Feedback on new cover please

[BookCat]

Maybe a soft blue sky and white font. This would show well on a black and white ereader.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by BookCat

pdurrant: I like yours, but maybe without the pink. Unless the pink is ironic.

We cross posted.

The background and colours are incidental. I just wanted to suggest a very different text layout. I found the plain centred text dull and uninteresting.

I used the pixelsagas Adventure font for the title, and their Adventure subtitle for the series info.

[BookCat]

No need to apologise Hitch. I like everything you've said, especially WARM. Great name for the organisation.

[Catlady]

The idea of including a pooper-scooper is funny, but in an already busy cover with so many elements, would anyone be able to tell what it was?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

How about the International Woof Society?

That's great, Cin! Only thing is I'll be doing the series for all kinds of animals that they'll be rescuing.

I really don't know that I need it. But I could probably come up with something. International Women's Society. "Society" doesn't work but whatever.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Then how about "The First Lainey Tripper Adventure"?

Thanks Paul. I'll let that one percolate a bit. I'm not sure as I see it as an adventure though.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The pink is still ugly and the green for the title is the wrong color. But what to change the title color to depends on the background. The other problem is her cape is blowing for no reason. Try a sky blue with clouds to give the illusion of wind.

I'm going to experiment with blue. I'm going to post like a light purple now. I don't really think it works but I've got to lose the pink.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I agree about the colors and the blowing cape. I'd rather see a cape just draped from her shoulders and over her arms--as in this photo.

ETA: In addition to the incongruity of the cape being the only thing in the image affected by wind, it also unbalances the cover--too much weight on the right side; even the largest dogs are already on the right side.

Thanks Catlady. Agree about the balance issue. I'll flip the dogs and see if that helps. I like the cape blowing though. Over the shoulder it'll be hardly noticeable in a thumbnail.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

How about something like this for the title/series

Attachment 161435

Really really clever. Nice cover. Hmm. I'm a little too conventional I'm afraid though. All my books are pretty much the same. Title centered. Name in the same place. (Are you a cover designer?)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

That's great, Cin! Only thing is I'll be doing the series for all kinds of animals that they'll be rescuing.

I really don't know that I need it. But I could probably come up with something. International Women's Society. "Society" doesn't work but whatever.

Yeah, no. IWS = International Women's Society. Meh, sounds like DAR or one of those. I don't know, as I said, why you'd deliberately miss this opportunity for a pun, or a funny acronym, etc. Are you married to IWS for some reason? I mean, a good reason, as opposed to just obdurancy?

Hitch

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Really really clever. Nice cover. Hmm. I'm a little too conventional I'm afraid though. All my books are pretty much the same. Title centered. Name in the same place. (Are you a cover designer?)

Don't take this the wrong way, Gregg, but being a traditionalist isn't really a viable reason (excuse?) for bad design. The only thing "traditional" about centered titles on a book cover is that it's traditionally easier for people to center something than to stagger it or align it on one side or the other. What's "traditional" is taking the BEST layout for your book, given your graphics, etc., and making it work, in that environment.


The Twilight books and the 50SOG books all used non-centered titles.

Hitch

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by BookCat

The pink is wrong for a book which tongue-in-cheek satirises feminism. It also limits your market to women (and maybe gay men).

I don't understand your comment:



Surely that's EXACTLY the type of review you want. You don't want it reviewed as a Mills and Boon romance when your aim is wacky humour. Why would you be disappointed by a review which saw your book exactly the same way you do?

I think the poop-scoop in her right hand (our left) would be great. Americans would see this as a nod to the Statue of Liberty.

As for the font, maybe a bold version of Tempus Sans.

I can't help feeling that you really need to suss what IWS stands for. If you're serious about a cat follow-up, try not to make it species specific - you could write the series making each book relating to a different species, even getting into animal activism.

Thanks BookCat. Yeah, the pink has to go. And the pooper-scooper LOL is not going to happen. I didn't convey my meaning well about the reviews. I meant I didn't want people thinking the book was a serious thriller and then giving me a one star review because the book was wacky and over the top.

I like the Tempus. Kind of skinny for my book though. It reminds me of "The DaVinci Code."

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I prefer the original colors to current version, especially the orange, since it pops. Or else a simple blue background, representing sky. I think I also like the suggestion of buildings in the original, assuming the book is actually set in a city, and depending on the final positioning of the text.

Thanks Catlady. Yes, the book takes place in Chicago. A lot of people said the orange was hard on the eyes. I'm going to try the blue.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Thanks BookCat. Yeah, the pink has to go. And the pooper-scooper LOL is not going to happen. I didn't convey my meaning well about the reviews. I meant I didn't want people thinking the book was a serious thriller and then giving me a one star review because the book was wacky and over the top.

Well...I can't imagine that you're NOT going to make it clear, in the description, that it's not the latest Ludlum, right? (Rest his soul.). The cape ALONE makes it clear it's not an Actioner, never mind everything else.

I like the Tempus. Kind of skinny for my book though. It reminds me of "The DaVinci Code."

Why am I not surprised?


Hitch

[doubleshuffle]

A very rough sketch for a different colour scheme, ideally to be done with more dynamics in the titles:


I really think the dark aspect of the humour needs some expression in the cover design, so why not make the background dark?