When we first released The Vintner's Vixen, our cover featured a handsome man standing in a vineyard appreciating a glass of wine. Let's just say while we loved that version of Noah, readers did not. It was one of the worst releases I've ever had. I asked my newsletter subscribers where the disconnect was and it came down to the fact that the cover wasn't what they expected from me. So we changed it up and put a dude with his head cut off and his six-pack abs on display. You know the type. Nearly every contemporary romance out there has something similar. Then we paid for a whole new round of ads and waited for the sales to come in. Suffice it to say, they didn't. In fact, sales dropped. So here we had a book we were both incredibly proud of that reviewers overwhelmingly enjoyed ... and no one wanted it. Clearly there was a disconnect somewhere.
After several long discussions about tone and feel of the book, which authors we thought were a good match for our characters and the small and charming town we'd created, it was back to the drawing board. What came out of those discussions are new covers that are unlike anything I've personally ever put out, but which fit the book perfectly. I'm hoping over time audiences find The Vintner's Vixen and The Distiller's Darling and give these charming couples a shot, because I really think these books are good and worth picking up.
