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?
So… the first time traveler turns out to be an unborn (or newborn) baby? I rather figured from seeing the cover in thumbnail that this was a tale of some kind of technology to increase or decrease one’s age at will; which would be a kind of time travel, I guess, but probably not the kind you had in mind. While “radioactive” is not the first word that occurred to me upon seeing those orbital streaks around the baby (unlike our host), they do bring the word “nuclear” to mind, since orbiting electrons would make the baby the nucleus of the figurative atom.
Whatever the baby’s significance, if (s)he is really so important to the story, you might as well just zoom in and have said baby fill the cover; like our host, I can’t really see much of anything else in the thumbnail. What I can see at full size doesn’t really clarify much either: you’re symbolically saying the guy with the nuclear baby in his cranium has the mind of an unborn child? Again, that would suggest this is a story about age regression/progression technology.
That you couldn’t use a cropped version of that landscape-shaped image on the back for the portrait-shaped front cover I can understand, but if not, why even have it anywhere at all? As our host says, putting that (admittedly pretty) picture on the back looks like some kind of admission of failure. In the words of one of the rules from Murphy’s Lawbook, “If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.”
Both the nuclear baby and the time machine embedded in what appears to be a kiosk rented from that shopping mall are rather strikingly unique images, however; what if you could combine them to show the nuclear baby emerging from the time machine? As I say, if that baby is so important as to be featured on your book’s spine as well, why not put him or her front and center on your front cover (which is all your prospective readers are going to see on the actual sales site)? Maybe that muscular-looking guy standing there in the middle of the chamber in the thumbnail could be carrying the nuclear baby in his arms, or have the nuclear baby as a logo on his shirt. (That latter option especially would raise a lot of intriguing questions in the viewer’s mind: “What kind of time travel agency would use a nuclear baby as its logo? Guess I’ll just have to read this book to find out!”)
Though they’re not going to see it on the sales page, the back cover does matter a bit for any buyers of the physical edition, and it strikes me you’re letting a lot of it go to waste. You don’t need to restate the title from your front cover; something dramatic and ponderous like that “How far would you go?” question or “The time machine was a success; now what?” would make for a better header. Then, as our host says, stick to one tense and one person at a time when writing the description: whichever voice you use for the story (past tense and third person, by the look of things) is the same one you should use in the header and description, so that question (if you decide to use it) should actually probably read “How far would they go?”
One final admonition: be sure to correct that “then” in your description to “than” when writing the sales pitch for your book’s sales page. Confusing the two is a common mistake I see all the time in supposedly professional settings, but having so much respectable company in your error won’t keep you from looking like a sloppy amateur in the eyes of people (such as myself) who know the difference. Being meticulous about details like that pays off both when people are first considering whether to buy your book, and later when they’re writing the reader reviews. (I’ve seen a lot of four-out-of-five-stars reader reviews saying things like “It’s a great story if you don’t get too distracted by certain homophones and other misused words that obviously sneaked past the author’s spell-checker. Seriously, dude, get an editor!”)
First of all, I would like to thank Nathan for writing “typeface” instead of “font.”
Now to the cover…
The idea isn’t bad at all, it just needs to be executed better. For one thing, as Nathan points out, the colors are too dark and too close in value.
But…the themes that the cover image seems to suggest would appear to be entirely different from the story as it is described. At least there is nothing of the kind of thriller implied by the description or the back cover blurb. The idea of time travel, even, is only suggested by the Roman-numeraled clockface—and it is not obvious what that is since it has no hands. In any case it is overwhelmed by the baby and the atom symbology that steers the cover even further away from “time travel” and into the realm of the atomic.
Perhaps the main problem is that the baby and its encircling electron orbits are meaningful to you and have some special connection to the story—but only you know that. The potential reader is not privy to that knowledge. You probably need to come up with either some additional visual elements, or entirely new ones, that enable the cover to better convey a sense of what the story is about to the uninitiated reader.
I’m not sure what the difference between typeface and font is.
In the days of mechanical printing the individual blocks held characters and the style in which they were drawn was called the typeface (the face of the printing block which literally strikes the paper). The size and weight of that typeface was referred to as the font. With digital printing those elements are essentially combined as you usually set the typeface and font as the same time, and we’ve come to refer to it as the font.
A typeface is the design or family of the type, such as Times New Roman. A font is the particular size and weight, such as 12-point Times New Roman bold italic.
Once I gained more feedback and personal objectivity I realized the cover is far too monochromatic, and the font/typeface I selected doesn’t work. Also, while it makes sense to me, the imagery is a bit vague, particularly in relating it to time travel.
A couple of critiques mention it doesn’t say ‘scifi’ and instead looks like a book about the metaphysical or astrology, and since then I could not unsee that.
The ‘quantum fetus’ kicks off the story and leads to Nick’s appearance. I don’t mention Nick in the blurb because I felt revealing the need for a troubleshooter lessens the impact of the opening chapter.
Like a dope, the change in tense didn’t even register, so I will fix that. Fortunately, then in place of than only seems to appear in my pitch here, not in the marketing nor the book.
