The author says:
This iconoclastic book presents the Biblical case against the legitimacy of the doctrine of the “Christian Trinity”. It is designed to reach a broad cross-section of readers; Non-Trinitarians, Trinitarians, lay-Christians, non-Christians, “believers”, non-believers, those with an avid interest in the subject as well as those with only a passing interest. The cover, as it stands, intends to communicate the idea that the teaching that God is a Trinity is the product of faulty and deceptive reasoning. (My apologies to any here for whom the foto or the position of the book is offensive).
Nathan says:
Good gravy, no.
What you have here is a book that looks truly amateurish.
- The smart quotes are doing weird things.
- The fonts used look like they were chosen at random.
- The title cuts right across the main photo image, rendering part of the title unreadable.
- I have no idea why “Christian-Trinity” is hyphenated.
- The byline is so small, it’s almost unreadable.
- You’ve credited the cover photo on the cover.
- The photo isn’t professional to begin with, and then you’ve stretched/squished it.
This is important. No one will take your book seriously if your cover is bad, because readers will instantly assume that the lack of ability and self-critical awareness exhibited on this cover are also exhibited in the text. This advertises your book as a bad book.
At the very least, you demonstrate here that design is simply not in your skill set. This is not a salvageable cover. You had best hunt out a reasonably priced cover designer (there are many listed here) who can give your book a better chance in the marketplace of ideas.
I can only echo what Nathan has already said. The cover is irredeemable. It is amateurish in every possible way. And, given the author’s qualms, I should emphasize that this opinion has absolutely nothing to do with my own thoughts about the subject, which are pretty neutral if anything.
Given that, it’s hard to imagine that most of the people on the author’s list of potential readers would not find the cover off-putting, to say the very least, if not outright offensive. If nothing else, it certainly makes clear that the author is hardly approaching the subject objectively and dispassionately. I mean, blatantly comparing the concept of a Trinity with a shell game is not going to attract many readers who may be looking for a serious argument against the idea.
Thank you so much for your constructive criticism.
Steve Blake
While the design problems are what jumps out at first, I think the basic problem is in your description: The audience is absolutely everyone, and you can’t make a cover that appeals to everyone, especially not on a contentious topic like religion. If your audience is people who oppose organized religion, then the “it’s a con” theme (better executed) might appeal to them, but if you want religious people to read it, you need a less aggressive visual. Likewise, a scholarly work for theologians will be packaged differently than a pop philosophy book for casual readers.
So my advice is to think carefully about who you want your main audience to be and then craft the cover accordingly.
Good advice. Thanks.
I understand what you’re trying to get at. How about just a three card monty and have Jesse on a cross as the centre one? That allows for enough open space for your bi-line and such.
I had a similar idea – three shells, each with a visual representation of one of the three members of the trinity, and a pea with the word “God” on it. I just can’t afford an artist or photographer at this point who could produce such an image. Thanks for your interest. 🙂
I think this is clever, and playing cards would make for a very easy photomanip. (Steven: Resist the urge to label everything. Your audience is smart enough to understand symbolism.)
But if you go that route, you’re consigning yourself to an audience solely of atheists who already agree with you and are just looking for debate ammunition. Obviously no actual religious person is going to pick up a book that says “your religion is a con.”
Thanks Gwen. Good points.
So, I looked on Amazon quick to see what your competitors do.
https://www.amazon.com/All-Thats-Wrong-Bible-Contradictions-ebook/dp/B075PKQVZ9/ref=sr_1_15_sspa?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1532665164&sr=1-15-spons&keywords=religion+books&psc=1
That one came up first but there is a wide selection in the -you might be interested- section.
I noticed the majority of the books have very DYI covers and bad titles. Most appear to be rant books, not informative tomes. I think if you can get a polished, professional looking book you could outsell most of them just with that. If you look through them, you’ll see the difference right away in the few that look as if they have something of substance to offer.
But, if this is a rant book, I think you could sell that if you made the rant interesting and to do that you need some kind of personalized hook. The cover would still need to be eye-catching but in a completely different way. Its a totally different audience who’d be buying it.
Right now, this cover wouldn’t sell to either audience and the advice to fix it would be completely different depending on audience so I think that needs to be clarified first. Once you narrow that down, have a look at the competitors and see what the bestselling ones are doing. But keep in mind you’re selling. You need a complimenting contrast and eye-catching in a good way. Nothing about your picture is enticing and it needs to entice
I checked your Amazon link. Great food for thought. Thanks for taking the time and effort to find this information.
