The author says:

The story is set in 1967/8 on the island of Guernsey in the British Channel islands. Mild-mannered Colin becomes outgoing Colette. I want a cover that will ‘pop’ but you may have other ideas. It’s a 65k novel. The byline is a pen name. Genre will be LGBT but I want it to appeal to non LGBT readers, too.

Here’s the blurb I’ve written for Amazon.

When nineteen-year-old boatbuilder, Colin, is offered a new job in Guernsey, he doesn’t expect to become a girl. But he hasn’t counted on unconventional boatyard boss’ wife, Leanne. Theirs is no ordinary attraction. In encouraging Colin to become Colette and explore a new sexuality, Leanne is confronted with her own conflicted physical needs. Even in the sexually liberated sixties, falling for a woman while she’s still a man might be seen as taboo. Together the pair embark on a reckless adventure of sex, love, and rock ‘n’ roll. Then Colette falls for kindly, down-to-earth George, and both women’s lives are thrown into turmoil. Torn between George and Leanne, it takes an unexpected turn of events to force Colette’s hand.

Nathan says:

Um… raise your hands, everyone who sees “a reckless adventure of sex, love, and rock ‘n’ roll” in this cover?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

The problem here is that the cover doesn’t convey anything about what your message and blurb emphasize as the main selling points: a transgender love/sex relationship.

I think my advice to you would be a standard recommendation to many authors whose covers don’t really reflect the selling points:  Find other successful books that you would expect to appeal to your target audience, and see how those covers convey to their target audience that this book is for them.

The author says:

Travel to exotic places, shag the natives, see death and destruction. Experience life as an international project engineer through these pages! New version of cover; which is best? The ORIGINAL is currently on Amazon.

Nathan says:

For comparison, here’s the current cover from Amazon:

I think I can say, without fear of contradiction, that the tweaks you’ve made between these covers are merely rearranging deck chairs on The Titanic.  Neither cover gives any indication of what the book is about, or what kind of reader would enjoy it — and the minimal blurb you have for it, for those few readers intrigued enough to over come their confusion and click through, doesn’t enlighten any further.

I think you need to scrap both of these and go back to the initial questions:

• Who is the ideal target reader for this book?
• How do I indicate to that reader that this book is for him?

The author says:

If there is one thing that binds the cosmos, it is that only the strongest prevail. Kidnapped and genetically altered by a brutal race, human slaves are forced to fight in an alien war. Hope appears in the form of an alien underground rebellion led by mysterious beings—the Gryphon. Together they engage in a desperate battle. The human heroine, Lianndra, faces a grim reality—sometimes the only way to protect power is to use it.

Nathan says:

The first impression is that you have a pole-dancing cat-cosplayer on the cover. Probably not what you were going for.

I think a large part of the problem is also that your color scheme doesn’t suggest a “grim reality”; it’s too bright and colorful.

One way to suggest oppression is to have the image representing the more powerful antagonist looming over the smaller protagonists.  They don’t have to look like they’re actually in the same space; people are familiar enough with the visual language of movie posters to understand the meaning.  Here’s a five-minute redo to show the concept:

(Plucky freedom fighters stolen from the poster for Tomorrow When the War Began.)

Other ideas?