# Cover Criticism Needed!



## Helleaven (Jun 19, 2012)

Hi Everyone. I am pretty much new to this site but I found it useful than I expected.

Like many in this site, I'm writing a fantasy novel and my first volume will be finished soon. 

Since I don't have any money (I've just graduated from university), I am trying to make a "not-so-terrible" looking book cover to send it to the publishers along with my manuscript.

I would like to read your opinions about the cover and what it needs to be better.

I know it's such an amateur work, I know it even may look terrible, but that's the point of opening this thread 

The cover title is Turkish.

"Tanrıların Sessizliği" means "The Silence of the Gods".

"Darion Elderia" is my protagonist.

There is a gauntlet on the cover, which is important for the story.

I want it to plain and simple but attractive at the same time, the use of gauntlet is important, so with this guide lines, what kind of a cover would you suggest for me to use? What would you do if this was your cover? Make it more colourful or make it a little busier?

Ask any questions you got and they shall be answered 

Thanks in advance 


*FINAL EDIT:*

Update: Fixed the grammar issue

And yes! Finally I have finished fixing it. Please tell me your opinions about this one, for the first time I think I really like it!

I made an English Book Cover, for you to exemine better, without any foreign language distraction. 

What do you say? How is it?


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## kennyc (Jun 19, 2012)

Is the book written in Turkish? The cover is okay, but the title is totally pushing me away...


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## Devor (Jun 19, 2012)

The art looks nice, but I agree that the title is just a little too weird for English speakers.  Also, I think it's weird to have your protagonist's name on the cover, unless it's clearly part of the title, like "Harry Potter _and_ the Deathly Hallows."


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## Cinder (Jun 19, 2012)

I agree with everything said before. Also, remember not to worry too much about a cover, because if the publishers like it, they'll make it themselves anyway.


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## Aidan of the tavern (Jun 19, 2012)

If the protagonist's name is going to be the name of the series as well or something then that's fine, otherwise I agree with Devor that its a bit strange to have the name on the cover.  The cover itself is good in my opinion, but I wonder if you need that sunburst of light behind the title, because it seems a bit unecersarry and I think the gauntlet image would be fine on its own.


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## kennyc (Jun 19, 2012)

Or if it's a series something like "A Darion Elderia adventure/story/book/etc"


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## Helleaven (Jun 19, 2012)

Wow thanks for the comments everybody  They're all good points and I am glad that I posted this thread. I will try to give you some anwers for the questions. 

1-) Don't worry about the name itself, it is Turkish and the book is written in Turkish too. I will try to get published in my country, and except Orhan Pamuk (who had won a nobel prize) our books are translated to English or other languages very rarely. It would be something only the greatest writers can achieve, I wish my English was good enough to translate it to English by myself but anyway this will do for now 

2-) The protagonist's name is on the cover, but I wasn't sure about it, too. This is going to be a series, consisting of four or five volumes. I wanted  every book to has a common signature which shows that they're part of the same series. I think I have to find a better way to show that common feature, or may be I just write  something like "The XXXX Series" 

Thanks for pointing that out 


3-) My brother has irritated by that light effect behind the title, too. I think I'm gonna erase that too. Actually it wasn't ment to be on the cover at first, but then the cover seemed a bit empty, something must have filled that feeling of emptiness. I just wish that I didn't erase the raw files, in order to delete only the light effect.


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## Aidan of the tavern (Jun 19, 2012)

Helleaven said:


> Wow thanks for the comments everybody  They're all good points and I am glad that I posted this thread. I will try to give you some anwers for the questions.
> 
> 1-) Don't worry about the name itself, it is Turkish and the book is written in Turkish too. I will try to get published in my country, and except Orhan Pamuk (who had won a nobel prize) our books are translated to English or other languages very rarely. It would be something only the greatest writers can achieve, I wish my English was good enough to translate it to English by myself but anyway this will do for now
> 
> ...



Yes, I thought you might have added the extra light effect to fill the page a bit, to be honest I think it would look fine with just the gauntlet image, but if you feel you need to add something more you could change the font or something.


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## Helleaven (Jun 19, 2012)

And yes! Finally I have finished fixing it. Please tell me your opinions about this one, for the first time I think I really like it!

I made an English Book Cover, for you to exemine better, without any foreign language distraction. 

What do you say? How is it? 

(I'll add it to my first post too so that people may see)

http://mythicscribes.com/gallery/me...e-last-prophet-i-the-silence-of-the-gods.html


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Jun 19, 2012)

Well, it appears to be a broken image, so I'm not really sure.


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## Helleaven (Jun 19, 2012)

*Benjamin Clayborne*

I fixed the problem


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## TWErvin2 (Jun 19, 2012)

The gauntlet has little contrast with the darkness of the cover. It's hardly noticeable. While that's okay with a larger cover, if it's going to be looked at as a thumbnail, that could be a problem.

A first name of a character for the title? I don't see a problem with it.


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## Agran Velion (Jun 19, 2012)

I LOVE the second one. The picture is nice, the title draws me in, but it's the quote that really does it for me (I'm a huge fan of them). I'd definitively pick it up in a bookstore if I saw it.


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## Ireth (Jun 19, 2012)

I like the second one much better than the first. I did notice a grammatical error in the quote, though. It should read "In a world where..." etc. "Whence" means "from where", which doesn't make sense here, and the comma you used is unnecessary.


