The Night Guardians - a ragtag band of cuddly toys on a quest to save their child from the Lord of Nightmares

Changing the title of a title for future growth?

 

Hey everybody, going to talk a little about minor change you may have seen on the website as I replaced the A Teddy Bear Tales: Awakenings graphic novel with The Night Guardians: Awakenings graphic novel. Right now I can assure you it’s the same book, just a revised title, but why?

The A Teddy Bear Tale: Awakenings graphic novel takes the formatting from the comic book series that is being completed as this is being typed and borrows the header graphic and styling from the series. Which is a traditional graphic novel fair established by the big two, and looks good for it as it is a visual link back to the books. However, it will not be long before I take this collected work to conventions and the question I asked myself will the title as it stands have the visual pull to get new readers? While I am certain the story is good, it’s getting over that first step of picking up the book, that wow factor, the shelf presence – in short is A Teddy Bear Tale strong enough?

The Night Guardians - Cuddly Toys and Teddy Bears bumping back at the bumps in the night

I want this book to stand next to other middle grade books that it will be competing with in its genre and be picked up and read. So, I redesigned some of the cover elements, taking away the comic book title and calling the book the Night Guardians, which has also been one of our main hashtags on social media – as our heroes are Night Guardians, bumping back at the bumps in the night. The story title is the same and inside the covers, it will reference A Teddy Bear Tale, but the dynamic of the book looks different, a little darker, more serious, that may appeal beyond middle grade and bring eyes to the cover.

I am looking for future growth and the Night Guardians might just be it.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts, feel free to leave yours and we can discuss it further. Until I send to the printers, nothing is set in stone, yet.

Play well 🙂