The author says:
Two strangers both have one thing in common, they lost a partner to death. Brett Miller, a widow with a ten-year-old daughter, has spent the last two years grieving the death of his wife Natasha. The heartbreak and the devastation don’t seem to end, when he loses his job, and his relationship with his daughter continues to disintegrate. He tries to keep everything together, but isn’t sure he has it in him. Victoria Bell’s boyfriend of two years died unexpectedly, leaving her alone to raise their infant daughter. With the help of her sister, she learns to live again. But an unexpected foe from her past puts a wrench in her new beginning and she fears staying in the realm of heartbreak forever. Can Brett and Victoria break free from melancholy?
Nathan says:
So, I don’t understand. How do the stories of Brett and Victoria relate? Is this a romance? Are they neighbors who platonically help each other through their crises? Do they become each other’s arch-nemesis? I’m trying to find the core of the story here and what readers it’s meant to appeal to, because that will matter which way we go on this cover. (Right now, the cover could be anything from a collection of poetry to a memoir of depression to…)
I think that Nathan got the gist of the problem: the cover art certainly looks sad and the title sounds sad…but what is the book actually about? There’s not a clue. It could even be a non-fiction treatise on depression.
More focus is needed. What you might perhaps think about is coming up with something—either an adaptation of this cover or an entirely new one—that includes a human element, something to suggest a relationship—however fragile it might be—between two people and their struggle with melancholia.
The description that we’ve received, so far, doesn’t tell us; presumably, Brett and Victoria are meant to find each other and HEA their way out of this mess. But, yes, hell, they could both be parents in a support group that simply tell their stories in that group, and that’s it.
So: we as cover critics, need more data; and we couldn’t tell what you were saying, from the cover–romance? Fiction? Non-fiction? That’s not good.
I did a quick google search of the author to get an understanding of what the genre might be. I see she writes primarily romance and mystery, so I’m going to guess this book is romance? I found a cover for another one of her books here: https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559110602l/46036554._SY475_.jpg
It seems like the cover submitted is attempting to emulate similar imagery to her older book. In terms of this submitted cover, I’m not particularly a fan of the cover art or the title font, but I agree with Nathan that without more information that’s really the best critique that can be given.
Hey, Emma! Lovely to see you over here.
Yes, but you know, that first cover has the same problem–it’s arty, but it doesn’t tell us anything at all about the BOOK. That could be LitFic, romance, suspense…anything at all. Hell it could be non-fic, although it clearly leans in to fiction-like.
Hi Hitch! I agree, I think its all very ambiguous. Knowing now that the genre is literary fiction, I definitely think I’d need more information about the story to offer any kind of ideas or constructive critiques.
The description I had came up with to accompany the above cover I realize now was confusing. The genre is literary fiction. The two main characters stories play side by side, contrast, and come together in the end. Its not a romance. Thanks everyone for taking the time.
Literary fiction is always had to put a cover on, because one of the unspoken assumptions is that it doesn’t go in for that filthy marketing and pandering, not like commercial “hack” work. So it’s hard to come up with a cover that both attracts readers, and remains true to the aesthetic of not caring if it attracts readers.
Well, hell…in that case, it’s perfect. LitFic has a long history, as Nathan said, of “you do you.” 🙂
Hitch
The picture looks grainy and really low res. I’m not sure if it really is or that’s an effect from submitting here but because it’s so grainy it has a DYI vibe that detracts from the impact.
the background rose color isn’t helping. it’s too washed out. Add some light or maybe try a yellow tone for contrast.
I have taken some of the suggestions here and made a few adjustments since I had submitted for crictique. Here is an updated version.
https://postimg.cc/bZyKVD4D
This could work, though there is still a clip art vibe to the illustration. This is emphasized by the central placement: the entirety of the art lies in the middle of the cover, sandwiched between the lines of type. I think it would help a little if a few of the shards of the broken heart were scattered further around the cover so that the type is more within the art instead of framing it.
