A Jay in a Manger

Covers

The author says:

Sing and color along with Christmas carols dedicated to 16 beloved North American birds. From “Silent Flight” to “Mockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” these birding carols are sure to put a smile on your face.

Nathan says:

NEEDS MORE CHRISTMAS.

Seriously — from the thumbnail, the Christmas vibe is entirely absent, and even at full size you don’t notice the holly berries unless you’re really looking. Put some bold greens and reds in the framing planets.

Also, it looks a little unbalanced, top to bottom.  I’m assuming that the illustration was done old-school, which means that the jay can’t easily be pushed lower on the page; if that’s the case, I’d suggest moving the subtitle to the space under the jay, with the bylines pushed even lower; then you can also enlarge the title.

Other comments?

Pecados de Mujeres

Covers

The author says:

An underground detective agency is assigned by the Mexico City’s police chief to find the murderer of her daughter and other five women. A hardboiled novel set in 1993’s Mexico. In line with the works of Dashiell Hammett. Also, the novel is written in spanish.

Nathan says:

I don’t think this cover concept nails what you want. For one thing, the image is confusing in thumbnail (I thought I was looking at a caricature of a bald man with a Fu Manchu mustache).  The full-sized image does convey murder, but it lacks any indication of “hardboiled.”

In my experience, hardboiled detective novels (at least, those not written by authors who are already such a strong brand that all they need is their names on the covers) usually show the detective on the cover, not the victim (or, in this case, one of the victims).

Other comments?

The Museum

Covers

The author says:

Sophia wakes in a dilapidated museum believing she’s been kidnapped and abandoned. She isn’t the only one… As she and four others struggle to understand their new reality, they discover the museum boarded with no obvious exit. Who brought them to the museum and why? How can they escape? Their only link to each other is a mysterious woman named Blair, who they each encountered before blacking out. When Sophia is drawn to one of the other captives, their attraction plunges the group into suspicion. Allegiances shift as pieces connect. But is the real danger inside or outside the museum?

Nathan says:

I can suggest a few tweaks, but I wonder if the cover concept doesn’t seem more “lit fic” than “suspense.” I’ll let others debate that in the comments. But if you were to go with this cover, I would definitely:

  • move “The” from left to right so it doesn’t blend in with the image behind it.
  • tilt the mannequin so it looks less natural.
  • either increase the byline font size or deepen the contrast with the background (or both) so that it stands out more.

What say you, hivemind? Does the concept work?

Curse of a Witches Blood

Covers

The author says:

The odd events that have plagued Eve have always made her an outsider. A moving table, shattered windows, a shaking classroom. But when they turn dangerous, Eve is forced to consider something more than just coincidence might be happening. Fighting off horrible creatures with strange powers, her father is kidnapped, and Eve is saved by the one person she never expected to meet: her mother. This is not how her sixteenth birthday was supposed to go. Can she control her power, or will it consume her?

Nathan says:

“Witch’s Blood,” surely? (“No, and don’t call me ‘Shirley!'”)

The artwork is great. A litte cropping, and some tweaking of the type, will bring the rest of the cover up to the artwork’s level. Here’s a five-minute redo:

(One of my rules of thumb: “Nobody really needs to see feet.”)  I didn’t take the time to find a matching apostrophe because, hey, five minutes.

I’m not sure about the interaction between the title font and the byline font, but that might just be personal taste.

Other comments?