Series titles on book covers

Do you appreciate when series titles are on the front cover, or do you prefer covers that can stand alone?

I have a cover for the first book of a series which was drawn up before the series was named. As such, it works well for the book, but I'm wondering if I should include the series name on the cover so readers can quickly identify, and possibly select it, if they see it's part of a series before opening it up. The story itself can stand alone with its own bittersweet, satisfactory (I hope) ending but has an epilogue which clearly sets up the rest of the trilogy, so I could go either way here.

Here is the cover:



If you think it should include the series title, where? What style?

For reference, here is an early rough draft of the cover for the second book, which needs more work:

 

Thanks! All good points. I'd certainly use a series title and numbers for sequels, but wasn't sure if readers would think it necessary for the first one. I always put it in the title for online postings, but hardcopies don't have that luxury.

I guess the main issue I'm having is that some covers benefit from a cleaner image and less text. I feel mine is like that. The second cover is a rough draft, but I like the imagery, so I'm trying to find a way to make it look good and fit in with the rest.

 

That's my main issue, I think. I was considering a caption included with the blurb as well.

 

Yeah, I remember the Discworld artwork. It was fun and playful. I don't have a dedicated artist, but I'll have to find one to help bring the cover for the second book more in line with the first.

 

Similar fonts and color pallets would help, but I'm still considering scrapping the 2nd one for a photo to better match the first. The image in the artwork just fits the story really well, and finding a public domain photo that can do the same might be tough. Maybe a good photoshopper can merge a person in a yoga pose with the artwork. Hmmm...

Numbers on the spines of hard copies are great. I definitely agree!!

 

Those are pretty good covers. I like them both.

 

Note on the OP: As stated in the OP, the second cover is only an early draft and not representative of the final style. When edited by a graphic designer (I all the graphics, fonts, color palettes, etc. for the series on file) it will match the imagery of the first book more closely -- and look a hell of a lot better than what I can do as a preliminary concept. It was included only to illustrate the difference between printing the series' name and book number or not on the cover. When the cover for the second book is somewhat close to its finished form, perhaps I'll re-post it in this thread as a better representation of the series' artwork for those interested. Unfortunately, I am unable edit the OP to remove the cover, so it has to stay there for now. Please disregard, since it's apparently distracting posters from the point of the thread.

Sorry to all the posters who thought I needed critique on the series art or style. I should have made it clearer that the focus was on the initial question and that the artwork for the second cover was not a treated product.

The principle question remains, would you expect the initial book in the series to have the series identified on the cover, as opposed being identified in the book's blurb/jacket (and extended title in online formats), and how important is it for this information to be presented before opening the jacket/book link?

 

Yeah, that's the general feeling I'm getting. There seems to be a great difference of opinion on the matter depending on whether it's a printed hard copy form or published in e-format. It seems the e-formats are a lot more forgiving with including the series markers in supplemental sections, rather than typed on the cover, which makes sense.

Although, I remember when reading some books I found in the book store, back when they were more of a thing, finding a book that looked interesting, only to discover it was part of a series after opening it up and reading inside the jacket. Apparently it was common for first printings of a debut novel for a series. Second printings generally included the series name. Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind was an example I remember. I never knew it was part of the Sword of Truth series until second printing. Conventions may have changed since then.

 

I remember that as well. I was usually okay if the series was listed inside the jacket or in the blurb, but that wasn't always the case, especially for first printings of the debut novel. I'm not sure if it was the same for your experience with finding such books. Perhaps the publisher was unsure if they wanted to advertise the series until interest was established?

It's not you, the second one just isn't close to being finished -- but it has the series name on it is all.

 

That reminds me of my bank website. Trying to log in to my account is like finding my way through a maze of credit card promos. I already have the damn card, now let me manage it!

My go-to was the page after the copywrite info. If the series wasn't listed there, in order, I'd pick up another book.

For a few of my web excerpts and online postings, I had a short intro page before the first chapter describing the series and books in it. Some of my readers seemed to appreciate it. Others skipped it.