The author says:

Short version: Sci-fi thriller about immortal beings who inhabit a new human body every time they die.

Long (more sales-y version): In pursuit of their eternal love for each other, will Amon and Juno end up saving the world or destroying everything and everyone around them? Can they rally other Inhabitants to their cause and defeat their eternal foe, or will they remain outcasts life after life? Once you pick up this book you won’t be able to put it down until you’ve reached the mind blowing conclusion. Timeless love and hate play out over the centuries as immortal beings, “Inhabitants”, struggle to find balance and peace before they end up destroying the world.

From the award-winning author of “Digital Dementia”, “The Gravedigger’s Song”, and “Nemesis” comes a story that will have you racing from page to page, battle to battle, love to love.

Nathan says:

Your main font is Ubuntu. Don’t use it. Not only is it generic to the point of being characterless, it’s also one of the most used fonts in do-it-yourself cover templates, which means it automatically looks low-rent.  Find something that says “sci-fi thriller” by looking at other book covers in that genre, or at movie posters.

The photograph is intriguing, but it’s largely meaningless at thumbnail size. I would try cropping it down severely.

I don’t know if you can say your book “shocked the world” if no one’s really heard of it yet.  And your byline placement seems more like an afterthought than intentional.

So put that all together, and the five-minute version of my advice would be something like this (working with the small original you sent, so resolution’s gonna be a problem):

Other comments?

The author says:

The cover pretty much sums it up although even I am not positive about how the photo talks to the cover text. The ten stories in the collection are near insane and the first sentence gives one the idea: “I’m back from France and boy, are the French people happy about that.” I’ve my ideas on the photo connection. One is spoiling for a fight, one is a knock-off of Uma in Pulp Fiction (Which is the Halloween costume truth as I am the one who snapped the shot), and one idea is that it is art.

Nathan says:

Well, I don’t think the cover sums of anything, which is part of the problem.  It may seem a little lighthearted, but “humor” doesn’t come through clearly until you get to that word at the bottom.  (We DEFINITELY don’t get a “near insane” vibe.)

The Uma-Thurman-knockoff photo, as it is, just looks like substandard photography; to make it work, you need to lampshade it, i.e., make it apparent that it’s a snapshot, perhaps with a Polaroid border or something.

In fact, that may be a good concept for the whole: Overlapping snapshots on a bulletin board, with pseudo-Uma front and center. That can convey both the “multiple stories” idea as well as, depending on the non sequitur partial images seen underneath, the “insane/unexpected humor” idea.

Other thoughts?

The author says:

History: The Diamond has been out for a while but I am considering a minor tweak to the current cover. Yes, it’s a revision, but I’ve never posted any version of it here before. I’ve integrated the M from the ball cap into the title since the first cover, but thought it might benefit from being bolder and more consistent with my other book covers. The current cover can be seen here: https://i.imgur.com/v4aauIP.jpg

Description: Ethan and Marie Crane are still settling into their first home but all is not well. Their new neighbors are anything but friendly toward them, the builder is slow to respond to complaints, and Ethan begins experiencing a series of vivid dreams which repeat at the same time on the same day of the week. The Cranes leave town for a long weekend of rest and relaxation, but Ethan’s dreams only become more intense, to the point of encroaching on reality. They return home to find the ground beneath theirs and the empty surrounding homes has been transformed into a baseball diamond, complete with a pitcher’s mound under their rear deck and home plate in front of the living room window. Ethan is both astonished and angered by such an elaborate act of vandalism, but as they attempt to uncover the truth they make a startling discovery that profoundly changes their perception of reality.

Audience: Set in modern times, The Diamond is more of an old-fashioned ghost story rather than horror. It would likely appeal more to the Goosebumps or Harry Potter audience than Stephen King or Clive Barker.

Thanks in advance. Let the stoning commence!

Nathan says:

I think your description of the potential audience tells you where this goes wrong conceptually.  If that’s truly the audience you expect to enjoy the book, you need to flag for them — a fun “ooh, I’m spooky!” typeface and type treatment, a more colorful cover, and enough of a cartoonish touch to the artwork that the target audience (or their parents) knows that the book might be ghostly, but isn’t going to cause nightmares or otherwise go over the line.

Other comments?

The author says:

“The not so quiet life of librarians…” Life is a book… and every person is a chapter. Everything’s looking up for Robin Walker. It’s 1994 in New York City, and he’s been transferred downtown to the 58th Street Branch Library. Ready to move up the ladder, Robin is excited about the opportunities that await him. But success, personal or professional, is as elusive as a first-edition rare book. Robin struggles with his strange new work environment as this motley crew of employees generates more drama than a runaway bestseller. He doesn’t know who to believe – or who to let in. And as potential romance mingles with devious machinations, there’s no telling where Robin’s story will go. All he knows is that he must see it through to the very last page.

Call Numbers is a captivating and multilayered adult drama. Through realistic dialogue and situations, author Syntell Smith has crafted a modern-day classic about the trials and tribulations of adulthood. Because a library is usually the last place you’d expect high drama, but for these characters…it’s long overdue.

Nathan says:

I love the use of the card catalog drawer as the main image, but dividing your name between top and bottom is a weighty demerit.  The title, wedged as it is in the window, also becomes almost unnoticeable.

So here’s what I’d do:

• Put the card catalog image at the top, and zoom in — you can crop off that unnecessary margin, and maybe a little more.
• Stack the title in two lines so that the type can be larger in the window.
• Add a gradient taking the lower part of the cover to almost black at the bottom, and put your name there, along with a tagline (eg., “A Novel of Love, Lechery and Librarians”).

In fact, if you can find a usable image containing multiple card drawers, you can have the focal one at the top and then put the gradient over the lower one(s) to put the focus where it needs to be.  (Sorry, I’m not at my home computer where I could photoshop a quick mockup.)

Other thoughts?

The author says:

I’m resubmitting this! 2 different colors because one of the commenters suggested pink instead of blue, and then when I tried it, I liked it. So, you can put up the one you prefer or both if you want to. I really appreciate all the feedback I received before. I also changed the byline on the cover (this is a different sub-genre for me). I bought the photo from a good stock photo place—I hope the resolution is better. The other photo was just a screenshot while I was choosing what pic to use. I made the cover on Adobe Spark.

TO CATCH A BRIDE is a contemporary romance set in the high-society world of Santa Barbara. The series is called Santa Barbara Billionaire Bachelors, and the target audience is women of all ages who read contemporary romance. It would appeal to the readers of Bella Andre.

[original submission and comments here]

Nathan says:

For reasons that I can’t articulate, I like the current flipped direction of the photo better.

I’m divided on whether the blue or the pink works better.  The blue “Bride” is certainly easier to read than its pink counterpart.  But I think my substantive comments apply equally to both:

• The ever-so-slight lighter bar behind “Bride” serves no purpose. Lose it.
• The same with the “…it’s now or never” tagline.
• While all of the non-cursive type elements appear to be variations on a single font family, in “Santa Barbara Billionaire Bachelors” it seems particularly banal. Is there maybe a “narrow” variation of that font that you could use instead?

I’ll let the factions on the blue/pink question form… NOW.