The author says:
A novel about worldwide reaction to a pandemic that occurs a few years after the coronavirus pandemic. Multiple characters in various countries fight a avian flu virus that is worse than coronavirus was. Main characters leads an efforts to get a vaccine to save millions of lives.
Nathan says:
A simple cover can work well, but it needs to be focused, and every element needs to carry its weight. Here, the asymmetric layout and mild contrast work against the impact this cover could have.
Here’s a five-minute redo to show you the impact it COULD have, with the focus narrowed and contrast emphasized:
(Note: This is not a GOOD cover. It’s just the five-minute version.)
Other comments?
It’s a good idea and I like the notion of putting the earth in among the viruses. I think that the two main thinsg working against its effectiveness is the color…especially the overwhelming blue…and the business and lack of focus. The black background that Nathan suggests is much better…for one thing, it looks much more ominous. I would even tone down the saturation of the colors in the viruses so the whole thing doesn’t look quite so chipper and circusy.
You might try simplifying the cover more, too, since it needs more focus—but I don’t know if you need to necessarily go quite as far as Nathan did—since there really is no single dominant element: all of the viruses, the earth and title are fighting for attention. Which results in diluting the impact that the cover ought to have.
Y’know…I realize that this next comment will result in me being Banned for Life (oh, no!), but…what if it were busier, in fact?
I know, I know, sounds nutty, but what if you had the viruses all hither and yon and all that and the earth were nested amongst them? Like it was either hiding or flocking with them?
I can’t quite describe what I’m thinking, but..with a dark, dark navy or black background and some carefully-focused contrast (perhaps indeed, amongst less-saturated viruses), it might work. Or…maybe something like Nathan’s quick-n-dirty, with the earth rising behind the viral cell? Or, ooooh, what about the viral cell rising behind the earth, instead? Too bad the virus doesn’t have a dorsal fin, eh?
And I think Nathan’s instinct on the font is right. Simple sans-serif, strong, no foof. No 3D, no nothing but strength.
I like Hitch’s second suggestion, with either the earth or the virus rising behind one or the other…a la the opening of 2001. The virus rising behind the earth may look more ominous and threatening.
Right. EXACTLY the scene I was thinking of, Ron. GMTA (gim-TAH! [hard g]) as we say in my office–Great Minds Think Alike. Ha!
Well, it sure didn’t take long for authors to begin drawing on current events for their inspiration! On the whole, I’d say the cover’s simple concept is fairly good, but the execution is rather lacking. As our esteemed host says, it’s asymmetric, and that blue background doesn’t provide enough contrast with Earth.
The solution is about as simple as the concept: center Earth (both horizontally and vertically) and use a black background. For added effect, make sure the virus(es) will seem to loom over it in some menacing fashion. Hitch and Ron’s suggestions are good, but I particularly like the close-up view of that one virus at the top of the submitted cover, looking like some kind of extraterrestrial spacecraft preparing for an invasion.
In fact, the more I think of it, the better that whole “invasion” vibe seems to work. Alternative suggestion: center Earth horizontally, but make it a lot bigger and shunt it downward so it fills the entire bottom half of the cover kind of like those space photos of Earth we currently have that were taken from objects in orbit, and then show that one virus in closeup and some others at more of a distance seemingly hurtling toward Earth. Though the virus in this story (presumably) isn’t exactly the Andromeda Strain, invasions and pandemics are very similar in people’s minds, and portraying an outbreak as being like an invasion would probably draw a fair number of prospective readers to your book.