Feedback wanted on planned book cover

Biskit

Biskit

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Hope this is the right place for this question.

This is the first draft of cover we've created for a book of mine we will shortly be self-pubbing. I've seen quite a bit online about cover design, and in particular making sure the cover is really representative of the story and that it will appeal to readers who will like the book. I'm looking for comment on the cover - things like what genre does it say to you? What else does it say to you about the story? What planet is the author on?

Comment, feedback and outright ridicule all welcome - I wanted to try this out in a friendly arena before sticking my toes in the real world.
full
 
It's a striking cover, I mean, your book is basically telling me to f*ck off though. Maybe use a different finger? :p

Other than that it makes me think of Fantasy, Magic and Portals to the afterlife.

I'm no expert, though, others who have self-pubbed or traditionally pubbed will be along to give you more detailed feedback than I can.

Best of look with the book. :)

V
 
I agree with @Victoria Silverwolf. I have no idea what genre the cover signifies, is it a comedy? To be honest, I think a cover like this would probably put a lot of people off buying the book.
 
In music we use reverb and delays etc subtly to give depth to the different instruments playing on the different channels. The effect it has is to let everything sit together and stop being so 'dry'.

I think, regardless of the image you really need to apply the image equivalent of reverb to the pic. That would involve playing with opacity, fade, gradient and shadow. At the moment it looks like things stuck on top of each other.

And the nail... It's a bit... Odd.

pH
 
Um, yeah... it's certainly weird, but not in a good way, I think.

And the use of the same font for both author name and title, and the way the hand is cut off at the wrist, and the effects done without any embellishment, as Ph says, makes it look a tad amateurish I'm afraid.

I suppose it's an intriguing concept, but you'd have to get it done properly, maybe by a professional, to get the effect you're after.
 
It doesn't work for me, I'm afraid.

Firstly, it screams self published. The fonts are weak - your name will vanish in a thumb nail - and it looks photo shopped. As the self publishers are getting more professional you give yourself a mountain to climb if a cover doesn't look pro.

As the finger - it says obscenities to me. Now, I don't mind that, personally, but I got a one star review that hated bad language (and this was for Abendau, where I'm reasonably clean mouthed, not the f-laden Inish Carraig) and that's never a great thing. But, also, on a practical note I could see this being rejected by some forums etc and definitely think it would be a barrier in some promo sites.
 
I quite like the concept -- if it looked more professional, I'd probably investigate further to find out what the cover meant (which is its point). The finger tilted to one side looks weird, though; the knuckle on the index finger looks oddly like it has a nipple; the fingernail is either too long or not long enough; the halo is crude, and so is the text. Lack of production values just screams "cheap self-published effort".

So, quite a bit of work needed IMO, but it could be made to do its job.
 
If it's fantasy, the middle finger might not exist as a concept of insult at all in your world, so it wouldn't make sense. If it's any other genre, having the hand match the inhabitants of your story would make more sense (if robots, a robot hand, if aliens, an alien hand--although I don't see how an alien would understand the concept of a middle finger,--etc). The image doesn't look right with a real hand, as it lowers the overall quality. Have it drawn or convert a real hand with some special effects into a cartoony element to play around with it more.
 
(Ok, so the hand is probably yours and now you're going to be sitting there looking at your fingernails and thinking, "What's wrong with my fingernails," or more likely, "What's wrong with these people?")

But yes, the fingernail is troublesome.

I think it definitely conjures the impression of humor, so (assuming that's what you're going for) that's good. Combined with the title, it makes me think of Letters From the Earth, and The Screwtape Letters (which I always mix up with each other in my mind), and Piers Anthony and Good Omens. So that can't be bad. I would definitely have to look inside and see what it was about.

But, as said above, it does need more professional ...something, to make that happen. And the inside had better scream professionalism as well, or I'd drop it like a hot potato. Ahh, another thing it makes me think of -- Douglas Adams.
 
I agree with what's been posted... it has a very self-pub look and immediately makes me think the contents (which, btw, are opaque to me) will be sub-par as well. No doubt this sells you quite short, which is why a proper cover is so important.

