The author says:

A Hospital Bed at Home is a linked collection of true stories about the experience of being a carer during the weeks, months and years that can stretch between the day someone you love is diagnosed with an incurable, fatal disease and the day of his or her death. Couples facing separation after forty years together; a workaholic with three small children and a dying, angry wife; an Irish immigrant called home to nurse an ailing father who cannot, or will not, eat; a Buddhist couple striving for serene acceptance of a brain tumour… The patients and carers profiled in these stories bring to their challenging situations the gamut of typically human strengths and weaknesses, plus all the baggage of their pre-existing relationships. The narratives are intensely personal and biographical, but the insights and information they contain about illness, caregiving and dying at home have profound and general relevance. The author’s reflections on these topics are woven throughout, linking the individual stories and concluding with a gritty memoir about caring for her own mother, an anxious optimist who was ravaged by cancer.

Nathan says:

I like the idea of a view through the window from the implied bed.  If I were going to go with that, I’d use one image that shows the full window frame (or most of it).  I think the image-upon-image here is distracting, especially when both of them are essentially the same idea.

Don’t be afraid to go larger on the fonts; there are no specific details in the cover photo that you risk obscuring.  You can see from the thumbnail that the title is awful tiny, and both the subtitle and byline are almost not there.

I’d also find a font or two with more character.  The first thing I’d try is something with a handdrawn vibe to it (but still clearly readable), to support the idea that this is home-based, almost do-it-yourself medical care, as opposed to an institutional setting.

Other thoughts?

The author says:

What if Paris’ infamous party girl didn’t die of consumption at 23 in 1847? Blood Diva is a sometimes humorous, erotic look at love, sex, romance, celebrity, destiny and the art of seduction, that asks a simply question – Can a one hundred ninety year old French courtesan find happiness in 21st century Brooklyn without regular infusions of fresh blood?

Nathan says:

I like both the concept and the artwork chosen, but the resolution is too low; you can see the fuzzy pixelation that’s a dead giveaway for an image found on the web and blown up.  The contrast is especially obvious when comparing any straight lines in the artwork with the lines of the font.

And speaking of the font… Too, too dull. You don’t need something ornate — the artwork takes care of that — but explore try to find either something period or, for contrast, something very current and edgy to indicate that the story takes place in the present.  (I’m not sure how well my second suggestion would work; it would depend a lot on the specific font.  You’d have to try and see.)

Also: The modifications to the art to make the fountain flow red are really, really primitive. Take the time to do it right.

Here are other things I’d do:

• Reduce the unused space at the top and bottom of the poster, either completely or to a symmetical border.
• Play with the color balance, upping either the green or blue, to give the image a slightly unsettling/otherwordly aspect — you don’t want the cover on a vampire story to be too warm and sunny.  (But make sure that the blood still looks like blood.)

Anyone else?

The author says:

Taiga Chavez is an imperfect person in an OCD world. A loyal soldier, she longs to leave Earth behind. But on her 1st Outbound mission, she soon learns that being the good soldier can have an ugly meaning. On a planet filled with aliens that give new meaning to the term “wild life” she must choose sides. At stake? Simply the fate of two worlds, including her own. No pressure. The year – 2415, The places – Earth and space. Science Fiction for adult or YA.

Nathan says:

Um…

I think I see what you were going for here, sort of a Predator-esque heat-signature portrait of the alien creature. Yes?

However. I really don’t think it works. The color scheme, combined with the blurriness of the graphic, doesn’t say “space” or “SF” or “military action” or anything like that to me. At best, it says “My Little Pony.”

In a similar vein, I can see what you were trying to do with the title spacing, but this really isn’t a font that is forgiving to that kind of deliberate spacing.

And the biohazard symbol seems like a completely random addition.

It might be easier just to start over with a different cover concept, but if you want to work with this one, here’s what I’d do:

• Posterize, filterize and texturize the hell out of that image so that it looks like the computer-enhanced image of something barely seen.  Add some other readouts and telltales around it to emphasize that.
• The parts of the cover that aren’t the actual alien, change them from pink/purple into something darker for contrast.  If you fade to black at the top, you can add stars to give some kind of outer-space feel.
• I’d pick a different font, and then texture-fill it with burnished metal or something else that gives it a hard-edged, military feel.

Anyone else?