The author says:

I’ve included the entire cover, including blurb. This isn’t final, and not yet published, but my current design. I am particularly interested in any response in regards to thoughts on copyright, as it intentionally parodies an existing movie poster design. All the elements are entirely originally made by me, but I’d still like to check thoughts. Thank you.

[original submission and comments here]

Nathan says:

Much, MUCH stronger concept, riffing on the visual motifs of one of the best known slasher movies of all time.  I don’t know that the italicized title works, and I’d definitely find another font for the byline, but I think you’ve got most of the heavy lifting done.

Re: “Parody”:  I don’t think you’ll run into any legal trouble hearkening back to elements from the Friday the 13th poster, but I also want to point out that, if “parody” is what you’re going for (i.e., emphasizing the “tongue-in-cheek” element that you mentioned with your last submission), I would encourage you to play up the humor just a little bit.  My first thought is to have something else in her hand instead of a blood knife — a bloody fork, or egg beater, or tennis racket, or…

Other thoughts?

The author says:

A group of teenagers work as camp counselors at a recently reopened summer camp. One that hides a sinister secret. An undead monster returns from the grave, picking them off one by one, until there’s only one girl left standing. For Ellie Cartwright, that’s not how the story ends. That’s how it begins. Because she’s not the only girl to have faced evil and survived. There are others. And now, they’ve sworn to protect those in danger. They’ve sworn to fight back against the creatures that lurk in the darkness. They are The Last Girls Standing. And Ellie’s journey is just beginning… (This cover is not final, hence I’m seeking feedback before I move on with it. Thank you for any help).

Nathan says:

I really think you’re missing a bet by not having the cover showcase Ellie and the rest of the Last Girls Standing. The “hook” to this story are the protagonists, not the monster, so having a bunch of blood-spattered teenage girls in a stance like the Bad Girls movie poster (what, that reference is too old? Fine, how about Birds of Prey?), with a shadowy monster looming them, would more clearly promise what the book’s main attraction is.

That kind of thing is budget-intensive, I understand; if you need to be more scaled-back, how about imagery which juxtaposes “teen girl” with “horror violence”?  (The first thing that came to my mind is an iPhone in a pink, bejeweled case, leaning against a bloody Louisville Slugger wrapped in barb wire.)  You could find someone to photoshop something like that together competently for a lot less than the custom artwork in my idea above.

Also: That font’s too self-consciously spooooky to be taken seriously. Only use it if you’re going for a solidly tongue-in-cheek, R.L. Stine-loving demographic. And even then, it really doesn’t work well on a slant.

Other comments?

The author says:

Two priests battle a dark presence arising in their parish in a cyberpunk future where demonic possession is common.

Nathan says:

Technically, there’s no problem with front cover.  However, all I get from it is “Catholic” and “sorta ominous.”  In a synopsis of fewer than twenty words, half of it focuses on the setting, and for good reason — the demon-filled cyberpunk milieu is the hook here.  So why is it completely absent from the cover?

Gimme a grungy tech typeface.  Gimme a neon, circuit-boarded background.  Gimme SOMETHING that presents the most intriguing part of the synopsis.  A shadowy pieta simply doesn’t cut it.

Since you gave us the full wraparound cover, I’ll also point out that that looks like a lot of words on the back. Expand it to fill the space so it doesn’t look so dense, or chop it down by a third or a half, or both.

Other comments?

The author says:

Title: Selendrus

Logline: On a distant planet called Selendrus, a displaced heir named Nyco must come out of hiding to stop an evil council called the Select from destroying life as he knows it.

Tagline: The last of his line, the first of his kind

Genre: AetherPunk, LunarPunk, Science Fantasy

Target Audience Members: The Mythologist (consumers who love lore and learning about the history and details of a world), the Romantic (consumers who enjoy complex characters, their chemistry, and the human tale), and the Maker (consumers who enjoy constructing, cosplaying, or creating pieces regarding the world).

Target Audience Demographic: SciFi and Fantasy audiences from late teens to adult

Cover: This is a quick concept mock up done on my computer.

Nathan says:

I had to look up “aetherpunk,” and the best definition I could find was “steampunk with magic,” which doesn’t really look like what I’m seeing here. Maybe that definition doesn’t mesh with yours.

It’s definitely got the SF vibe, as well as general “punk” — how important the granular sub-subgenre identification is will determine if other visual motifs are needed.

From a simple design standpoint, I think you’re hurting yourself by trying to fit too much of the figure on the cover. (One of my rules of thumb: “How often do you ever really NEED to see someone’s knees?”) I’m also not overly enamored of the typeface you used, if only because the thin letters are hard to read, especially at thumbnail side — if you’re absolutely committed to that typeface, make the type larger.  (And given that another of my rules of thumb is “The smaller the type, the clearer the typeface,” I doubly recommend changing the typeface for the byline.)

Here’s a three-minute redo trimming the blank space around the figure and title to show what I mean:

If you want to emphasize the steampunk/aetherpunk vibe, my suggestion would be to remove the semi-mystical characters under the title (which make it even harder to read), and instead add a pseudo-Victorian border to the whole thing, letting the curlicues etc. contrast with the starscape.

Other ideas?

The author says:

For months Mark has been bugging his friends to try this gaming system he is enamored with. Skills, Archetypes, and Demons. This system has a skill for everything and even different approaches for some skills. Instead of levels, he tells them, each skill has its own experience and level. “As true to real life as a gaming system could be.” at least it says on the box. When the group finally break down and decide to play it, they head over to Hunter’s house to start. Next thing they know… trapped in the game. Everyone dreams of being trapped inside their favorite game. Abusing the mechanics and becoming OP AF. No one ever dreams of being trapped in a crappy system. One ladened with rules and so much record keeping it almost becomes tedious.

The book is LitRPG genre, so I want part of it to look like the cover of an old RPG book from the ’80s, but also look like a modern fantasy type of cover. I’ve written a couple of short stories/novellas that I plan on selling and using as reader magnet so branding the series is important. Skills and Demons is the name of the series. looking for thoughts and I hope it isn’t complete crap.

Similiar books in the genre, The Land: Founding, Ascend Online,  Dungeons of Strata

Nathan says:

The artwork works well. It could use some refinement (the shadows on the foreground figures seem haphazard), but I don’t think that’s essential. I’m guessing that this is a pre-existing piece of art that you’re licensing rather something custom, yes? So don’t worry about it if it’s not within your control.

Are those the only dimensions that it comes in? Because the black bars above and below very clearly say that the art wasn’t made in the right dimensions for a book cover and you didn’t know how to fix it.  If not, you can still use a gradient and texture that blends into the edges of the art to fill out the rest of the cover. Five-minute redo:

People aren’t going to notice it up front, because those areas will be dominated by…

The typeface! You really need to up your game there. As early as the second print editions of the First Edition rules for AD&D (yeah, it’s confusing), the type designs had character and panache:

Don’t make it so ornate that it’s not readable, but give it a smidgen of class and magic. If you need help with specific typefaces, there are others here who have suggestions at their fingertips.

Anything else?