Book cover idea: comments please

[HareBrain]

This is a cover I mocked up a while back for a book I might end up self-publishing. I'd be grateful for people's immediate reaction, and thoughts on what kind story it suggests. (I would have any actual cover done by an artist, so don't worry too much about drawing quality or lack of.)

 

[Brian G Turner]

As it stands it has an old adventure book look to it, though I'm not sure that's simply because of the style, rather than composition.

I'm not sold on the idea of seeing the back of a character in the foreground. While we do commonly see the back of characters in thrillers, they are usually in the mid to background, to give an indistinct suggestion of character. In this instance, the figure dominates the image yet tells us nothing about themselves or their context (male/female, time period, setting, etc).

Just initial thoughts, any way.

 

[Danny McG]

He's a bit of a 'bubble butt' by the way

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I rather like it.

 

[Toby Frost]

It's a damn sight better-drawn than I could ever do. I like it, but I agree that it does feel very old-school, partly in the drawing style and partly in the character's outfit. I'd expect him to be an explorer in Australia or perhaps Africa.

The positioning of the figure slightly bothers me. I think it's that he seems very comfortable and exposed, as if to go birdwatching, which doesn't lend much of an atmosphere of excitement or danger. One option might be to have him half-concealed by a rock or crouching down lower on the slope so that only his head sticks up, or to make the thing in the crater more obviously threatening. But of course this depends on the story and it would be wrong to go overboard.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I really dig it, and I love that it has a sort of older-times, action-adventure feel. I agree with Toby that the person seems a bit over-exposed, as he's presented here*. What if he was lying on his side, with one leg kind of drawn up, and he was lifting his head up just a bit to peek through a gap in the broken rock of the ledge's rim? When my cats are lying down while playing (seems an oxymoron, but cat owners should understand), they often keep one of their back legs bent, tensed, and with their claws dug into the carpet so they can spring away in a moment. Perhaps if this was a bit less static; just something to show that there is the potential for danger, in his spying.

The book is fantastic, and I'm really happy it might be published soon.

* unless the scale is off a bit here, and in the final drawing the person and the thing he is observing are a very great distance apart, so that his being exposed isn't a big deal. I should remember, having read the book, but my memory is terrible.

 

[MemoryTale]

I disagree with Bryan that we don't get much impression of the character - I'm getting an explorer/archeologist vibe from them.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I really like the image and setting. The typography is a tad bland.
My main immediate reaction is - too orange*. Import it into image software and reduce the orange/red saturation!

* even for a book called Red Silence...

 

[millymollymo]

I like the aged feel this has, but worry it wouldn't hold up on the "scroll" of Amazon & friends.
I suspect you might be able to compliment the excellent art with a block style border - flourishing it with a modern and bold "stand out"
-much like your writing style...

 

[The Judge]

I agree it looks old-fashioned, which I don't think does it any favours, since the book is most definitely not an old-fashioned type of novel. It also screams a lot younger than YA to me, like a children's version of King Solomon's Mines, which again that might put some people off.

I can understand why you want to show the desert, since that's so important to the plot, but instead of the tree which isn't immediately recognisable, have you thought about showing the basilisk? Pity you can't do a night scene so you can show a single star in there.

I've a soft spot for the History Man and his puppets, but that again might look too young. And a cage of Crazies yelling at Yuri is probably too crowded. What about the castle-thingummy at the end?

Have you any ideas for Green Song? Because to me, the two ought to complement each other, so perhaps try and find an image which can work for both.

 

[WarriorMouse]

The cover prompted these questions.
Is this story set in the 1930's? re:hobnail boots the person is wearing.
Is this an YA adventure story? re: Hardy Boys / Famous Five
Why is that tree stumpy thing in the center of a crater?
Why are there 2 titles?


I like the look of the cover but if this is the first book of "A Severed World" series then the title sequence could be something like

Red Silence
A Severed World Story

 

[HareBrain]

Thanks for the responses so far. They've already sparked a few ideas how to adapt it. And yes, less orange.

Interesting that several have said it has an old-fashioned feel. In a way, that fits the story, but in another way it very much doesn't, as it is first-person present rather than the omniscient-style narration an old-fashioned cover might suggest. I personally like the quietness of it. I'm also a sucker for old-fashioned book covers, which might be skewing my feelings about it. Hmm.

have you thought about showing the basilisk?

Well, there was this, as it happens, but I think that looks even more YA than the above, and probably would no matter what an artist did with it.

What about the castle-thingummy at the end?

Have you been looking through my pictures folder?

I don't know that either of those scenes would really capture the sense of the story, though.

