The author says:

An epic fantasy novel written like a historical novel with Catholic themes; the story follows a 20-year-old woman named Enid, who has the ability to make others tell the truth, but can’t tell any lies herseself, as she tries to stop a supernatural disaster. While it is fantasy and is set in a fictional world, it’s written with a hyper-realism in mind, and the prose is very similar to Tennyson. The target audience would likely be adult women or older adult women who enjoy historical fiction or want fantasy that feels immersive. The writing is chalked full of obscure medieval terminology and is pretty dense with Catholic theology, with lots of long flowery descriptions; my main concern is that the cover might seem too “YA,” because I don’t think teenagers would enjoy this book very much. It would likely be too dense and challenging for most YA readers, so this cover might send the wrong message. I’m not opposed to getting an updated cover in the future–thoughts?

Nathan says:

Well… You call it an “epic fantasy novel,” but the rest of your description works against that. I’m all for writers ignoring the confines of genre when it serves the story, but when you put on your publisher hat, you need to know which bookshelves (or Amazon categories) it belongs in to find its target audience. With as fractured as your description is, all I can really say is:

a) Yes, it looks YA.

b) The title (even the single main word of the title) is difficult to read.

I can suggest some other definitely-not-YA art styles for a new cover — something with an Alphonse Mucha influence, for instance — but without understanding exactly what marketing segment you intend to hit, I’m at a loss.  What other books would you expect to be in the shopping carts of your target readers?

The author says:

ONLY BLOOD CAN RINSE AWAY TYRANNY

After six hundred years, the Mednohail Empire lusts for a dominion where the sun never sets. The Empire grows restless, ashamed of its loss against the Heokolon Empire thirty years ago. Fueled by insatiable wrath, the Empire looks east once again, seeking to spread the scourge of its gods across the world. Roused by a new age of steel and weaponized sin, General Brónmal leads the Empire’s endless legions east. Driven to surpass his father’s failures in the first war, he takes up the duty for glory and penance.

Unknown to the Mednohail, the Heokolon Empire is ready, waiting like a spider. In secret, it has prepared its perfect soldiers, hoping to end Mednodorn’s reign of terror once and for all. With brutal discipline and weapons of glass, they ready themselves to cut down the Mednohail legions. Yet, lurking in the darkness of the coming conflict, agents of old initiate a scheme centuries in the making, hoping to deliver the world back into the hands of a forgotten evil.

Nathan says:

The first thought I had was, “Lower the swords!” Pull them down so that the text doesn’t overlap the pommels. All we’d lose is the bottom edge of the pile of salt, which isn’t essential visual information.

Anyone else?

The author says:

Ladies and gentlemen it’s now time for the main event of book publishing. Today in these very pages we’ll pit the twenty greatest Heavyweight boxers head to head to see who comes out on top. There’s no ducking tonight each warrior will fight the other in a fantasy league in some of the most exciting pugilistic combat to ever be written. Be witness to epic non stop action with a hundred and ninety incredible fights such as Muhammad Ali vs Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis vs Riddick Bowe, George Foreman vs Sonny Liston and Rocky Mariano vs Joe Frazier. Steeped in history the blue ribbon division has experienced some of the most awe inspiring and exciting moments in sports. So let’s lace up those gloves and start the ring walks…

Nathan says:

I actually have no complaints or suggestions about this. None.

Anyone else have comments?

The author says:

It’s a technothriller, but its primary target audience is probably women and girls.

Nathan says:

I’m very confused. You say it’s a technothriller, but your front cover is entirely any like any technothriller ever… and your back cover description, while involving espionage, is very clearly SF.

There’s at least a little SF in your front cover imagery, but only if the potential reader lingers long enough to see that that’s Jupiter in the sky, not just the moon.

There’s nothing wrong with the techniques by which the cover is rendered, but it doesn’t succeed in giving anyone in its target audience a signal that this is a book they’d want to read.

It really needs to scrapped back to the concept stage.