Hopefully designed that darn book cover - opinions please

[Dave Barsby]

Hi all, wondering if you could have a quick peek at my newly redesigned wraparound book cover and let me know what you think.

Please bear in mind I'm not very artistic and can't afford to hire someone to do it for me, so this is the best I've managed to come up with (not very sci-fi, I know). Hopefully any critiques will involve tweaks here and there rather than scrapping the whole thing and starting again, as I'm now out of ideas.

Any help on improving it before a relaunch would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I like it. It's intriguing that the reflection is the top, and the city is upside down. That gives it an unsettling feeling. And I particularly like your eyeball O.

The "A Jack Stone novel" at the top looks a bit tacked on, though. And I'm not sure I'm sold on the font for your name, especially if it doesn't match on the spine -- although one doesn't generally look at both at the same time, so it's likely no one would notice anyway.

I assume that Stone is hired by Andi Clayton?

 

[Dave Barsby]

I like it. It's intriguing that the reflection is the top, and the city is upside down. That gives it an unsettling feeling. And I particularly like your eyeball O.

The "A Jack Stone novel" at the top looks a bit tacked on, though. And I'm not sure I'm sold on the font for your name, especially if it doesn't match on the spine -- although one doesn't generally look at both at the same time, so it's likely no one would notice anyway.

I assume that Stone is hired by Andi Clayton?

Thanks for the feedback TDZ. Hadn't particularly noticed the blandness of 'a Jack Stone novel' so might have to look into that. Think I can blag the different name fonts though.

I'm happy with the eyeball O - when I told friends I was going to do it they immediately thought it would look tacky but I quite like it.

And no, Stone is not hired by Andi - she is his only tangible lead. I've struggled for a long time with the back cover blurb.

btw, just noticed you're based in Colorado. Where abouts? I was in Ouray about a month ago (via Silverton & Mesa Verde etc etc)

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Oh, wow -- you were right here! I'm in Dolores, which you probably went through between Mesa Verde and Ouray. Ten miles to Cortez, another eight to the Mesa Verde entrance.

 

[Mad Alice]

Hi all, wondering if you could have a quick peek at my newly redesigned wraparound book cover and let me know what you think.

Please bear in mind I'm not very artistic and can't afford to hire someone to do it for me, so this is the best I've managed to come up with (not very sci-fi, I know). Hopefully any critiques will involve tweaks here and there rather than scrapping the whole thing and starting again, as I'm now out of ideas.

Any help on improving it before a relaunch would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

View attachment 37830

I think it would punch it up a bit if you added a bit of highlighting to the cityscape. Maybe inverse the colours.
And I'm not sure about a single colour on the font. I think grayscale to a silver with mirroring and shadow.
Anyways, I mean something like this;

 

[Parson]

I like your cover, save the black box of A Jack Stone Novel. But I wonder about the back page blurb. The last sentence just seems tacked on with no real purpose. Maybe you should just drop it and say something like "Jack's only hope is Audi Clayton" ... as the lead in for the last paragraph.

 

[Dave Barsby]

I think it would punch it up a bit if you added a bit of highlighting to the cityscape. Maybe inverse the colours.
And I'm not sure about a single colour on the font. I think grayscale to a silver with mirroring and shadow.
Anyways, I mean something like this;

View attachment 37833

Cheers for the feedback. I tried messing about with colours a bit more but it looked too OTT. As for the shaded text, I wanted to do that but none of the software I had would allow me to

 

[Dave Barsby]

I like your cover, save the black box of A Jack Stone Novel. But I wonder about the back page blurb. The last sentence just seems tacked on with no real purpose. Maybe you should just drop it and say something like "Jack's only hope is Audi Clayton" ... as the lead in for the last paragraph.

Cheers for the feedback, that blurb bit does sound better. Thanks

 

[thaddeus6th]

Generally looks good, although the title/author name doesn't stand out as much as it might. Maybe a dark red would achieve that, without going into gaudy colour-clash territory? [Or you could try making the background a bit lighter].

 

[Dave Barsby]

Oh, wow -- you were right here! I'm in Dolores, which you probably went through between Mesa Verde and Ouray. Ten miles to Cortez, another eight to the Mesa Verde entrance.

