DUCK FLASH: Zebra is Changing Some Stripes
Saturday, March 21, 2009 18:24
This just in…
Kensington Publishing is making some much needed changes to their Zebra Debut line. Both the look of their books and the price are affected.
~ The price break of trying a new author’s debut Zebra book is rising from $3.99 to $4.99 and that author’s second published book will go from $4.99 to $5.99.
~ And Zebra covers are getting a brand new look. Besides removing the ever-present price from the front cover of their debut books, it seems as though you’ll now be buying books that give the feel of the genre you’re wanting to read.
~ Take as an example Zebra Historical author Anthea Lawson’s debut book Passionate, picture to the left.
~ Compare it to her her second Zebra-published book, All He Desires, which is pictured on the right. The latter is beautiful and looks like an historical.
~ I mean, heavens, if it walks and talks like a duck…er, zebra…
~ Another example is debut author Lori Brighton’s book, Wild Heart. It has also been given a beautiful cover with an historical feel to it. See that cover below. Hopefully someone over at Kensington is getting a raise for their terrific idea.
~ It will be interesting to see what the other genres look like when these changes take effect in August 2009.
Consider yourself flashed.
Liviania says:
March 21st, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Sounds good to me! Well, not the price raise part . . . but I like the new covers.
Sandy M says:
March 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 am
The new covers are nice, aren’t they? At least their prices are still better than the normal 6.99 or 7.99 and definitely better than those trade paperbacks!
Liviania says:
March 22nd, 2009 at 7:33 am
That’s true. I really hate when books I want come out in trade paperback because I won’t pay for it.
Carrie Lofty says:
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:39 am
I think they’re gorgeous. Glad you could make use of the info.
Lynne Connolly says:
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 am
We likes the pretties!
Anthea Lawson says:
March 22nd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
We love the historical feel of the new covers. It was a real surprise when Passionate’s cover came out. We were saying, “Wait, what about the botanical expedition to Tunisia? What about the Victorian era? What about….” The contrast is pretty obvious, although they were naked underneath their clothes in the 19th century too~ (g)
A note about the pricing on the front… while it looks like Kensington is removing the big top-banner price, we think the circled price will still be a feature on the cover. Our cover image is not quite the actual cover. Expect to see a ‘blurb’ quote and the price on there in the next few months.
But yes! A move in a nice direction for Kensington. Kudos to the art department!