 

[Overread]

Red Silence
A Severed World Story

I think this phrase works well when you've got a series of books which are set in the same world, but where the order of reading isn't important and they are capable of being read stand-alone (more or less). When its an ordered series I think its very important to have number 1,2,3 as part of the undertitle/spine of the book. This helps inform your reader what they are buying right from the cover. They can thus easily navigate themselves to the first in the series and each other book in the right order. Casual "part of series" titles without a numerical order can be a nightmare for the new reader as they can't casually be informed if the book they are looking at is the start or finish or half way through when its on the store bookshelf. Even listings on Amazon are not always 100% clear.

You want your reader informed, not having to go hunt down key information like this.

 

[MemoryTale]

Bearing in mind I haven't read anything, from the covers your story looks like that of a lone wanderer searching for something in the desolation of *insert place name here*. Take from that what you will of if the cover portrays the story accurately.

Bearing in mind the hare's different, I do wonder if the character in cover 1 is different from the one shown in covers 2 and 3, or if your idea of what they looked like changed?

I think of the three I think I prefer the third one, and I'm not too fond of the second. The perspective of the sword just seems... Off. But I can't put a finger on why.

 

[The Judge]

Re the basilisk one, try turning the action round, so the basilisk is facing the reader and Yuri has his back to us -- but with no hat and backpack, as it comes over a bit too Junior Indiana Jones. For the background, forget the tree and have the desert, mountains in the distance with the star above. See what that looks like.

Re the castle-y one, actually, I like that. Though whether it would be striking enough for Amazon thumbnails, I'm not sure.

NB Remember that you're not using the cover to give a sense of the story, you're using it to entice people to pick up the book. If you have to lie to do that, so be it.

Have you been looking through my pictures folder?

As if I would go sneaking around someone's room, opening desk drawers and Top Secret folders, looking for stuff which I might then use for nefarious purposes...

 

[BAYLOR]

This is a cover I mocked up a while back for a book I might end up self-publishing. I'd be grateful for people's immediate reaction, and thoughts on what kind story it suggests. (I would have any actual cover done by an artist, so don't worry too much about drawing quality or lack of.)

View attachment 43174

I like it because it harkens back to the of great book covers they did decades ago.

 

[WarriorMouse]

I think this phrase works well when you've got a series of books which are set in the same world, but where the order of reading isn't important and they are capable of being read stand-alone (more or less). When its an ordered series I think its very important to have number 1,2,3 as part of the undertitle/spine of the book. This helps inform your reader what they are buying right from the cover. They can thus easily navigate themselves to the first in the series and each other book in the right order. Casual "part of series" titles without a numerical order can be a nightmare for the new reader as they can't casually be informed if the book they are looking at is the start or finish or half way through when its on the store bookshelf. Even listings on Amazon are not always 100% clear.

You want your reader informed, not having to go hunt down key information like this.

Fair enough.
I do think the the book title needs to be in much larger text than the sub titleing .

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Re the basilisk one, try turning the action round, so the basilisk is facing the reader and Yuri has his back to us -- but with no hat and backpack, as it comes over a bit too Junior Indiana Jones. For the background, forget the tree and have the desert, mountains in the distance with the star above. See what that looks like.

That.

 

[Montero]

Instant reaction to picture.

1. Red Silence + World in title = Mars
2. Style of figure and art - Victorian/Edwardian adventure

Next reaction - if Mars, why no space helmet. Answer, ah it's Victorian. Now I'll go and read the thread.

Final reaction - I think it is an excellent picture in itself and doesn't need re-doing. It has a quality that makes it stand out.

Having read the thread
Mostly love the other two pictures as pictures. (The figure in the first of the pair is a little stiff.) I am also not a fan of feet getting cut off the bottom of pictures.
The last one, in the valley, strikes me more as a travel story, pre WW1 traveller to remote part of Hindu Kush or Arabia. Long bunch of hair seems "girl" to me. (I have no problem with long hair on men, but the figure in the last comes over as female, and as he is called Yuri, assume that is wrong.)

It's too late in my brain day. I was going to comment regarding people's comments, people who know your book, but I've forgotten what they were already......

In terms of general advice on book covers, if you want one that sits in with whatever your current market is, then womble off to Goodreads, where you can see all covers for a book as you look at similar books to yours. Doing research on cover art (mainly urban fantasy and horror) they seem to re-do covers every couple of years on some books, bringing out certain elements more, or changing style to be positioned alongside say Ben Aaronovitch as he became better known. Get all the folks who've read your book to say "I think it is like Stephen King's take on the Wombles" : ) (or whatever it is really like). And go look at those books. It's one of those things where it can be hard to see where your book sits.

 

[HareBrain]

I do wonder if the character in cover 1 is different from the one shown in covers 2 and 3, or if your idea of what they looked like changed?

Same character in 2, different in 3, though the clothes are similar. (BTW, they were only meant as pictures I drew for fun, rather than cover ideas.)

NB Remember that you're not using the cover to give a sense of the story, you're using it to entice people to pick up the book. If you have to lie to do that, so be it.

This is probably a topic for a whole other thread, but if it doesn't match the story, don't you risk disappointing (or possibly enraging) the reader?