I think what’s mainly holding the cover back is the typography. The typefaces are bland and not well-placed. And I am not too sure but that the overwhelming symmetry of the cover might be a problem. Symmetry conveys balance, steadiness, safety, harmony…all things that, I think, work against the impression created by the image.
I’m not thrilled with the amount of yellow. I don’t think that’s really what Savoy meant, although, hell, she may have. I think she meant just adding a yellow wash/tonal quality to it.
I definitely think it will help to put ‘A Novel’ on the front!
But I think there are other things which are making this look more as non-fic, or at least not clear as literary fiction.
It’s the layout an concept. They make the book look like these kinds of books from the pop-science/pop-psych areas:
https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555/ref=lp_75_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1598629291&sr=1-12
https://www.amazon.com/Attached-Science-Adult-Attachment-YouFind/dp/1585429139/ref=sr_1_18?dchild=1&qid=1598629291&s=books&sr=1-18
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525512195/ref=s9_acsd_simh_bw_c2_x_4_i?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=658CYGETRA1WGFVPE43A&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=0c29b3fe-5d53-4fe7-9be0-fd011a7d613d&pf_rd_i=283155
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393354776/ref=s9_acsd_simh_bw_c2_x_14_i?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=658CYGETRA1WGFVPE43A&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=0c29b3fe-5d53-4fe7-9be0-fd011a7d613d&pf_rd_i=283155
An isolated clever/symbolic photograph on a pale background, belongs to those publishing areas.
Add in the fact that your title could easily belong to a pop-psych or -sociology book, and you’re much more signally those genres than your actual genre!
I’d also warn to look out for something else in conceptualising the cover: don’t have your illustration do the same work your title is already doing. Chip Kidd phrases this principle as ‘if the word ‘apple’ is in the title, don’t put an apple on the cover’. Your book is already called ‘Melancholy’ so putting an image of a broken heart is too on the nose and makes your book look flat and one-note.
Having already covered the theme of melancholia in your title I’d use your imagery to hint at another important angle of the book. Personally, I think the conceit of the parallel lives is a strong USP. I’d think about what other ‘conceit-‘led’ contemporary/literary books have on their front.
https://www.amazon.com/One-Vintage-Contemporaries-David-Nicholls/dp/0307474712/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2IUPROU7S7PD0&dchild=1&keywords=david+nicholls&qid=1598629974&sprefix=david+nicholls%2Cundefined%2C232&sr=8-4
https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Atlas-Novel-David-Mitchell/dp/0375507256/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=david+mitchell&qid=1598630131&sr=8-3
https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-Half-Novel-Brit-Bennett-ebook/dp/B07XNG5L99/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1598629863&refinements=p_n_feature_twelve_browse-bin%3A10159412011&rnid=5393827011&s=books&sr=1-1
Those are some intriguing but super achievable approaches to hinting to the browser at the kind of story inside.
Personally I think the David Nicholl’s and Brit Benett covers there provide a particularly good lead. You don’t want to have actual illustrations of the characters on a book like this, but something like a silhouette is a good way of signalling that this is about characters, and human sized, not some high-concept or non-fic treatise.
Ugh, literary fiction: a whole genre of “Let’s pretend this is literature for literature’s sake instead of the mercenary effort to convince potential readers to part with their money that every book ever sold has always been.” Seems to me, even literary fiction doesn’t fall neatly into any of the other genres, it ought to be marketed the same way: find the principal aspect of your book that grabs the reader by the funny bone or the heart strings or some other metaphorically emotional part of the anatomy, and show your readers something pointing directly to that aspect on the cover. Even if the two protagonists in this story aren’t going to get married at the end (or they’re only going to get married for purely pragmatic reasons, something people still occasionally do these days), it seems to me this story’s main appeal is that it’s about a widow and widower overcoming their miseries together: so why not show that?
