WarriorMouse
VE6 VES
My copy of "The Hunt For Red October" HAS no cover art. I wasn't enraged.
Book cover idea: comments please
- Thread starter HareBrain
- Start date
I think giving the reader the wrong impression of the book they are getting can get you really cross reviews. Some folks pick up a book on the cover, assume they are getting a milk bar and if it has nuts in it get really arsey.
@HareBrain - I've added more onto my earlier post since you've seen it - regarding a bit of market research on cover art.
@HareBrain - I've added more onto my earlier post since you've seen it - regarding a bit of market research on cover art.
Possibly, but they've bought the book by then, so who cares?!
Actually, yes it has annoyed me in the past when I've read a book and the cover hasn't got anything to do with the story -- eg a space ship in a SF that never goes into space. But the cover doesn't need to mirror the story or be an exact faithful reproduction of any particular scene. It's just got to be grabby.
tinkerdan
∞<Q-Satis
I like the first cover posted; where it is simplistic compared to the other drawings it is superb in drawing the eyes where they need to go which is to the title and the author and it's a well done picture.
You should shoehorn the text in the others, with all that busy work on them and see what I mean.
You should shoehorn the text in the others, with all that busy work on them and see what I mean.
At the moment, I've no idea where it sits, so anyone who's read it (and has a long memory) is more than welcome to chime in with comparisons. I can't think of any myself, unfortunately.
Yeah, that is the kicker. It may be like some other books out there - but you've never read them. Or what to you is a key "thing" about the book, is not a key thing to someone else....
In terms of being annoyed by covers - I'd be annoyed if the mood conveyed was wrong. So to take a silly extreme, grim dark in a hearts and flowers cover (and I don't mean an anatomically correct heart with a dagger in it on a bed of withered deadly nightshade...). I broadly want to know what I am going to get from a book. I am underwhelmed by some of the current minimalist sf covers like The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet. I looked it up on Goodreads and found it has a second cover which is much more sf than the sort of night sky one.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Minimalist covers say to me "literary fiction".
In terms of being annoyed by covers - I'd be annoyed if the mood conveyed was wrong. So to take a silly extreme, grim dark in a hearts and flowers cover (and I don't mean an anatomically correct heart with a dagger in it on a bed of withered deadly nightshade...). I broadly want to know what I am going to get from a book. I am underwhelmed by some of the current minimalist sf covers like The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet. I looked it up on Goodreads and found it has a second cover which is much more sf than the sort of night sky one.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Minimalist covers say to me "literary fiction".
This might actually be a marketing opportunity. Not least because those responses have been mostly positive, and from what I've read the biggest section of the regular reading public is 40+ years old. Could be a way to tap into a wider market. Just thinking aloud.
Well, thematically it's very like a novel called The Goddess Project. That help?
I think part of the problem might be that although there is a desert and a protagonist walking through it complete with donkey, his search isn't of the kind that you'd get in an old fashioned adventure book, eg looking for something tangible like diamonds or a mysterious queen's tomb, and anyone who picked up the book on that basis, thinking it's another Rider Haggard, is really going to be teed off. Instead there's an esoteric, not to say trippy, feel to a large part of the novel. With TGP you balanced the mundane and the shamanistic with the cover, helped by the symbols in the tramlines. If you wanted to keep the Victorian adventure look, is there anything similar you think you could bring to the cover here, to highlight that aspect?
I think part of the problem might be that although there is a desert and a protagonist walking through it complete with donkey, his search isn't of the kind that you'd get in an old fashioned adventure book, eg looking for something tangible like diamonds or a mysterious queen's tomb, and anyone who picked up the book on that basis, thinking it's another Rider Haggard, is really going to be teed off. Instead there's an esoteric, not to say trippy, feel to a large part of the novel. With TGP you balanced the mundane and the shamanistic with the cover, helped by the symbols in the tramlines. If you wanted to keep the Victorian adventure look, is there anything similar you think you could bring to the cover here, to highlight that aspect?
