The author says:
Confessions of a House Painter is a fictional autobiographical account of a man that begins with an unexpected, and oddly erotic, experience on a school bus ride during third grade, to present day. Each chapter are specific memories of relationships, sometimes romantic encounters, and humorous escapades that are a mixture of humor, romance and his philosophical approach to life. In seemingly normal situations from everyday life, He draws metaphysical conclusions from unexpected interactions with unforgettable characters resulting in often humorous, and sometimes woeful outcomes. Jonny’s philosophical convictions come from a surprising source, his Labrador retriever. Fresh from a self-aware consciousness awakening, Emmy guides her human into a new way of understanding the human experience with intriguing outcomes.
Nathan says:
The problem here is that the book described in your copy doesn’t match your cover at all. I’m not sure exactly what to make of the book as described — fictionalized memoir? coming-of-age story? literary fiction? — but the cover screams “erotic romance” (it doesn’t scream it especially well, but I’m not going to spend effort correcting it if it’s not the right cover for this book in the first place).
I think before you can get anywhere with your cover, you need to discover your “hook”: What is there in the book (which should be apparent in both your description and your cover) that is going to capture the attention of a potential reader? How is it different, and more interesting, than the books to either side of it on a bookshelf or in an Amazon display?
I’m kind of at a loss, too. The cover image, taken by itself pretty much cries out “romance”…and romance of the more lurid sort at that. An image obviously at complete odds with the book’s description.
Apply this test to your cover: Imagine the title and tagline in a language you don’t understand. Would you get any sense of the nature, ideas or themes of the book from the art and design alone? Would you have any clue that the book was anything other than an erotic romance? That it was really a “fictionalized autobiography” filled with humor and philosophy…even metaphysical musings? Or, for that matter, that dog is a major character? I would suggest not.
There are massive problems with the typography but these are moot since the cover image needs to be rethought entirely from scratch.
Gang:
In the interests of full disclosure, this author is one of my bookmaking and (partly cover) clients. I strongly recommended that he come over here to get feedback before the cover designer that I’ve selected for him gets started. As part of his arrangement with us, he’s providing the front cover artwork and we’re doing the rest (for print). I knew that I could rely on the good folks here to aid him in crystallizing his thinking around what audience he’s shooting for, the right imagery for that, and staying out of the Amazon erotica ghetto too, as that is not the intended audience.
thanks!
Hitch
“Amazo, Erotica Ghetto” is my new favorite phrase.
What I would suggest you do is to find popular books that are similar to yours–autobiographical philosophical novels–and take a look at their covers. You want something similar enough to them that a potential reader will go “Hey! Another book like [title]! Awesome!” while at the same time, of course, being specific to your book.
Augusta is right.
Your book needs to identify what kind of book it is—what it’s about, what it’s themes might be—but it also needs to stand out among hundreds of other books it might be sharing a shelf or page with.
I have often compared book covers to packaging. They are really no different than the label on a can of peas. It first has to attract your attention from among dozens of similar products and then it has to convey some idea about the contents. So far as the first part is concerned, your cover needs to tell the reader what it is that sets your book apart from all the others…just as the label on the can of peas has to tell the grocery shopper what’s in the can while at the same time suggesting that there is something that makes those particular peas more desirable.
So…first of all, what category would your book best fit into? What shelf in the bookstore would it belong on? Second, what is it about your book that makes it different? Makes it special?
I would not depend on a tagline to get this across—like your “humor romance philosophy” line. Someone has to stop and look at the book first before they get that far.
Uh… yes, I hate to break it to you, but this is exactly the kind of cover I’d expect to see on a book from the “erotica ghetto” to which the others here refer. In fact, this would actually be a better quality of cover for one of those sleazy erotica novels than many I’ve seen; but that’s exactly what’s wrong with it. Basically, my first impression when seeing this cover was “Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: so there’s this one bored, lonely, not very happily married, and rather naughty eye-candy-eating housewife who likes to hire ripped shirtless dudes to do odd jobs like painting her house…”
As I say, if this were a sleazy erotica about the suburban conquests of a randy house painter, this cover image would be just about exactly right for it. (The decidedly poor choice of typeface and arrangements for the lettering are quite another matter, but let’s stick to priorities here.) The trouble is, none of this even remotely matches your description of what kind of book this is supposed to be. Your description suggests this is supposed to be a highbrow philosophical “slice of life” kind of story about a working-class guy’s many (often humorous) insights into the ins and outs and ups and downs of life; your cover image suggests something a lot more lowbrow and only humorous in the ribald manner of an exceedingly dirty joke.
If I were you, I’d be trying to turn down the eroticism and turn up the comedy. Basically, you need to cut out all characters but the titular house painter (this is his story, after all), have him be fully clothed (no giving gals the wrong idea by showing off his physique), and make him look rather funny in general. Whether it’s something odd about his clothes, or a weird expression on his face, you want to emphasize that your protagonist is a “plucky comic relief” kind of character; not a porn star.
If I were doing a photo shoot to get a cover image, I might indeed show him painting a window frame to indicate his occupation, but I would be sure to shoot him from the front and through that window’s pane. I would also probably tell the subject to put some humorous expression on his face: look puzzled, or curious, or gobsmacked, or squicked out, or something. The only vaguely erotic element to the image (if any) would be left to the viewer’s imagination: what kind of head-tiltingly kinky situation the protagonist might be witnessing that would put such an expression on his face.
In short, when designing your cover, try to think like a comedian: whether the protagonist’s story resembles a light-hearted Cheech and Chong sketch or a dark and cynical George Carlin stand-up routine, you want to whet your target audience’s appetite for a punchline, not a sex scene. I’d also recommend a mild change of the title: “Confessions” usually refers to trashy romance or erotica vignettes. “Misadventures” or “Accidents” or even just plain “Tales” would help steer your target audience toward your novel, and everyone else clear of it.
I wanted to add that nobody has mentioned the dog. The description says, “Fresh from a self-aware consciousness awakening, Emmy guides her human into a new way of understanding the human experience with intriguing outcomes.”
This gives me “The Art of Racing in the Rain” vibes. I think that overlooking the dog would be a mistake.
Offered FWIW.
I mentioned the dog.
Woof.
Mea culpa, mon sweet! I missed it. Indeed you did.