You know, as I recall, we critiqued a cover on here for another book several years ago that more or less started where this book ends: with the “widow” (single mother) and widower getting together (in marriage). We wrangled back and forth about it over three separate submissions, and then the author ultimately hired a pro designer who came up with this cover for his story. Turns out, emphasizing that the story was about marriage (though it involved loads of other fantastic and interesting stuff like mind-swapping and something having to do with the Bermuda Triangle) is what did the trick.
While it’s true your story isn’t a romance and therefore probably shouldn’t show a wedding like the one on that cover, your cover might benefit from having a similar set of silhouettes/vector drawings done up in black and white clothing: the newly single parents (widower and gal who’s lost her husband-in-everything-but-name) standing side by side with each of them holding his and her respective daughter (the guy maybe resting his hands on his ten-year-old girl’s shoulders, the gal with her infant daughter cradled in her arms). Throw in some appropriately symbolic background (preferably something to do with tears, since anything involving hearts—even broken ones—suggests a romance you’re telling us isn’t there), and you’ve got an appealing cover. Maybe extend the title just a bit to flesh it out and keep it from sounding so generic (Mutual Melancholy, perhaps?) and you’ve got an appealing book.
Great ideas!
But silhouettes…
No.
Hard to believe that a “pro” designer came up with something as godawful as https://d188rgcu4zozwl.cloudfront.net/content/B01LCGFE0G/resources/1924909517 But then, there are too many people who have gained some rudimentary skills at Photoshop and, combined with access to stock image sources, set themselves up as “designers.”
I absolutely would not use anything like this as a model.
You’ve always been rather biased against silhouettes, but those covers for The Vanishing Half and One Day Kata showed us each use them to good effect, and I rather disagree with your assessment of that cover for We Can’t Rewind as well. When it comes to mixing the abstract and concrete, silhouettes and vector art are especially effective for that. After taking a second look at that cover for The Vanishing Half, however, I do think splashes of different colors would be a lot more eye-catching than the blacks and whites of wedding clothes (which wouldn’t be appropriate for this cover anyway since the book’s not so much about marriage); maybe blues and reds for the man and woman and varying shades of pink for each of the daughters.
Hmph. Don’t know why the link to the cover for The Vanishing Half isn’t working, but here it is again.
This is a case where silhouette-like shapes are used to a purpose and work very nicely. The result is attractive and striking.
The Vanishing Half is clearly a piece of custom art. It’s entirely possible, given how well they work, that One Day is, as well.
The “We Can’t Rewind” cover equally obviously, does not have custom silhouettes. I think that it’s very, very difficult for most of today’s “professional cover designers” (and yes, I’ve used quotes around that for a reason) to make canned silhouettes work. Many of them can’t even do a reasonable amount of photo-manip and IMHO, that cover is ample evidence of that. (Don’t get me going on the font, as that’s not what we’re discussing here.)
Honestly, wCR’s cover was problematic from the jump, with the author being pretty stuck on the idea of portraying the body-swapping on the cover, and so the end result is still stiff. Is it better than the original versions we saw, using canned stock graphics of the woman, man, etc.? Yes. But Vanishing Half, it isn’t.
Some silhouettes work very well. I don’t disagree, but it feels to me that every time I think that, when I take the time to look, the book is put out either by a trade publisher (at least 90% of the instances where I’ve looked), which leads me to think “custom silhouettes” (like Bonnie Bird’s Holmesian pastiche series), or they’ve used the very high-end Indy cover designers, running a grand and up. (like https://bookdesigners.com/work ).
Offered solely FWIW. I completely respect that most Indy authors simply can’t afford that. I don’t know enough about graphic manipulation to understand the how or why of being able to competently use affordable, come-as-you-are Silhouettes.
There is no romance at all. The two characters never get into a relationship and never even become friends. I’m working toward improving on this cover. LitFic is a hard genre to capture in a cover.
