Many of my clients write series. And some of them write “companion” novellas, shorts stories or even novels to go with their series. A companion story or book is something set in the same universe as the series, and maybe including some of the same characters, but it is not an essential part of the story arc of the series. These stories can be sequels, prequels or even take part during the main story arc, but off to the side, so to speak.

When designing covers for companion books, the challenge is to connect them to the main series without suggesting that they are part and the same. There are a few ways of doing this, but the general gist of my approach is “the same but different”. Here are some examples:

A. Wrighton’s Dragonic series:

The companion prequels:

Amy Patrick’s Hidden Trilogy

The companion novella:

Amber Foxx’s Mae Martin Novels

A Mae Martin Prequel Short Story:

Studying these covers you can see how certain things are the same, the title fonts, backgrounds, colors and overall concept, while certain things set the companion project apart.

Companion titles area great way to promote a series. They can be set as free to promote a new series, or released down the track to give new life to a series where sales have settled a bit. If you have a companion project in mind think about the above for ideas on how to design your cover.