The author says:

“Locksmith’s Journeys” is the sequel to the YA science fiction novel “Locksmith’s Closet.” Lachlan Smith and his immediate circle of family and friends continue their search of the future through the time portal to learn the secret of what happened to the human race. Back in the present, they learn who made the portal and why. (This isn’t quite the final design. I plan to add some flocks of birds silhouetted against the sky. But that will be a lot of work, so before I do it I want to know if it’s worth improving.)

[For those who don’t recall, Locksmith’s Closet already received the CoverCritics treatment; final version is here.]

Nathan says:

You’ve hit a good balance between maintaining a series look or “brand” and making this cover original and different. (I hate when the differences between series volumes are so subtle that I can’t tell them apart.)

My problem with this cover is that it’s so… plain.  The silhouette of the Washington Monument (I sure hope that’s supposed to be the Washington Monument, because that’s what 100% of people will immediately think) could be from one of a billion tourist snapshots, and the paragliding figure is similarly just there.  Even just a different color to the sky could make a big difference — I took the cover you sent, slapped on a cloudy sunset from Google Image Search, and got this:

That was thirty seconds of work; image how much better it could be if you fine-tuned the light/dark dynamics from one corner to another, etc.

Two other comments:

-If I divine correctly, your intent was to make the blur on the Washington Monument look like the camera was focusing past it toward the paraglider.  Unfortunately, looks less like it’s out of focus and more like it’s a poor resolution image.

-The paraglider itself is so small as to be ignorable, and in the thumbnail it might as well not be there.  I’m not saying that every image element needs to be clearly discernible from the thumbnail, but since your image really only has two parts — the monument and the paraglider — they really ought to be easily seen.  It’s only going to get worse once you add the flock of birds, and even worse if you go with a more dynamic sky like I suggested.

Other thoughts?

The author says:

BODYSWITCH Multi-racial split personality thriller appealing to fans of Dean Koontz, Clive Barker. Tagline: ‘If you think your body belongs to you – think again’.

Nathan says:

Hmm.  Sort of like the last cover featured here, we could talk about font choices and layout and contrast… But before that, we need to talk about the overall concept.  Because this cover and that description don’t seem to go together.  This cover art is perfect for a boogedy-boogedy spooky story; that’s not what your description says at all.  Even if this is more of a supernatural story than your one-line description suggests, it still looks like a “haunted ruin” story, not a “split personality/possession” story.

I think before we can help you fine-tune your vision, you need to start with a different vision.

(Side note: Better remove the original metadata from the stock image.  When I posted the cover here, the title came up as “Cemetery by night,” with a caption of “Old cemetery in a foggy full moon night.”)

The author says:

Valkyrie’s Vengeance is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the modern era. Best read by those interested in urban fantasy and Norse mythology. Fans of C. Gockel, Neil Gaiman, and Jim Butcher would enjoy it.

Nathan says:

I think the biggest thing we need to discuss here is the overarching concept.  By that, I mean: I can see the Norse mythology.  But modern-era? I don’t get that from the cover.  Albuquerque?  I don’t get that either.

If the New Mexican setting isn’t terribly important (just an “everything needs to take place somewhere, so this happens here” thing), then concentrate on how you can indicate a modern timeframe.  A city skyline? Cars? Cellphones?  If the New Mexican setting is specifically important — if it adds a distinctive flavor that can’t be transported to Chicago or New Orleans or Seattle — then get that in there too — desert or mesas or New-Agey ex-hippies or Los Alamos or… If it’s important enough to mention in a one-sentence description, it should at least be hinted at one your cover.

Once you get a cover concept that more clearly portrays your novel, then we can talk about color and type and whatnot.

The author says:

Between changing names, yanking an elven king’s soul out of his body on accident, and battling a bat the size of a minivan because it dared try to eat her horse, Ka’lei has issues. Kidnapped into another world, Haylie must work with her captors to save Erth and the two worlds connected to it from the darkness that follows her. Race Against the Dark is adult fantasy with a romantic subplot.

Nathan says:

I warn you ahead of time, you’re not gonna like a lot of what you hear, because your cover hits two hot-buttons that have become cliches over at LousyBookCovers.com:

1) The font.  The title isn’t terrible, but the font for the byline, Algerian, not only clashes terribly with the title, but calls attention to itself as “the font that everyone uses when they want something fantasy-ish and don’t know what to choose.”  (And the third font used for the tagline and the series title looks far too modern for a fantasy.)

2) The CG horse.  I suppose rendered imagery has its place, but a fantasy doesn’t strike me as that right place.

Sorry. (Anybody got anything else?)

The author says:

This is a concept/composition cover for a title I probably will self-publish. You know, after the publishing houses reject it. Title: Jackman Genre: Space opera, science fiction and fantasy mash-up Target Audience: SFF readers Short synopsis: As Arekan traveled the stars as a crewman aboard merchant vessels, he used many names. It was safer that way. The young man had his own secrets to keep. But Sinlon Mor’a’stan, a member of the outlawed family that once ruled the Kyn Empire, did not know these secrets. When he taps Arekan as his son Santir’s guide and protector, he unchains a force that would change not only Santir and Arekan’s lives, but the Empire of Kyn forever. But before the two young men get to Santir’s home world they face many dangers, including Santir’s failed spacewalk, pirates, and their intense dislike of each other. Thanks for taking a look at this!

Nathan says:

I like the fact that the image you sent me is labeled “concept art.”  This is a starting place, and a good one.

First, when I look at the thumbnail, it seems oddly bleached — and by “oddly” I mean that the lack of contrast doesn’t seem to be for any reason in particular.  I can see that you were going for a glow/aura/nimbus look, but I still think you can work some contrasts into the figure.  Especially with a light title across the figure, it just looks washed out.

Also from the thumbnail, I can see that the proportion is a little wider than standard. Obviously with an ebook cover you can technically make it at any proportions you want, but there’s still reader expectation to deal with.  Readers of genre fiction unconsciously expect their book covers to approximate the standard dimensions of a mass-market paperback — two-to-three, or 6″ x 9″ if you’re printing at Createspace.  The good news is that I think that trimming the right side of the image would actually make for a better layout of the figure.  I mean, it’s not like you need to see his left shoulder…

Moving from the thumbnail to the full image, here’s my first impression:

BUSYBUSYBUSYBUSYBUSY

The combination of filters adding “fake detail” to the photo plus the textured font for the title adds up to “too dang much.”  What’s worse, it looks like you’re trying to compensate for a blurry or too-small photograph by gussying it up.  There are ways to do that that work better than this.

And finally, your synopsis puts this book firmly in “space opera/science-fantasy” territory, but the cover doesn’t hit that bull’s eye nearly so well.  From the cover, I’d guess maybe SF, or maybe urban fantasy, or possibly a light-hearted post-apoc adventure…  What can you do to up the “sciffyness” of it?  More futuristic fonts?  The silhouette of a Kelly Freas-like spired city on the horizon?  A multi-colored planet peeking in from the upper left?  Whatever you choose, give more definite clues to your potential reader.

Other thoughts?