I’m not sure how two characters who never even get to know each other as friends are supposed to be in the same story, unless you’re maybe pulling a plot line gag like the one in the movie The Fifth Element in which the hero and villain’s various actions each have profound effects on each other’s lives, and yet they never once actually meet or say anything to each other. I should point out too that judging by the sales page summary, there’s apparently no romance involved in The Vanishing Half either (other than maybe with secondary characters), since it’s a tale of twin sisters who each chose to live very different lives from each other. If your protagonists are not (knowingly) even going to get involved with each other, you might hint at that on your cover by showing the abstract representations of Brett and Victoria overlapping, and yet each one headed in opposite directions; in a kind of inversion of how the twin sisters on The Vanishing Half‘s cover seem to be kinda huddled together, the man and woman for your story could basically be indicated to be going their separate ways.
My beta readers who have read the first draft, had similar thoughts until they read it 🙂 They understand where I was going.
The cover looks all too obviously what it is: something cobbled together from found images. Sure, something like a photographic background and flat graphics can work together…but this absolutely does not. It’s just collage of seemingly unrelated visual elements (a NASA image of the earth from space and cartoony silhouettes of a couple getting married?). And the “designer” allowed for little value contrast between the deep blue of the Atlantic and the male figure, who consequently tends to merge into the background. Just apply the test of looking at the cover in gray scale and you will see what I mean. (In fact, the gray scale test also goes to show how the cover is dominated by the half dozen glaring spots of pure white, which are not used to enhance the composition—look at how the eye keeps returning to the large white mass of the veil—but instead appear randomly scattered.) And one can only wince at the efforts made to get the flower girl and ring bearer to work. One merges into the bride’s dress and the other had to have an inexplicably illuminated edge added, making the kid look like a cardboard prop.
My prejudice against silhouettes is mainly directed to things like this, where the use of silhouettes serves no purpose at all. There is no reason for them, they don’t suggest anything about the nature of the story…they seem to be there only because the “designer” could evidently find nothing else in their online catalogs of clip art. Silhouettes are all too often nothing more than an easy out…which I think was the case here.
You know, i was just talking to a pal of mine, about silhouettes and a lot of it is the quality of the silhouettes that you use. When we have a customer that starts talking silhouettes, I try to refer them over to Masterfile, with suitable warning about the greater costs (than depositphotos, etc.) but you can get silhouettes like these, for example:
https://www.masterfile.com/em/search/#keyword=silhouettes+vector&license=ALL&format=hvsp&sort=alice&imgtype=IPV&mode=search&ts=1598900929106
https://www.masterfile.com/em/search/#keyword=silhouettes+vector&license=ALL&format=hvsp&sort=alice&imgtype=IPV&mode=search&ts=1598900929106
https://www.masterfile.com/em/search/#keyword=silhouettes+vector&license=ALL&format=hvsp&sort=alice&imgtype=IPV&mode=search&ts=1598900929106
Yes, they’re more. But the bottom line is, it’s bloody worth it, compared to the dreck you find (generally) around.
Offered FWIW.
Take a look at how Arthur Rackham used silhouettes, to see just how effective they can be when used properly and imaginatively…
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/rackhams-cinderella-silhouettes/
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2013/03/26/rackham-silhouettes/
Rackham’s genius really shows in his two- and three-color silhouettes and where he uses a sort of negative silhouette effect, such as in the illustration of the fountain in Cinderella.
I like your cover image. It looks interesting and bold. I’m not sure I like the title. I really don’t like the font. I’m liking more decorative fonts instead of minimalism. It’s hard to read and is too different from the rich color and decoration of the shattered heart. The title seems sad. I am a hopeful person. I may read the book, if it reads like Broken, or Lost Worlds, or Troubled Hearts, Shattered, something more dramatic. The title as now looks sad and boring. Make the title exciting. I do like the shattered heart graphic though. It speaks to me.