No, this is not a rant book. It is well thought out, researched and documented. It is a cross between a dry scholarly dissertation presenting the Biblical and rational case against the Christian Trinity, and an attempt to engage, amuse and entertain the reader – you know, the old “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” idea.
There seems to be such unanimity among forum members as to the lack of customer appeal for this cover that I am tempted to try it anyway and see if it is the exception to the rule – kind of a market test. Then if it doesn’t fly, go to plan B, since there is no charge to change the cover from the major online ebook sellers.
In any case, your advice makes a lot of sense. I am grateful for it, and will certainly consider it.
Thanks,
Steve
Steve: please, don’t fall prey to that idea, the “exception to the rule” idea that every person who has a really unfortunate cover decides applies to them. If we’ve heard that here once, we’ve heard it two dozen times, and it never works. Authors who are in love with their covers always think that “I’m going to swim upstream, my cover will be the exception to the rule, and it will attract the very people that these idiots say will be turned off by it.”
And it absolutely never works. It doesn’t matter if you tell a writer that, about their writing; a publisher that, about their cover, etc., that’s almost always one of their immediate responses, and, to repeat myself–it never works.
Good luck.
The overwhelming odds are that you… all of you… are right.
Still… it’s not like I publish, and the whole world makes a simultaneous decision, and I never get a second chance. This is a niche book. Only a small number of potential customers will find it and consider buying it at any one time. If I were to use this cover (the jury is definitely still out on that) and it didn’t generate business within a few weeks, I could simply take it down, and put another one up – fast and free. If the market reacts in a dramatically more favorable way, then we know. I can try a series of covers and see if any one coincides with significantly more sales.
I have received a lot of great perspective and advice here, and I am truly grateful for it. Now I’ll think about it, pray about it, and hopefully I’ll get a clear idea about how to proceed.
Meantime, I don’t think any of the contributors to this forum are idiots. You all seem intelligent, gifted and generous in your commitment to try and help aspiring authors. My kind of people, and I’m glad I found this site.
In view of the above, I am more than happy to offer any of you a three and a half percent discount on the retail price of my eBook.
Steve
Your first cover will follow you around forever; for whatever reason, a new cover will never completely overwrite your old one on websites and in the marketplace. In the future you will cringe a little every time it pops up.
I am speaking from experience.
You need something more like this:
https://imgur.com/a/82rblXh
the title needs to clearly be the title and the subtitle/series name needs to be much smaller
the boxes are a much subtler underline although you could use a simple swish too but boxes tend to give a workbook feel. you could pick any color for the background but blue is simple and safe. If you go with green make your lettering gold, not yellow and avoid those bold fonts – think elegant. And give the background texture.(this one has a ‘leather’ texture for a ‘weighty’ biblical feel but aged paper would work or even a simple subtle speckle. the nice thing about using the trinity sign is you can use it again on the next book with a simple graphic change for clear series recognizability
Amazing! Thank you for doing this. My one critical comment is that one shell and a purple pea do not a shell game make. As a prospective buyer, I wouldn’t understand their significance, but I am absolutely blown away that you would take the trouble to put this cover together for me.
I concur with all that Nathan has said, and have also found TracyAnnMiller’s advice to be true. I have done a number of cover re-designs, and the original, cringe worthy, covers always seem to haunt the books. Just putting in my two cents worth on the topic of “put it out there, and replace if it doesn’t work.” Always put your best foot forward.
Thanks Tamian (what a cool name!). You and TracyAnn have saved me from a costly mistake. In fact, all of the people who have made constructive criticisms and offered advice here have done me a great service. I may try that Shell Game Carny Huckster cover someday, but certainly not as my first presentation of the book. I am now going to upload my second attempt – based on all the suggestions. If I haven’t exhausted your good will, let me know what you think.
Steve
Steve–you haven’t. That’s exactly why we’re here–to help. While I can’t speak for everyone, I know that I for one would rather see and critique 5 attempts by one person, striving to get better, than see one not-so-good cover and then have the person argue with us and never come back–and worse, keep using the cover. So, bring it! 🙂 If you can take it, we can dish it out. 😀
Thanks Steven. 🙂
Glad to be of assistance.