The author says:

Relative Age takes place in a secret base somewhere in the Midwest US. While running the first test of a time machine an unexpected traveler arrives, shocking the crew and triggering an investigation led by Nick, a freelance troubleshooter. He fulfills his contract, but his role becomes much more then troubleshooting.

Nathan says:

Unless your time traveler is from the Roaring ’20s, DO NOT use that typeface.

The images from which your cover is composed are vaguely science-y, but even with the clock face included in the background, they don’t say “time travel” so much as they say “thinking of a radioactive baby.” Isn’t there something else you could put in the foreground — say, Nick doing something “troubleshooter-y”?  That would at least be active, and wouldn’t actively contradict/overpower the clock face.

I don’t have trouble with the purple color scheme as such, but there’s an awful lack of contrast — aside from the radioactive baby, everything else merges into a violet fog.

And I don’t think putting a smaller picture of (presumably) the time lab in a corner of the back cover helps anything; worse, it seems like an admission that the cover as it stands is inadequate, and you’re trying to band-aid it.

(And while back-cover copy isn’t really the focus of this site, I need to point out that (a) you switch from present tense to past tense halfway through, and (b) you don’t even mention the protagonist Nick, who features strongly in the elevator pitch you sent. I’d advise using the “There was only one problem: It worked” idea on the front, and rewriting the back to place your protagonist front and center.)

Other comments?

The author says:

This is the published cover for this Murder Mystery featuring investigative newspaper reporter Jennifer Malone.

“Don’t let them kill me.” These are the first words spoken by elderly patient Helga Klemens to the transporter arriving to take her down for a simple hip surgery. Luke assures the frightened woman no one is going to harm her, chalking the bizarre declaration up to nerves and medication issues. After safely delivering her to the O.R., Luke’s final words to Helga are, “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine,” unaware she will be dead within the hour. On the same Sunday afternoon, newspaper reporter Jennifer Malone is looking into the case of a John Doe residing in the hospital’s morgue. Once her interview with the coroner is complete, Jennifer is stopped by a distraught Luke and his security guard girlfriend, Maryanne, who are both shocked at the news of Helga’s untimely death. Over the following five fast-paced days, Jennifer will use all of her investigative skills to determine exactly what happened in the O.R. However, when a second unidentified body washes ashore, Jennifer’s attention is sidetracked wondering if there’s a serial killer on the loose. Could the three seemingly unrelated deaths be linked?

Nathan says:

It’s a striking image, but I’m not sure it’s conveying “mystery novel.”  You’ve got at least part of the novel set in a hospital, and part of it is about a body that washes up — both would seem to me to be evocative visuals more conducive to “murder mystery” than a chair (even an ominous chair).

Also: If the title were in a taller font, the letters would be bigger and easier to read in thumbnail.

Other comments?

The author says:

Immaculate Days is my debut poetry collection

Nathan says:

“Poetry” doesn’t give us much to go off — that’s a form, but it doesn’t really tell us much about the content. That said, I’ve noticed that most poetry collections published today share a lot of sensibilities with lit fic collections, in that the covers don’t want to be too attractive or enticing, lest they be seen as “pandering.”

But still, it wouldn’t hurt to put the word “poetry” on the cover, right?

Simply in terms of visual aesthetics, the biggest problem — and if you can’t see it in the larger image, you can definitely see it in the thumbnail — is that there’s not enough tonal contrast (dark vs. light) between your title text and your image.  Even though it’s red letters against a green background, the text still doesn’t stand out.  You can really see it if you desaturate the colors:

Other comments?

The author says:

Safety and Liability Analyst Craig Shannon finds himself investigating the deaths of two people on the water-filled world called Teardrop. But the deaths were no accident, and all evidence points to a conspiracy against the peaceful alien natives known as the kell. Craig must search for the truth behind the plan to terraform Teardrop to not only save his own life, but the life of an entire planet.

This is a replacement cover to my existing novel. It is science fiction with elements of mystery and adventure. This is the finished cover. Because of the mixture of genres, I’m not sure which author’s readers it would appeal to.

Nathan says:

Because it’s a replacement, I decided that looking at the current cover would be instructive:

You’ve made changes, but I don’t think you’ve made improvements.

What you describe above is “SF” and “suspense.”  So what are the elements common to each? What are the visual cues that let readers of suspense and science fiction (and especially suspenseful SF) know at a glance that this is a book for them?

Suspense: Dark, shadowy settings with high contrast. People in shadow, or similarly lit in high contrast. The subtext of danger and flight.

Science fiction: Technology, space, alien fauna, SOMETHING that tells us we’re not in Kansas.

Both: Strong type.

So here’s the problem with your revised cover: You have none of that, except the “space” part — and even that isn’t easily discernible; in thumbnail, the planet could as easily be a rubber ball.

So: Pick a strong, clean font (probably sans serif). Let it dominate the cover, as opposed to sliding into the layout innocuously where it won’t intrude.  Use an image with stark contrast.  If you want to play up the novelty of the water-planet setting, make it a “wet” image.  (Drowning imagery works well for “being in over your head.”)

Other comments?

The author says:

1 Common Thread is the history of a African American family struggle for freedom. Still, others will uncover that they’re able to connect to their ancestors with this text.

Nathan says:

I honestly don’t know if this is really a cover that’s being sent for critique, or a mail accidentally sent to the wrong address.

Treating it in good faith as a cover seeking critique: It tells me NOTHING about the book.  It doesn’t even tell me that it IS a book — it looks like a photo accompanying an article in the newspaper. As a book cover, I’d assume it’s either by or possibly about the man on the cover, and maybe a municipal angle; there’s nothing to tell me that it’s about family or ancestors.  Heck, I don’t even know the TITLE of the book — I pulled the title of this post from the file name, assuming it was something close.

Seriously. You must have friends; explain the book to them and ask them for ideas for the cover. Whatever they come up with has got to be better than this.