The author says:

A practical how-to-get-control-of-your-life book for people with minimal resources (whether time, money, or energy). Written and illustrated by a neurodiverse teacher/traveller/graphic artist. Fully illustrated with mid-century-modern style ‘ink-and-watercolour’ graphics on nearly every page, with high and low options, personal anecdotes, and a detailed workbook included to make solutions fully personal…or at least that’s the plan, because I’m about forty percent through the actual writing at this point. 🙂

I’m the author AND the illustrator, and the central house image on the cover is representative of the inner illustrations, all scratchy pen and fifties-hued washes. Think vintage cookbook or repair manual of the time! Fonts were chosen for that mid-century mod look as well. Is this going to catch the eye of my target audience and suggest practicality mixed with creativity, empathy, and a bit of humour, or do I need to take another run at it altogether?

Nathan says:

I think it’s a great cover concept… but I’m not sure that it’s the cover for this book.  I just don’t see the target audience for “a practical how-to-get-control-of-your-life book” recognizing that they’ll find it behind googie fonts and mid-century modernist architecture — if anything, the first impression of this cover is “nostalgia.”

Without looking at similar covers in the genre, my gut impression is that your cover should give a first impression of “accomplishment in progress” — I can think of several visual metaphors regarding construction, gardening, cooking, etc., although you’d want to keep from making your book look like a gardening how-to or cookbook.

Other comments?

The author says:

Clean Epic Fantasy/ Christian fantasy. Two gods, two lands, two very different races. But now they have a common enemy, armed with music… An infestation of strange ants is spreading from the north of the continent of Reyth, blocking the magic that underpins and protects two warring lands. That blight is not the only threat. Strangers have arrived, singing songs to entertain and teach. But their music hides an agenda and a secret power. Enemies who fought against each other in the war five years ago must now work together to search for a defence against this double invasion.

Target audience probably also reads David Eddings and Anne McCaffrey. It’s set on another world. The full blurb is on the image.

Nathan says:

You’re trying to avoid the obvious but expensive issue: Most epic fantasy — certainly the books of the two authors you mention — features full custom figurative art on the covers. It’s hard to convincingly say, “My book is like those!” when your book doesn’t look like those.

(On top of that, the font used for the spine and back cover is utterly wrong, but I’m assuming that’s just a placeholder. Right?)

My advice would be to browse ArtStation.com and similar portfolio sites to find a suitable piece of art already created. (By “suitable,” remember that it doesn’t have to have the right hair color for the protagonists and the correct heraldry on the shields — it needs to say, as you said before, that a reader of Eddings and McCaffrey would like this book.)  You’d be surprised at how cheaply an artist will license you the use of his artwork if they’ve already made it for a different project or for personal enjoyment.

Good luck!