The publisher says:

Faun Song is a book in the Winterbourne collection by our author, S.A. Baker. It is an urban fantasy centering around an adult through the looking glass type of adventure. It involves the twisted writing style of the author and his take on the way fantasy characters, like fauns, actually would be like. From start to finish, it twists the reader through discovery and conclusion.

We are looking at feedback on the cover for sales have been somewhat flat since it was released several months ago.

Nathan says:

I can see why this would work at conventions and other live sales, but not online; the image is just too intricate at thumbnail size — it’s a puzzle, with nothing to keep the browser’s attention until the “aha” moment when the image makes sense.

Exploring other cover concepts might make sense. However, if you are devoted to using this cover idea (whether you keep this actual artwork or not), here is a five-minute redo showing four refinements:

1. Crop the extraneous visual data from the border — it makes it harder to comprehend.
2. A larger title font, more easily read in thumbnail, with more contrast. (I’m NOT suggesting you use Impact or lose the Celtic character completely; this was just the closest font at hand that was as tall as I wanted, because hey, five minutes.)
3. Make the eyes bigger.  Eyes make the face.
4. Up the contrast enough that it doesn’t seem murky.

Any other comments?

The author says:

What would it take for you to discard everything you believed in and give up your sacred honor? What would it take to make you rise up and fight when all the odds are against you?

Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin “Benno” Sanchez has devoted over 20 years of his life to the Alliance of Liberated Systems’ Navy, defending his colony world from the continued encroachment of the Terran Union. His young daughter has been virtually orphaned for years, but his time away is coming to an end. His debts are paid, their lives and prospects have been secured, and he will soon achieve his dreams of freedom and a better life for his child.

On Adelaide, fourteen-year-old Mio Sanchez chafes at the limitations placed upon her. With her father away and her mother long since passed, she struggles with an indifferent foster family, too young, too poor, too female to be taken seriously. She yearns to leave her simple life and join her father in the Alliance Navy…or be anywhere but Adelaide.

Now, with all-out war underway, Benno’s devotion and sacrifice have been betrayed—Adelaide has been invaded, and his Mio is under threat by the implacable Terran forces. And the aristocrats of the Alliance plan to do…nothing. Benno must now make a choice: Honor his oath and leave his daughter’s fate to chance…Or do the unthinkable and rise up in mutiny against his own. And on Adelaide, Mio must also make a choice: Keep her head down and survive…Or fight against the invaders and endure hardships, horrors, and dangers far beyond what a “just a girl” is prepared for. Sacrifices must be made…but how far will a father and daughter go to be reunited?

Nathan says:

This one just begs for a five-minute redo, because it’s sooo close.

The two problems:

1. The art is visibly stretched horizontally.
2. The colors and contrast are muted.

I also think that the type could be stronger and thicker, especially for the title.

So here’s the five-minute redo:

(more like 90 seconds, because I didn’t try to modify the type.)

Other comments?

The author says:

This is a mock-up for the first book in a series, so some of the images still contain watermarks.

Robots never *meant* to take over. They’re just so damn useful. When a machine can do as much work as three men, the labor force was quickly replaced by much more efficient androids. As the number of robots grew, jobs disappeared, and everyone in the middle class found themselves obsolete. While the wealthiest few prosper, most of humanity has been thrown into extreme poverty.

Leona lives a life of privilege, while Roemell never knows where his next meal will come from. A terrorist group–the lurch–starts targeting wealthy estates, burning them to the ground. Leona and Roemell find themselves thrown together, but even though they’ve both lost everything dear to them, that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to work together to find and take down the terrorist.

Nathan says:

First off, THANK YOU for looking for feedback at the mockup stage. My hackles rise when an author says, “This is the final version of my cover…” because that’s not really inviting comments.

I like the design, but I wonder if it doesn’t need a human element to it, since your description is of a story about the people, not the robots.

As far as the design itself goes, you could use more contrast between the highlights on the robot and the background. Maybe tone down the flare in the title, and instead make the reflection on the front of the robot’s head into the bright spot on the cover.

Other comments?

The author says:

Relative Age takes place in a secret base somewhere in the Midwest US. While running the first test of a time machine an unexpected traveler arrives, shocking the crew and triggering an investigation led by Nick, a freelance troubleshooter. He fulfills his contract, but his role becomes much more then troubleshooting.

Nathan says:

Unless your time traveler is from the Roaring ’20s, DO NOT use that typeface.

The images from which your cover is composed are vaguely science-y, but even with the clock face included in the background, they don’t say “time travel” so much as they say “thinking of a radioactive baby.” Isn’t there something else you could put in the foreground — say, Nick doing something “troubleshooter-y”?  That would at least be active, and wouldn’t actively contradict/overpower the clock face.

I don’t have trouble with the purple color scheme as such, but there’s an awful lack of contrast — aside from the radioactive baby, everything else merges into a violet fog.

And I don’t think putting a smaller picture of (presumably) the time lab in a corner of the back cover helps anything; worse, it seems like an admission that the cover as it stands is inadequate, and you’re trying to band-aid it.

(And while back-cover copy isn’t really the focus of this site, I need to point out that (a) you switch from present tense to past tense halfway through, and (b) you don’t even mention the protagonist Nick, who features strongly in the elevator pitch you sent. I’d advise using the “There was only one problem: It worked” idea on the front, and rewriting the back to place your protagonist front and center.)

Other comments?

The author says:

This is the published cover for this Murder Mystery featuring investigative newspaper reporter Jennifer Malone.

“Don’t let them kill me.” These are the first words spoken by elderly patient Helga Klemens to the transporter arriving to take her down for a simple hip surgery. Luke assures the frightened woman no one is going to harm her, chalking the bizarre declaration up to nerves and medication issues. After safely delivering her to the O.R., Luke’s final words to Helga are, “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine,” unaware she will be dead within the hour. On the same Sunday afternoon, newspaper reporter Jennifer Malone is looking into the case of a John Doe residing in the hospital’s morgue. Once her interview with the coroner is complete, Jennifer is stopped by a distraught Luke and his security guard girlfriend, Maryanne, who are both shocked at the news of Helga’s untimely death. Over the following five fast-paced days, Jennifer will use all of her investigative skills to determine exactly what happened in the O.R. However, when a second unidentified body washes ashore, Jennifer’s attention is sidetracked wondering if there’s a serial killer on the loose. Could the three seemingly unrelated deaths be linked?

Nathan says:

It’s a striking image, but I’m not sure it’s conveying “mystery novel.”  You’ve got at least part of the novel set in a hospital, and part of it is about a body that washes up — both would seem to me to be evocative visuals more conducive to “murder mystery” than a chair (even an ominous chair).

Also: If the title were in a taller font, the letters would be bigger and easier to read in thumbnail.

Other comments?