About the project
Rachel, an accomplished author, was changing genres and writing her debut psychological thriller under a new pen name. Her brand needed to effectively target this new audience, with a cover design that stood out in the ultra-competitive Amazon store. Rachel planned to launch two books back-to-back and cultivate a strong social media presence.
My mission was to develop a personal brand to help Rachel build a new fanbase, and create a comprehensive design solution to ensure her book launches were a success.
Process
Psychological thrillers focus on unreliable narrators under extreme stress, who's twisted perceptions and paranoia are central to the story. I pitched a design theme where characters were symbolically drowning, which we carried across all the branding & promotional collateral.
We prepared PPC and social campaigns for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, and Bookbub. These ads tested dozens of different visual and copy combinations, targeting the strongest converting styles to each audience. I also created a series of short video ads, a low cost ad placement with little competition at the time. Ahead of the official launch, I designed a website and teasers to help Rachel build a mailing list of advance-review readers.
Compositing work included illustrated water effect and distortion, smoke and ash effects, frequency separation, color correction, a range of text effects, and more.
An automated exporting process for generating an ebook cover, paperback cover, audiobook cover, social media banners, and dozens of display ads.
Results
Sick Girl debuted as an Amazon bestseller with more than 20,000 copies sold and outstanding reviews. It was followed soon after by My Sister’s Lies, then hit audiobook launches for both titles. Sick Girl was later optioned by Yes, Normal Productions for film/television.
A small sampling of the ads Rachel used to promote the series
Rachel's high-engagement social campaigns
Landing page to drive preorders and advance-review copies
Learn more about me, or contact me about opportunities to work together.
