genre?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then it's time to talk to your team for input. Instead of asking loved ones who reply to everything with enthusiastic praise, poll your readers. You can ask them in your group, in a newsletter, or even through a questionnaire attached to a giveaway.

Regardless of how you make the final choice to rebrand, one thing is important. Know why you're going through with all of this time and effort. This will help when you hit those rough patches that make you doubt yourself midway through the process.

Your Rebranding Team

Now that you've decided to rebrand, it's time to get all of your ducks in a row—and by ducks, we mean members of your rebranding team. Make a list of everything you need and jot down who on your rebranding team is responsible for each item. These could include…

1. Cover designer
2. Blurb doctor
3. Formatter

In addition to their name, you'll want to have their email address and other pertinent communication details handy so that you can reach them in case of a rebranding emergency.

Introducing Your Newly Branded Books to the World

There's more to rebranding than uploading the files to retailers and hitting the publish button. Hitting that button is when the real work begins. Here are some things you'll want to do to make the transition from the old to the new branding for readers.

• BOOK COVERS – If you updated these, be sure to update your social media cover images to show off the gorgeous new book covers. You'll also want to contact a Goodreads Librarian to ask them to update your book cover on Goodreads, as only they can do that..

• TAGLINE & BLURB – If mentions about these newly-rebranded books previously existed in your other books, such as in the back matter, then you'll want to update the information in those books as well.

• ADS – You'll need to update any Facebook and BookBub ads to display the new covers, taglines, or anything else that you updated during the re-brand.

The idea of rebranding might feel overwhelming, but when you break the project into smaller steps and take one thing at a time, the process can be a lot of fun!
And remember, Novel Publicity's team of service professionals have the skills to handle each part of the rebranding process. You can visit https://www.novelpublicity.com/hire for details.