Actually stayed overnight in Cortez opposite the J Fargo diner, then tackled the Million Dollar Highway via Durango so missed out on Dolores

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Well geez, holler next time you're in the neighborhood, huh?

 

[Dave Barsby]

Generally looks good, although the title/author name doesn't stand out as much as it might. Maybe a dark red would achieve that, without going into gaudy colour-clash territory? [Or you could try making the background a bit lighter].

Thanks for feedback. I tried different font colours but as a single block of colour without being able to shade them they just didn't work. Hence the boring black

 

[Dave Barsby]

Well geez, holler next time you're in the neighborhood, huh?

Is 4,700 miles away not 'in the neighbourhood' then?

 

[HareBrain]

Have you tried it as a thumbnail? I haven't, but I stood as far as I could get from the monitor, and I think the title could do with standing out more against the grey sky, and you could perhaps use a bit of clear space between "Dave" and the buildings.

Other than that, it looks pretty good, especially for an author-made one.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Thanks for feedback. I tried different font colours but as a single block of colour without being able to shade them they just didn't work. Hence the boring black

Is the "not being able to shade them" a skill thing, or some other reason?

 

[Mad Alice]

Cheers for the feedback. I tried messing about with colours a bit more but it looked too OTT. As for the shaded text, I wanted to do that but none of the software I had would allow me to

Feel free to chop bits off what I did if it will help. Barring that I use a tiny free photo editor app for such things on my tablet.
This one.
Photo Editor - Android Apps on Google Play
To give your font nifty colour shading;
On it you take your font as an image file. Then go into effects and choose colour change, then add 30% burn and 20% vibrance then do 15% smart blurred. If you want rainbow, you add 20% cross process and /or swap colours before you smart blur it. If you want out line on your font then you save then you choose line then save then go back to your original lettering and overlay the line upon it.

This is all if you want a nonstandard font. Because there are standard fonts included with the editor where you can adjust the appearance beforehand.
Anyways that's how I swaggle it in.

What are you using for an editor? You know you can make nifty covers in Word, and they allow you to shade letters.
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&sour...ghXMAw&usg=AFQjCNG_1_fKnqaQ3nY6mV4s-mYCqXt8ww

 

[Brian G Turner]

let me know what you think

It's an interesting cover, and as a large image the inverted reflection is noticeable and intriguing. However, the problem is that I doubt this or the eye detail will be obvious in a reduced thumbnail image, which is how most people will see the cover.

For me, what's missing is something that says "genre". If the city being reflected look futuristic that might have said SF. Or the back of a figure that said thriller. What you have isn't bad, but either a small tweak or a rebuilding of your concept might make it better.

Something that does niggle at me is the author name - I would expect to see "David" on a book cover, as "Dave" sounds too informal.

 

[Dave Barsby]

Have you tried it as a thumbnail? I haven't, but I stood as far as I could get from the monitor, and I think the title could do with standing out more against the grey sky, and you could perhaps use a bit of clear space between "Dave" and the buildings.

Other than that, it looks pretty good, especially for an author-made one.

Thanks for the feedback.

It's about thumbnail size when I look at these posts on my phone and it think it should be okay - some detail lost but vibrant and readable text. I felt the same about my name being close to the buildings but I had nowhere else to put it without significantly reducing the font size (which would then disappear in a thumbnail)

 

[Dave Barsby]

Cheers @Mad Alice, I'll take a look at that app. I've been using an old Photoshop.

Thanks for the feedback @Brian G Turner . Alas I am nowhere skilled enough to draw over a photo to make the buildings look more sci-fi, and it is a bug-bear - I wanted a futuristic city but have had to settle for flipping the photo to make it look a bit less 'reality'.

And I hate the name David so don't want to be stuck with it if my writing career takes off.

 

[Montero]

I like the photo and the inversion.
Not keen on the A Jack Stone tag
I think the fonts need sorting - especially the author one. There are more sf-ish fonts around - will have to go away and look and come back to the thread to suggest them. That might give a more sf feel.
Not read the back cover text.
My vote would be go with Dave. After all Chaz Brenchley does just fine.
(And he comments somewhere on how when he went away to Uni he stepped on the train as Charles and stepped off it as Chaz.)