Cover page variations: Suggestions please?

[AndrewMowere]

Originally Posted by gmw

(Sorry, I'm a bit late to the party, been very busy lately.)

I found it almost impossible to offer comment on the first images you posted, without context the symbols didn't really give me any idea how the cover might might.

Of the second set of images you posted, I liked the third best (with the almost complete border) - mostly this choice is determined by it being a slightly better fit with your already published first book.


I have to be blunt though, I'm not really enthusiastic about any of them.

The use of black and white with a very plain font gives a very simple appearance that is obviously deliberate, and reasonably tasteful (at full size). But the problem with this approach is that it is also quite generic. They remind me of covers put on re-issued classics.

The second problem I have is that neither the font choice, nor the overall cover, works well in small thumbnails. I don't think the covers make good use of the space available to them.

The third problem also relates the thumbnail appearance but specifically targets the simple black on white: in a list of book thumbnails your cover for this second book will almost merge into the general (background) text of a typical page, rather than stand out as an image of a book cover (you can see this already with your existing sample image for the book on Amazon, it looks more like a pencil sketch than a book cover).


It's possibly too late to change this style for this particular book, since the changes needed would mean that it did not match well with the first book in the series. So unless you were willing to re-issue the first book with a new matching cover, you are a bit stuck.

(I hope that doesn't read too harshly, but you did ask.)

Thank you, gmw. No, your words aren't harsh at all. In fact, they make perfect sense.

[Gregg Bell]

Hi Andrew. I'm all for simplicity in covers and so I would favor the rune-less version. I think it would help to see the first cover and that would give an idea of what the branding effect might be. As it stands, though, when I see just the cover I'm thinking more non-fiction than fiction. I think it's the black and white that does it. Like it could be a treatise by Nietzsche or something.

And I don't even know what runes are, so I'm assuming your readership will know and recognize those symbols.

[AndrewMowere]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Hi Andrew. I'm all for simplicity in covers and so I would favor the rune-less version. I think it would help to see the first cover and that would give an idea of what the branding effect might be. As it stands, though, when I see just the cover I'm thinking more non-fiction than fiction. I think it's the black and white that does it. Like it could be a treatise by Nietzsche or something.

And I don't even know what runes are, so I'm assuming your readership will know and recognize those symbols.

That seems to be the running theme -the too plain, I mean. That's been the feedback regarding the font as well. I think next time I should put up my covers a good while before I launch, so as to leave time for bigger feedback than "A versus B"

This could be a problem, since my turnaround between idea and finished manuscript is generally a month or two to begin with. Still, I think delayed launch for the sake of a better cover/editing from professionals should be a logical next step. I've simply been waiting to make sure that my writing is worth investing in. Not a lot of money to invest here.

About runes... There's a word that defines them well, but I'll go ahead and say they are inscribed characters that often carry meaning by themselves, regardless of syntax or grammer. Imagine that T meant Tree.

The idea is used in fantasy for ancient magical symbols more often than not, where the writing itself has power. So imagine that inscribing T on a tree could make the tree grow healthier.

[AndrewMowere]

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

If you can stand some strong honesty in critiques, you might submit your cover to http://covercritics.com/ --- "the crowd-sourced book cover critique site"

The folks there offer very good advice on how to create a genre-specific cover, with suggestions for fonts, colors, layout, and art. Take a look at some of the comments on existing submissions, and consider whether they might have good advice for you.

Thank you, this sounds like solid advice.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by AndrewMowere

That seems to be the running theme -the too plain, I mean. That's been the feedback regarding the font as well. I think next time I should put up my covers a good while before I launch, so as to leave time for bigger feedback than "A versus B"

This could be a problem, since my turnaround between idea and finished manuscript is generally a month or two to begin with. Still, I think delayed launch for the sake of a better cover/editing from professionals should be a logical next step. I've simply been waiting to make sure that my writing is worth investing in. Not a lot of money to invest here.

About runes... There's a word that defines them well, but I'll go ahead and say they are inscribed characters that often carry meaning by themselves, regardless of syntax or grammer. Imagine that T meant Tree.

The idea is used in fantasy for ancient magical symbols more often than not, where the writing itself has power. So imagine that inscribing T on a tree could make the tree grow healthier.

What I've always heard is it takes 3 things.

1)Good cover
2)Good blurb
3)Good story

And at least initially pretty much in that order. The cover draws them in so they read the blurb, then they read a few pages to see if they like the story.

You work so hard to write the novel the temptation is to say 'I'm done' and whip through the blurb and cover (and I'm not saying you rushed your cover I'm talking in generalities here), whereas those things are so important.

Same thing with query letters. I heard someone say you should work on your query letter as long as you worked on your novel.

Sure, it's not literally the case, but it makes a point in that those 400 pages of your novel are judged by a one page query letter.

Thanks for the explanation about runes.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by AndrewMowere

[...] This could be a problem, since my turnaround between idea and finished manuscript is generally a month or two to begin with. [...]

This piqued my interest. When you speak of "idea", are you talking about the idea for the cover or the idea for the story?

I can't quite imagine going from story idea to finished manuscript in a "month or two". Even the short stories I get around to publishing go through a much longer gestation. So I'm sort of assuming you're talking about just the idea for the cover.

Originally Posted by AndrewMowere

Still, I think delayed launch for the sake of a better cover/editing from professionals should be a logical next step.[...]

Definitely. Only when you get to be a big name can you hope to have people pick up your book just because your name is on it. (And for that to work it would help if your name was more visible in the thumbnail view.) Until that happens Gregg's summary is the bitter truth.

[AndrewMowere]

Originally Posted by gmw

This piqued my interest. When you speak of "idea",
Definitely. Only when you get to be a big name can you hope to have people pick up your book just because your name is on it. (And for that to work it would help if your name was more visible in the thumbnail view.) Until that happens Gregg's summary is the bitter truth.

Hahah, of course, you're right. I simply meant that when I began, I wanted to make sure I wasn't writing UTTER garbage before investing in editing/covers. Nobody wants to see an average of one star reviews after spending five hundred bucks.

[AndrewMowere]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

What I've always heard is it takes 3 things.

1)Good cover
2)Good blurb
3)Good story

And at least initially pretty much in that order.

Terrifying.