Cover feedback please?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Nabeel

I like the cover. I'm not sure why: it's well-balanced, and the images of the lights and circles hint at ballet. The break in the letters of 'American Ballerina' suggests something sinister, and makes me want to know more. It looks good!

Thanks Nabeel. I like it too. Although it seems most people are dead-set against (in terms of working for the suspense genre). I think it has an energy and vitality. Appreciate the feedback.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by pendragginp

Wow, Greg - OT but wondering - how many novels have you written this year?

Hey Pen. Two. Saving Baby and now this one.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

Hm. That makes sense, but only now that you've explained it to us. I didn't get it AT ALL at first glance.

On a purely aesthetic note, the cover does not have very much (a) color, (b) contrast, or (c) dramatic implication. As a patron browsing a bookstore, I suspect I would have walked past it without looking twice.

Hi Nancy. A couple of people have recognized The Eye but I'm sure 95% won't. And yeah, you don't get a chance to explain. LOL (It would be nice though!)

Yeah, the aesthetics. You're right. It is a photo of the fireworks display there. I'm pretty sure it's not photoshopped in the least. So there is all the smoke, kind of dulling the contrast. But I disagree with you on the notion of it not having dramatic implication. I think it has an intensity about it. An organic intensity, probably esp. since it hasn't been photoshopped.

And yet, most ebook cover photos are much "cleaner," I admit.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I think it's a great cover, but not for the book under discussion.

I agree Catlady, but there are so many covers out there that are non-distinct. Look at the book Amazon is pushing now Illuminae--an orange blob. Then there's The Girl on the Train--it looks like Cezanne brush strokes. Wool--another orange blob.

What do these things say about the books? Yeah, you can say after the fact they're about this and that, but if you knew nothing about the content of the book beforehand you couldn't.

I really like my cover. I'm glad you think it's great. Yours and a few comments if not entirely reviving my hopes for it are at least breathing a little life into it. Thanks.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

I agree Catlady, but there are so many covers out there that are non-distinct. Look at the book Amazon is pushing now Illuminae--an orange blob. Then there's The Girl on the Train--it looks like Cezanne brush strokes. Wool--another orange blob.

What do these things say about the books? Yeah, you can say after the fact they're about this and that, but if you knew nothing about the content of the book beforehand you couldn't.

I really like my cover. I'm glad you think it's great. Yours and a few comments if not entirely reviving my hopes for it are at least breathing a little life into it. Thanks.

Is that Wool's first cover? I thought Hugh had gone through a few changes.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

I agree Catlady, but there are so many covers out there that are non-distinct. Look at the book Amazon is pushing now Illuminae--an orange blob. Then there's The Girl on the Train--it looks like Cezanne brush strokes. Wool--another orange blob.

What do these things say about the books? Yeah, you can say after the fact they're about this and that, but if you knew nothing about the content of the book beforehand you couldn't.

I really like my cover. I'm glad you think it's great. Yours and a few comments if not entirely reviving my hopes for it are at least breathing a little life into it. Thanks.

I have no idea what the other two are, but as for Girl on the Train, that cover obviously depicts a view through the window of a moving train, and fits the title and the story.

In any case, your cover isn't an indistinct blob--it's some sort of Ferris wheel with fireworks. Those elements don't connect at all with either the title or the blurb.

[pendragginp]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Hey Pen. Two. Saving Baby and now this one.

Oh, got it. For some reason I thought the story with the watch was also this year. Carry on!

[Cinisajoy]

Gregg,
How about a solid black cover with your name huge and the title small.
That is what Dick Wolf did.

*Dick Wolf is the creator of Law and Order.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

I agree Catlady, but there are so many covers out there that are non-distinct. Look at the book Amazon is pushing now Illuminae--an orange blob. Then there's The Girl on the Train--it looks like Cezanne brush strokes. Wool--another orange blob.

What do these things say about the books? Yeah, you can say after the fact they're about this and that, but if you knew nothing about the content of the book beforehand you couldn't. [...]

I have that copy of Wool - and the "matching" ones for Shift and Dust. I put quotes around "matching" because they match by being equally vague and irrelevant (but they are vague and irrelevant in a similar sort of way ). These are the covers supplied after the books were taken up by Trad' Pub' (not sure what was used before that), and they match my expectations of Trad' Pub' these days.

[Nancy Fulda]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

But I disagree with you on the notion of it not having dramatic implication. I think it has an intensity about it. An organic intensity, probably esp. since it hasn't been photoshopped.

A couple of people have agreed with you, so it's clearly a matter of personal preference. I'm a genre chick - I like a distinct character or situation on a book cover. Doesn't mean every book needs to have one.

[Nancy Fulda]

Random thought: What if you kept the typography the same, but used the Tower of London at night (or some other more recognizably European image) as the backdrop?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Is that Wool's first cover? I thought Hugh had gone through a few changes.

Don't know.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I have no idea what the other two are, but as for Girl on the Train, that cover obviously depicts a view through the window of a moving train, and fits the title and the story.

In any case, your cover isn't an indistinct blob--it's some sort of Ferris wheel with fireworks. Those elements don't connect at all with either the title or the blurb.

So maybe I need to use an indistinct blob?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Gregg,
How about a solid black cover with your name huge and the title small.
That is what Dick Wolf did.

*Dick Wolf is the creator of Law and Order.

Are you kidding?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

A couple of people have agreed with you, so it's clearly a matter of personal preference. I'm a genre chick - I like a distinct character or situation on a book cover. Doesn't mean every book needs to have one.

Yeah, there's something to that distinct character/situation. It's the safest path for sure. Ultimately who really knows.