The author says:

Genre: Dystopian, Adventure, Satire

All of humanity disappeared in the blink of an eye. With constructions and monuments gradually losing place to nature, a mixture of domestic and wild animals fight for survival in a strange, new environment. A group of animals in central Brazil, with the lead of the mutt Tobi, tries to discover what happened to their old masters. Will it be possible to even survive to find those answers?

Target Audience: Distopy readers, Young Adults/Adults, readers of fictions that relies on contemporary issues and thoughts.

Nathan says:

The description sound intriguing. Unfortunately, none of that intrigue shows up in the cover. At best, a potential reader would guess that there’s something to do with animals in this novel, but your target readers will be more attracted to the other books they see that more firmly proclaim, “This book is for you!”

Using the “print” motif, my idea would be to have human tracks (footprints and tire tracks, for instance) with animal prints criss-crossing and covering them.  But even that would have to contain some of the hallmarks of dystopian book covers, like textures and a distressed typeface.  You’d have to invest to get that kind of custom cover, naturally, but it would definitely increase the potential sales.

Other ideas?

The author says:

This is a somewhat darkly satirical take-down of the premise on which the movie Teeth (2007) was based, mainly intended to appeal to its detractors (and people who probably would be its detractors if they’d seen it).

In this story, the girl April Winters has a literal “snapper” down below: a fully functional vagina dentata complete with retractable teeth. While this provides her with a very effective rape deterrent (as one might expect), she gradually comes to realize it’s not very useful most of the time to a girl who doesn’t happen to be living in a Lifetime Movie of the Week, and actually quite a hazard to both her romantic prospects and the children she’d like to have someday.

Nathan says:

Well, THAT’S a niche audience!

I think the biggest problem here is the disconnect between the clean, blocky icon and the scratchy font used; a handdrawn font with more solid lines would tie it together better.

Beyond that, I think I’ll let the usual commenters do the heavy lifting. Have at it!

The author says:

Genre: SciFi – cyberpunk

Pitch: Moon-based hackers infect Earth with a neurological suicide virus. After her mother is infected, our thought-scanner heroine heads to the lawless Moon colony to find the cure.

Reader appeal: sci-fi technology, exploration of potentials (and potential abuses) of neuroscience, mind-bending concepts.

Nathan says:

You’ve got some snazzy artwork there.  I might suggest more distinct stars around the edges, to indicate the outer-space setting.

Assuming you’ve got enough margin on the artwork, I’d move the live area upward so that the title doesn’t lie across the chin; the face isn’t immediately recognizable as such as it is.

I’m not sold on the typography for the byline and series title; it definitely needs to be a lighter shade to stand out from the background, and the typeface doesn’t work for me.  Fortunately, there are commenters here who will suggest some good replacements.

Other thoughts?

The author says:

Two strangers both have one thing in common, they lost a partner to death. Brett Miller, a widow with a ten-year-old daughter, has spent the last two years grieving the death of his wife Natasha. The heartbreak and the devastation don’t seem to end, when he loses his job, and his relationship with his daughter continues to disintegrate. He tries to keep everything together, but isn’t sure he has it in him. Victoria Bell’s boyfriend of two years died unexpectedly, leaving her alone to raise their infant daughter. With the help of her sister, she learns to live again. But an unexpected foe from her past puts a wrench in her new beginning and she fears staying in the realm of heartbreak forever. Can Brett and Victoria break free from melancholy?

Nathan says:

So, I don’t understand. How do the stories of Brett and Victoria relate? Is this a romance? Are they neighbors who platonically help each other through their crises?  Do they become each other’s arch-nemesis?  I’m trying to find the core of the story here and what readers it’s meant to appeal to, because that will matter which way we go on this cover.  (Right now, the cover could be anything from a collection of poetry to a memoir of depression to…)

The author says:

The Hoarders have taken control of the world’s resources and withdrawn into massive fortified enclaves. Without their knowledge, people scrambling for a living outside of the walled cities are being snatched and implanted with tech that renders them into zealot-like killing machines.

This book is the second in a trilogy with YA, Sci-fi and Dystopian markets in mind. It is an ensemble cast, set in our world, Pacific Northwest, probably Seattle area.

Nathan says:

Any time we look at a later book in a series, we need to also ask, Does this continue a steady branding from the first volume? Because if any changes we suggest break the branding continuity, then it’s not helping by helping.

For reference, here’s the first book:

I can see that you’ve got a common eye motif going here, but I think it’s more cerebral than immediate, i.e., someone looking at the two covers might think, “Oh, *I* see a common motif!” but someone just glancing at the covers won’t immediately relate Book 1 to Book 2.  That might be an easy fix: Move the right eye to the same position on each cover.  You might also experiment with some texture over everything but that right eye, so that the bright skin tone doesn’t stand out so much, and add something to mimic the “divided” appearance of the first cover.

Other comments?