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The cover is good. Whoever is doing it has talent. But it could be better.
You have to remember that almost all of the people looking at it are going to see it as a thumbnail. And it's too dark as a thumbnail. Yes, ACTING will show up nicely but you have to want more appeal for your cover than just a word. And like adding the guy (in the second version)--no one will see him on the thumbnail. You can just barely see him on the full.
Believe me, trying to get my own covers in shape, I know what you're going through and it's tough. You think/hope/wish maybe just a tweak will do it and sometimes that's the case but sometimes you need to start from scratch.
The "Cosmos" comment is on the money. My first thought seeing it was that it was a sci-fi novel. And even as a sci-fi novel it could be improved.
Most non-fiction covers are pretty bright and they often emphasize the text and the subtitle. Don't be so subtle. Brighten it up.
You've got a split second to garner someone's attention. If they don't click on the cover you're history. Now I have to believe in the categories your book is going to be in people will be looking more at the title and subtitle than they would say in mysteries or thrillers, so that's good, but still you want to have everything you can working to your advantage.
So what's your book about? Acting, okay. But that's very very very broad. (And your subtitle From "First Audition to Final Bow" is very very broad as well.) Now I get the sense from your title that your book is going to tell me about the process of starting with an audition and then becoming accomplished to the point of completing a performance. Which is all well and good. It's probably what most of the acting books are going to show people. But it could be much more exciting.
What you need to be asking yourself is, What are people HUNGRY to know about acting? What do they want to know so bad that only my book is going to be able to give it to them? And you can find this out.
With non-fiction books you can go to Amazon's search engine (make sure you're in the Kindle Store--that way you'll know what your competition is) and enter what you're looking for. That tells you what real people (customers with credit cards already in Amazon's files!) are searching for.
I went there and put in "acting." A drop-down menu appears with the most sought after search closest to the top. So you see what people are searching for. When I looked at it a title caught my eye ("Acting Onstage and Off") and I went to the book. (see screenshot 149)
Then I entered in the search engine:
actor
And the drop down had:
actors work (see 150)
So I went there and found a title:
Acting for a Living: How to Act Outside Hollywood - Become an Actor; Work in Film, TV & Video; Make it Your Career
See how it works?
Lastly I went to the thing I would put in:
how to be an actor
There was only one drop down:
how to be an actor
And so I went there and it was loaded with titles like:
How to be a Happy Actor in a Challenging Business: A Guide to Thriving Through It All
So these are your competitors. Will your book's title and cover outshine theirs? That's what it's going to have to do to sell.
Here's my shot at a title that would be similar to yours:
How To Be An Actor: The Surefire Way to Break into the Acting Business and Stay There
The first part "How To Be An Actor" is boring. Yes, but if I want to show up on that search page with people entering "how to be an actor" I want that Search Engine Optimization to find my title. And the subtitle fleshes out what my book is about in more detail.
Being new you have to make a big noise.
Not tacky or gaudy. Just big. Look at how bright most of those covers are and how big the text is. Outshine them.
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