For my two cents, while good, I think the color similarity (reds/browns) except for the author name, will cause it to get overlooked at the thumbnail size on Amazon and elsewhere. Eyes might be drawn to covers to either side or further down the line before the potential reader explores it further.
AlexH
Well-Known Member
I really like the drawing style and it does have an old-style look. It strikes me more as an in-book illustration, rather than cover. I feel as if the composition would work better if the person was offset to one side rather than the head being dead-centre, with the background object offset to the other side. For a "mock up" I definitely think you should consider doing the cover illustration yourself rather than getting another artist in. Perhaps bolder colours will give it more of a cover feel? I do think the colour palettes in the other drawings you've posted stand out more.
The text could do with more designing, rather than just a flat font, but going overboard could be just as bad. It's not bad at the moment, I just think it could look more professional. But you said it was a mock up so maybe you've thought of that already.
It suggests adventure to me.
The text could do with more designing, rather than just a flat font, but going overboard could be just as bad. It's not bad at the moment, I just think it could look more professional. But you said it was a mock up so maybe you've thought of that already.
It suggests adventure to me.
Yes, I tried doing this a while back:
Though I only offset the figure (and reversed the image, still not sure which way round is better). I also agree about the fonts. Not sure I agree about doing it myself, though it might be nice to try, as I haven't done any serious art for years.
AlexH
Well-Known Member
I prefer the offset figure and think the background offset to the left (with the head turned more) might work better too.
When offset like that, it is clearer that it is a tree, although the root structure isn't that characteristic. It's better when there is no overlap like in the first example. It is intriguing, if a little hard to get a sense of scale.
I like your drawings a lot, but the way.
I like your drawings a lot, but the way.
I think I prefer the second.
Hadn't realised the central object was snapped off tree, saw it as a fancy alien rock structure, possibly extruded.
Hadn't realised the central object was snapped off tree, saw it as a fancy alien rock structure, possibly extruded.
I can't decide if it's good or bad that it's clearer. If it's clearly a tree, is there a risk it seems "just" a tree? ("What, they chose a guy looking at a tree for the cover? That must be the most boring book ever!") Or does it look intriguingly alien, as I was hoping?
Since the basic image does seem to have drawn general approval, and I like it myself, does anyone have any ideas how I can strengthen it with those elements? Someone's (Toby's?) earlier comment about making the character more dynamic by giving him a stronger position and making it more obvious he's actually trying to screen himself was a good one.
To me the tree/rock does look alien.
Would it be reasonable to have your griffin thing perched on top of it?
Having the person more obviously hiding seems a good idea.
Incidentally, all your figures strike me as young - as in late teens. Is that intentional?
Would it be reasonable to have your griffin thing perched on top of it?
Having the person more obviously hiding seems a good idea.
Incidentally, all your figures strike me as young - as in late teens. Is that intentional?
Yes, they are late teens, so that's good.
You mean the lizard in the second picture? No it can't fly. I guess it might in theory climb up there, but if the cover's going to be an illustration of a scene from the story, I'd rather keep it accurate.
You mean the lizard in the second picture? No it can't fly. I guess it might in theory climb up there, but if the cover's going to be an illustration of a scene from the story, I'd rather keep it accurate.
AlexH
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't be happy if a book cover misled me. When I first saw the cover I thought it was an explosion, especially with the crater around it. I wouldn't say it looks alien. There are plenty of trees on earth with incredible root structures.
Yes, lizard in the second picture.
I was assuming alien from the get-go because of the book title - it is suggestive of Mars for example. But if some people are finding it not-alien then....
Is there any obviously alien thing that could be perched on a rock, so it shouts alien?
Is there something that can be in the sky? The classic two moons or summat - though with the drawing you'd be hard pressed to get them in.
Um.
I was assuming alien from the get-go because of the book title - it is suggestive of Mars for example. But if some people are finding it not-alien then....
Is there any obviously alien thing that could be perched on a rock, so it shouts alien?
Is there something that can be in the sky? The classic two moons or summat - though with the drawing you'd be hard pressed to get them in.
Um.