In particular I can see the line along the wrist where it was photoshopped, and the blue is not compatible with a photorealistic hand. There is no lighting interaction between the layers. The fonts are okay, but the flat style doesn't mesh great with the background. The placement of the text needs some thought, particularly about the margins.
 
On a positive (but, I guess a redundant) note, can I be one of the voices of dissent and say I like the finger gesture?

I just think it needs refining. With the magic-mist and name of the novel, I would expect it to be some kind of demonic fantasy. And I certainly wouldn't feel personally offended. (Are customers really that fragile?)

The other week we were discussing The Hand of Glory in the general forum. I think a rather striking image could be a hand, all fingers splayed instead of just the birdie, and if you have four or five victims, you could have their faces blended in the nails, as translucent.

Also, Photoshop is a professional industry-standard programme, so I wouldn't conflate amateurism with photoshop. Just don't use 'Paint' :D

pH
 
Thoughts:

1) I generally avoid any fantasy cover that has photos that are clearly "photos" in the cover art. Call it personal preference or photography snobbery but in general every time I see photography used on a cover of a fantasy book (even by top names) it looks "cheap".

2) That point aside your example here does indeed look cheap. The hand and magical effects are not in sync with each other at all and clearly edited.
IF done well you could get it to work but then you'd encounter part 1 still as a problem (in my view).

3) This says - eh - it says crude to me. As if what is within the pages might be crude, childish toilet humour. It doesn't really say magic but more "vampire dust" and thus would be the kind of thing I'd more expect to see in the "Horror-Romance" section of a book store (which oddly are often called the Horror section even though most of the books are more about sex with vampires/werewolves than they are about "horror").

4) It doesn't say aliens in the least; fantasy at best; though I would expect alternate modern reality rather than say a medieval or primval or futuristic setting.

5) The finger says and suggests nothing of the story.

6) The finger is lining you up for mockery in bad reviews by those who might dislike the actal content of the book itself. It's the kind of thing that if your book is outstanding will work; but if its anything but it will be a point of ridicule.





In my view I'd say if you want to keep a real hand in the cover then you; obviously (and by the fact this is a mock up already know) that you'll need a good photographer and editer to get the effect you desire (note I split them up - not every good photographer can do good looking authentic appearing special effects like this - in fact most can't).

Personally I would shift to using a drawn hand so that magic and hand gel visually with each other.
I would also use some kind of ring/tattoo/gauntlet or other feature to try and give the hand some semblence in time if that's what you want - eg a medival gauntlet and stitched glove would suggest medieval fantasy - modern wrist watch modern times - a sci-fi style wrist band with space age appearance the future. A subtle thing like those might well work well.

Heck the title is Demonyka which suggests demons - the smoke around the hand might be shaped like winged or floating demons if they are within the story itself.
 
TheDustyZebra said:
Yeah, "looks Photoshopped" is a bit of a misnomer. Everything is Photoshopped. What is generally meant by that is that something looks "amateurly Photoshopped". :)
Click to expand...

Right. Same with vfx. You don't want to see any artifacts that betray where and how the tools were used. In this, for instance, I can see where the hand was cut out of the background, and then that a Lasso tool or something was used to cut the wrist. Interestingly, the solution to looking "photoshopped" is more Photoshopping.
 
I would not look into a book with a cover like this! The fact that I'm being given the "bird" revolts me to begin with. Then the picture is of poor quality. So ... I don't care for the look or for the quality. .... As to genre, the title makes me think fantasy, but the cover makes me think pornography.
 
Thank you all, plenty for me to think about.

This has been a tricky exercise. with evenly matched budget and graphic arts skills (zero), and very much at the point where I was too close to it.

Just for clarity:
yes, it is my hand
no, my fingers are not straight on my right hand - they just grew that way
the Biskitetta had a an 'I told you so' giggle about the finger nail
I live in a Linux world, so this is GIMP... which I will learn to use effectively... eventually.

Further comments gratefully endured...
 
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