The author says:
They story about Houdini’s great apprentice that history forgot. Charles can still hear his mentor’s words; “It is the names and faces history forgets that often turn the tides.” In order to avenge his the murder of his mentor he must first disappear! He silently writes history as he encounters: Jack the Ripper Harry Houdini Fred Russell (“The father of modern ventriloquism”)
Nathan says:
While I sometimes come across as a defender of A.I. images here, my attitude is simply that A.I. illustration is simply one more tool in a designer’s toolbag, like the advanced version of a stock image catalog. My rule of thumb is this: If a reader can immediately identify it as A.I.-generated, you need to change it. (Why? My assumption is that the reader will identify the originality (or lack thereof) on the cover with the originality (or lack thereof) of the contents.)
Pay attention to the odd finger placement and the lack of background. Those are two of the obvious identifiers of A.I. illustration.
Other problems:
The image doesn’t have any convenience open space for title placement, which is why it’s awkwardly across the body, and in a font and hue that keeps it from standing out.
You really don’t need a colon on the cover; font placement and size should be enough to mark the separation.
You don’t need “by” before the byline; if people see one name on the cover, they assume that that’s the author.
Other comments?
Two issues right out of the gate: The patently AI-generated image. It’s just not working. The other is the unreadable title. One of the reasons for the latter (aside from the poor choice of color) is that the AI image generator left you no room to put a title anywhere (professional human cover illustrators will leave at least 1/3 of a cover available for type), so you were forced to put the title wherever you could. A third problem with the cover is that the eye goes directly to the object the character is holding…and there is nothing significant there. As for the colon and the “by” I second Nathan’s comments.
Typography is the least understood of cover elements
It is certainly the least understood, the most-ignored and the most-abused of all cover elements., Oh, and did I say the least-planned-for? (FWIW, this also applies to interior illustrations in kids’ illustrated books! Same exact problems, as you may all easily envisage.)
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to deal with very angry, obdurate, etc. authors insisting that “of course” we can use this image or that image that they love madly, and we can “make it work.” (I guess that’s my Tim Gunn moment there…).
We can, but it looks ludicrous because the image with which they fell in love has no business being used, as it is being used for a cover. There isn’t that infamous third for type—not even for the title, half the time. It drives me bonkers. Very frustrating!
(And then there’s the “I am not paying for some font” group, too. They’ll only use free fonts and their interpretation of what FREE means or what “commercial” means wouldn’t get past an L-1’s professor for love nor money. (sigh).