As for the tag, that is directed at the reader (“What’s in your wallet?” was taken).
Thanks for the feedback.
B.
Quantum fetus? So the time traveler really is an unborn baby at least… um… some of the time? (I might as well say this right now: Quantum Fetus is one of those rare combinations of words that sound like an awesome name for somebody’s garage band.) Maybe that baby really does belong on this cover.
I do agree that showing just the baby doesn’t exactly suggest this is science fiction, since a lot of different genres could make use of such an image. Also, electron orbits don’t necessarily say “quantum” so much as “atomic” since the tenuous connection between electron orbits and quantum physics rarely comes to mind for even more scientifically literate readers. This lack of association in your prospective readers’ minds don’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t have an unborn baby on your cover, however: it’s still a very striking and rather unique image that draws a lot of immediate attention from a variety of potential audiences.
Mainly, what you need to establish on your cover is the part about this being science fiction; that the “science” part of this science fiction is quantum physics specifically is something you can leave for your readers to discover when they actually read the book. Establishing that this is science fiction does not require that you throw out the baby, but rather that you add some kind of technology. In fact, just about any kind of technology should do the job, as long as it’s something visibly artificial.
Whether it’s the baby having life support tubes, or being suspended in some kind of miniature hermetically sealed chamber (perhaps implied to be an artificial womb), or just having a computer panel or monitor lurking somewhere in the background, the point is to have some vaguely futuristic-looking technology on the cover too. So… baby in a containment field hovering in some kind of containment field/isolation beam over a pedestal in the middle of a time machine chamber with metallic walls? That would work for me, and (I suspect) for a lot of your readers.
Basically, if the imagery on the front cover says “science fiction involving something about an unborn baby” to anyone looking at it the first time, its job is done: familiar genre plus unique feature equals intriguing cover that will make your target audience want to buy the book. If you absolutely can’t resist mentioning that this baby is a “quantum fetus” somewhere on the cover, why not put that phrase somewhere in the description on the back? The point of all book covers is first and foremost to attract prospective readers, and then secondarily to intrigue them; a striking image on the front serves the former purpose, and the use of such a rare phrase as “quantum fetus” on the back the latter.
What you said.
Having the fetus without the rings created two problems; it was too similar to the Starchild, and it was a bit too ‘real’. I added the rings to make it more distinct and more symbolic. Quantum Fetus is only my personal nickname. The character has a name, and his fetus has a different designation in the book. I wasn’t willing to give that away in the art or blurb, only hint at it with the last line.
I actually tried placing it in the time chamber but again it looked like 2001 and wasn’t accurate to the story, nor are your suggestions of placement. Cover art needn’t depict the story exactly, but it also shouldn’t misrepresent.
Finally, I deliberately don’t place anything unique on the back cover since most won’t see that.It’s the title, blurb, and a random image that an ebook reader won’t miss.
Well, the rings may be symbolic…but of what? They would seem to suggest the atom, nuclear energy and such things rather than time travel The three-dimensional quality of the rings, too, makes them look much more like some sort of device—some sort of extraterrestrial cradle?—than an abstract symbol.
The placement of the fetus within the head of the figure also suggests themes like ESP, psi powers, imagination, creations of the mind…pretty much anything except time travel.
So you are still left with three problems:
1. The color, which is much too dark over all and lacking in contrast.
2. The subject matter, which does not seem to suggest anything of the book’s core subject or themes.
3. The choice of typeface.
Fixed, but I kept the rings. LOL
… but if you must use that typeface, please kern tightly near instances of that capacious letter “A”…
I may be too late to comment since B.L. said it was fixed, but I had an idea that could suggest varying times, and implying time travel. Instead of the clock numbers in the background, you could put a progression of items that measure time. You could start with a sundial, the piece furthest back, then move forward with an hourglass, then an antique clock, then a modern digital clock, and end with a futuristic clock which projects the time above it in holographic form. Your temporal fetus (I like that description better than quantum fetus) could still be used, you’d just have to figure a way to balance it with the time pieces.
I actually tried having different time pieces but it was too steampunky and not accurate to the story. For a different story your idea is pretty good. The one thing I wanted to absolutely avoid was the spiraly clock every time travel book seems to have these days.
Thanks for the feedback anyway.
My novel, Temporal Feedback, is a time travel story, and I avoided all images of clocks for my cover. I utilized a spaceship in orbit of an Ice Age Earth to show the reader it is a time travel story. From the description of your book, you obviously couldn’t do that. Some concepts are a real pain to relay in image form.
If you ever read Relative Age you’ll understand the challenges, but the restrictions I placed on the story were deliberate to better ground it.
I love a good time travel story, so I’ll check out yours.
If you ever need help assembling covers let me know. I’m not an artist nor a graphics expert, but I’ve gotten pretty good at assembling different images and layers to create a cohesive cover, even if people don’t like my baby. I created the Relative Age cover about almost three years ago and have learned a lot since then (evidenced by the replacement cover)
And where can we see this new cover?
^ This is my pen name
OK. But where is the new cover?
Is that the new cover on your web page? Well, it is an improvement…
Definitely an improvement.