The author says:

A collection of short erotic stories which, broadly, have some religious element in them.

Nathan says:

Well, you’ve definitely overcome the problem of “not sexy enough” on your last cover!

I think that, if the religious element is part of the appeal, it needs to be played up more. Romance novels often use religious terms like “sin,” “heaven,” “angel,” “devil,” etc. in their titles, so that alone doesn’t really give the reader an inkling of religious flavor in these stores. I think adding some gentle religious imagery to the background might help, like so:

I don’t think this particular fresco works especially well — it’s just one I grabbed from Google as a demo.

Other thoughts?

The author says:

Inspired by escape rooms, Puzzling Escapes locks the reader in a fascinating and rich scenario full of riddles and clues. You and your friend Astrid decide it would be fun to investigate an abandoned spaceship. But as soon as you’re inside, the doors lock and the power fails. Can you find all the clues and solve each puzzle?

Last time I submitted a cover for this book, I leaned heavily on the space aspect. After much back and forth, I wanted to try a cover which looks much more like a typical puzzle book. Some of the tropes I tried to include are bold solid colors, simple font treatment, a more descriptive title, and the simple geometric design.

[original submission and comments here]

Nathan says:

The only thing I’m going to say is that the green-yellow color (“puke yellow”) doesn’t work for me — I’d be a lot more attracted to the cover if it were a brighter, cheerier yellow.

I’ll leave the rest for our dependable commenters.

The author says:

Fantasy: Edhenland, a place of peace and plenty, of family and friends, with storyteller’s tales of past history and adventure, but with no danger or things to fear because of so few unknowns. Until now!

In a short time the animals of the Big Orchard Neighborhood find there are yet Great Ones living in other neighborhoods, and also their lives of peace without threat or fear may be over. Outside their protecting mountains may be, almost certainly are, threats to fear greater than anything they have ever imagined. Newly grown animals, long wanting adventure will now find more than they could ever have imagined. So too with the Great Ones, the few remaining people of Edhenland. In more ways than one their futures will depend on what they are about to discover.

The top picture panel of the cover depicts a scene from Chapter One. Close friends Eli Elk, Benjamin Gray Wolf and Samuel Great Eagle are conversing as they walk. The eagle just brought new of a serious nature that may effect their very lives.

Nathan says:

This is the hardest kind of cover to critique, because I hate being unrelentingly negative but…

Your artwork’s just not there yet.

You definitely have talent, but you don’t have the requisite level of skill and technique yet. Undifferentiated line widths and colored pencils only call attention to the deficiencies in the art.  The impression given is that of a talented adolescent — which means readers will expect the same of the writing: that it will show promise, but that the reader will have to lower expectations in order to enjoy it.  That’s not what readers want to pay for; they want to be confident that they are in the hands of a master storyteller, not that they have to say, “Well, it’s not TOO bad…”

(And lest you think I’m just critiquing the artistic skill, I’m also talking about the design skill as well. The two actionless vignettes seem more intended to show “Look at what I can draw!” than to entice the reader with the contents, and both the sliced-off-circle layout and the title/byline font seem like randomly selected choices.)

Remember: If you want to give your book the best chance to find readers who appreciate it, you need to accept that there may be some skills, like art and design, that are not where they need to be. Your best bet is to find someone with the necessary design chops and work with them to make the best presentation possible.

And I meant it when I said you show talent (assuming you are the artist).  Talent is the jumpstart for skill. Now work hard and make it grow.

The author says:

Meet Mr. Scratch, the nefarious villain. Scratch exists as drawings on paper, but he’s certain he’s better than you. He’s just succeeded in splitting apart the family of his greatest nemesis, but an interdimensional mix-up prevented him from enjoying a victory lap.

Meet Mark. He created Mr. Scratch. Never thought he’d meet him one day.

A supervillain travels to the real world and meets his creator in the dark comedy BLACK HAT BLUES.

Nathan says:

It’s a nice cover that completely misses. If I were to guess about the book from the cover, I’d think it’s about a nuclear family set in a winkingly-ironic version of what the Fifties thought the future would be like. I don’t get anything about villains from this cover, or about comic-book characters invading the real world.

(Also, waaay too much halftone filler.)

Other comments?

The author says:

A collection of erotic vignettes about the loss of sexual innocence. Containing four short stories, I am aiming for the “fans of Anais Nin” type market – those who like their erotica with a bit of literary sophistication.

Nathan says:

I see three main problems with this:

1. Nothing is large enough to be comprehended in thumbnail. There’s no hook to make the 95% of your potential audience who will initially encounter it at thumbnail size click to take a larger look.
2. The type is nothing but variations on Times New Roman, the default font on literally almost all word-processed documents ever. That makes it look extremely lazy.
3. The flower petals (which I originally took to be footprints) are way too subtle an indication of your content. Even the covers of the current editions of Anais Nin’s books have a clue to the subject matter, and the erotic ones are pretty clearly erotic:

The good news is that antique images such as these are easily found from public domain sources, so they won’t set you back.

Other comments?