So I released a new title recently and under other names in the past have done the usual new book, new cover thing. I've been wondering what people think of using one kickass cover and just adding the number along the way? Death Frisbee, Death Frisbee 2, Death Frisbee 3 etc Nothing changes except the giant number on the front. Don't know if it would cause people to skip over it (because they don't realise it's different) or whether it becomes effective because if you do well, you can own the also-boughts on other authors' pages. The money saving is a factor too - especially if producing the illustrated style covers. I'm tempted to do it just as an experiment. Also I'm in a rapid release thing right now and frankly the speed I need the covers at might not be achievable. So, what do you think?
I don't know. I think it might be viewed as being lazy? Unless you have very short books that come out very often. At the very least... change the colors on the giant numbers, I would say.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, similarly a good book cover is worth at least that much. Its one of the biggest attractions/advertisement a book has to catch the interest of the consumer/reader. In most cases I would avoid reusing cover art for every book in a series. Each new cover offers a new chance to entice a reader to give your books a chance. IMO
I agree with different cover art (although similar layout and titlework for branding of the series) is probably best. If you do have the same cover art, and just change the number, it may or may not be enough...remember, often something is seen as a thumbnail. If there could be a different background color (I have seen that done), it may be enough to catch a readers eye, so that they say to themselves, "Hey, it's a new release." Even if the prominent number were a different color...?
In a niche genre like LitRPG, I'm not sure it matters a whole lot. I've seen some pretty horrible covers on books and still bought them just because there's a dearth of material. There's also the argument that, if you only have a certain amount of money to spend, is it better to spend it on one really good image or on multiple less good ones.
I have seen several authors change the color of the cover for each book. The only one I know of that has the same exact cover for every book is Lewd Dungeon and it's such a simple cover design that I think that is why people knew it was a different book. Also I've noticed their first in series has a new beautiful cover. It is possible that with how much competition there is now that series might not get noticed like some of the ones with much better covers.
