The author says:

Fantasy: Edhenland, a place of peace and plenty, of family and friends, with storyteller’s tales of past history and adventure, but with no danger or things to fear because of so few unknowns. Until now!

In a short time the animals of the Big Orchard Neighborhood find there are yet Great Ones living in other neighborhoods, and also their lives of peace without threat or fear may be over. Outside their protecting mountains may be, almost certainly are, threats to fear greater than anything they have ever imagined. Newly grown animals, long wanting adventure will now find more than they could ever have imagined. So too with the Great Ones, the few remaining people of Edhenland. In more ways than one their futures will depend on what they are about to discover.

The top picture panel of the cover depicts a scene from Chapter One. Close friends Eli Elk, Benjamin Gray Wolf and Samuel Great Eagle are conversing as they walk. The eagle just brought new of a serious nature that may effect their very lives.

Nathan says:

This is the hardest kind of cover to critique, because I hate being unrelentingly negative but…

Your artwork’s just not there yet.

You definitely have talent, but you don’t have the requisite level of skill and technique yet. Undifferentiated line widths and colored pencils only call attention to the deficiencies in the art.  The impression given is that of a talented adolescent — which means readers will expect the same of the writing: that it will show promise, but that the reader will have to lower expectations in order to enjoy it.  That’s not what readers want to pay for; they want to be confident that they are in the hands of a master storyteller, not that they have to say, “Well, it’s not TOO bad…”

(And lest you think I’m just critiquing the artistic skill, I’m also talking about the design skill as well. The two actionless vignettes seem more intended to show “Look at what I can draw!” than to entice the reader with the contents, and both the sliced-off-circle layout and the title/byline font seem like randomly selected choices.)

Remember: If you want to give your book the best chance to find readers who appreciate it, you need to accept that there may be some skills, like art and design, that are not where they need to be. Your best bet is to find someone with the necessary design chops and work with them to make the best presentation possible.

And I meant it when I said you show talent (assuming you are the artist).  Talent is the jumpstart for skill. Now work hard and make it grow.

The author says:

Meet Mr. Scratch, the nefarious villain. Scratch exists as drawings on paper, but he’s certain he’s better than you. He’s just succeeded in splitting apart the family of his greatest nemesis, but an interdimensional mix-up prevented him from enjoying a victory lap.

Meet Mark. He created Mr. Scratch. Never thought he’d meet him one day.

A supervillain travels to the real world and meets his creator in the dark comedy BLACK HAT BLUES.

Nathan says:

It’s a nice cover that completely misses. If I were to guess about the book from the cover, I’d think it’s about a nuclear family set in a winkingly-ironic version of what the Fifties thought the future would be like. I don’t get anything about villains from this cover, or about comic-book characters invading the real world.

(Also, waaay too much halftone filler.)

Other comments?

The author says:

A collection of erotic vignettes about the loss of sexual innocence. Containing four short stories, I am aiming for the “fans of Anais Nin” type market – those who like their erotica with a bit of literary sophistication.

Nathan says:

I see three main problems with this:

1. Nothing is large enough to be comprehended in thumbnail. There’s no hook to make the 95% of your potential audience who will initially encounter it at thumbnail size click to take a larger look.
2. The type is nothing but variations on Times New Roman, the default font on literally almost all word-processed documents ever. That makes it look extremely lazy.
3. The flower petals (which I originally took to be footprints) are way too subtle an indication of your content. Even the covers of the current editions of Anais Nin’s books have a clue to the subject matter, and the erotic ones are pretty clearly erotic:

The good news is that antique images such as these are easily found from public domain sources, so they won’t set you back.

Other comments?

The author says:

ONE SLIP is a literary fiction novel. Here’s the blurb:

It all happened so fast. Connie Silverstein got a call from a friend whose daughter had an accident and was in the hospital. Could Connie watch her four-year-old son? Despite it not being the best of circumstances, Connie races to the hospital and picks up the boy. Todd’s a sweet kid, a charmer, who calls her “Aunt Connie.” He asks if they can go to the beach. Connie hesitates—it’s windy and the waves are rough—but then takes him there. The unthinkable happens. Todd’s sucked out in a rip current and is rescued, but only after he’s suffered considerable cognitive impairment that may be permanent. Brain damage. Connie is desperate to help Todd, but his mother is bitter and shuts her out. Traumatized that Todd’s injury happened while he was in her care, Connie can’t forgive herself and is consumed by guilt. Friends and family assure her that accidents happen to everyone, and she shouldn’t be so hard on herself, but only Connie knows the terrible secret that what happened to Todd wasn’t an accident.

[original submission and comments here]

Nathan says:

You’ve posted a lot of process shots in the evolution of the cover in the original thread; I think you’re a lot closer to understanding how to market your book to your target audience.

More than the one you submitted above, I prefer this one:

I find the slightly warmer blue tint to be more inviting to the eye, and both the font and type treatment of the title are more deliberate and thoughtful.

On the other hand, given that the intent of so much literary fiction seems to be as uninviting as possible [he said snarkily], maybe the former is better.

Comments?

The author says:

The book is a sci-fi technothriller set 10-15 years in the future. It involves AI, robots, a tech theft, and a home invasion. Think Ex Machina meets Rear Window meets trolley problems. I want it to appeal to scifi readers who like Michael Crichton-style technothrillers / Hard sci-fi / Asimov’s robot novels. The cover is not a mockup, but I want to get other opinions before I publish the book. Specifically: 1)Does it convey the genre expectations? 2)Does it stand out? 3)Does it make you want to click on it and find out more about the book?

Nathan says:

It definitely says “techno.” I’m not sure about the “thriller” part.

When I look at the “technothrillers” category, here’s what I see (click to see it large):

Here are some commonalities I see:

• More often than not, a thin sans-serif font.
• A lot of silhouettes.
• High-contrast color schemes dominated by one color (a cold one, most likely).

I know you wanted the cover to “stand out,” but before it does that, it needs to draw the attention of your target audience, which means it needs to contain the instantly recognizable cues that that audience looks for to find books aimed at them.  I think if you tweaked your existing cover with those visual cues in mind, you’d have a winner.

Other comments?