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## Helleaven (Jun 19, 2012)

*Agran Velion:*

Thank you for kind words! You have lifted my hopes up high again! 

*Ireth:*

I noticed that now. It's 6 a.m. here and I didn't want to go sleep before finishing it. It can be changed easily, thanks for the warning. But you do understand it and that's the important thing.  And about the comma, I totally suck when it comes to "where should I put a comma!" thing. English is confusing for me in that way, because Turkish has a very different using of commas. Thank you so much for making me realize them. 

*TWErvin2*

Actually it was intentionally made that way. I don't want to get too much attention to the gauntlet, it must be there as if it was only an ornament


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## Telcontar (Jun 19, 2012)

I find the image and the words enticing. I would give another look/download a sample of the book based on this cover. I can't say if it would sway publishers or agents, but it can't hurt to try.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Jun 19, 2012)

I like the second one a lot better. I wouldn't say I love it; it's obviously not professional-quality, but then you're admittedly an amateur. It's pretty good for an amateur. 

My only particular suggestion is about the "The Last Prophet I" thing. If that's supposed to mean "The Last Prophet, Book I" then I would say that in particular. The "I" by itself on a line just looks weird.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Jun 20, 2012)

I like it. Everything except the word "whence". 

That seems clunky.,I think "where" is much better.


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## Helleaven (Jun 20, 2012)

*Telcontar:*

Thanks, even the second look of yours is a big step for me, yep, I know the publishers can get _a little_ picky, but for them it is their job after all. They have to earn money from these books. On the other hand. I'm not a professional writer, not a professional designer, I just love to do things like that. Maybe one day I become a real writer who has created something that will last decades. But until then, I love to write, I love to create and that's all. I don't mind actually getting published or not, I'll keep writing for myself 

*Benjamin Clayborne:*

Thanks a lot for the comment and compliment  I've added the word "book" on the cover now. "I" alone definitely works in here, but this is an English cover so it must be like a real one! Thanks for pointing that out 

*T.Allen.Smith:*

The grammar problem is fixed. Thanks for laying another brick on the wall that's being constructed. (I don't even know if there is a saying like this in english, I translated it directly, but I guess you got the idea  )


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## kennyc (Jun 20, 2012)

Works for me!
Good job!


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## Aidan of the tavern (Jun 20, 2012)

I think it looks great .


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## Devor (Jun 20, 2012)

TWErvin2 said:


> The gauntlet has little contrast with the darkness of the cover. It's hardly noticeable. While that's okay with a larger cover, if it's going to be looked at as a thumbnail, that could be a problem.



Maybe it was intentional, but I think you over did it.  This is a real issue.  Most readers who shop online only see a thumbnail.  I zoomed out and the gauntlet kind of fades and looks weird as you get smaller.  So does some of the text, except for the title which I think looks good.

Mostly I like it, but I think you should really fix this.


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## ALB2012 (Jun 29, 2012)

I couldnt get the second one to work but the first one looked fine- except use Book 1 not 1 it looks weird


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## psychotick (Jul 8, 2012)

Hi,

I sense another photoscape user! 

I like the cover. My only thought would be that the little diamond? is not quite between the thumb and the forefinger where it should be if its being held. A little more to the left. The gauntlet looks great, but it would look better if it was a tiny bit darker against the background. And I have a small question about the tag line. The gods being deceitful and us being decent doesn't quite go together. I'd suggest that if you want to say the gods are deceitful then the contrast is that we should be honest. Or alternatively if you want to stick with us being decent, then the gods should be indecent / amoral or something of that nature.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Helleaven (Jul 9, 2012)

psychotick said:


> Hi,
> 
> I sense another photoscape user!
> 
> ...



Actually I've done it in GIMP.

Although I agree that I may not have centered it properly, it is not a diamond, it's a black pearl and I have tried to give that black outline of the pearl but I'm not expert of drawing-painting thus it may have caused some wierdness. I found the picture of the gauntlet on google, I cut it and made a few adjustments, then I put it on the cover. What I was trying to do was to make that gauntlet seem unimportant; because it actually is one of the most important parts of the story. Only after reading it the reader should see why there is a gauntlet on the cover. But I accidentaly merged down the layer of the gauntlet to the background and unintentionally saved it. So unfortunately I can not make any changes now :/

English is not my mothertongue so i can easily make that kind of mistakes (and since the beginning of the topic I've made many) but they can be corrected as much as easily. If it feels wrong, then I should change it. Thank you for your useful criticism


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## ALB2012 (Jul 9, 2012)

Oh I use GIMP too (or at least try). I have merged layers too and then changed my mind. I think it looks fine


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## Taro (Jul 9, 2012)

i think that if the gauntlet is the main thing regarding the story, keep it but as others have said the red light could be taken away and just change the font of the title. but other than that it looks great. i have so much trouble with designs so good on you.


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## Addison (Jul 23, 2012)

The colors are great. But one thing I've found with cover art is that you want the eye-catching part to be what the book is about. For the first Harry Potter book we saw Harry on his broom flying past an arch. For the first book in the "Books of Umber" trilogy we saw Hapenstance's striking green eyes which are a key through the whole series. With your cover I was drawn to that bright ball of light hovering between the finger tips. If the gauntlet is important to the story you want to make the gauntlet to catch the eye. Try researching gauntlet's of the story's era, how they're made what they look like and draw that on the cover. Of course this is just my opinion.


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