Kobo's Best Indie Cover Contest

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I disagree with the assertion that covers need to be based on the art alone. That is nonsense. It isn't an art contest. It is a cover contest.

The Star Wars poster is a great poster for Star Wars. It would be a bad poster for The Godfather.

We are not judging on if a cover can be used for a different book. We are judging the cover on the artwork. That's all that should be done. So your poster analogy is not valid. Also, just because a cover fits the book does not mean it's a good cover when viewed standalone.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

You show your bad taste.

In your humble opinion, what is a good cover? Please specify one.

I'm not the one who designed a flat blue face that looks very ugly.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

We are juding on if a cover can be used for a different book. We are judging the cover on the artwork. That's all that should be done.

Can you point to where it says that?

So your poster analogy is not valid. Also, just because a cover fits the book does not mean it's a good cover when viewed standalone.

I think the poster analogy is a good one and you are off in your own world.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by gmw

If you want to prove your point you'd have to use your first cover. The one's you have been using more recently are high enough quality that they might well win against the current list whether you send out a notice to your fans or not. Win with your first cover, against the current field, and I would consider your point made.

I meant to say thanks for the compliment. The newest book 1 I have out is by far my favorite cover of all of my books. Rebekah did that one and she is phenomenal, and well, priced accordingly.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Can you point to where it says that?



I think the poster analogy is a good one and you are off in your own world.

The problem is that you don't get it. That's the real issue here. You think hands holding an apple is a good cover when it's not. Please just admit you are incorrect and we can move on.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is that you don't get it. That's the real issue here. You think hands holding an apple is a good cover when it's not. Please just admit you are incorrect and we can move on.

Don't try to argue with me, please. So far you have a bunch of goofy opinions backed up by nothing but your own sense of superiority.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A cover contest is not about how the cover matches the story. The words are irrelevant. You vote for the best looking cover. The words are voted for when you are voting for the best books.

Says who? Did you start the contest? Did you write the rules? You decided something without knowing anything about it.

Here, here's an interview with a professional cover designer: The Jacket Designer's Challenge: To Capture A Book By Its Cover

On what a book jacket is and does

I think there are two primary jobs that a jacket has to do: It has to represent a text and it has to sell it.

Also, you give your same tedious opinion: "it's rubbish" but you don't back up what makes for a good or bad cover.

I have asked you to give some examples of what you think is good artwork, but you don't do that. All you do is dump on everything while giving no basis for where your opinions come from.

I was going to write more, but I'm done. Replying to your posts feels like talking to a stone.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Also, you give your same tedious opinion: "it's rubbish" but you don't back up what makes for a good or bad cover.

Here are some covers you should like given you think Twilight has a good cover.

https://lousybookcovers.com

But seriously, here are some rather nice book covers.

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/anne-mccaffrey

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Here are some covers you should like given you think Twilight has a good cover.

https://lousybookcovers.com

But seriously, here are some rather nice book covers.

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/anne-mccaffrey

I'm sorry. But any of those Michael Whelan dragons would look terrible as a cover for The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina or Gone With the Wind.

You are conflating artwork you enjoy with a good cover. And the two aren't the same thing.

A book cover is more like a movie poster, whether you like it or not. A book cover has to not just have artwork that meets your high standards, but it has to fit the book it is representing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'm sorry. But any of those Michael Whelan dragons would look terrible as a cover for The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina or Gone With the Wind.

Dragons make everything better.

You still do not get it. We are not picking covers because they can be used with other books. We arepicking cover because they are really good and the Michael Whelan covers for Anne McCaffrey books are really good.

You are conflating artwork you enjoy with a good cover. And the two aren't the same thing.

A book cover is more like a movie poster, whether you like it or not. A book cover has to not just have artwork that meets your high standards, but it has to fit the book it is representing.

So should I be picking a cover with artwork that's ugly aka Twilight? No. I should be picking a covers that are enjoyable to look at regardless of the contents of the book.

Yes a cover should fit the book it's designed for. But if it is not an enjoyable to look at outside of the contents of the book, then it's not one to vote for in a cover contest.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Dragons make everything better.

Okay, there we agree.

You still do not get it. We are not picking covers because they can be used with other books. We arepicking cover because they are really good and the Michael Whelan covers for Anne McCaffrey books are really good.

Correction:

You are not picking covers because they can be used with other books. You arepicking cover because they are really good and the Michael Whelan covers for Anne McCaffrey books are really good.

If those are the rules that are supposed to be followed by everyone, please show me where that is written.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Correction:

You are not picking covers because they can be used with other books. You arepicking cover because they are really good and the Michael Whelan covers for Anne McCaffrey books are really good.

If those are the rules that are supposed to be followed by everyone, please show me where that is written.

If you have say 10 books to judge the covers but you know nothing about the author or the books, how would you pick the best cover? You would pick the cover by which cover you like best.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you have say 10 books to judge the covers but you know nothing about the author or the books, how would you pick the best cover? You would pick the cover by which cover you like best.

Or, you know, put yourself out for a few minutes and actually browse the books and find out what they are about. There's this thing called the Internet that makes it pretty easy to do.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you have say 10 books to judge the covers but you know nothing about the author or the books, how would you pick the best cover? You would pick the cover by which cover you like best.

I'll give you that. You could bother to know what you are voting on, but I live in America and have learned that people aren't gonna do that.

But, even granting your supposition, not everybody is going to think that the best cover is the teenage fantasy/van art image of a guy riding a dragon.

Also, book covers should say something about the book. To go back to it, I liked the Twilight cover well before I had a clue what the book was about. It's a simple image with a lot of power.

[ZodWallop]

Here's why I think the Twilight cover is so good:

In art, black white and red is a striking color combination. When I was in college, I took some photography and one of our assignments was to create a black, white and red image.

It's simple and arresting. A black background with hands holding an apple. What does the image say?

The solid black background is mysterious and sinister. Under normal circumstances, you would see the person's body behind the hands.

In western culture, the apple is a powerful symbol. It represents knowledge (the apple hitting Isaac Newton) and also is the forbidden fruit. An 'apple' is what caused the fall in the garden of Eden. An apple is what the witch tried to kill Snow White with. It is something that is both pretty and dangerous.

And the hands seem to be reaching out of the dark, presenting the apple to you. It is friendly and possibly a threat.



That's what I got out of the Twilight cover before I had an inkling of the plot.

And when I learned what the book was about, it seemed very fitting.

It may well be that the cover is better than the book it is representing, but doesn't that make it a good cover?

[hobnail]

I'm sort of amused/bemused that all of these covers are in color while Kobo's ereaders are 16 levels of gray, meaning that they'll probably end up looking like crap on the ereader, except maybe for the Cloud Fortress cover.

I recently read Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney (which would have been a good book but there were some serious logic flaws) and the top of each chapter start page had a graphic that was done in etching/woodcut/engraving style with solid fine lines, in black. I was very impressed by how nice they looked on the ereader. (Do a Look Inside on Amazon and you can see.)