The author says:

The protagonist of Bump changes based on who is last touched, then changes again with that person’s next physical contact. The point of view changes to reveal the lives of dozens of different characters within one novel. Several genres are included in Bump, and the tone of the novel will change constantly as the story takes on the lives of various characters. The characters face loss, love, death, and the challenges of youth. Bump cannot be classified as either a romance, horror, crime, thriller, action, or adventure specifically, as it contains many elements which vary based on each characters narrative. There are happy endings, and not so happy endings, and some that are bitter sweet.

Nathan says:

Sounds fairly experimental. There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules about this as there are about specific genres, but I don’t think your present cover does the job — it’s technically well done, but doesn’t say ANYTHING about the story.

The first idea that came to me was a series of overlapping photographic faces, chained together by overlapping eyes, thus:

It might convey the idea of several protagonists or viewpoint characters as being one of the central conceits of the book.

Beyond that, I’m open to suggestions. Anyone?

The author says:

Here is a revised cover of A Bee In A Big Universe. A funner readable font-Better beehive-bee moved more center and down – moon as a crescent – planets moved a bit – tree reduced in size. I hope you like it. I’m just trying to improve my cover, lots of things I like about the cover just needed improving. Darker blues don’t work. because of the interior page colors. I think it looks good. I was hoping to find out what looked better the newer version or older one and to make improvements. It looks better on thumbnail.

[original submission and comments here]

Nathan says:

I definitely think that this version takes the best parts of the other two. The flower is immediately apparent to a preschooler, the bee’s solid eyes aren’t as psychedelic, and the hive no longer looks like the poop emoji. 🙂

I would make the title twice as big (shrink the flower and tree to give it room).

Other comments?

The author says:

Contrarian: can a duo of paid guns for hire stop a criminal syndicate before they cause irreparable environmental harm?

Nathan says:

Very cleanly done. I have four suggestions:

1. Either make the central silhouette bigger, or lighten the background right around him to make him stand out more, especially in thumbnail.
2. Make the darks in the title lighter so it can be read at thumbnail size.
3. Where’s the byline?
4. The length of your tagline is cumbersome. Try to distill it down to something pithier.

Other comments?

The author says:

This book is a children’s picture book good for ages 6-10.

Brain the Bee is dared to fly to the end of the Universe by his best friend Sam the snail. He is confused and decides to go on a quest to find out more about our vast world and beyond. In this quest, he finds out what stars are, what is a planet, and what the big Universe is all about. Will Brain be able to fly to the end of the Universe, or will he find answers in the night sky. Fly with Brain and learn what it means to be a Bee In a Big Universe.

There is also a great story of friendship in the book. There are many science facts and bee facts. It’s a very good educational book that’s easy to read.

Two versions to see which you like better.

Nathan says:

Of the two, I like the second one better; the title doesn’t seem as cramped, and the complete flower would be easier for a preschooler to identify.

As further improvements, I would reduce the flower’s size and use the extra room to move the bee down and make the title bigger.

Also, the beehive in the tree looks like the poop emoji.

Other comments?